Over a number of years, the Health & Social Care (HSC) R&D Office worked with the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety (DHSSPS) and the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NIRSA) to generate a database of information which can help inform the development of public health policy. The NILS was launched in December 2006. The R&D Office has provided ongoing funding for both the set up and running costs of the NILS.

NISRA has taken the technical lead in the creation of NILS and will continue to house and maintain the dataset, ensuring appropriate structures and systems are in place to maintain the integrity and security of the dataset.

The NILS is a large-scale data linkage study which has been created by linking administrative and statistical data. The Study is designed for statistical and research uses only and is managed under Census legislation. Information is linked over time on people from Census, vital events and health registration datasets. Data sources include 2001 Census data, birth and death registrations and demographic data derived from health registrations.

The NILS is useful for longitudinal and cross-sectional studies of census and event data. It includes linked data on:

• Information from the 2001 Census which includes data on occupation, economic activity, housing, ethnicity, health, age, sex, marital status and education.
• Demographic data derived from health registrations.
• Event data on births and deaths, fertility, mortality, morbidity and migration.
• Geographical information.

HSC R&D Office funding opportunities
In 2007, the R&D Office in conjunction with the Economic & Social Research Council (ESRC) provided a funding opportunity for a series of research projects to utilise the NILS dataset and support public health policy. A list of the successful projects is available here.

Whilst the R&D Office does not plan at present to run a further funding scheme dedicated to NILS, applicants may apply to future R&D Office funding opportunities, for example commissioned research calls, and include research using NILS as part of the application.

NILS Research Support Unit
A NILS Research Support Unit is being established. For further information, please contact the NILS Support Team at NISRA.

NILS User Forum
A NILS User Forum is also being established, with support from the R&D Office. For further information, please contact the NILS Support Team.

The North/South Pharmacy Healthcare Conference has been organised by a number of pharmacy bodies to bring together pharmacists from all over Ireland and in all spheres of the profession to allow the exchange of ideas and to encourage networking.

The Small Grant Scheme is intended to provide opportunities for researchers to begin the aquisition of grants. It is targeted at those professions starting from a low R&D base and is in recognition of the funding gap that exists for these groups at postdoctoral level. This scheme was run for the first time in 2003 and resulted in five grants being awarded.

Successful Applicants 2005/ Small Grants Scheme – Guidance/ Successful Projects Annual Progress Report/ Final Progress Report