Independence of research

This strategy outlines how our research is funded and how independence from industry funding is maintained. It also covers the department's policy on consultancies, honoraria or other personal benefits.

Research funding

Oxford Population Health (the Nuffield Department of Population Health) is a medical research and teaching department within the University of Oxford’s Medical Sciences Division, with a focus on the causes, prevention and treatment of premature death and disability worldwide. It employs around 600 people, including clinicians, statisticians, social scientists, other researchers, IT and other research support staff. Many of its scientists are world-leading experts in their field and collaborate extensively with other researchers around the world.

Research at Oxford Population Health is funded in a number of ways. Much of the funding is peer-reviewed, which involves other experts independently assessing the Department’s planned research. Such support is provided by a number of government institutions and charities, including the Medical Research Council, National Institute for Health and Care Research, Department of Health and Social Care, British Heart Foundation, Cancer Research UK and Wellcome. In addition, funding is obtained from healthcare companies, particularly for large studies of the treatment and prevention of disease. The department's research is conducted independently of the funding sources.

After completion of Oxford Population Health's studies, reports of their results are written (without restrictions by the funders) and submitted to general or specialist journals, where they typically undergo peer-review before publication. Oxford Population Health staff publish nearly 1000 papers per year. Every five years or so, an assessment of University-based research that is used to determine the distribution of government research funding to universities is undertaken. The most recent assessment in 2021 found that 96% of the research submitted with research from the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences was ranked either 4* (world-leading in terms of originality, significance and rigour) or 3* (internationally excellent in terms of originality, significance and rigour).

Maintaining independence from industry funding

Oxford Population Health aims to address important health questions which can sometimes require very large studies to produce reliable findings. In the case of common life-threatening illnesses (such as heart disease, stroke and cancer), even small advances in prevention and treatment can help to avoid thousands of premature deaths and much disability worldwide.

The conduct of clinical trials that involve many thousands of participants, often in multiple countries around the world, requires a substantial research effort and can be very expensive. Given the costs involved, industry funding and provision of study drugs help to ensure that clinical trials can be of sufficient size and scope to assess the safety and efficacy of treatments reliably. Likewise, large-scale observational studies of the associations of risk factors with disease may well require substantial investment in genetic and other assays by industry in order to unlock scientifically important data for population health research.

Oxford Population Health staff decide what studies in which to be involved for scientific reasons and then seek government, charity and/or industry research funding to cover the costs. For example, the department's researchers have taken a lead in clarifying the relevance of cholesterol to the risk of cardiovascular disease, and then assessing the impact of lowering cholesterol levels with statin therapy. In the case of the Heart Protection Study, it took several years to obtain the funding, with half coming from the Medical Research Council (government) and the British Heart Foundation (charity), one quarter from Merck (manufacturer of simvastatin) and one quarter from Roche (manufacturer of vitamins E, C and beta-carotene). That trial showed statin therapy reduces the risk of heart attacks and strokes safely for a wide range of patients at high risk of such events, but the vitamins produced no benefit. Both results were reported prominently by researchers independently of all of the funders.

All of the department's research that receives industry funding is governed by University of Oxford contracts which protect the independence of study design, conduct, analysis, interpretation and reporting. Oxford Population Health (not the funders) controls the databases, and controls the analyses and interpretation of its studies, with no restrictions from funders on what is reported.

The department does not engage in activities that pose or appear to pose a conflict of interest. In particular, Oxford Population Health would not accept funding for research from tobacco or alcohol companies, and has carefully limited engagement with food and nutrition companies.

Policy on consultancies, honoraria or other personal benefits

Acceptance of Honoraria Payments and Participation in Industry Meetings

Honoraria are payments made for activities notionally provided without charge. Staff may accept honoraria payments, but care should be taken to ensure that the source of the funding does not raise conflict of interest issues. (For example, funding from a potentially conflicted source may be made to appear legitimate by channeling it through a University.)

Oxford Population Health has an explicit policy of not accepting any personal honoraria payments directly or indirectly from the pharmaceutical and food industries. It only seeks reimbursement to the University of Oxford for the costs of travel and accommodation to participate in scientific meetings. This approach is intended to help ensure that decisions to give lectures or advice are determined by the scientific value of doing so, and not by personal financial gain.

Invitations from pharmaceutical or food companies to participate in meetings should be considered carefully to ensure they are scientifically legitimate, or that a specific scientific interest of the department would be served by acceptance. If not, such invitations should be declined.

Consultancy agreements

The University’s view is that consultancy can be an important means by which staff make their knowledge and expertise available to government, public sector organisations, community groups and business. Any consultancy activity by staff must be approved by both the Head of Group and the Head of Department. It must fulfil the following criteria:

The purpose of the consultancy should be clearly stated.
It should not pose or appear to cause a conflict of interest.
No payments directly or indirectly from pharmaceutical or food companies.
It should be limited to provision of advice and assistance, and not include undertaking of substantial research for external bodies (which should be funded by a research grant).

Anyone considering any paid activity outside the department should first discuss it with their line manager and Head of Group. In addition, any external activities leading to consultancies, should be reviewed by Oxford University Consulting, which will carry out due diligence checks to ensure compliance with relevant University ethics and funding policies.

Please see the relevant University guidance on outside appointments, including consultancy agreements.

Investments

It is recognised that pensions are based on investments in companies over which staff have no control. However, it is recommended that staff do not hold shares directly in tobacco companies, or in pharmaceutical, biotechnology or food companies that might be affected by research or publications in which they are involved or by their public statements.

If in doubt about any of these issues, staff are encouraged to discuss these with their line manager or with members of the department’s HR team.

Related policies

Commercial funding received

Commercial funding received by the Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford

Project Name	Sponsor	From	To	Award (£000s)	Additional info
3-C trial of transplant rejection	Novartis Pharmaceuticals UK Ltd	2009	2017	350
A multicenter international randomized double-blind placebo-controlled clinical trial of the aldosterone synthase inhibitor BI 690517 in patients with chronic kidney disease treated with empagliflozin	Boehringer Ingelheim International GmbH	2023	2032	216,237
ACE trial of acarbose	Bayer Plc	2008	2022	135	*
Africa Oxford (AfOx) Catalyst Grant	Mastercard	2022	1905	10	*
An observational study of a multi-cancer early detection test (MCED) in individuals presenting with signs and symptoms of cancer in England	GRAIL Bio UK Ltd	2021	2026	70	*
ASCEND PLUS	Novo Nordisk A/S	2021	2029	3,000	Plus drug supply
ASCEND PLUS: A Study of Cardiovascular Events iN Diabetes	Novo Nordisk A/S	2021	2029	36,432	Plus drug supply
ASCEND trial of aspirin and fish oils	Bayer HealthCare LLC - USA	2004	2013	53	Plus drug supply
ASCEND trial of aspirin and fish oils	Bayer AG	2004	2017	1,826
ASCEND trial of aspirin and fish oils	Solvay Pharmaceuticals GmbH	2004	2013	584
ASCEND trial of aspirin and fish oils	Abbott Product Operations AG	2004	2017	1,532
Assessing the potential for SenseCam to fight the current global health crises of increasing obesity and physical inactivity	Microsoft Research Ltd	2010	2013	69
ATLAS trial of tamoxifen duration	AstraZeneca UK Ltd	2001	2018	508
BDI-Novartis Collaboration for AI in Medicine	Novartis Pharma AG Switzerland	2018	2027	404	*
BEST-D pilot trial of vitamin D	Tishcon	2012	2014	0	Drug supply only
BREXOME - rare variants in breast cancer	Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc	2020	2026	107
Burden of Antimicrobial Resistance and Antibiotic Treatment Failure in Low-, Middle- and High-Income Countries (BALANCE) & Burden of antibiotic resistance in neonates from developing societies (BARNARDS) II	Ineos Group Limited	2021	2031	144	*
Can wearables improve the prediction of all-cause mortality, cardiovascular disease, and cancer in UK Biobank?	Swiss Re Ltd	2022	2026	645
Characterize the carriers of predicted loss-of –function variants in chymase	Bayer AG	2019	2021	297
Chinese case Control Study	AstraZeneca AB	2004	2015	154	Plus drug supply
Development and validation of technology enabled, quantitative and sensitive measures of functional decline in people with early stage Alzheimer’s Disease.	Janssen Pharmaceutica NV	2022	2023	85
Development of Digital Biomarkers for Dementia	Roche Diagnostics International AG	2016	2022	477
Development of Digital Biomarkers for Dementia.	Eli Lilly and Company USA	2016	2022	600
Device-measured physical activity in EMPA-ASi HFpEF trial	Boehringer Ingelheim International GmbH	2024	2028	378
Device-measured physical activity in EMPA-ASi HFrEF trial	Boehringer Ingelheim International GmbH	2025	2029	489
Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy Treatment with Dorsal Root Ganglion Stimulation a Randomised Controlled Trial	St Jude Medical Europe Inc	2018	2020	52	*
DNA EXTRACTION AND GENOTYPING IN CKB	GSK Research & Development Ltd	2011	2015	2,465
DOCTOR REFERRAL OF OVERWEIGHT PEOPLE TO LOW ENERGY TREATMENTS	Cambridge World Heritage Centre Ltd	2015	2020	35	*
DYNAMIC CONSENT USCF	Oxford University Innovation Ltd	2015	2017	28
Economic Analysis ofExenatide Versus Placebo in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes and Inadequate Glycemic Control with Diet Alone, or Therapy with one, two or three Oral An tihyperglycemic Agents (EXSCEL)	Amylin Pharmaceuticals Inc	2009	2022	473	*
Elinogrel feasibility trial	Novartis	2010	2011	500
Estimating acceptable non-inferiority margins for antibioti stewardship interventions using discrete choice experiments	Mars Petcare UK	2021	2024	25
FOXFIRE trial of chemotherapy with or without radioembolisation for bowel cancer that has spread to the liver	Sirtex Technology Pty Ltd	2009	2017	228	*
FUWAI RESEARCH FACILITY	Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC	2010	2024	1,111
Heart Protection Study follow-up studies	Merck: £1.2M; GlaxoSmithKline: $400K; Liposcience: £50K	2003	2010	1,650
HPS 4/TIMI 65 - ORION-4.	Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation	2017	2030	85,399
HPS2	Merck & Co Inc	2005	2015	52,196
Investigation of proteomics in the China Kadoorie Biobank	Novo Nordisk Ltd	2021	2022	341
IRIS Initiative Phase II - Genome sequencing	Merck Sharp & Dohme (UK) Ltd	2023	2027	856
Large-scale multi-omics assays in China Kadoorie Biobank	Bayer AG	2020	2025	1,577
LENS trial in Non-proliferative retinopathy in Scotland	Mylan: free drug supply only	2016	2022	0	Drug supply only
Leveraging Large Scale Biobanks to Investigate Digital Biomarkers for the Early Identification of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease	GSK Research & Development Ltd	2025	2028	681
MaatHRI Project (Ultromics)	Ultromics Limited	2018	2022	79
Measuring sleep characteristics using machine learning in wearable datasets.	Novo Nordisk A/S	2020	(blank)	135
Mexico City Prospective Study - Amended and Restated Research Collaboration Agreement (Regeneron)	Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc	2021	2029	1,780
Mexico City Prospective Study - Amended and Restated Research Collaboration Agreement (Astrazeneca)	AstraZeneca UK Ltd	2021	2029	1,809
NAVIGATOR - HEALTH ECONOMICS PAPER	Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation	2013	2014	15	*
Next generation sequencing analysis - a clinical study	Life Technologies Corporation	2011	2014	125	*
NN-BDI Partnership: Integration of medical imaging and genetic data using machine learning for identification of micro and macro vascular disease targets	Novo Nordisk A/S	2021	2026	1,154	*
NN-Big Data Partnership: Using data from wearable devices to identify novel targets for cardiometabolic disease (obesity, T2DM, NAFLD, & heart failure)	Novo Nordisk A/S	2021	2025	1,052	*
Non invasive rapid assessment of liver disease using magnetic resonance	Perspectum Ltd	2016	2019	273	*
Novartis EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Healthcare Data Science DPhil Studentship	Novartis Pharma AG Switzerland	2024	2028	160
Novo Nordisk Fellowship Programme Renewal	Novo Nordisk A/S	2021	2034	460	*
Novo-Nordisk Postdoctoral Fellowship Programme	Novo Nordisk A/S	2013	2025	217	*
ORION-17	Novartis Pharma AG Switzerland	2020	2023	1,059
Oxford-GSK Institute of Molecular & Computational Medicine	GSK Research & Development Ltd	2021	2028	263	*
Oxford-GSK Study of COPD Using CKB Data	GSK Research & Development Ltd	2012	2015	1,110
Oxford-Janssen Human Genomics Fellowship Programme	Janssen Biotech	2020	2025	30
OxPod - Podium Institute	Podium Analytics	2021	2027	31	*
Pharmacogenomic analysis of the Heart Protection Study using a CAD polygenic risk score	Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc	2020	2026	143
PROCARDIS genetic study	AstraZeneca: £1.7M	1998	2011	1,700
Randomized EValuation of the Effects of Anacetrapib through Lipid-modification (REVEAL)	Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC	2010	2022	108,110
Second Heart Protection Study (SEARCH)	Merck & Co Inc	1997	2009	22,727	Plus drug supply
SHARP	Merck & Co Inc	2001	2017	39,617	Plus drug supply
SHARP 3	Boehringer Ingelheim International GmbH	2022	2023	1,809
SHARP-2 EMPRESS.	Boehringer Ingelheim International GmbH	2017	2029	106,252
Small open reading frames in drug discovery: from genetics to mechanisms to new therapies	Novo Nordisk A/S	2022	2026	48	*
STICS (STATIN THERAPY IN CARDIAC SURGERY) ASTRAZENECA GRANT	AstraZeneca UK Ltd	2011	2016	61
TECOS Trial Evaluating Cardiovascular Outcomes with Sitagliptin	Merck & Co Inc	2008	2023	140	*
The 3C Study - CAMPATH	John Wyeth & Brother Limited	2009	2017	530
THE ECONOMIC BURDEN OF MALIGNANT NEOPLASMS IN THE EU	Pfizer Ltd	2011	2012	37
The Oxford Participation & Activities Questionnaire (Ox-PAQ): Phase 2 Study Protocol - Actelion unrestricted grant	Actelion Pharmaceuticals Ltd	2015	2016	58
The Oxford-Novartis Collaboration for AI in Medicine	Novartis Pharma AG Switzerland	2024	2027	322	*
Therapies for Influenza	Oxon Epidemiology Limited	2019	2023	77
Thrombotic Microangiopathy associated Pregnancy Acute Kidney Injury in the United Kingdom: Incidence, Outcomes and Risk Factors	Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc.	2021	2022	32
UK HEART AND RENAL PROTECTION (UK-HARP)-III: LCZ696 IN PATIENTS WITH CHRONIC KIDNEY DISEASE: A PILOT STUDY	Novartis Pharma AG Switzerland	2013	2018	2,574
USING HUMAN GENETICS TO VALIDATE THERAPEUTIC TARGETS RELATED TO CLINICAL MEASURES AND RISK FOR CARDIOVASCULAR EVENTS	Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC	2012	2014	214
Using Whole Genome Sequencing Datasets to Identify Novel Disease Genes and Mechanisms.	GSK Research & Development Ltd	2020	2024	317	*

Updated on 19-May-26

* Funds received by Nuffield Department of Population Health for collaborative research projects led by other Institutions or Oxford University departments

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