The Nepal Injury Research Centre (NIRC) was established in 2017 with funding from the UK National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Global Health Research Programme. A partnership was created between Kathmandu Medical College (KMC) and the University of the West of England, Bristol (UWE) in the UK. The aim of the partnership was to generate research capacity and to better understand the epidemiology of injuries in Nepal, providing evidence to prevent injury events and improve the first response to injuries. The NIRC is based within the Department of Community Medicine, at Kathmandu Medical College Duwakot Campus. During our initial funding collaborators included Mother and Infant Research Activities (MIRA), the Nepal Red Cross Society, Swatantrata Abhiyan, Safe Crossings, the Centre for injury Prevention Research Bangladesh, and the University of Bristol, UK.

In 2022 the NIRC received further core funding from the NIHR Global Health Research Programme, through their Health Policy and Systems Research award scheme. Between 2022 and 2026 we will be focussing on improving road safety (A safe systems approach to enabling traffic injury prevention in Nepal, SafeTrip Nepal). Collaborators on this award include MIRA and Safe and Sustainable Travel Nepal (SSTN).