Health Foundation funding and opportunities in 2022

Fellowships and networks 

Harkness Fellowships in Health Care Policy and Practice  

The Harkness Fellowships aim to produce the next generation of health policy leaders in participating countries. The scheme offers a unique opportunity to spend 12 months in the United States as a Harkness Fellow in Health Care Policy and Practice. Run by the Commonwealth Fund, in collaboration with the Health Foundation and the National Institute for Health Research, fellowships are suitable for mid-career professionals, including government policymakers, academic researchers, clinical leaders, hospital and insurance managers, and journalists. The next call for applications for the 2023–24 Harkness Fellowships in Health Care Policy and Practice will be announced in Summer 2022. Find out more 

Sciana: The Health Leaders Network 

Sciana: The Health Leaders Network brings together senior health and health care leaders who share a strong commitment to shaping the future of health care landscapes, providing the space and time to share learning and take inspiration from an international context. Each cohort comprises up to 19 outstanding leaders, at least six each from Germany, Switzerland and the UK. Applications for the next round will be open at the end of 2022. Find out more 

Q community 

The Q community is an initiative connecting people who have improvement expertise across the UK. There are over 4,500 members and the community continues to grow. Q’s mission is to foster continuous and sustainable improvement in health and care, creating opportunities for people to come together to share ideas, enhance skills and collaborate to make health and care better. Opportunities to join Q are open on a continuous basis. We welcome applications from people with improvement expertise based anywhere in the UK and Ireland. Join Q

Health Anchors Learning Network 

The Health Anchors Learning Network (HALN) is a UK-wide network to enable the spread of learning on how NHS and other public organisations can fulfil their role as anchor institutions, working in partnership with other organisations in local places. Through individual and collective learning, the network will support participants to become better equipped to implement anchor strategies in practice. Colleagues from health organisations and partners including local authorities or other public agencies, voluntary and community and social enterprise (VCSE) sector or educational or housing organisations are welcome to join the network. Sign up on the HALN website

Community of Practice for Social Care Analytics 

We’re funding Future Care Capital to develop the Community of Practice for Social Care Analytics, helping to meet the urgent need for more effective data and analytics in social care. The community brings together data analysts, researchers, policymakers and other practitioners from across the private, public and charitable sectors, as well as people with lived experience of social care, with the aim of sharing ideas, building links and exchanging good practice. Find out more

THIS Institute fellowships 

From optimising bed placement in hospitals at times of pandemic to judging the safety of workarounds, THIS Institute (supported by the Health Foundation) is funding several exciting PhD fellowship opportunities. Awards of up to £276,000 are now available to universities to fund PhD research projects. Applications are encouraged from people from diverse backgrounds and from any discipline that can make a contribution to research focused on improving health care for people in the UK. Apply by 15 March 2022.   

Also watch out for opportunities for postdoctoral THIS Institute fellowships in 2022, on themes including equality and diversity research and maternity improvement. Find out more 

Funding and research opportunities 

Funding call for REAL Centre research units 

We have £14m of funding for 2022–2028 to establish two new research units that will help to further the work of the REAL Centre. The units will develop broad, potentially multi-disciplinary, research programmes across the areas of demand for and supply of health and social care and support the design and delivery of a fellowship programme. Potential units will be able to apply in Spring 2022, watch out for more information in the next few months. 

Q Exchange 

The Q community’s grant funding programme Q Exchange is jointly funded by the Health Foundation and the NHS, in partnership for digital health and care. Funding of £800,000 has been allocated for the programme in 2022. Members of the Q community can apply for up to £40k to deliver projects under the theme of Bringing together the worlds and methods of improvement and digital to enable better outcomes and faster, more sustainable change. Potential projects are developed and refined during a collaborative online process, allowing project teams to benefit from the insight and knowledge across the Q community. The next round of applications opens on Tuesday 15 February 2022. Find out more 

Independent evaluation of IMPACT

We are seeking an evaluation partner to undertake an independent evaluation of the IMProving Adult Care Together (IMPACT) Centre. This new centre for implementing evidence in adult social care is funded by the Health Foundation and Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), part of UK Research and Innovation. The evaluation will assess the overall impact of the centre against its underlying theory of change and its four primary aims. We anticipate bids of up to £400,000, inclusive of VAT and expenses. (Please note: This is a revised tender from 2020 with a new scope and increased budget). The deadline for responses is 12:00 (midday), Thursday 3 March 2022. Find out more 

Research programme: Emotional support for young people 

This year we will be launching an open call looking to fund applied research exploring emotional support for young people. Emotional support was identified as an area in need of more research during the first phase of our Young people’s future health inquiry. Emotional support is defined as the psychological resources (including empathy, caring, reassurance, and trust) that young people perceive to be available to them or that are actually provided to them, through their familial and other interpersonal relationships. More details on application, eligibility and timelines will be available on the website soon. Learn more about the Young People’s Future Health Inquiry 

Other ways to get involved  

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• Visit the website at any time to see all opportunities for funding, partnerships and fellowships currently open for application. 
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• Explore our publications and long reads and blogs. 
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This content originally featured in our email newsletter, which explores perspectives and expert opinion on a different health or health care topic each month.