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October 2025 Newsletter
Date: 29 October 2025
Welcome to the Forum October 2025 Newsletter
As the days shorten and autumn really sets in, the R&D community is busier than ever. Huge thanks to everyone who managed to submit their RDF26 oral abstracts by the deadline; the conference committee is excited to see how your expertise and effort will shape our programme for next May. The focus now is on poster submissions! I love to browse the posters and see the incredible breadth of activity, so do get your thinking caps on and consider what you might be able to share…from show-stopping achievements to modest learning, if you’re proud of it, we’d all like to hear about it.
The operating environment for R&D remains challenging; there is some welcome clarity on the new NIHR RDN funding model for Trusts, though detail on the agile funding for wider delivery settings is yet to be revealed. The potential impact of planned changes to NHS England and Integrated Care Boards for research is still uncertain. However, the vital role R&D plays in supporting better health and care (and indeed, economic growth) for the UK is crystal clear, and we’ll continue to champion your brilliant work at every opportunity.
Philippa Brice
R&D Forum Trustee
Poster Submissions, Sponsorship & Exhibition, and Delegate Bookings
Thank you to all those who submitted an Oral Abstract for RDF26 – these are now under review by the Conference Programme Content Committee.
The Call for Abstracts is open for poster submissions until 14 November, inviting the UK health and care research community to share their insights, challenges, and innovations.
Delegate registration is now open, with early bird rates available.
Sponsorship and exhibition opportunities are also live, including refreshed Premier Packages and Live Lounge sessions designed to increase visibility and engagement.
RDF26 will bring together professionals from across the UK to connect, collaborate, and shape the future of research delivery.
Last Training Courses of of 2025
Don’t miss your chance to grow and make the most of the R&D Forum offering. Join us for the following courses, taking place later this year:
Essentials of Research Sponsorship
- 12 November 2025 (1 Day), Virtual
- Designed for individuals in research sponsorship (from non-commercial organisations to small companies)
Local Capacity and Capability for Research
- 14 November 2025 (1 Day), Virtual
- Designed for R&D professionals responsible for assessing, arranging and confirming local capacity and capability
View calendar for more information
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NIHR Updates
- NIHR Research Delivery Network Strategic Plan 2025-2030 and new Brochure
- How the new NIHR RDN funding model works
- Support to access to nation-wide information via your regional RDN team
- Ninth webinar in NIHR ‘PPI in Action’ webinar series Announced
- NIHR survey on Remote Methods of Trial Delivery
- Equality, diversity and inclusion in health and care research pilot
- Participant in Research Experience Survey (PRES) 2024/2025
- Celebrating Six Years of the NIHR Associate PI Scheme
HRA Update: Research transparency webinar – watch the recording
The HRA held a research transparency webinar. It focused on sharing results with participants, and the changes that researchers need to prepare for when the new clinical trials regulations come into effect on 28 April 2026.
600 people heard from speakers at the HRA, National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), and the Clinical Trials Unit at University College London about:
- the perceived barriers to sharing results with participants, and how to overcome them
- the key principles of sharing results with participants, and clarity on HRA approvals requirements
- a case study example of what good participant feedback looks like and the importance of patient and public involvement
- what you need to know about the research transparency changes to the new clinical trials regulations that will come into effect in April 2026
HRA Update: Guidance about the model Master Confidential Disclosure Agreement
Guidance is available for NHS and HSC organisations to support them in quickly acknowledging when a sponsor wants to add a new study to the model Master Confidential Disclosure Agreement (mMCDA).
After the mMCDA is signed between a commercial sponsor and NHS or HSC organisation, individual studies are added to the agreement through the notification system described in schedule 1 of the mMCDA.
Confidentiality obligations in the mMCDA only apply after:
1. the sponsor has notified the NHS or HSC organisation of the new study by completing and emailing schedule 1
and
2. the NHS or HSC organisation has acknowledged receipt of schedule 1
HRA Update: Supporting a new National Commission on the regulation of AI in healthcare
The government has launched the UK National Commission on the Regulation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Healthcare.
The Commission will be led by a committee, which will be responsible for advising the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) on a world-leading framework for the regulation of AI products. It will support the delivery of key commitments in the 10 Year Health Plan and Life Sciences Sector Plan, to modernise the NHS and boost UK health tech investment.
The HRA will work in a sub-group of the Commission alongside other regulators to support the advisory committee.
HRA Update: #StepForward and become a Research Ethics Committee (REC) member
The HRA looking for members of the public to #StepForward and bring their valuable lived experiences to help review research applications.
Their REC members meet virtually to approve exciting new research studies for some of the biggest challenges in health and social care, including cancers, diabetes and dementia.
Building Research into core NHS Business – The NHS Medium Term Planning Framework.
On Friday 24th October 2025, the NHS’s Medium Term Planning Framework was published. The Framework covers 3 years of NHS activity from 1 April 2026 through to 31 March 2029 and includes four headline actions to build research into core NHS business whilst also supporting the UK’s position as a destination for global clinical trials.
Read more about these here.
Policy Statement: Action to enhance visibility of clinical research delivery against the UK government’s commitment to reduce the set-up time for clinical trials to less than 150 days
Streamlining and reforming the set-up and delivery of all clinical trials is key to driving global investment into life sciences, improving health outcomes and accelerating the development of medicines and therapies of the future. This shared ambition requires a sustained system-wide effort for the benefit of patients, the NHS and the wider economy.
Health and Care Research Wales annual report 2024/2025
This year marks a decade of Health and Care Research Wales, celebrating major progress in embedding research across health and social care. The Welsh research community has played a vital role, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, and continues to influence policy and practice through initiatives like the Evidence Centre.
Read the report here
Research matters: enabling and sustaining a research-positive culture for nurses, midwives and allied health professionals
The Chief Nursing Officer for England’s strategic plan for research, launched in 2021, set out the ambition for the profession for “a people-centred research environment that empowers nurses to lead, participate in and deliver research, where research is fully embedded in practice and professional decision making, and brings about public benefit”. Executive Chief Nurse leadership is essential if we are to realise this ambition, and the ambitions set out in the complementary publications devoted to midwifery and the allied health professions, where research becomes every health and care professionals’ business across the NHS.
‘Research matters: enabling and sustaining a research-positive culture for nurses, midwives and allied health professionals – A guide for executive chief nurses’ has been developed as a resource for Executive Chief Nurses and their senior leadership teams. It suggests actions executive chief nurses can take to help their organisation become a research-positive healthcare organisation with research sustainably embedded in everyday practice and professional decision-making.
Viva Engage: Research Departments Forum
Thank you to Sarah Hall, Research Governance Manager at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust who has shared a Research Departments Forum that she has created on Viva Engage. Viva Engage for the NHS is a Microsoft tool that serves as a social networking platform for employees to connect, share knowledge, and build communities within the NHS mail environment. Only available to those with an nhs.net email address.
The new Viva Engage forum is dedicated to professionals working in research roles across the NHS and academic institutions. Whether you’re involved in research governance, delivery, support, or leadership, this forum is here to help you connect, collaborate, and share knowledge.
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