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January 2026 Newsletter
Date: 29 January 2026
Welcome to the RDF January 2026 Newsletter
Firstly, a belated happy new year to everyone, I hope you all enjoyed a well-deserved break over the holidays. As we start 2026 recharged and ready to handle the upcoming challenges this year will bring, I am sure we will do this in the collaborative nature that I know is exemplary within our community.
With the changes to the 150 days metric, upcoming implementation of the new legislation, transition to ICH GCP R3 and current financial constraints being experienced across the UK health and care research system, please remember that the various RDF working groups are here to support you. As they say “a problem shared is a problem halved” so do reach out as needed.
We have another exciting programme coming your way for RDF26. This will be on the website shortly, and we’re delighted to see bookings coming in thick and fast for this year’s conference. A reminder that early bird rates close on 31st January 2026, so please book soon to benefit.
Here’s hoping the milder weather is here to stay as the days get longer and brighter.
Shahista Hussain
RDF Trustee
The UK R&D Contacts Directory – Please Review and Update Details
The UK R&D Contacts Directory is a valuable tool that provides the contact details of all R&D offices and non-commercial sponsors across the UK. In England this also includes the associated NIHR Clinical Research Network details.
If you need to make a change, please email us at info@rdforum.org.uk and include the following information:
- Reference number of your entry
- The specific changes you require
- Your position and confirmation that you have permission to request the change
Browse the Programme and Join us for a Reduced Rate at RDF26
Delegates have already registered from NHS Trusts, ICBs, academic institutions, industry, and national bodies across all four nations for RDF26. This conference is where ideas are exchanged, challenges are explored, and relationships are built that last well beyond the event.
With the programme now live, learn about the sessions that will bring together the RDF26 community for collaboration, practical learning, and shared experience in health and care research.
Early Bird registration is open until 31 January 2026. Secure your place now and be part of the RDF26 community.
HIVE Mind Meeting – Help Needed
The RDF Hive Mind meetings take place each month for 60 minutes. We are keen this valuable forum continues and we are looking for volunteers to rotate as the Chair, alongside the current chairs. This will help secure the future of the monthly Hive Mind meeting and involvement would be estimated to chair once every quarter. There is minimal involvement needed – It is really to help the flow of the conversation during the session and bring any suggested topics to the meeting. If this is something you would be interested in doing, or if you have any further questions, please contact info@rdforum.org.uk
R&D Forum Training Courses – Tailor Your Learning
As part of our ongoing commitment to high-quality, relevant training, the R&D Forum is currently reviewing its training offer in response to upcoming regulatory changes. This work will ensure our courses continue to reflect best practice and support the evolving needs of the R&D community.
As a result, no course dates for January to March 2026 will be published. Courses will be back later in the year, once we’ve established how to best support the community with our training.
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The King’s Fund long read: Aligning research with care closer to home
In 2025, The King’s Fund asked what the shift from hospital to community could mean for research and innovation in the NHS. The King’s Fund invited people to get in touch and share their thoughts and ideas. This long read sets out what they heard and offers a menu of ideas for future action. Hopefully this will help continue the conversation and provoke further discussion on how research and innovation can be brought closer to communities and community settings in support of better, fairer health and care. Paul Roy, Chair of the R&D Forum’s Primary Care and Commissioning Working Group and research lead for the Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire (BNSSG) Integrated Care Board presented learnings at the King’s Fund workshop. The Research and Development Forum will continue to support more inclusive, community-focused research via the work of our Working Groups, Wider Health and Care and Community Working Group and Primary Care and Commissioning Working Group.
NIHR Updates
- New CRP Learning and Development Framework now available on NIHR Learn
- Register Now – Forging Your Research Pathway: Exploring Development Opportunities with NIHR and Beyond
- Research Learning Lecture series – more dates are available
HRA Update: A look back at 2025, and look ahead to 2026
Matt Westmore, has written a blog reflecting on everything the HRA have achieved in 2025, and looks ahead to an exciting 2026 for the HRA.
DHSC Terms and Conditions for NIHR RDN Support: Statement
The Department of Health and Social Care has updated its Terms and Conditions for NIHR RDN Support. All studies on the NIHR RDN portfolio must comply with the Terms and Conditions for continued receipt of RDN support. This includes RDN funding, which is partly allocated based on the volume of RDN portfolio activity that takes place at an organisation.
These changes will take effect from 5 January 2026.
A summary of the changes can be found below.
- Inclusion of a requirement that portfolio studies should acknowledge RDN support in publication.
- Inclusion of a requirement for live or near-live uploading of data by sites/ sponsors.
- Clarification that where sponsors delegate responsibility for site-level data provision to a CRO, this must be made clear in the delegated responsibility agreement.
- Updated timelines to remove studies that have achieved no recruitment within a 12-month continuous period, with reasonable exceptions.
- Acknowledgement that DHSC may instruct the RDN to withdraw support and remove commercial interventional studies from the portfolio if studies are not set up within timeframes and reasonable circumstances as set out by DHSC via the UK Clinical Research Delivery Programme.
- DHSC is implementing these changes to better enable the RDN to monitor and manage a national portfolio of health and care research across England on DHSC’s behalf, to optimise resource efficiency, and to align with expectations for faster set-up, recruitment and delivery. DHSC will work closely with the RDN to implement and monitor the impact of the changes.
We would like to thank sites and sponsors in advance for their cooperation and support around portfolio reporting, data quality and endeavours to streamline the set-up and delivery of research. Please contact Priya Ethirajan with any questions: Priya.ethirajan@nihr.ac.uk
Forging UK-wide collaboration – uniting our 4 nations
NIHR Chief Executive and DHSC Chief Scientific Adviser Professor Lucy Chappell reflects on the importance of bolstering science and research in the UK and forging strong collaboration and links across the 4 nations.
Insurance review in Phase 1 clinical trials
On 28 April 2026, new regulations for Clinical Trials will come into effect – the most significant updates in two decades. To support a smooth transition, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and the Health Research Authority (HRA) are working together to provide updated guidance and information about key changes for industry.
The joint blog sets out to clarify the insurance requirements for Phase 1 clinical trials.
Addressing Inequity: Embedding Inclusion and Diversity in UK Clinical Trials
Everybody should benefit from the advancements in care and treatments made through research with no one, or no group, unfairly excluded. This can only happen if we understand how interventions work for different groups of people. To gather this evidence, research must be representative of the people who stand to benefit from it. This article illustrates the current work in this area.
New guidance on how to disseminate research findings
Researchers from the ARC East of England, in collaboration with public advisors, have launched an innovative framework designed to support researchers, funders and practitioners to develop, implement, and evaluate effective dissemination strategies.
Reminder: Research Grant Collaboration Agreement published
A new Research Grant Collaboration Agreement has been endorsed by the Health Research Authority for use across the UK.
The contract was developed by the Research and Development Forum’s Research Contracts Group and endorsed by the Four Nations Contracting Leads.
The template contract is now available on the IRAS website.
The HRA recommend that this is used as the contract between NHS and HSC organisations, and higher education institutions, which have jointly received funding and are collaborating on a research project taking place in the NHS or HSC.
The template is designed to complement the suite of existing Brunswick agreement templates on the Association of Research Managers and Administrators (ARMA) website and model non-commercial agreement templates on the IRAS website.
If your study is being grant funded by the National Institute of Health and Care Research, there are optional clauses to choose, and alternative clauses which can be selected instead for other funders, as appropriate
RDF Resource Exchange
Resources from The Research and Development Forum are there to support health and care research in the UK.
Browse the Resources available to the RDF here.
Contacting The Research and Development Forum
As a reminder, should you need to contact the Forum the best way is via email which is info@rdforum.org.uk