HSC R&D Division supports two Clinical Research Facilities in Northern Ireland. These are dedicated and purpose built facilities with specialist clinical research and support staff, conducting commercial and non-commercial experimental medicine studies.
Northern Ireland Clinical Research Facility
The Wellcome Trust-Wolfson Northern Ireland Clinical Research Facility (NICRF) is a joint venture between Health and Social Care, Queens University and the University of Ulster. It was established in 2013 with funding from the Wellcome Trust and Wolfson Foundation, as well as support from HSC R&D Division and provides state-of-the-art facilities to support clinical research in Northern Ireland.
The NICRF is available to all researchers from all multi-disciplinary backgrounds.
If you wish to conduct your research in the facility, early contact with the NICRF is advisable. Details on how to make an application can be found on the NICRF website.
The NICRF is located in Belfast City Hospital. To see a current list of CRF facilities please click here>
Clinical Translational Research and Innovation Centre
The Clinical Translational Research & Innovation Centre is a state-of-the-art clinical research facility (CRF), and not-for-profit company based on the Altnagelvin Hospital site in Derry~Londonderry, Northern Ireland. It is part of the UKCRF network of 54 clinical research facilities across the UK and Ireland.
C-TRIC is a regional asset that facilitates collaboration between universities and life and health science companies with the NHS, enabling clinical research aimed at improving patient care in our community. C-TRIC’s unique infrastructure and situation on a major acute hospital campus (Altnagelvin Hospital) optimise the potential for high quality clinical research including clinical trials across a broad range of clinical specialties.
Key support staff in C-TRIC facilitate clinical research and innovation, enabling the streamlining of developments from the laboratory to the market place through a focused ‘bench to point of care’ approach. This focused activity will create commercial opportunities to develop and exploit partnerships between academic researcher, clinical practitioner and industry.