New funding underway for East Midlands research collaboration driving care innovation

A leading research organisation helping to transform health and social care in the East Midlands has begun a new, five-year funding tenure, enabling it to expand its work and deliver lasting benefits across the region. 

The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Applied Research Collaboration (ARC) East Midlands is one of 10 ARCs to benefit from the NIHR’s latest £157 million investment, securing £9 million over the next five years to expand its proven record of delivering impactful research.

The organisation is a partnership of health and social care universities, including the University of Leicester, industry, the voluntary sector and patients. Its new NIHR contract started on April 1, 2026. 

Over the next five years, the new funding will enable NIHR ARC East Midlands to address some of the UK’s most pressing health and social care challenges through high-quality applied research – a central focus of the NHS 10 Year Health Plan.

The organisation’s work will focus on five key themes: Multiple Long-Term Conditions, Building Resilience in Later Life, Ethnicity and Health Inequalities, Data4Health and Translation and Implementation Research. 

Under this new tenure, the NIHR ARC East Midlands will also work to translate research into practice, delivering effective interventions and innovative models of care.

This investment recognises the quality, relevance and real-world impact of the organisation’s work to date and will enable it to deepen partnerships with the NHS, local authorities and communities, expand capacity for applied health and care research and accelerate the translation of evidence into practice to address regional and national priorities.

Since 2019, the NIHR ARC East Midlands has published more than 750 papers in peer-reviewed journals, delivered nearly 130 research projects and developed more than 60 partnerships with the NHS, academic institutions and local authorities.

The organisation has supported more than 60 PhD students and more than 30 Postdoctoral Fellows, while securing more than £15.5 million in research grants to fund innovative studies with real-world impact. 

Its work has been featured in national and specialist media, including The Times, BBC News, The Independent, The Sun, News Medical Life Sciences, Ambulance Life, The Carer Weekly and Asian Voice. Explore examples of its impact. 

Professor Kamlesh Khunti, Co-Director of the NIHR ARC East Midlands and Professor of Primary Care, Diabetes and Vascular Medicine at the University of Leicester, said: “We are thrilled to have secured this new funding, which allows us to continue our work tackling the region’s most pressing health and social care challenges. 

“It is an exciting opportunity to build on our past achievements and make an even greater impact for communities across the East Midlands.”

As part of the new investment, the University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust is the new host of the NIHR ARC East Midlands, and Professor Sam Seidu, Professor in Primary Care Diabetes and Cardio-metabolic Medicine at the University of Leicester, is the new Co-Director of the organisation.  

Professor Seidu said: “I am delighted to join ARC East Midlands as Co-Director. It is a privilege to work alongside such a dedicated team, and I look forward to helping translate innovative research into practical solutions that improve health and social care across the region.”

Professor Nigel Brunskill, Honorary Consultant Nephrologist at the University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust and Professor of Renal Medicine at the University of Leicester said: “We are proud and excited to now be hosting the NIHR ARC East Midlands. 

“It will be a real joy to see the organisation grow here, bringing together clinicians, researchers and communities to deliver evidence-based innovations that make a real difference to care.” 

The NIHR ARC East Midland’s commitment to tackling health inequalities was clear from the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Within weeks of the national lockdown, Professor Khunti was among the first to identify the virus’s disproportionate impact on ethnic minority communities, with the team playing a central role in the national response.

NIHR ARC East Midlands funds vital work to tackle the region’s health and care priorities by speeding up the adoption of research onto the frontline of health and social care. The organisation puts in place evidence-based innovations which seek to drive up standards of care and save time and money.

NIHR ARC East Midlands is hosted by the University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust with the University of Leicester and the University of Nottingham, working in collaboration with Health Innovation East Midlands.