Can health research policy be shaped? Lessons from the UK experience

Research in medicine and healthcare does not simply ‘develop’. The allocation of research funding and the priorities for the design and focus of health research programs, are driven by policies that are usually set at the national level. It is often assumed that research policymaking is an essentially neutral activity that is based on the identification of the key unanswered research questions in a particular branch of science. However, in reality, setting research policy is as political as setting any other kind of policy. Health research policymaking is influenced, for example, by economic forces, global competition, and scientific and technological innovation. In this article, we briefly review the international literature on the development of health research policy before introducing three real-world case studies to show how particular policies have been shaped and constrained by wider influences. We conclude by summarizing key considerations for those involved in shaping health research policy.