The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and the NIHR have announced a new £30 million Mental Health Research Initiative in order to help tackle the disparity between regional needs and mental health research activity.
This marks NIHR’s largest-ever funding of UK mental health research, and has been coordinated to target acute regional and community mental health needs and strengthen the nation’s capacity for high impact research.

Through the initiative, a series of funding calls are being held across NIHR programmes and infrastructure to provide a comprehensive package of research on mental health.

In July, Programme Development Grants, Research for Patient Benefit and Research for Social Care launched calls focused on mental health studies. Later this month, Invention for Innovation will open round 5 of its Connect Awards, including the Children’s and Young People’s Mental Health Awards (CYPMH).

Professor Lucy Chappell, Chief Scientific Adviser (CSA) for DHSC and  NIHR’s Chief Executive Officer, said:

“Mental health affects people across the UK and is a key priority for DHSC and the NIHR. As well as being high quality, our research must be delivered to areas that need it the most.
“This positive initiative will help to tackle geographical disparities by basing studies in parts of the country with a high level of mental health problems, which have traditionally seen little research activity. By doing this we will broaden our capacity and level up the UK’s research landscape.”

Source: News: £30 million investment to rebalance the scale of mental health research | NIHR