University of Birmingham academic appointed Chair of NIHR Programme Funding Committee

In a prestigious national role, Professor Richard Riley will oversee the committee responsible for reviewing applications to the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR)’s Researcher-Led Evidence Synthesis Programme (ESP) funding stream, which supports high-quality, impactful evidence syntheses addressing important questions for clinical practice, policy, and patient care.

The NIHR ESP plays a vital role in ensuring that health and care decisions are informed by robust, transparent, and methodologically rigorous evidence reviews. The researcher-led stream invites applicants to propose evidence syntheses that address key gaps in knowledge and support improved outcomes across the health and care system.

As Chair, Professor Richard Riley will provide academic leadership and strategic direction across several core areas of the programme, including:

• Chairing funding committee meetings and leading the Deputy Chair and committee members to ensure effective assessment of funding applications.
• Working with the programme secretariat to maintain a balanced committee membership with the right breadth of expertise.
• Guiding the strategic remit of the ESP, ensuring alignment with UK government strategies and wider national research priorities.
• Supporting stakeholder engagement, helping strengthen partnerships across research, policy, and practice communities.
• Championing patient and public involvement (PPI) as a core value across all ESP activities.
• Promoting research inclusion, challenging practices or decisions that do not reflect equitable research principles.
• Chairing monitoring review meetings with funded project teams when required, supporting strong project delivery in the absence of the Programme Director.

Reflecting on the appointment, Professor Riley said: “I am very much looking forward to supporting NIHR in this role and ensuring the funding of clinically impactful reviews with a strong methodological foundation.”

Professor Riley is a Professor of Biostatistics within the University’s Department of Applied Health Sciences, and also an NIHR Senior Investigator and Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences. He brings more than 25 years of experience in both applied and methodological evidence synthesis research, with particular expertise in statistical methods for meta-analysis. His role as Chair is due to begin from 1 April 2026 for an initial three-year term. Applications to the researcher-led scheme are open until 18th May 2026.