Research in-Practice Fellowships (RPF)

Research in-Practice Fellowships (RPF)

Supports early-career healthcare practitioners in Ireland building applied research projects with practitioner-led methods and stronger workplace impact.

⚠ This may reflect a past cycle — verify the current call on the funder's site.

The Health Research Board (HRB) Research in-Practice Fellowships (RPF) programme provides early-career bridge funding for registered health and social care practitioners in Ireland to conduct applied research while maintaining their clinical roles. The 2026 cycle closed on 13 February 2026 at 13:00, with up to ten fellowships envisaged. Each fellowship provides up to €80,000 in research costs plus salary support at up to 0.5 FTE on a pro-rata basis, with fellowship durations of 48 to 60 months — one of the HRB's longest-duration individual funding mechanisms.

Eligible applicants are practising dentists, medical doctors, nurses, midwives, pharmacists, or allied health and social care professionals registered with the National Health and Social Care Professions Office. Applicants must hold a PhD or equivalent level of research experience (minimum four years FTE at postgraduate level) and must be employed in Ireland in a clinical post, a private practice providing public care, or a joint health-academic role with no more than 0.2 FTE research component. Career-stage restrictions are explicit: applicants must not have previously received research grants of €100,000 or more, led a research team, supervised PhD or postdoctoral researchers, or been recognised as independent investigators.

The scientific scope is applied health and social care research addressing practical problems or evidence gaps across clinical research, population health, and health services research. The fellowship supports practitioners in developing an independent research track record without requiring them to leave clinical practice, making it a distinctive mechanism for building dual-identity researcher-clinician capacity in Ireland. Given that up to ten awards are available and the call is annual, applicants who missed the February 2026 deadline should monitor the HRB website for the RPF 2027 cycle, expected to open in autumn 2026. Applications are submitted via the HRB GEMS portal at grants.hrb.ie.