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Collaborative Postdoctoral Fellowships Programme (CPFP) 2026

The CPFP scheme is designed to support health and social care researchers from various disciplinary backgrounds who are based in an academic setting and have a PhD or an equivalent level of research experience. The aim is to enhance research training at postdoctoral level by enabling researchers to conduct studies which tackle an identified problem in the context of health, public health or social care. 

The scheme uses a team-based funding model designed to support collaborative research by providing funding to a group of researchers working together in a common research programme. Each consortium will be led by a leadership team which will include a Lead Applicant (for the purposes of the application process) and one or two Co-Lead Applicants. Applications are invited from a collaborative team of independent investigators (and non-academic partners as appropriate) to propose an over-arching and interdisciplinary programme of research that will be delivered by recruiting three early-career postdoctoral fellows.  

We envisage that the maximum funding per grant will be approximately €1.2 million, inclusive of overheads and dependent on the level of experience of the proposed fellows.

Please note that the CPFP scheme replaces the ‘Applying Research into Policy and Practice (ARPP)’ fellowships. 

Details of this scheme:

The objectives are to:

  • Build capacity and capability at early and mid- postdoctoral level by supporting researchers from a broad range of disciplines who want to make a commitment to contribute to applied health and social care research and who have the motivation and the potential to advance on an academic path towards independent investigator status.  
  • Build on existing investments at PhD level by providing opportunities for postdoctoral level researchers to conduct applied health and social care research under the guidance of mentorship.  
  • Tackle an identified problem in the context of health, public health or social care from a variety of perspectives with a collaborative and complementary approach.  
  • Foster partnerships within and between academic institutions, service delivery organisations and/or policy and health service decision makers, as appropriate, with a view to making outputs useable and timely for translation into policy and/or practice. 

Ultimately, the fellowship programme should create more independent researchers who can competitively apply to more advanced funding schemes. 

Please note that the CPFP scheme replaces the ‘Applying Research into Policy and Practice (ARPP)’ fellowships. 

 

Who can apply?:

  • The scheme will support newly formed or existing consortia (Leadership team, co-applicants and collaborators) that show clear evidence of collaborations and partnerships. Consortia must be formed by researchers from a variety of disciplines and backgrounds, and others including non-academic stakeholders, and with different skillsets working collaboratively on research programmes that fall within the scope of the call. Non-academic stakeholders in the team can for example include knowledge users, those affected by the research outcomes such as health and social care professionals, community organisations and patients, professional organisations, or the general public. 
  • Each consortium will be led by a leadership team which will include a Lead Applicant (for the purposes of the application process) and one or two Co-Lead Applicants. The members of the leadership team will hold equal co-leadership of the postdoctoral programme. The team members must span a breadth of disciplines and professions with skills and expertise which complement one another to jointly lead the scientific and technical direction of the overall postdoctoral programme. The Lead Applicant will be the primary point of contact for the HRB and will have fiduciary responsibility for the grant. 

 

How to apply:

Applications must be completed and submitted through the HRB online Grant E-Management System (GEMS) (https://grants.hrb.ie). 

The scheme will use a two-stage application process, consisting of:

  1. Open call for Pre-application stage – where the Leadership Teams with their wider consortia apply for funding – followed by shortlisting by an international panel. 
  2. Invitation of selected Leadership Teams to submit a full application, followed by peer and public review, applicant response and panel interviews.  

Apply for this Award:

Contact us:

Dr Anne Costello 

Project Officer, Research Strategy and Funding Directorate 

Email: CPFP@hrb.ie