National Centre for Remote and Rural Health and Care: Information Hub

If you work within primary care in one of Scotland’s rural or remote areas¹ then you could be eligible for research and evaluation funding from the National Centre for Remote and Rural Health and Care. The Centre has been able to identify funding to support NHS primary care practitioners² who wish to carry out research or evaluation activities pertinent to remote and rural health and care in Scotland. Applications for funding are invited for 2024/25 and this is offered without commitment or setting precedent for future years. 

To be eligible, you must work within primary care that is located within and/or serves a rural or remote area in Scotland. We anticipate that each individual application will be for no more than £5,000. You must be able to demonstrate that the work or activity will result in either/both of the following benefits: 

1.  Makes a contribution to the evidence-base for remote, rural, and island health and care research or evaluation.
2. Increases your professional development as a remote, rural or island primary care practitioner. 

Funding applications will be considered for: 

1. Postgraduate research e.g., Masters, PhD, EdD etc. 
2. Other professional development work where it can be shown to contribute to post-graduate level remote, rural, and island research and/or evaluation.
3. Publication costs, e.g. journal articles, open access articles etc. 

• The applicant must be a Primary Care practitioner living and/or working in a remote, rural or island area. 

• The research / evaluation should be aligned to NES’ strategic vision and values. 

• The research / evaluation should match the aims and objectives of the National Centre for Remote and Rural Health and Care. 

• The research / evaluation (or part thereof being applied for) must not have received financial support from any other source. 

• The research / evaluation should have a clear and identifiable focus on remote, rural, or island health and care in Scotland. 

• The research / evaluation can be shown to meet one or both of the benefits identified above. 

• The research / evaluation should meet one or more of our themes as detailed in the table below. 

Applications for funding should be submitted via our online application Form. Please make sure you have completed all sections of the form and included evidence of the amount being requested where appropriate (pro-forma, receipt, invoice etc.). Failure to include this may result in your application being disregarded. 

The Funding Selection Panel will use the agreed selection criteria to review and score each application. They will then discuss final scorings at the next available panel review meeting (see below for dates) and all applicants will be notified of the outcome within five working days of the review meeting.

The final deadline for submissions is 1^st March 2025, or on the allocation of all available funding – whichever occurs first so early application is encouraged.

If you have any questions or would like to discuss your idea with us before submission please contact Prof. Sarah-Anne Munoz sarah-anne.munoz@nhs.scot

Panel Review Meetings

Three panel review meetings are scheduled throughout the year for panel members to review applications and agree on outcome decisions. These meetings are provisionally set for the following dates, but are subject to change according to service need:

1. Wednesday 28th August 2024 (rescheduled from Thursday 1^st August 2024)
2. Wednesday 13^th November 2024
3. Wednesday 5^th March 2025

Terms and Conditions of Award

Applicants agree to the following terms and conditions in the event of their application being awarded funding: