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NIHR Clinical Research Facility: Sheffield

Providing excellence in clinical research delivery

The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Clinical Research Facility (CRF): Sheffield is part of the NIHR and hosted by Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in partnership with the University of Sheffield.

The NIHR funds, enables and delivers world-leading health and social care research that improves people’s health and wellbeing and promotes economic growth.

NIHR Clinical Research Facilities (CRFs) are purpose-built facilities in NHS hospitals where researchers can conduct studies. The NIHR has awarded £161 million over 5 years to 28 CRF facilities across England, to support early-phase and complex studies.

In 2022, the NIHR CRF: Sheffield was awarded £7.9m in funding which will support the development and testing of new treatments for diseases, many of which currently have no cure. This funding award covers 2022 to 2029.

Read more about the NIHR CRF: Sheffield and the work we do

It's our 20th birthday!

Celebrating 20 years of research excellence

This month, our Clinical Research Facility (CRF) is celebrating its 20th birthday, marking two decades of supporting world-class clinical research and improving patient care.

Since opening on 2 September 2006 and welcoming our first patients shortly afterwards, our CRF has supported more than 49,000 patients and research participants. Over the last 20 years, research delivered within the facility has contributed to life-changing outcomes across a wide range of health conditions, helping to develop new treatments, improve standards of care and shape the future of healthcare.

The success of the CRF is reflected not only in research achievements, but also in the experiences of those who take part in studies, with participants consistently rating their care and experience within the Sheffield CRF as excellent.

For more details visit our news and events page.

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The NIHR is 20!

It's the NIHR's 20th anniversary! Since 2006 the NIHR has been driving life-changing research for the health and wealth of the nation - funded by the public, for the public.

For NIHR20, we are celebrating the impact we have made. We will be marking some of our most significant past achievements, reflecting on shared successes with our partners and extraordinary research community, and looking forward to the future.

For more details see the NIHR website.

News & events

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Drug discovered by Sheffield scientists joins world's largest Parkinson's trial

An existing liver drug identified as a key target to slow or halt Parkinson’s is being included in the world's largest trial of treatments for the condition.

This comes after researchers at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and the University of Sheffield discovered ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) as having considerable promise to improve mitochondrial function, known as the cell’s power plants, in Parkinson’s disease and by doing so slow the progression of this currently relentlessly progressive disease.

UDCA was identified as a potential new avenue for treatment of Parkinson's following groundbreaking University of Sheffield-led research which screened an entire drug library in Parkinson’s patient tissue samples for the first time. The initial drug screen was funded by Parkinson’s UK.

(November 2026)