We offer advice on all aspects of formulating a research proposal, including methodology, statistics, health economics and support for Patient and Public Involvement in research.

We know what funders are looking for; our team has many years’ experience of making applications to NIHR and other funding programmes.  We also understand the challenges of the modern research environment; our staff are active in a broad range of projects. Find out more about our team.

We can help you if you are:

• developing grant applications for applied health or social care research
• applying for personal fellowships
• writing applications to national, open, peer-reviewed funding streams.

We support a broad range of people, including:

• doctors, nurses and allied health professionals
• patients and service users
• academics and NHS and social care managers.

Our priority is to support applications to NIHR research funding streams and fellowships. We also support applications to Research Councils and other open, national, peer-reviewed funding programmes. RDS South Central supports researchers based in the South Central region (Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Hampshire, Isle of Wight and Oxfordshire). If you are based elsewhere, please contact your local RDS office.

To get you started, we would highly recommend that you read through our Information Pack. This highlights some of the key issues to consider when making a research grant application. Download the Information Pack for Health and Social Care Researchers.

What you can expect from our service, and what we expect from you:

• RDS South Central Charter
• RDS South Central Standard Operating Procedure