UK Health Research Analysis 2014

Key Links

Aims of the 2014 analysis

The UK Health Research Analysis 2014 replicated and enhanced the data collection and analysis process used in previous reports. These changes included:

Wider Participation – The number of funders participating in the analysis increased from the original 12 to 64 charitable and public funders of health research.
Improved Infrastructure Assessment – The process to record and assess indirect supportive funding was updated to allow easier data submission and more consistent definition of indirect funding. This includes capital funding, infrastructure, personal awards and other similar funds that support researchers and the capacity for performing health research.
Increased Reliability – Coding verification procedures were applied to 30 per cent of the dataset, consisting of over 17,000 awards.
Greater Data Availability – A full dataset, including titles and abstracts, was released allow for follow up analysis and further investigations.

Together these changes provide the most comprehensive overview of non-commercial health research funding in the UK to date.

UK Health Research Analysis 2014 publications

The UK Health Research Analysis was released on the 20th of August 2015, consisting of the following files:

For more details on the use of this dataset, and access to the previous analysis datasets (04/05, 09/10), visit our data pages.

Further developments following the 2014 analysis

In addition dissemination activities relating to this report, including further analysis and re-use of the dataset, are referenced in a dedicated news page.

If you have any questions regarding the UK Health Research Analysis 2014, please contact us.

Data Submission Guidelines

This section of the website contains the information required to complete and submit a dataset for the UK Health Research Analysis 2014. We hope that access to this information will help not only as a reference for the 2014 analysis but also to help those interested in replicating this type of analysis to develop a reliable method for data collection and assessment.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

This gives a general background to how and why the report is being made, including some explanations about the process of coding, data collection, quality control and analysis. This is the best place to start for newcomers to the HRCS reporting process.

Data Entry Spreadsheet (xlsx)

This template excel spreadsheet was provided to all participating funders to submit their data. Collecting data in this standardised format allowed for a speedier merging of data into a combined ‘all funder’ dataset for the main analysis.

Guidelines for Dataset Submission

This gives specific instructions and guidance for producing a dataset for the 2014 analysis. A similar document was produced for the 2009/10 analysis.

Data Usage and Publicity Statement

The HRCS itself is open source and available to all to use (following certain conditions, see our conditions of use page for more details). However the individual funder data remains property of the original funders who provided the information for the analysis.

The Data Usage and Publicity document contains some specifics about how the data collected for the analysis was stored, who owns it, who can access it, and how any subsequent analysis using the datasets must acknowledge the report.

Note: During the development of the 2014 analysis, and following discussions at HRAF regarding the involvement of UberResearch, the project plan was modified from its original intention. As such the MRC and UberResearch published a summary of the changes notice (January 2015) to clarify the role of UberResearch in the project and the implications on data usage / publicity.

List of 64 participating funding organisations

Action Medical Research
Action on Hearing Loss
Alcohol Research UK
Alzheimer’s Research UK
Alzheimer’s Society
Arthritis Research UK^*
Arts and Humanities Research Council^#
Asthma UK
Ataxia UK
BACP Research Foundation
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council^*
Breakthrough Breast Cancer
Breast Cancer Campaign
British Heart Foundation^*
British Lung Foundation
Cancer Research UK^*
Chest, Heart & Stroke Scotland
Chief Scientist Office (Scotland)^*
Children with Cancer UK
CORE
Department of Health (England)^*
Diabetes UK
Division for Social Care and Health Research (Wales)^*
Economic and Social Research Council^*
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council^*
Epilepsy Research UK
Fight for Sight
Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity
Guy’s & St Thomas’ Charity
Health and Social Care Division of Public Health Agency, Northern Ireland^*
Innovate UK^#
Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation
Kidney Research UK
Kids Kidney Research
Macular Society
Marie Curie
Medical Research Council^*
Medical Research Scotland
Meningitis Now
Meningitis Research Foundation
Motor Neurone Disease Association
MQ: Transforming Mental Health
Multiple Sclerosis Society
National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research^#
Natural Environment Research Council^#
Northern Ireland Chest, Heart & Stroke
Orthopaedic Research UK
Pancreatic Cancer UK
Parkinson’s UK
Pharmacy Research UK
Prostate Cancer UK
Royal Hospital for Neuro-disability
Sarcoma UK
SPARKS
Stroke Association
Tenovus Cancer Care
The Brain Tumour Charity
The British Pain Society
The Dunhill Medical Trust
The Lullaby Trust
Wellcome Trust^*
World Cancer Research Fund
Worldwide Cancer Research
Yorkshire Cancer Research

^* = Part of the Health Research Analysis Forum and participated in previous analyses
^# = New public funder in 2014
The remaining 48 are medium/small medical charities who are members of the AMRC

HRCS ONLINE