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).