Learning from the Partnership Literature: Implications for UK University/National Health Service Relationships and for Research Administrators Supporting Applied Health Research

The Department of Health in England released a new health research strategy in 2006 with far-reaching implications for both health research and research management. The explicit policy shift is towards centres of excellence and away from historical block allocations of funding to National Health Service (NHS) healthcare organisations--with these replaced by new nationally competitive funding streams. Academic researchers wishing to access these new and rich funding sources need to work more closely with healthcare providers, as grants money will be paid through the NHS. As a result, the NHS needs to develop pre- and post- award skills in addition to its traditional governance role in research management. This has led some institutions to propose joint research support offices between themselves and the NHS. This paper explores the issues raised by these developments, concentrating on the predictors for success (or failure) of these proposed new institutional arrangements as identified in the partnership literature. Implications for research management are also discussed. (Contains 3 figures.)