First Virtual Equity Charter COP
2026-03-04 12:30 - 13:30 UTC
First Virtual Equity Charter COP date loading (4th March 12:30-13:30)
Equity in digital health cannot be a side conversation. It has to be designed in.
Because digital is never neutral.
On 4 March, we will be coming together for the Equity Charter Community of Practice. It is a space for honest dialogue, shared learning, and collective action to ensure equity genuinely shows up in our systems, services and leadership.
Digital tools can widen gaps or close them.
They can exclude quietly or empower intentionally.
They reflect the values of those who build and implement them.
This isn’t a webinar.
It’s not passive listening.
It’s a community.
If you work in digital, data, transformation, clinical leadership, policy, or design , this space is for you.
📅 First session: 4 March | 12:30–13:30 | Virtual
📅 3 June | 16:30–17:30
📅 29 September | In person at HETT
📅 25 November | 12:30–13:30
Equity is not an abstract principle. It is a daily practice.
If you would like to be part of this growing movement, sign up here:

An introduction to the 2026 INSIGHT competition
2026-03-11 12:00 - 13:00 | Online, United Kingdom
The 2026 INSIGHT Competition is a funding opportunity for institutions to deliver regional INSIGHT programmes that will offer engagement activities and research masters studentships in 2027, 2028 and 2029. Regional INSIGHT programmes play a key role in attracting students and recent graduate clinicians and practitioners into research. The webinar will give participants an introduction to the programme; updates for the 2026 competition, including the incorporation of INSPIRE funding; and advice on submitting an application. There will also be a Q&A session with panel members.

NIHR THRIVE Programme of Entrepreneurship Training and Funding
2026-03-12 13:00 - 14:30 | Online, United Kingdom
Get ready to level up your entrepreneurial skills and secure funding at the NIHR THRIVE Programme!

In order to obtain tickets for the webinar please use Access Code: NIHR
The NIHR Invention for Innovation (i4i) programme is accepting applications with the second call for the researcher and clinician-led THRIVE (Translate Healthcare Research through InnoVation and Entrepreneurship) funding and training opportunity.
THRIVE aims to accelerate the translation of healthcare innovations tackling health inequalities from bench to bed, speed up patient benefit and concurrently expand the entrepreneurial mindset of researchers and clinicians.
THRIVE is aimed at academic and clinical entrepreneurs with innovations at prototype development level (Technology Readiness Level (TRL 3)) and above to ensure that the product is advanced enough to test the market need and build a commercialisation strategy and benefit from the training by applying the ideas and frameworks to an innovation ready for translation.
THRIVE offers up to £150,000 over 9 months to support the development of the technology and a structured programme of entrepreneurial training, mentoring, peer support and networking. Through the programme the innovators will explore the market for their innovation and identify potential routes for commercialising (spin-out vs licensing) or sustaining their innovation (Intrapreneurship).
The programme supports innovations that can reduce health inequalities and meet needs in underserved communities.
Applications from underserved communities and geographies as well as under-represented innovators are encouraged.

How to write a plain English summary
2026-03-24 12:00 - 13:00
Discover an in-depth understanding of plain English summaries and how to write an effective one at our webinar on 24 March from 12-1pm.
Attend to discover:
➡️ insights from a public contributor you can apply to your research application
➡️ what support is available
➡️ where to find useful resources
An integral part of research that is funded by NIHR is to ensure that patients, carers, service users and the public have the opportunity to shape and influence the relevance, quality and impact of our health and care research.
A plain English summary is a clear, brief summary of the research, written for members of the public rather than researchers or professionals.
This webinar will be relevant to you if you are an NIHR-funded researcher or a researcher applying for an NIHR career development award.
The webinar will cover:
➡️ NIHR’s Strategic Commitments for Public Partnerships
➡️ explanation of plain English summaries and their importance
➡️ how to write one and what to include
➡️ what support is available through the Research Support Service (RSS)
➡️ signposting to useful resources
By attending this webinar, you will discover:
➡️ an in-depth understanding of plain English summaries and how to write an effective one
➡️ insights from a public contributor that you can apply to your research application
The 60-minute webinar will be facilitated by Linda Onerhime-Prince, Senior NIHR PPI Manager and Dr Jo Lally, Strategic Lead for Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement and Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, NIHR RSS.

How to write a plain English summary
2026-03-24 12:00 - 13:00 | Online, United Kingdom
An integral part of research that is funded by NIHR is to ensure that patients, carers, service users and the public have the opportunity to shape and influence the relevance, quality and impact of our health and care research. A plain English summary is a clear, brief summary of the research, written for members of the public rather than researchers or professionals. This webinar will be relevant to you if you are an NIHR-funded researcher or a researcher applying for an NIHR career development award.

NIHR Yorkshire and the Humber HCP internship kick off meeting
2026-04-17 09:30 - 16:00 | Cloth Hall Court, Leeds
Welcome to Cohort 1 of the NIHR Yorkshire and the Humber HCP internship programme

Welcome to Cohort 1 of the NIHR Yorkshire and Humber Community of Research practice HCP internship programme.
Our first meeting includes:

Introducing our interns and faculty
Meeting the team
Heaingr from a member of the NIHR academy
Finding your budy
And asking your questions

Looking forward to meeting everyone.

NIHR RSS SME Funding Application Development Retreat
2026-04-21 09:30 - 17:00
Get ready to dive into funding tips and tricks to boost your Health and Life Sciences / Social Care application game at this retreat.
NIHR RSS SME Funding Application Development Retreat
Join us on April 21, 2026 at 9:30 AM (BST) for a relaxed and productive day focused on SME funding applications. This in-person retreat is perfect if you want to get hands-on help and connect with others working on similar projects. Whether you’re just starting or need a boost to your application, this event will give you the support and insights you need. Don’t miss out on this great opportunity to collaborate and learn!

Engineering Medical Innovation for Scale - InFact x SETT x NIHR Webinar
2026-04-22 09:00 - 10:00 | Online, United Kingdom
Are you a MedTech innovator, researcher, or clinician working to bring a device, diagnostic or treatment technology to market? Do you find yourself curious about how to bridge the gap between promising science and a scalable, trial-ready solution?

Join inFact, the NIHR HealthTech Research Centre in Accelerated Surgical Care, and the Southampton Emerging Therapies and Technologies (SETT) Centre for a practical webinar exploring how engineering expertise, rigorous process, and the right partnerships can dramatically accelerate MedTech commercialisation — and what that looks like in practice.
This webinar is hosted by inFact, a New Zealand-based MedTech engineering company with a mission to halve the time it takes for medical innovations to reach market. With teams spanning mechanical design, embedded systems, industrial design, software, materials science, and regulatory compliance, inFact partners with innovators globally to take science from the benchtop to clinical trials and beyond.

What we’ll cover:
Reflections on the MedTech innovation and the challenges facing innovators today
A deep-dive case study: how inFact partnered with the University of Auckland to transform a complex laboratory process into a clinical trial-ready oxidative stress detection device and consumable, all while the science was still being developed
The systematic engineering approach inFact applies across all MedTech projects: de-risking, staged development, regulatory alignment, and clinician-centred design
An interactive discussion to understand where UK innovators are experiencing the most friction on their commercialisation journey and how partnerships can help
This session is designed to be practical and participatory. Come ready to share your challenges and co-create solutions.

Who should attend?
This webinar is relevant to MedTech founders and startups, academic researchers commercialising technology, NHS clinicians developing devices or diagnostics, NIHR grant holders, and innovation managers working across the UK health and life sciences ecosystem.

About InFact
InFact specialises in working with scientists while the science is still evolving. They provide design and engineering capabilities in the early stages so you can scale up your clinical and scientific programmes. Their extensive reach into specialist global suppliers for materials and prototyping processes ensures they can efficiently build equipment needed for cutting-edge science.​ Their capabilities extend to integrating QMS requirements, reimbursement, IP strategy, go-to-market and manufacturing from the earliest phases through to commercialisation. Since 1998, inFact has provided advanced engineering design services to help commercialise science & research for Medical, Deeptech and industrial applications and we bring an extensive array of technology solutions to resolving challenges with new innovations.

About NIHR HealthTech Research Centre in Accelerated Surgical Care
The HealthTech Research Centre in Accelerated Surgical Care aims to drive HealthTech innovation patients and healthcare systems to deliver socio-economic benefit through quicker diagnosis and treatment of surgical conditions with safe, early recovery in the community. They focus on supporting the entire surgical pathway, merging expertise from diagnostics and medtech to move technologies into the NHS faster. Its main goals include providing support for market access and regulatory expertise, training and capacity building to educate and increase knowledge in relevant fields, and supporting technologies with high potential for adoption.

About Southampton Emerging Therapies and Technologies (SETT) Centre
The SETT Centre was established in 2021 to bring together and focus on three exciting areas within which we can translate cutting edge research and innovation into clinical care and patient outcomes. Since 2021 SETT has supported over 153 research studies. We have grown from a handful of people to a wide network of over 35 people all collaborating at different points along the research pathway to improve patient care. Their vision is to bring life changing cures closer to those who need them, accelerate clinical testing of innovations and translate technology into clinical care, and harness cutting-edge data science, machine learning, and artificial intelligence into care delivery.

An introduction to open publishing and peer review with NIHR Open Research
2026-05-12 12:00 - 13:00 | Online, United Kingdom
This webinar will provide an overview of the open publishing and peer review model used by NIHR Open Research, including advice for first-time authors and NIHR grantees. You will also have the opportunity to hear from Marian Knight, Professor of Maternal and Child Population Health at the University of Oxford. Marian is the Scientific Director for NIHR Infrastructure, and an NIHR Open Research Advisory Board member and author; she will share her author experience in using the platform to publish her research. There will be a Q&A and the session will be recorded for registrants who are unable to attend live.

NIHR Open Research provides all NIHR-funded researchers with a place to publish any results they think are worth sharing. Submissions to NIHR Open Research are subject to editorial checks that ensure the robustness, quality, and transparency of the underlying research. Following these checks, articles are published Open Access before peer review, so that they can be viewed as quickly as possible. Expert reviewers are then selected and invited, and their reports and names are published alongside the article, post-publication. Articles that pass our peer review process are indexed in major databases like PubMed and Scopus.

Essential Guide to Grant Applications (EGGA)
2026-05-19 - 2026-05-21 | Online, United Kingdom
Our Essential Guide to Grant Applications (EGGA) is a free-to-attend, online, three-day masterclass, funded and hosted by NIHR RSS USP, on how to write a grant application for applied health or social care research that is strong from a methodological point of view, reads well and presents a convincing case for funding. The event will cover important writing tips, along with guidance on what reviewers will be looking for in an application. Attendees will learn how to make their research idea clear and compelling to reviewers, how to write a good methods section and how to demonstrate credible support.
The online masterclass focuses on how to sell your research idea by:

writing a convincing application with a good structure, flow and argument;

presenting a strong methods section, including statistical, qualitative, health economics and Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) elements;

having a good project plan;

engaging with sources of external support for your research.
