Past Funding Calls 2025

Funding

Listed below are some of the Past Funding Calls (mainly grants) ending in 2025 that have been available to companies in UK healthcare.

Past funding calls ending in 2024 can be found here.

Future and Current Funding Calls can be found here.

For more information, please contact us.

Public Health Research Programme Rapid Funding Scheme

Funder: NIHR

Open

Closed: 27 December 2025

Sector: Healthcare

The Public Health Research (PHR) Programme funds research to generate evidence to inform the delivery of non-NHS interventions, intended to improve the health of the public, and reduce inequalities in health.

Proposals submitted to the RFS will

make a convincing case of the urgency to undertake the research and justify why the data collection needs to start within a timescale which can’t be accommodated by the programme’s normal research commissioning processes, taking advantage of an unanticipated, time limited, natural experiment opportunity
be clear why the work could not have been proposed earlier
meet the remit of the PHR programme, with a view to generate evidence to inform the delivery of non-NHS interventions
lead to the submission of a proposal for a full evaluation, which would generate research findings that are generalisable and have clear utility for public health decision makers with the potential to change practice
be deliverable for a total cost £50,000 or less
be for a duration of six months or less
be for base line data collection or urgent feasibility work
have a study team established and ready to start work if the application is successful

More information here.

Research Programme for Social Care (RPSC)

Funder: NIHR

Opened: 3 September 2025

Closed: 1pm, 10 December 2025

Sector: Social Care

This scheme funds research that generates evidence to increase the effectiveness of social care services, provides value for money and benefits people who need or use social care services, and carers.

RPSC welcomes high-quality proposals that are focused on but not limited to:

Primary, secondary and evidence synthesis research, including qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods designs
Studies of social care needs, circumstances and relevant outcomes related to adults, children or young people who need or use social care and carers, including studies of inequalities in any of these domains
Evaluation of existing or new social care services, addressing their effectiveness, cost-effectiveness and distributional consequences
Effectiveness and cost-effectiveness evaluations of interventions, including adaptations or refinements of existing interventions/technologies
Feasibility, pilot and definitive trials
Research examining consequences for social care users of provision of other services (e.g., health, education, criminal justice, family courts, housing, benefits)
Studies that involve secondary data analysis or record linkage
Systematic or other reviews of evidence
Research on approaches to support and strengthen the social care workforce.

More information here.

Biomedical Catalyst 2025: Industry led R&D small projects

Funder: Innovate UK

Opened: 10 November 2025

Closed: 11am, 10 December 2025

Sector: Healthcare & Life Sciences

UK registered micro, small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) can apply for a share of up to £25 million for the development of innovative solutions to health and healthcare challenges.

The aim of this industry led R&D competition is to support micro, small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) to develop innovative solutions to address health, and healthcare, challenges.

Your proposal can focus on:

disease prevention and proactive management of health and chronic conditions
earlier and better detection and diagnosis of disease, leading to better patient outcomes
tailored treatments that either change the underlying disease or offer potential cures
transforming the delivery of healthcare
the development of digital health technologies
consumer focused self care

This list is not intended to be exhaustive.

This competition is split into two strands:

Biomedical Catalyst 2025: Industry led R&D small projects: up to £500,000 grant funding (this strand)
Biomedical Catalyst 2025: Industry led R&D large projects: over £500,000 grant funding

More information here.

Biomedical Catalyst 2025: Industry led R&D large projects

Funder: Innovate UK

Opened: 10 November 2025

Closed: 11am, 10 December 2025

Sector: Healthcare & Life Sciences

UK registered micro, small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) can apply for a share of up to £25 million for the development of innovative solutions to health and healthcare challenges.

Your project’s total eligible costs can be up to £4 million, and your total grant funding request must not exceed £2 million and last between 6 and 36 months

The aim of this industry led R&D competition is to support micro, small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) to develop innovative solutions to address health, and healthcare, challenges.

Your proposal can focus on:

disease prevention and proactive management of health and chronic conditions
earlier and better detection and diagnosis of disease, leading to better patient outcomes
tailored treatments that either change the underlying disease or offer potential cures
transforming the delivery of healthcare
the development of digital health technologies
consumer focused self care

This list is not intended to be exhaustive.

This competition is split into two strands:

Biomedical Catalyst 2025: Industry led R&D small projects: up to £500,000 grant funding
Biomedical Catalyst 2025: Industry led R&D large projects: over £500,000 grant funding (this strand)

More information here.

Commercial practices and gambling

Funder: NIHR

Opened: 15 July 2025

Closed: 1pm, 9 December 2025

Sector: Healthcare

NIHR's Public Health Research (PHR) Programme is looking to fund research which evaluates the impacts of the commercial practices associated with gambling on health and health inequalities.

This is a 2-stage funding opportunity. To apply for the first stage you should submit an outline application. If invited to the second stage, you will then need to complete a full application.

Research question: What are the impacts of the commercial practices associated with gambling on health and health inequalities?

Funding opportunity scope:

Interventions aimed at preventing or reducing the impact of commercial determinants
Gambling industry practices as the intervention

Evaluations should aim to develop understanding on the complex interactions between the availability and uptake of gambling activities and the related harms to health. Interventions should be carefully evaluated for both intended and unintended consequences.

More information here.

i4i Product Development Awards

Funder: NIHR

Opened: 8 October 2025

Closed: 1pm, 3 December 2025

Sector: Healthcare & Life Sciences

This is a two-stage funding opportunity. To apply for the first stage you should submit an outline application. If invited to the second stage, you will then need to complete a full application.

i4i PDA is participating in the following funding opportunities with separate applications on the awards management system. Applicants should read each one carefully before applying to the relevant one.

The Product Development Awards (PDA) support collaborative projects and aims to de-risk innovations, supporting early product development and real-world evaluation, to make them more attractive for follow-on funding or commercial investment.

Scope: Preclinical and clinical product development and development of real world evidence for NHS or social care adoption. Research proposals must address an area of unmet need and show a clear pathway towards adoption and commercialisation for the proposed innovation.
Entry point: Experimental proof-of-concept or laboratory-validated technology; innovations focusing on real-world evidence generation must have regulatory approval or demonstrated equivalent safety and efficacy for the intended use.
Exit point: Depending on the entry point, laboratory and/or clinically validated technology or performance of technologies evaluated in a real-world setting.
Lead applicant eligibility: HEI, SME, NHS or social care provider, not-for-profit organisation, based in the UK.
Minimum number of co-applicants: 2.
Funding level: No maximum, NIHR is encouraging ambitious projects with the potential to make a real impact.
Project duration: Between 24 – 36 months.

Scope

The aim of the PDA is to achieve benefits to patients and end users, de-risk technologies and make them attractive to follow-on funders, investors and buyers, in particular NHS commissioners and national guidance bodies.

Types of project:

Product development required to enable technologies for clinical use or use in social care.
Clinical development of a laboratory-validated technology.
Real-world evaluations to accelerate the development and uptake of innovative products, which already have demonstrated safety and efficacy.

Proposals must:

Include a strong element of patient and public involvement, as well as end-user engagement.
Set out a commercial strategy that takes into account the regulatory pathway, IP management, commercial barriers, health economics and route to market.
Present a plan for future adoption of the technology into the NHS or social care system.

More information here.

Post-acute infection syndromes, including long COVID and myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome

Funder: NIHR

Opened: 9 July 2025

Closed: 1pm, 2 December 2025

Sector: Healthcare & Life SCiences

The Efficacy and Mechanism Evaluation (EME) Programme is accepting full applications for research looking into the treatment and management of post-acute infection syndromes and associated conditions, including long COVID and myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS). All proposals submitted must fall within the scope of the EME Programme.

NIHR recognises that developing an application for a phase 2 platform represents a complex bid, which will require time and the navigation of specific challenges. The programme is therefore inviting applications for work which will accelerate the necessary learning and preparation to explore the feasibility of a repurposing platform. This will take the form of an Application Development Award (ADA). It is anticipated that teams may require up to £200,000 of ADA funding over a maximum of 18 months.

Applications to this funding opportunity must aim to accelerate the development of an application for a phase 2 platform study to evaluate repurposed pharmaceutical interventions and/or non-pharmaceutical interventions including digital/devices, for the management and treatment of post-acute infections and associated conditions.

More information here.

6th REINFORCING Open Call

Funder: EC-REINFORCING

Open

Closed: 4pm, 02 December 2025

Sector: ALL

Project proposals submitted under this call must revolve around practices of Responsible Innovation. Projects should consist of activities including, but not limited to, designing and/or implementing co-creation processes with citizens at large (or specific categories of citizens, e.g. patients) to develop innovative products, processes, and services for grand societal challenges and missions.
Maximum funding is €60,000 per successful applicant.

On October 10th from 10:30 to 12:00 CET, REINFORCING will host a webinar to present call’s details and guide applicants through the application process. To join the webinar, register here.

More information here and here.

SME Market Expansion Open Call 2026

Funder: EIT Urban Mobility

Opened: 01 October 2025

Closesd: 01 December 2025

Sector: Various

The Call is designed to promote business growth and market expansion, encouraging the replication and scaling of successful solutions in new regions or sectors. It offers a strategic platform for SMEs with ambitions to scale by opening subsidiaries or expanding into new markets.

The SME Market Expansion Open Call 2026 focuses on accelerating the market uptake of impactful innovations by reducing the risk of development and deployment. EIT Urban Mobility aims to support solutions with a clear path to market, helping cities and businesses confidently procure and scale proven innovations. Through collaboration with an end-client, SMEs can validate their offering in a real-world setting, while gaining visibility and credibility in the European market.

The Call will focus on five topics:

Public Transport
Urban Logistics
Electrification of transport and alternative fuels
Mobility data management
Health and mobility

The total estimated funding allocated to this Call is €600,000.

Around 10 projects are to be implemented by 10 different SMEs. Each entity awardee will receive EIT funding allocation of €60,000. This Call is a mono-beneficiary call addressed to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that are supported by an end client, a public or private entity, committed to testing and demonstrating the solution.

More information here.

Innovation Grant

Funder: University Hospitals Birmingham Charity

If you are a member of staff at University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust and you are interested in applying for funding from the hospital charity to benefit your patients then please contact the Grants team on 0121 371 4852 or email charities@uhb.nhs.uk. They will only consider new grant applications.

Closest: 30 November 2025

Sector: Healthcare

Accelerator Programme

Funder: The Alzheimer Society

Opened: 6 October 2025

Closed: 28 November 2025

Sector: Healthcare

This programme will provide funding (up to £100,000) and support for early stage businesses solving problems in the dementia space. The programme is seeking both digital and physical solutions that solve challenges faced across the dementia pathway, from early diagnosis to end-of-life care.

To be eligible you need to:

have a registered business in the UK
have an innovation that is being developed and/or deployed in the UK
have a detailed business plan
have a prototype at TRL 6/7
be aware that the Funder will look for a return on the investment provided.

More information here.

Return to standing after a fall

Funder: NIHR - HTA

Opened: 31 July 2025

Closed: 1pm, 26 November 2025

Sector: Healthcare

This is a 2-stage, commissioned funding opportunity. To apply for the first stage you should submit an outline application. If invited to the second stage, you will then need to complete a full application.

Eligibility - See the HTA Programme page for details about the overall programme remit and eligibility criteria.

Research question - What is the clinical and cost effectiveness of an intervention that focuses on training people to return to standing after a fall, compared with usual care, in those at risk of a long-lie?

Patient/target group: Older adults living in their own homes, who have recently had a fall and were unable to rise from the floor (return to standing) without the assistance of another person.

A randomised controlled trial with an internal pilot phase to test key trial processes such as recruitment and adherence. Clear stop/go criteria should be provided to inform progression from pilot to full trial. Applicants should consider the extent to which ambulance services are involved in referral to (or potential initial delivery of) the intervention. Applicants should consider and describe how the study would take into account the delivery of any concomitant care concerned with falls assessment or prevention. Applicants should also consider how the intervention would work in conjunction with existing service provision, such as falls clinics and reablement services. Consideration should be given to incorporating a process evaluation and qualitative work into the study, for example to gather information about intervention acceptability to service users and professionals, and to inform potential implementation. Minimum duration of follow-up: 12 months.

More information here.

Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP): 2025 – 2026 Round 4

Funder: Innovate UK

Opened: 27 October 2025

Closed: 11am, 26 November 2025

Sector: Healthcare & Life Sciences

The Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) programme allows a UK registered business, which is referred to as the business partner from now on, to partner with a knowledge base partner. This can be either a UK higher education (HE) or further education (FE) institution, research and technology organisation (RTO) or Catapult.

The KTP partnership brings new skills and the latest academic thinking into the business partner to deliver a specific, strategic innovation project. The knowledge base partner recruits the associate to work on the project. The associate has the opportunity to lead a strategic development within the business, developing new skills and gaining valuable experience.

Each application must be led by a knowledge base, working with a business partner and supported by a Knowledge Transfer Adviser. If you are a business and do not yet have a relationship with a knowledge base partner, the Knowledge Transfer Adviser can help you to identify one.

A project’s total eligible costs are typically £8,500 per month. Projects must be between 12 and 36 months. Some of the knowledge base partners costs will be funded by Innovate UK. The rest of the eligible project costs are paid by the business partner.

More information here.

Discovery Awards

Funder: Wellcome

Open

Closed: 3pm, 25 November 2025

Sector: Healthcare

This scheme provides funding for established researchers and teams from any discipline who want to pursue bold and creative research ideas to deliver significant shifts in understanding related to human life, health and wellbeing. Maximum grant of £5m over a maximum duration of 8 years.

The lead organisation must be a not-for-profit and can be a:

higher education institution
research institute
healthcare organisation
charity or social enterprise

Your research must:

fit within what Wellcome support in Discovery Research
have the potential to improve human life, health, and wellbeing.

Your research can:

be in any discipline - including science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), experimental medicine, humanities and social science, clinical/allied health sciences, and public health
be in a single discipline or multidisciplinary.

Your research must not:

fall outside of what Wellcome support in Discovery Research. Check what Wellcome don't fund.
start earlier than seven months after the application deadline.

More information here.

Obesity Pathway Innovation Programme (OPIP): Strands 1, 2 and 3

Funder: Innovate UK

Opened: 8 September 2025

Closed: 19 November 2025

Sector: Healthcare

Innovate UK will work with the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology in partnership with Lilly to invest a total of up to £85 million in innovation projects.

DSIT is providing up to £50 million and Lilly is providing up to £35 million. This includes a minimum of £10 million to be ring fenced for devolved administration health services.

Up to £14 million has been allocated to fund innovation projects in this strand of the competition. Funding will be in the form of a grant.Your total eligible project costs will be 100% funded. Total eligible project costs detailed within your application must not exceed the maximum project size. If your total eligible project costs do exceed the maximum then your application will be made ineligible.

The aim of this competition is for projects to have developed innovative community and primary care based weight management pathways. The pathways developed will have plausible plans to recruit significant numbers of patients in each year of the project to provide holistic person centred care that is clinically appropriate, effective and resource efficient. Pathways across the UK must offer a range of support for patients, including nationally and locally available lifestyle and weight management interventions, and for those meeting clinical eligibility criteria, access to obesity medications. The pathways are expected to provide patients with access to essential behaviour change support, focusing on nutrition and physical activity, and where appropriate, psychological support to ensure overall wellbeing.

To lead a project your organisation:

must be an eligible NHS organisation able to receive grant funding with no subsidy. Eligible NHS organisations must have a strategic responsibility for commissioning care, for example - ICBs in England.
England: only Integrated Care Boards
will be expected to lead a consortium of providers that once procured or commissioned will be able to provide the services outlined in your application
must indicate preferred or suggested delivery partners, including intended subcontractors, that can include commercial providers, NHS organisations, community pharmacies, general practices, community interest companies (CICs) or third sector organisations

More information on strand 1 here.

More information on strand 2 here.

More information on strand 3 here.

Multi cancer detection (MCD) tests for individuals with abdominal symptoms in primary care workshop

Funder: NIHR

Opened: 22 October 2025

Closed: 1pm, 18 November 2025

Sector: Healthcare

The Office for Life Sciences is providing funding for an NIHR-led trial to assess the clinical and cost effectiveness of the use of multi-cancer detection (MCD) tests in primary care to triage patients with non-specific abdominal symptoms for urgent cancer investigation.

If you are interested in applying for this funding opportunity, you are strongly encouraged to attend the workshop. This will be held virtually on 21 November 2025. Register here: HTAfunding@nihr.ac.uk

At the workshop, research teams will be able to discuss their proposed study confidentially with the NIHR and the NIHR Research Support Service (RSS) for informal feedback. Following confirmation of a place at the workshop, please submit a short overview of your proposed project by 18 November 2025. This should be no more than a single side of A4. (The full application closing date is 15 January 2026.)

The morning of the workshop will be used to further refine the PICO for this funding opportunity, which will be circulated to all attendees afterwards. The afternoon will be divided into slots for teams to discuss their proposed study and receive informal feedback. More information here.

Healthcare Innovation Fund

Funder: British Heart Foundation

Opened: 22 September 2025

Closed: 12pm, 17 November 2025

Sector: Healthcare

The lead applicant or investigator must be employed by an NHS organisation or UK academic institution. While a maximum of £350K funding is available, applicants requesting most, or all, of the full amount will need to provide strong reasons to justify the need.

Applications are invited from teams who have been identified and supported by UK’s regional innovation boards, like:

Health Innovation Networks (HINs) in England
Innovation Hubs in Scotland
Cardiac Network Board in Wales
Cardiology Network in Northern Ireland.

Your project can include working with other partners, such as the third sector and industry, where you think it will benefit people with cardiovascular disease.

It's important that your project considers patient involvement at all levels, from scoping to steering groups.

More information here.

Gap fund for early-stage development of new healthcare interventions

Funder: MRC

Opened: 10 July 2025

Closed: 4pm, 12 November 2025

Sector: Healthcare & Life Sciences

Apply for funding to generate critical data that builds confidence in developing a new or repurposed medicine, medical device, diagnostic test, or other medical intervention. Award: £50,000 - £300,000

The concept for the product should be backed by prior funding. Projects should focus on one high-risk step, not multiple, to ensure efficient management. This step must address the crucial missing evidence needed to rapidly de-risk onward development or determine failure.

To apply you must be based at a research organisation eligible for MRC funding.

The Gap Fund bridges the smaller Impact Acceleration Account (IAA) and the larger Developmental Pathway Funding Scheme (DPFS).

Scope: You can apply for academically led translational projects that aim to undertake a single-step package of work that will bridge the gap between the inception of a new idea and substantive funding through schemes such as the DPFS to:

help prevent disease
help improve speed and accuracy of diagnosis of disease
develop new treatments for disease
help to improve outcome monitoring of patients receiving treatment
help to improve the management of diseases and conditions

All human diseases and medical interventions are eligible for support, both in the context of UK healthcare and addressing global health issues.

More information here.

Mental Health Award: Transforming early intervention for anxiety, depression and psychosis in young people

Funder: Wellcome

Opened: 28 July 2025

Closed: 11 November 2025

Sector: Healthcare

£200,000 for the Foundation Phase and £5 to £8 million for the Impact Phase.

This first phase of the funding call will provide teams with £200,000 to build their teams and develop their detailed proposal for their research study over 12 months. This research proposal must be for a definitive effectiveness study and assessment of strategies for implementation and scaling of a psychological and/or a social intervention. The proposal must capture multiple outcomes that are relevant to people with lived experience and implementing partners, including mental health outcomes, functional outcomes and full economic evaluation.

Projects will be chosen for the Foundation Phase based on:

the existing evidence of efficacy for the intervention
potential for being taken to scale, with the cost of the intervention low enough to be sustainable in the proposed context
potential for sustainable partnerships between research teams and implementing partners
outline plans for real-world testing of the effectiveness and implementation of the intervention

Teams taking part in the Foundation Phase will be invited to be part of a learning network to participate and share learning in key areas relevant to developing, implementing and scaling psychological and/or social interventions. Wellcome will work closely with teams during this Foundation Phase as they develop their full research proposals.

More information here.

ITEA Call 2025

Funder: ITEA

Opened: 16 September 2025

Closed: 4pm, 10 November 2025

Sector: ALL

This call aims to foster software innovation and digital transition by supporting international collaborative R&D projects. Projects can relate to technologies including, but not limited to, artificial intelligence, large language models, process automation and Internet of Things.

UK applicants can apply for total grant of up to £750,000 for each project partner.

• All types of UK registered organisations can apply for funding.

• Expected duration 12 – 36 months

• Your project must be collaborative.

More information here, here and here

Innovation Seed Fund

Funder: RNID

Open

Closed: 5pm, 6 November 2025

Sector: Healthcare

This Fund aims to support innovative research into the causes, treatment and diagnosis of hearing loss, tinnitus and other hearing-related conditions.

Value: up to £10,000

Duration: usually up to 1 year

Eligibility: Researchers can be based at a university, research institute or SME anywhere in the world.

The scheme will also support small-scale translational research projects, such as proof-of-concept studies or pre-clinical validation studies, with the aim of making novel approaches more competitive for further funding. Development of drugs, diagnostics and devices are welcomed.

More information here.

Future Leaders Fellowships: Round 10, business and non-academic

Funder: UK Research and Innovation

Opened: 23 June 2025

Closed: 11am, 5 November 2025

Sector: ALL

Previously funded project’s grant requests have been between £100,000 and £3 million. The maximum grant funding request is £3 million, any requests exceeding this will be classed as ineligible and will not proceed to assessment.

The aim of this competition is to:

support ambitious research and innovation to tackle difficult and novel challenges
support excellence in innovation, across interdisciplinary boundaries and sectors
develop, retain, and attract the next wave of research and innovation leaders

Working with a host organisation a Future Leaders Fellow will receive at least four years of funding to pursue an ambitious programme of innovation. The fellow will also have access to tailored opportunities and resources to develop their career as a future leader in their field.

Your project must:

deliver research or innovation above and beyond the standard activities of the organisation
maximise the impact and influence of the proposed work
include a clear programme of skills development, allowing you to fully develop your leadership potential through, for example, mentoring and professional development training
have the full support of your host organisation

Your project can:

be made up of a single programme of work, or multiple consecutive or concurrent projects led by the Fellow, known as a ‘Portfolio Fellowship’
be altered once underway to react to changes in the research landscape or react to business needs

More information here.

Research for Patient Benefit - July 2025

Funder: NIHR

Opened: 16 July 2025

Closed: 1pm, 5 November 2025

Sector: Healthcare & Life Sciences

The NIHR Research for Patient Benefit (RfPB) Programme is inviting outline applications for research proposals that are concerned with the day-to-day practice of health service staff, and that have the potential to have an impact on the health or wellbeing of patients and users of the NHS.

As a researcher-led programme, RfPB does not specify topics for research but instead encourages proposals for projects that address a wide range of health service issues and challenges.

The programme aims to fund high quality quantitative and qualitative research with a clear trajectory to patient benefit. It particularly encourages applications that have a strong element of interaction with patients and the public and that have been conceived in association with a relevant group of service users.

This is a two-stage, commissioned funding opportunity. To apply for the first stage you should submit an outline application. If invited to the second stage, you will then need to complete a full application.

More information here.

Novel Technology for Intervening in Non-Compressible Haemorrhage

Funder: DASA

Opened: 16 September 2025

Closed: 12pm, 4 November 2025

Sector: Healthcare & Life Sciences

DASA are seeking proposals for novel innovations that intervene to stop non-compressible bleeding. This competition is being run on behalf of Defence Medical Services (DMS) and UK Research & Innovation (UKRI).

This competition is seeking novel interventions starting at Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 2-4, for NCH for use prehospital in both combat and civilian settings. DASA expects funded products to progress by one or more TRLs by project end.

The total possible funding available for this Themed Competition is £1.5 million. Several proposals may be funded. DASA welcomes submissions from academia, public sector research establishments and the private sector. Projects will last up to three years, with an expected start date of April 2026.

DASA are looking for engineering technology-driven, design-led solutions aimed at device-enabled control of haemorrhage. DASA encourage solutions that exploit and integrate existing technologies or approaches used or developed in non-healthcare sectors that could be re-oriented for the NCH challenge.

More information here.

Quarterly Research Grant Funding Programme

Funder: Cure Parkinson's

Open:

Closed: 3 November 2025

Sector: Healthcare

This scheme is providing grants for scientists and clinicians from universities, hospitals and commercial organisations to help them fund preclinical and clinical research focused on slowing, stopping, or reversing Parkinson’s.

There are grants of up to £250,000 which prioritise projects that are likely to lead to clinical trials in people with Parkinson’s within 5 years. For clinical research, CP funds clinical trials and sub-studies of trials in people with Parkinson’s. The grant amount is flexible but please contact CP ahead of submission if you are thinking of applying for a clinical trial.

2025/2026 application deadlines:

Monday 3 November 2025
Monday 12 January 2026
Monday 13 April 2026
Monday 22 June 2026
Monday 12 October 2026

More information here.

Translation Accelerator Kidney Awards

Funder: Kidney Research UK

Opened: 1 October 2025

Closed: 31 October 2025

Sector: Healthcare

The aim of the Translation Accelerator Kidney Award Scheme (TAKA) is to fund projects that accelerate the translation of novel and innovative scientific discoveries for the benefit of kidney disease patients.

These awards will enable researchers to address key scientific and technical questions in kidney-related research, supporting projects with a clearly defined pathway to new therapies, devices, and diagnostics.

Guided by unmet clinical needs, these projects will strive to deliver new and more effective solutions to help prevent, protect and treat patients with kidney disease, through the development and testing of new therapies, devices, and diagnostics.

There are 3 levels of award
Up to £120K per project (the award covers 100% of eligible costs)
Typically will be provided over the course of 12 months

More information here.

STEP Scale Up

Funder: European Innovation Council

Open

Closed: 31 October 2025

Sector: ALL

The EIC STEP Scale Up scheme is part of the Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform (STEP), offering financial support in the form of investments to startups, SMEs, and small mid-caps, between EUR 10 to 30 million.

Its goal is to scale-up innovation in Europe’s strategic technology sectors, particularly in quantum technologies and semiconductors, thereby enhancing the EU´s economic and technological competitiveness. The EIC Step Up scheme will catalyse larger funding rounds, amplifying the impact of the initial investment.

Who can apply?

A single SME or small mid-cap (up to 499 employees) established within a Member State or an Associated Country.
An investor may submit a proposal on behalf of an eligible SME or small mid-cap as defined above,

Note: This scheme targets companies seeking major funding rounds, requiring proof of initial market interest from a qualified investor covering at least 20% of the total target funding round.

Scope of innovation

Digital and Deep Tech: Includes semiconductor, AI, quantum, advanced connectivity, sensing, robotics, and autonomous systems.
Clean Technologies: Focus on net-zero solutions like solar, wind, battery storage, geothermal, hydrogen, biogas, carbon capture, nuclear, and circular economy.
Biotechnologies: Includes critical medicines, DNA/RNA, proteins, cell engineering, gene vectors, bioinformatics, and nanobiotechnology.
For details see the Guidance Note on STEP

Grant funding

Budget

Total 2025 budget of EUR 300 million.
Minimum investment EUR 10 million, maximum EUR 30 million in 2025.

Equity only investments

Managed by the EIC Fund, the STEP Scale Up scheme aims to bridge the funding gap for high-risk innovations that cannot be fully financed by other investors.

More information here.

Expressions of interest: artificial intelligence humanities sandpits: Canada, UK and US

Funders: AHRC, EPSRC and SSHRC (Canada)

Opened: 1 September 2025

Closed: 4pm, 31 October 2025

Sector: ALL

This is a highly specialised, international, and intensive funding opportunity. It is not a standard research grant for a pre-defined project. It is best suited for collaborative, risk-taking academics and creatives from the humanities and tech sectors who want to co-create entirely new ideas around AI in a workshop setting.

Core Concept: An intensive 5-day workshop (a "sandpit") in Canada (Feb 2026) for UK, US, and Canadian researchers to collaboratively design new projects on AI's impact on human knowledge ("Knowing") and identity ("Being").

The Funders are looking for 60 participants from UK, Canadian and US research organisations to take part in in-person and virtual workshops. During the sandpit process, teams will form, develop and refine project ideas through a facilitated process guided by the sandpit Director and Mentors. They plan to fund up to four grants. £625,000 is available for UK-based team members, of which AHRC will pay 80%.

This sandpit is jointly delivered by the UK’s AHRC through the International Science Partnerships Fund (ISPF), and SSHRC in partnership with the Alan Turing Institute and The University of Edinburgh.

Who: Humanities scholars, AI/tech researchers, and creative practitioners. Must be based in the UK, US, or Canada.
Format: No pre-defined projects. You co-create ideas from scratch at the workshop.
Funding: Travel and accommodation for the sandpit is covered. The best ideas developed there will receive follow-on funding (e.g., up to £100k for UK applicants). There will be four grants awarded.

More information here.

Biomedical Catalyst Accelerator – Hospital to Community

Funder: Innovate UK

Opened: 10 September 2025

Closed: 12pm, 31 October 2025

Sector: Healthcare

Supporting up to 10 early stage startups working on remote monitoring, at-home diagnostics, new community care models, and digital tools that ease hospital pressure. Provides investment-readiness support, expert-led workshops, tailored one-to-one mentoring, and access to healthcare leaders, VCs, healthtech ecosystem and alumni network.

Founders gain investment-readiness support, expert-led workshops, tailored one-to-one mentoring, and access to healthcare leaders, VCs, and our healthtech ecosystem and alumni network. Designed and delivered by Founders Factory with Innovate UK, part of UKRI, the accelerator helps build earlier, local, and preventative care that delivers better outcomes for patients.

More information here.

Generative-AI based Agents to Revolutionise Medical Diagnosis and Treatment of Cancer

Funder: Horizon EIC

Opened: 28 July 2025

Closed: 29 October 2025

Sector: Healthcare & Life Sciences

Aim: To create interactive GenAI autonomous agents and/or a combination of them that provide clinicians with a holistic end to end perspective of patient care.

Grants of up to 3 to 4 million euros to support early stage development of future technologies (e.g. various activities at low TRL 1-3), up to proof of concept.

Project proposals under this Challenge should focus on one (and only one) of the following diseases: breast cancer, cervical cancer, ovarian cancer, prostate cancer, lung cancer, brain cancer, stomach cancer or colorectal cancer.

Each proposal should address both the following areas (at least one sub-objective from each of the areas):

Area 1: Technological areas

GenAI-based tools for Integrating Multidimensional Multimodal health Data
Medical Data Augmentation
Medical Knowledge Representation and Integration

Area 2: Clinical Areas

Predictive Diagnosis
Enhance Personalised Treatment Selection

Projects should also conduct proof of concept studies in controlled settings to demonstrate improved and more accurate diagnosis and treatment when compared to current clinical practice. The viability of the developed technologies should be evaluated, guiding further refinement and improvement. For instance, a super-agent could be validated for assisting and/or replacing clinicians through the whole clinical pathway of the patient, providing a holistic view of patient care, that is currently unachievable due to fragmented healthcare systems and associated expertise.

The focus should also be on enhancing the interpretability of AI models/agents, making their decision-making processes more transparent and understandable to clinicians. This could involve developing cutting-edge techniques such as causal inference methods, explainable AI frameworks, or novel visualisation tools that provide deeper insights into AI decision-making processes.

The AI models developed under this Challenge are expected to comply with the EU concept for Trustworthy AI, relevant ethical principles, and the AI Act. In addition to focusing on performance, careful attention must be given to data quality, transparency, privacy, and security.

More information here and here.

EIC Pathfinder

Funder: European Commission - Horizon

Opened: 21 May 2025

Closed: 29 October 2025

Sector: ALL

There are two types of Pathfinder grants:

‘EIC Pathfinder Open’ open to support projects in any field of science, technology or application without predefined thematic priorities. The overall budget for the EIC Pathfinder Open in 2025 is €142 million.
‘EIC Pathfinder Challenges’ to support coherent portfolios of projects within predefined thematic areas with the aim to achieve specific objectives for each Challenge. The overall budget for the EIC Pathfinder Challenges in 2025 is €120 million.

Open Call: Grants up to EUR 3 million
Challenge Call: Grants up to EUR 4 million.

Higher amounts if duly justified. Projects to achieve the proof of principle and validate the scientific basis of breakthrough technologies (starting from early TRLs aiming at achieving TRL3 or 4).

Who can apply

Consortia from EU Member States and countries associated to the Horizon Europe programme:

Consortia of at least three different independent legal entities
At least one legal entity established in a Member State
At least two other independent legal entities, each established in different Member States or Associated Countries
Additionally, single applicants, small and larger consortia (two partners) for EIC Pathfinder Challenges only.

Your proposal must meet all the following essential characteristics:

Ambitions long-term vision for a radically new technology that has the potential to create new market and provide solutions for global challenges
High-risk/high-gain breakthrough research that provides the foundations of the technology that you envisioning

EIC Work Programme 2025 - here

More information here.

Research and partnership hubs for a healthy society

Funder: Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council

Opened: 15 July 2025

Closed: 4pm, 21 October 2025

Sector: Healthcare & Life Sciences

Apply for funding to establish a large-scale multidisciplinary research hub drawing on expertise across the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and health research community to support people to live healthier lives and prevent ill health. Proposals should address long term research challenges in the priority area(s) of prevention, early diagnosis and self-management of health.

You must be based at a UK research organisation eligible for EPSRC funding. This funding opportunity will have a two-stage assessment process consisting of an outline stage and a full proposal stage The full proposal stage will be assessed through expert peer review and interview.

Hub challenge areas

The hubs that are funded through this funding opportunity will be critical mass investments that are expected to form connections to the wider health technologies research and innovation ecosystem. They will have a core mission and sets of activities and objectives in one or more of the following areas:

Prevention and population health
This priority looks to focus on the need for novel techniques that optimise health, prevent, and ultimately help eliminate disease.
Supporting people to manage their own health
This priority focuses on a shift in services out of hospitals and into the community and home.
Novel techniques for early diagnosis
Hubs addressing this priority area are expected to develop novel techniques that optimise patient-specific illness prediction and early and accurate diagnosis.

More information here.

Productivity innovation

Funder: Health Innovation E.Midlands

Open

Closed: 16 October 2025

Sector: Healthcare & Life Sciences

Awards of up to £25,000 each are available to support the deployment of productivity innovations within NHS health and care organisations.

Ideally, should address one or more of the following:

Accelerating and improving processes, providing time for optimal patient care
Supporting and empowering patients on their care journey
Improving access and coordination across care settings

More information here.

Research Innovation Award

Funder: Prostate Cancer UK

Open

Closed: 1pm, 14 October 2025

Sector: Healthcare & Life Sciences

This call is for bold, innovative research projects that have the real potential to impact the way prostate cancer is diagnosed and treated. Aligning with their research strategy, proposals must clearly demonstrate the innovative nature of the research, including how it will lead to the improved health and well-being of men affected by, or at high risk of, prostate cancer.

Whilst this scheme typically supports research projects 3-5 years in duration, they do also welcome applications for smaller scale, yet highly innovative, pilot projects. Funding for projects of this type would usually be for up to 24 months, costing less than £100,000, with a focus of establishing proof of principle and/or generating novel data, whilst still being hypothesis-led research. Although such 'blue skies' research can be applied for with less supporting preliminary data, your total funding request should be proportionate to the extent and strength of your preliminary data.

More information here.

Innovations in Mental Health Fund

Funders: Meridian Health Ventures and SLAM NHS Trust

Open

Closed: 6pm, 10 October 2025

Sector: Healthcare & Life Sciences

Applications are open for early-stage digital technologies that address depression, anxiety and psychosis-related disorders.

Successful applicants will join the 12-week Immersion Programme, which will provide unparalleled hands-on support and access to deep clinical and entrepreneurial expertise.

Participants will then be considered for investment of up to £1m per company. The Wellcome Trust is the anchor investor in the Fund.

More information here.

Biomedical Catalyst Accelerator - Managing Chronic Conditions

Funder: Innovate UK

Opened: 3 September 2025

Closed: 12pm, 10 October 2025

An accelerator for early stage life science startups targeting unmet needs in disease prevention or proactive management of chronic conditions. Provides support, workshops, coaching, stipend for customer discovery and testing, access to a closed grant funding competition from Innovate UK, and possible equity investment.

More information here.

Sector: Life Sciences

IHI call 11

Funder: IHI (Innovative Health Initiative)

Open

Closed: 9 October 2025

Sector: Healthcare

Topic 1: Towards precision medicine: platform for transdiagnostic stratification of brain dysfunction (UK applicants can only go for topic 1)

This is a 2 stage process. The grant for this is expected to be 20 million Euros.

The action generated by this topic is expected to contribute to all the following outcomes:
1. A sustainable and collaborative large, multimodal data platform that can identify novel transdiagnostic candidate markers and endpoints for the symptom domains of reward/motivation (including anhedonia) and impulsivity (RM&I) in neuropsychiatric, neurodegenerative, and physical health disorders. Relevant disorders include Alzheimer’s disease (AD), major depressive disorder (MDD) and obesity (priority areas). Other relevant disorders/diseases include but are not limited to substance use and associated disorders, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, borderline personality disorder and Parkinson’s disease. For a disorder/disease to be relevant, there must be evidence to show that reward/motivation and/or impulsivity are clinically significant symptom domains;
2. Novel transdiagnostic candidate markers and endpoints are identified and progressed towards validation. Learnings are applied in drug discovery to increase probability of success (PoS);
3. A clear roadmap to achieve full validation of candidate markers and endpoints by regulatory and health technology assessment (HTA) bodies. Clinical best-practice guidelines are developed, and recommendations are made to the current diagnostic classifications to expedite the adoption of precision medicine;
4. A greater understanding of the biological foundations of RM&I symptom domains and their role in AD, MDD, obesity and other relevant disorders, enabling the generation of novel therapeutic approaches by industry;
5. Closer alignment between psychiatry, neurology, and physical health disciplines to enable dialogue between healthcare professionals (HCPs) and other medical specialists to optimise outcomes, particularly for individuals with complex healthcare needs and comorbidities.

More information here and here

Developing XR Solutions for Community Healthcare

Funder: CHI-Zone Small Grants Programme

Opened: 16 September 2025

Closed: 9 October 2025

Sector: XR in Healthcare

The XR Solutions for Community Healthcare programme invites applicants to help tackle key issues facing healthcare providers which have been identified through primary research involving XR experts and clinicians from Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust.

In particular, the research commissioned through the CHI-Zone identified the following areas as amenable to XR development for, and adoption by, community healthcare providers:

Education and training solutions for staff and patients
New biosensing diagnostics
Protocolised mental health treatment
Engaging rehabilitation
Alternative therapeutics associated with depression and anxiety, pain management and obesity
Solutions designed to combat isolation

To apply you must be either:

A UK-based technology SME developing XR solutions that are geared towards community healthcare provision; OR

A UK-based consortium led by an industry partner.

Grant awards of up to £25,000 are available and each recipient will, also, receive tailored support from CHIL and VEC over a period of six months to help realise their prototyping ambitions. This funding and support must be used to deliver a defined new project or significant new development phase.

All grant funding awarded through the CareTech Developer Grants Programme must be fully disbursed and claimed by 30th April 2026. Applicants should ensure that their project plans and budgets clearly reflect this requirement.

More information here.

SHIFT Programme

Funder: Health Innovation Wessex

Open

Closed: 5pm, 8 October 2025

Sector: Healthcare and Life Sciences

The SHIFT Programme (Scaling Health Innovation through Funding and Transformation) is designed to help healthtech innovators like you become investment-ready, with expert guidance from innovation specialists, legal professionals, and investors.

HIW is looking for innovators from across the UK who have a minimum viable product and have completed a level of proof-of-concept for their health innovation.

Applicants can include clinicians, academics, SMEs, innovators and entrepreneurs.

From grant funding to venture capital, asset protection to business growth—SHIFT gives you the tools to secure the backing your innovation deserves.

Spots are limited, apply here.

Unlocking Urologic Oncology Innovation QuickFire Challenge

Funder: Johnson & Johnson

Open

Closed: 3 October 2025

Sector: Healthcare

Innovators from across the globe are invited to submit their transformative potential solutions to improve treatment and care of patients with Bladder and Prostate Cancers.

The innovators with the best idea(s) will have the opportunity to receive grant funding from a total pool of up to $300,000, virtual access to the Johnson & Johnson global incubator network, JLABS, and mentorship from experts across Johnson & Johnson.

Specific areas of interest include:

Therapeutics:

Treatment modalities that limit systemic and on-target, off-tumor toxicities, including local delivery
Provide organ-sparing treatment options for patients (with advanced disease)

Surgery:

Focal therapies including but not limited to local energy delivery
Technologies that improve upon endoscopic procedures such as trans urethral resection of bladder tumor (TURBT)

More information here.

Diabetes research grant

Funder: Royal Free Charity

Opened: 16 July 2025

Closed: 4pm, 2 October 2025

Sector: Healthcare

These grants will support research projects up to £65,000 and for up to 2 years. The projects must align with the trust’s research and development strategy.

The grant round aims to provide support to researchers to undertake research in any area of diabetes. This can include access to healthcare and health inequalities, co-morbidities, research innovation or developing a new collaboration.

Where relevant and given the diverse communities Royal Free London (RFL) serves, applications must demonstrate consideration of diversity and inclusion that are relevant to the research aims. Projects should demonstrate the potential for patient benefit.

Laboratory-based and translational research applications must demonstrate how the outcomes will inform future clinical research at RFL. The lead applicant will need to be employed by one of these organisations:

Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust
Faculty of Medical Sciences, University College London

More information here.

Health Technologies Connectivity Awards: round two

Funder: EPSRC

Opened: 19 June 2025

Closed: 4pm, 2 October 2025

Sector: Healthcare & Life Sciences

Apply for funding to spend time in a different research or user environment to build new connections applicable to health technologies. Novel engineering and physical sciences (EPS) research contributing to the delivery of the health technologies strategy must comprise a proportion of the placement.

You must be based at a UK research organisation eligible for Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) funding.

In this scheme, researchers will develop new skills and collaborations to progress their research in health technologies. The full economic cost (FEC) of your project can be up to £500,000. EPSRC will fund 80% of the FEC.

More information here.

i4i FAST

Funder: NIHR

Opens: 1pm, 10 September 2025

Closed: 1pm, 2 October 2025

Sector: Healthcare & Life sciences

FAST is aimed at innovators in need of a small amount of funding to answer a specific question or to fund a single piece of activity to advance healthcare technologies and interventions for increased patient benefit. Awards are designed to address an evidence gap and innovations must have demonstrated experimental proof of concept as a minimum.

Key features of FAST

Simple application process, fast response
Funding a single activity to address an evidence gap
Applications between £15k and £50k over 3 to 6 months

Register for the online webinar (noon, 16 September 2025) here.
Important: use this access code to book your ticket: NIHR

Entry point: Any stage of the research and development pathway, starting from experimental proof-of-concept or a laboratory-validated technology all the way to real-world evidence generation.

More information here.

EIC Accelerator

Funder: European Commission - Horizon

Open

Closed: 1 October 2025

Sector: ALL

The EIC Accelerator is a funding programme under Horizon Europe that offers support to start-ups and SMEs that:

have a innovative, game changing product, service or business model that could create new markets or disrupt existing ones in Europe and even worldwide,
have the ambition and commitment to scale up,
are looking for substantial funding, but the risks involved are too high for private investors alone to invest.

Grant: maximum €2.5 million.

Investment component: Between €0.5M and €10M. Applicants can choose to apply for a blend of grant and equity, grant only, grant first or equity only.

The grants application is a 3 stage process.
The first stage is a short proposal that can be done any time.

Next is the full proposal - deadline 1 October 2025
Lastly, interview rounds: They will be held approximately 8-9 weeks after the cut-off dates. Open to single SMEs and start-ups (and individuals intending to establish a start-up/SME) established in EU Member State Countries.

Titles of the five EIC Accelerator Challenges:

Acceleration of advanced materials development and upscaling along the value chain
Biotechnology driven low emission food production systems
GenAI4EU: Creating European Champions in Generative AI
Innovative in-space servicing, operations, space-based robotics and technologies for resilient EU space infrastructure
Breakthrough innovations for future mobility

More information here.

Experimental medicine stage one

Funder: MRC

Opened: 17 April 2025

Closed: 4pm, 1 October 2025

Sector: Life Sciences

Apply for funding to investigate the causes, progression and treatment of human disease.

Your project must:

focus on a mechanistic hypothesis
include an experimental intervention or challenge in humans

You must be a researcher based at a research organisation eligible to apply for MRC funding. If you are taking the next step towards becoming an independent researcher, you may be eligible to apply as a ‘new investigator’.

There is no limit to the amount of funding you can apply for or the length of your project. The MRC will fund 80% of your project’s full economic cost.

This is an ongoing funding opportunity. There are two stage. Application rounds close every April and October.

Apply here.

Translational Award

Funder: Rosetrees

Opened: 18 August 2025

Closed: 4pm, 30 September 2025

Sector: Healthcare & Life Sciences

The aim of the Rosetrees Translational Award is to catalyse translational research that will provide patient benefit within 5 to 10 years. Funding can be used to cover the additional costs associated with the translation of research. The award is for £150K over 2 years and can be used across a broad spectrum of research including:

Novel therapeutics
Drug repurposing
Devices
Surgical techniques
Diagnostics
Imaging technologies
Digital solutions/App development
Cell therapy and regenerative medicine
Early-phase clinical studies evaluating feasibility

Applicants will need to demonstrate that the objectives of their proposal to Rosetrees are unique and distinct to that of their career development fellowship. Projects should have clearly defined milestones and demonstrate progress in the technology readiness level (TRL) of the research. The definition of TRLs can be found here. Please refer to these definitions when submitting your application.

Candidates must already have a career establishment/ development fellowship from the ERC, UKRI, The Royal Society or Wellcome Trust.

More information here.

Biomedical Catalyst Accelerator - Medtech Venture Kickstarter

Funder: Innovate UK

Opened: 3 September 2025

Closed: 12pm, 29 September 2025

A new, intensive, structured programme to provide MedTech ventures the confidence to proceed at pace in taking their innovation to market. Provides masterclasses, workshops, training, and input from a dedicated expert-in-residence: ventures completing the programme will also be eligible to apply for a closed feasibility grant competition by Innovate UK.
More information here.

Sector: Healthcare

Biomedical Catalyst - Accelerating Femtech: Evaluate

Funder: Innovate UK

Opened: 11 August 2025

Closed: 11.59pm, 28 September 2025

A 10-week programme that supports UK companies with technologies for women’s health. This provides workshops, webinars, coaching, mentoring, networking, and the opportunity to apply for a closed call funding opportunity from Innovate UK Biomedical Catalyst in Spring 2026.

Apply here.

Sector: Healthcare & Life Sciences

MSK Innovation Accelerator

Funders: MedTech SuperConnector and Orthopaedic Research UK

Open

Closed: 11.59pm, 28 September 2025

Sector: Healthcare

This six-month intensive entrepreneurial and evidence generation skills development programme is open to all early career researchers, PhD, postdocs, clinical innovators, and SME candidates with research that they hope to translate into a MedTech innovation.

Receive over £80,000 worth of academic and commercialisation support from one of the world’s leading Universities (Imperial College, London). Unlike some accelerators, this MSK programme is available to eligible participants without any requirement for you to part with equity or any joining fees.

More information here.

Apply here.

Biomedical Catalyst Accelerator - Future Medicines

Funder: Innovate UK

Opened: 1 September 2025

Closed: 12pm, 26 September 2025

Sector: Life Sciences

LYVA Labs, in partnership with Innovate UK and a consortium of internationally recognised scientific, technical, and commercial experts, is proud to launch this accelerator. It is for UK-based start-ups developing innovations within the scope of Future Medicines, addressing clear and evidenced healthcare challenges.

Who can apply:

UK-based SMEs (as defined by Innovate UK).
Academics in the early stages of forming an SME
Start-ups developing innovations within the scope of Future Medicines addressing clear and evidenced healthcare challenges.
At early-stage Technology Readiness Levels, typically TRL 2-4
Companies with technologies, products, processes, or services that have a commercial route to market.
Organisations working in radiopharmaceuticals innovation particularly encouraged.

More information here.

Impact of Cancer and Cancer Care on Human Biology and Health

Funder: Medical Research Foundation

Open

Closed: 12pm, 25 September 2025

Sector: Healthcare & Life Sciences

This competition is open to all UK-based researchers, clinical academics and allied health professionals at eligible institutions (UK HEIs, Research Council research institutes, hospitals, and other independent research organisations). Applicants must hold a PhD, DPhil or MD.

Applications are expected to be between £300,000 and £500,000 over a maximum of a 3 to 5-year period. There will be up to £3,000,000 available.

Research areas could include, but are not limited to:

the biological basis of cancer treatment side effects - such as those caused by immunotherapies;
improving long-term and late effects of treatment - such as increased risk of secondary cancers, cardiac issues and stroke in later life, particularly in paediatric cancer patients;
cancer treatment side effects - such as neurological complications, mouth ulcers, fatigue, pain and nausea;
identifying risk or predictive factors on cancer therapy efficacy and side effect severity - such as the role of the microbiome;
improving consequences of cancer treatment - such as infertility, endocrine deficiencies, organ removal, and impacts of major surgery;
palliative care during cancer treatment and recovery;
rehabilitation therapies before, during and after cancer treatment and recovery - including physiotherapy and occupational therapy;
psychological and mental health effects of cancer and cancer survivorship.

More information here.

Family Focus Programme

Funder: The Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust

Open

Closed: 12pm, 24 September 2025

Sector: Healthcare for armed forces families

This programme offers grants of between £50,000 and £100,000 to fund projects of 12-18 months duration that explore and pilot solutions for family members-collectively and as individuals of wounded, injured and sick serving personnel or Veterans. Applications are welcome from registered charities, Community Interest Companies (CICs), Local Authorities, and NHS organisations.

Your project will need to meet one or more of the following outcomes:

Family members of those who are wounded, injured or sick feel better informed and more able to access relevant information, advice and guidance, applicable to their situation.
Family members of those who are wounded, injured or sick feel less lonely/isolated, more resilient and better equipped to deal with their circumstances.
Family members of those who are wounded, injured and sick have developed their skills for work, or have greater confidence to pursue volunteering or employment when it’s right for them.

The focus for 2025/26 is supporting projects that test new ideas, refine successful pilots, or expand services developed in the past five years, provided they are not part of an organisations core work.

More information here.

Transformational Impact Award

Funder: Prostate Cancer UK

Open

Closed: 23 September 2025

Sector: Healthcare

Transformational Impact Awards support large-scale research investments covering high-quality discovery science, through to translational and clinical research. These awards will deliver research which cannot be achieved through our other funding schemes (namely the Research Innovation Awards), with the ambition to significantly expand understanding of the disease, maximise the scale and speed of progress in prostate cancer research and crucially deliver a positive impact on the lives of men with prostate cancer. This may be by:

directly delivering evidence that leads to practice change and patient benefit;
significantly accelerating the progression towards that patient benefit;
delivering a transformational step change in our understanding of the disease

It is anticipated that proposals will be around £1.5m in value and up to 5 years in duration. Proposals up to the value of £2m will still be accepted, however if you wish to apply for more than £1.5m you must discuss your study with PC UK in advance of the submission deadline. Proposals under £750k are likely to be better suited to the Research Innovation Awards scheme.

More information here.

James Lind Alliance Priority Setting Partnerships rolling funding opportunity

Funder: NIHR

Open: 21 May 2025

Closed: 23 September 2025

Sector: Healthcare & Life Sciences

NIHR's Health and Social Care Delivery Research (HSDR) Programme is inviting outline applications to their commissioned workstream. Theyare interested in receiving applications that address research priorities identified by the James Lind Alliance (JLA) Priority Setting Partnerships (PSP).

Palliative and end of life care has been affected by the pandemic and in 2025, the JLA PSP research priorities were revisited and refreshed by Marie Curie. The top priority identified was how people with dementia experience end of life and how palliative and end of life care can better meet their needs and those of carers, friends and families.

Patient and public involvement must be included within the application and study design to ensure the research is relevant and appropriate to patients and the public.
More information here.

W. Midlands Health Innovation Fund

Funders: Health Innovation W. Mids, S. Warwickshire University NHS FT, Aston University and Keele University

Opened: 1 August 2025

Closed: 19 September 2025

Sector: Healthcare & Life Sciences

The West Midlands Health Innovation Fund provides grant-based funding to support the adoption and spread of innovation across the West Midlands health and care system. Grants of up to £50,000 are available per project. Most awards are expected to range between £10,000 and £35,000.

The innovation must:

Support one of the four strategic priorities (health infrastructure, health inequality, integrated care, and productivity & workforce).
Support one of the three national NHS shifts (Analogue to Digital, Hospital to Community, Treatment to Prevention).
Include a clearly defined innovation (process, service, pathway or product).
Include a minimum of one local health and/or care service provider.
Be deliverable within a 12-month period (activity to commence December 2025 – January 2026).
Innovations must be fully developed, market-ready, and capable of immediate implementation.

Eligibility:

Commercial entities that own or have developed the proposed innovation in collaboration with a healthcare partner, with demonstrable benefits for the West Midlands region. Preference will be given to companies with a trading history of at least three years to ensure operational stability and mitigate risk. However, early-stage or younger companies may also be considered where the innovation addresses a clearly defined need and delivery partners can demonstrate confidence in the company’s governance, capability, and potential for successful implementation. In such cases, additional due diligence may be required.
A social enterprise or voluntary/community organisation established and operating in the West Midlands.
A (CQC registered) health or care service provider based in the West Midlands region.
An academic institution based in the West Midlands region.

More information here.

EIC Transition

Funder: European Commission - Horizon

Open:

Closed: 17 September 2025

Sector: ALL

The EIC Transition is a funding programme under Horizon Europe targeting innovation activities that goes beyond the experimental proof of principle in laboratory. It supports both the maturation and validation of novel technologies from the lab to the relevant application environments.

The EIC Transition offers support to SMEs, start-ups and organisations that:

have identified EU-funded project result(s) with promising commercial potential that could be the basis for innovation and promising new businesses
envision novel promising technology that is ready for the next steps towards its maturation and validation, to be further developed and validated for some specific, high potential, commercial applications
have conducted a preliminary market research to identify potential markets for their innovation and explored potential competitors
envisage building a motivated and entrepreneurial team with a mix of skills, including researchers, business people, marketers etc. to develop and drive the idea towards commercial success

Grants of up to EUR 2.5 million to validate and demonstrate technology in application-relevant environment (starting at TRL 3/ 4 aiming at achieving TRL 5/ 6) and develop business and market readiness.

More information here. (2024 info, yet to be updated)

RPSC Highlight Notice: Children's Social Care

Funder: NIHR

Opened: 4 June 2025

Closed: 1pm, 17 September 2025

Sector: Social Care

This is a researcher-led funding opportunity. The Research Programme for Social Care (RPSC) is accepting Outline Applications for their Children's Social Care highlight notice funding opportunity.

RPSC aims to fund research that generates evidence to increase the effectiveness of social care services, provides value for money and benefits people who need or use social care services, and carers. In this call, research will cover Children’s Social Care only. This is a two-stage funding opportunity. To apply for the first stage, you should submit an Outline Application. If invited to the second stage, you will then need to complete a Full Application.

Proposals could include

Evaluations of what works, which could be feasibility or pilot studies or randomised trials. We would also consider funding quasi-experimental impact evaluations
Preparatory work for trials/larger studies
Studies on how to use regularly collected administrative data to inform decisions and provision
Economic evaluation of services
Improving how impact is measured
Improvements to gathering the voices of children and parents/care-givers when running children’s services

The RPSC Programme does not have a budget limit for individual projects. PSC research teams need to propose a budget that is appropriate for the proposed work packages, project duration, resources, public involvement, equality, diversity and inclusion strategy, and collaborations. Please note that value for money will still be one of the key criteria of assessment.

More information here.

Knowledge Transfer Partnership: 2025 to 2026 round three

Funder: Innovate UK

Opened: 16 June 2025

Closed: 11.00am, 17 September 2025

Sector: ALL

The Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) programme allows a UK registered business or not for profit organisation, (the ‘business partner’) to partner with a ‘knowledge base partner’, which is either a UK higher education (HE) or further education (FE) institution, research and technology organisation (RTO) or Catapult.

Each application must be led by a knowledge base, working with a business partner and supported by a Knowledge Transfer Adviser.Each application must be led by a knowledge base, working with a business partner and supported by a Knowledge Transfer Adviser.

A project’s total eligible costs are £8,500 per month. Projects must be between 12 and 36 months. A portion of the knowledge base partners' costs will be funded by Innovate UK. The remainder of the eligible project costs are paid by the business partner

Your application must be for a specific, strategic innovation project that tackles one or more challenges faced by the business partner.

It can be any kind of project and must show:

why the business needs this Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP)
what new knowledge is required by the business
what new capabilities will be embedded as a result of the KTP

More information here.

Sovereign AI - Proof of concept

Funder: Innovate UK

Opened: 11 August 2025

Closed: 11pm, 10 September 2025

Sector: ALL

The aim of this competition is to demonstrate Proof of Concept of AI technologies with state of the art performance in areas of strategic importance to UK.

Your project must have total costs between £50,000 and £120,000; last between 1 and 3 months; start by 1 of January 2026 and end by 31 March 2026.

Your technology must have in principle the ability to scale at pace, but you are not required to prove or validate scalability. Innovate UK is expecting projects to deliver technologies at Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 3 to 5.

Your project must demonstrate the ability of your technology to work in principle. You can focus in demonstrating at least the key critical component and you can utilise synthetic and simulated data for validation. You need to demonstrate how you will achieve state of the art performance if capability already exists, or new to the world capability if the technology is further developed.

Your proposal must deliver one or more of the following:

Proof of Concept of architecture or subsystem component
technical validation of capability of system or subsystem component
frontier AI performance that delivers new to the world capability or state of the performance of existing capability
ability of architecture and business model to scale
demonstrate a clear path for access to data
demonstrate strategy to access compute infrastructure and quantify requirement for compute

The scope is wide, and in healthcare includes:

genomics and multi omics models for medicines discovery
foundational patient level health models
foundational bioscience models
scalable and secure monitoring and evaluation of health AI

More information here.

Swiss-UK investigator-led randomised controlled clinical trials in areas of unmet clinical need

Funder: NIHR

Opened: 2 April 2025

Closed: 9 September 2025

Sector: Healthcare & Life Sciences

The Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) and the NIHR are looking to fund investigator-led randomised controlled clinical trials in areas of unmet clinical need.These should address research priorities in areas that can only be effectively tackled through collaborative cross-country efforts. Trials must be delivered through sustainable collaborations with joint leads based in Switzerland and the UK.

This funding opportunity is for late phase 2 or phase 3 applied randomised controlled clinical studies which address areas of unmet need both in Switzerland and the UK, and where there are benefits to conducting studies in multiple sites in Switzerland and the UK. Examples might include research in areas where the relevant population in each country is limited, such as for rare diseases; conditions with rare subgroups; studies evaluating precision medicine approaches in small populations; or other hard to recruit studies which require expanded recruitment beyond the UK or Switzerland alone.

For the purpose of this funding opportunity, unmet medical need arises where individuals have a serious health condition with limited satisfactory options for prevention, diagnosis or treatment to support improved health outcomes. Applications are welcomed across all areas of health which meet these criteria.

More information here.

Neurosciences and mental health: programme

Funder: MRC

Opened: 6 May 2025

Closed: 4pm, 4 September 2025

Sector: Healthcare

Apply for funding to support a programme of research focused on neurosciences and mental health.

You must:

be employed at a research organisation eligible to apply for Medical Research Council (MRC) funding
have a record of securing funding and delivering research

There is no limit to the funding you can apply for. Applicants typically apply for £1 million or more.

The MRC is looking to fund research in areas including, but not limited to:

neurodegeneration
clinical neurology and neuroinflammation
mental health
addictions and substance misuse
behavioural and learning disorders including autism
cognitive and behavioural neuroscience and cognitive systems
sensory neuroscience including vision and hearing
neurobiology and neurophysiology
underpinning support, such as neuroimaging technology, brain banking and neuroinformatics

The MRC will usually fund up to 80% of your project’s full economic cost. Your programme can last up to five years. You must complete the pre-application stage and be invited to the full stage. This is an ongoing funding opportunity.

More information here.

Innovation Grant

Funder: University Hospitals Birmingham Charity

Closed: 25 August 2025

Sector: Healthcare

Polyphonic™ AI Fund for Surgery QuickFire Challenge

Funder:Johnson & Johnson MedTech

Open

Closed: 22 August 2025

Sector: Healthcare

Researchers and innovators in the Surgical Data Science field worldwide are invited to submit ideas for AI technologies that have the potential to improve surgical decision-making, strengthen data management & governance processes, and drive surgical efficiency across the connected operating room (OR).

Selected applicant(s) will have the opportunity to receive grant funding up to $100,000 and mentorship from experts across Johnson & Johnson.* Awardees may also be eligible to receive computing tools and technologies to help advance their innovations, including access to: GPUs and related software for accelerated computing, cloud platform and application services, Machine Learning (ML) and AI modeling toolkits and other Software Development Kits (SDKs).

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis, and awardees will be announced quarterly through the end of 2026.

Innovators around the world are invited to submit ideas for AI technologies with the potential to enhance surgical care and improve patient outcomes across the following categories:

Surgical decision support: Perioperative AI that augments delivery of care throughout the procedure, reduces cognitive load and has the potential to serve as a surgeon co-pilot.
Data management & governance processes: Efforts pursuing breakthroughs in data infrastructure, privacy & consent management, labeling frameworks, and regulatory research.
Surgical efficiency: AI that boosts coordination across care teams, amplifies care team proficiency and improves patient management all towards enabling seamless delivery of perioperative care.

Specific surgical areas of interest include: Soft tissue surgery including but not limited to colorectal, bariatric, thoracic, urology, gynecology and general surgery.

More information here.

'Late' TA2 Phase 1 applications

Funder: ARIA

Open:

Closed: 17 August 2025

Sector: ALL

In TA2, ARIA will award £18m to a non-profit entity to develop critical machine learning capabilities, requiring strong organisational governance and security standards.

Phase 1, backed by £1M, will fund up to 5 teams to spend 3.5 months to develop full Phase 2 proposals. Phase 2 — which will open on 25 June 2025 —will fund a single group, for £18M, to deliver the research agenda. TA2 will explore leveraging securely-boxed AI to train autonomous control systems that can be verified against mathematical models, improving performance and robustness. The workflow will involve forking and fine-tuning mainstream pre-trained frontier AI models to create verifiably safeguarded AI solutions.

For those applicants that do not meet the Phase 1 application deadline (30 April 2025), to make TA2 funding as accessible as possible to as many strong applicant teams, we will accept (shortened) Phase 1 proposals until 17 Aug 2025. These proposals will not be eligible for Phase 1 funding and will be reviewed against the same Phase 1 evaluation criteria. If successful, these teams will be invited to meet with the Safeguarded AI Programme team, including the Scientific Director to discuss their thinking.

To apply, follow the same instructions as for Phase 1, but limit the submission to 3 pages instead of 4 pages.

Email clarifications@aria.org.uk to get an individual application link. More information here.

Children and young people’s mental health

Funder: NIHR

Opened: 18 March 2025

Closed: 1pm, 15 August 2025

Sector: Healthcare

NIHR's Public Health Research (PHR) Programme is looking to fund research which evaluates the effectiveness of interventions in supporting the promotion and protection of the mental health of babies, children and young people. This is a 2-stage funding opportunity. To apply for the first stage you should submit an outline application. If invited to the second stage, you will then need to complete a full application.

There is a webinar on Tuesday 3 June 2025, 1:30pm to 2:45pm. Register here.

Research question: Which interventions are effective and cost effective in supporting the promotion and protection of the mental health of babies, children and young people?

This funding opportunity is predominantly interested in the evaluation of interventions that operate at a population level rather than at an individual level.

More information here.

Fewer lives lost: Research consortium to prevent cardiovascular disease

Funder: NIHR and BHF

Opened: 29 May 2025

Closed: 1pm, 13 August 2025

Sector: Healthcare & Life Sciences

As part of the NIHR Inequalities Challenge, they are looking to fund a research consortium to prevent cardiovascular disease.

This is a 2-stage, commissioned funding opportunity. To apply for the first stage you should submit a consortia application. The NIHR will then appoint consortia organisations and the co-leads of the consortia. The second stage will involve the development of a shared work business plan by all successfully selected consortium members appointed at the first stage.

To achieve membership of the consortium, organisations will need to have a track-record of world-leading research within an area relevant to tackling cardiovascular inequalities as well as a strong track record of developing research capacity. Applications must be led by a university. While organisations are eligible to apply as a single organisation they are strongly encouraged to apply as a small collaboration with other organisations (approximately 2 to 4 members in total) which could include a mixture of: less established organisations, industry, practice, community, local authority, charity, and third sector, especially involving organisations where the need is greatest and where populations have been historically under-served by research. Applications will be assessed on the skill set of the proposed consortia. Only 1 bid is allowed from each organisation, whether as lead, co-applicant or collaborator.

To support the evaluation of effective interventions to optimise blood pressure and minimise the risk of myocardial infarction and stroke, specific areas of interest for the NIHR Inequalities Challenge include:

early detection and optimal management of hypertension and raised cholesterol particularly in higher risk groups specifically the Core20PLUS population groups and younger age groups (dynamically responsive to current and future UK population needs specifically multimorbidity)
equitable and affordable supported self-management and personalised prevention, leveraging wearables and other digital health technologies to reduce health inequalities including related issues such as data integration, access and digital poverty
innovative public health messaging and education including supporting sustained behaviour change to improve health outcomes specifically facilitating adherence and continuation of medication

Over 5 years, funding of up to £50m will be available to support the consortium. This will be split across research and capacity building. In addition, the consortium will be expected to use its funding to involve organisations external to the consortium, where appropriate.

Funding for research projects will be up to 80% FEC. Funding for capacity building will be up to 80% including FEC if proposing any PhD or post-doctoral awards. If proposing any studentships or pre-doctoral level awards, funding will be at 100% of direct costs but no FEC. These will be negotiated via the stage 2 process. A portion of the overall funding will be allocated to the successful consortium for the administration of the NIHR Inequalities Challenge.

The indicative budget over 5 years (to be confirmed as part of stage 2):

Budget over 5 years:

25/26: £5m
26/27: £10
27/28: £12.5m
28/29: £12.5m
29/30: £10m

More information here.

Hospital at home/virtual wards: integration opportunities, improving service delivery and evaluating impact

Funder: NIHR

The Health and Social Care Delivery Research (HSDR) Programme is interested in funding research on hospital at home (also known as virtual wards) acute care services for adults or children and young people. This funding opportunity covers optimising service design, improving service equity and delivery, evaluating the impact on health and social care, and innovations in service integration.
More information here.

Opened: 6 May 2025

Closed: 1pm, 5 August 2025

Sector: Healthcare

Novel non-pharmacological approaches for diagnosis and treatment of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

Funder: NIHR

Opened: 23 January 2025

Closed: 1pm, 5 August 2025

Sector: Healthcare

The MRC-NIHR Efficacy and Mechanism Evaluation (EME) Programme is inviting applications to evaluate the efficacy of novel non-pharmacological approaches to improve the diagnosis, treatment and/or management of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in children and adults.

Under this funding opportunity, the EME Programme is interested in evaluating novel non-pharmacological approaches that focus on improving the diagnosis, treatment, and/or management of ADHD in children and adults. The funding opportunity will consider applications that target the core symptoms of ADHD, as well as those that focus on associated conditions, e.g. emotional dysregulation and common co-morbidities. For this funding opportunity, applications with significant industry involvement beyond monetary or in-kind contributions are particularly welcome.

All proposals submitted must describe an evaluation of an intervention or technology, which falls within the remit of the EME Programme. Applications are expected to detail the clinical need, scientific rationale and proof of concept for the intervention. Specifically, there must be convincing human, clinical evidence to suggest that the approach may be efficacious and beneficial to the proposed study outcomes. For proposals evaluating a diagnostic technology, this might be a promising signal in terms of sensitivity, specificity or predictive values in the target population.

Areas of interest include (but are not limited to):

psychological interventions
non-invasive brain stimulation (including peripheral nerve and sensory stimulation)
digital therapeutics
neurofeedback and cognitive training
technology to increase the speed and accuracy of diagnosis
remotely delivered interventions (where the intervention is scientifically novel)
transdiagnostic mechanistic approaches to treatment
precision medicine
exercise, e.g. use of VR exercise and exergaming
immersive extended reality, including virtual reality and augmented realised intervention approaches
role of remote measurement and wearables in assessment and management
combining AI/machine learning and biomarker approaches to assessment and diagnosis

More information here.

Australia-UK platform studies in areas of unmet clinical need

Funder: NIHR

Opened: 24 October 2024

Closed: 10am, 23 July 2025

Sector: Healthcare & Life Sciences

The Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) Australia, the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Australia and National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) UK are inviting applications for ambitious platform studies in areas of unmet medical need. The platform must be internationally collaborative, with joint leads based in Australia and the United Kingdom.

This call is for either Phase 2 or Phase 3 focused platforms, where there is a pipeline of technologies which justifies a platform approach. This call will not support funding for studies aiming to run platforms seamlessly from phase 2 into phase 3.

Phase 2 platforms should focus on establishing the efficacy of multiple interventions in a defined patient group or circumstance (which may include sub-groups). The study must focus on interventions with convincing human clinical proof of concept which suggests they may be efficacious. By robustly evaluating efficacy, the study should have the potential to inform future Phase 3 (comparative and cost-effectiveness) trials.
Phase 3 platforms should aim to efficiently generate high-quality evidence around the clinical and cost-effectiveness of multiple interventions in a defined patient group or circumstance. The focus must be on candidate therapies which have demonstrated some clinical efficacy but which require further testing in a multi-centre, pragmatic trial to compare against current best practice.

Interventions must have an appropriate level of supporting evidence for the phase of the platform, although it is recognised that there may be some variation in the amount of evidence for the interventions across a platform.

For the purposes of this call, unmet medical need arises where individuals have a serious health condition where there are limited satisfactory options for prevention, diagnosis or treatment to support improved health outcomes. Applications are welcomed across all areas of health which meet these criteria.

Areas of particular interest include, but are not limited to:

Childhood, brain and prostate cancers
Stroke and traumatic brain injuries
Neurodegenerative diseases
Cardiometabolic conditions, including obesity

The total funding available through this funding opportunity is in the region of $30 million AUD/ £15.5 million GBP with contributions from each funder.

for the Australian-based component the maximum grant amount that can be requested is up to $5 million AUD over 7 years, with a total contribution of up to $15m AUD.
for the NIHR UK-based component, there is approximately £2.6m per award over 7 years, with a total contribution of up to £7.8 million GBP.

MRFF, NHMRC and NIHR are aiming to fund 1 to 3 platforms for up to 7 Years.

ore information here.

Mental Health Award: Leveraging longitudinal data to transform early intervention in mental health

Funder: The Wellcome Trust

Opened: 23 April 2025

Closed: 22 July 2025

Sector: Healthcare

£2m - £5m per project lasting 3-5 years.

This call will fund projects (led by a research organisation) that utilise existing longitudinal datasets and integrate experimental research to predict the onset or progression of symptoms of anxiety, depression or psychosis. You can explore thousands of longitudinal datasets through the Atlas of Longitudinal Datasets. Longitudinal datasets include, but are not limited to:

cohorts
electronic health records
data from experimental research collected over time

Projects will have the potential to enrich existing longitudinal datasets, including linkage to other sources, harmonisation and collection of additional data. Establishing entirely new cohorts will be out of scope.

More information here.

Developmental pathway funding scheme: stage one

Funder: Medical Research Council

Opened 20 March 2025:

Closed: 4pm, 16 July 2025

Sector: Healthcare & Life Sciences

Apply for funding to develop and test novel therapeutics, medical devices, diagnostics and other interventions. Your project can start and finish at any stage on the developmental pathway from early development, through pre-clinical refinement and testing to early-phase clinical studies and trials (up to phase 2a).

You must be based at a research organisation eligible for MRC funding.

There is no limit on the amount of funding you can apply for, but it should be appropriate to the project. MRC usually funds 80% of a project’s FEC.

You can apply for academically-led translational projects that aim to either:

improve prevention, diagnosis, prognosis or treatment of significant health needs
develop research tools that increase the efficiency of developing interventions

All diseases and interventions are eligible for support. You can also address global health issues.

More information here.

Gap fund for early-stage development of new healthcare interventions

Funder: MRC

Opened: 7 May 2025

Closed: 4pm, 9 July 2025

Sector: Healthcare & Life Sciences

Total fund of £3m, each award (FEC) will be between £50,000 and £300,000. The funding is at 80% of the FEC and 100% of permitted exceptions. Duration of 6-18 months per project..

Apply for funding to generate critical data that builds confidence in developing a new or repurposed medicine, medical device, diagnostic test, or other medical intervention.

To apply, you must be based at a research organisation eligible for MRC funding.

The Gap Fund bridges the smaller Impact Acceleration Account (IAA) and the larger Developmental Pathway Funding Scheme (DPFS).

You can apply for academically led translational projects that aim to undertake a single-step package of work that will bridge the gap between the inception of a new idea and substantive funding through schemes such as the DPFS to:

help prevent disease
help improve speed and accuracy of diagnosis of disease
develop new treatments for disease
help to improve outcome monitoring of patients receiving treatment
help to improve the management of diseases and conditions

All human diseases and medical interventions are eligible for support, both in the context of UK healthcare and addressing global health issues.

More information here.

Research for Patient Benefit - March 2025

Funder: NIHR

Opened: 12 March 2025

Closed: 1pm, 9 July 2025

Sector: Healthcare & Life Sciences

As a researcher-led programme, RfPB does not specify topics for research but instead encourages proposals for projects that address a wide range of health service issues and challenges.

There are three strands to the RfPB.

1. Researcher-led - currently focusing on West Midlands and East Midlands.

2. NIHR/ NICE rolling funding opportunity.
3. James Lind Alliance Priority Setting Partnerships - focus is on digital technology in mental health care

More information here.

Advancing Healthcare - Small Grants

Funder: Barts charity

Open

Closed: 26 June 2025

Sector: Healthcare & Life Sciences

Barts charity's Advancing Healthcare Small Grants provides funding for its staff to pilot new ideas, technologies and ways of working within Barts Health NHS Trust that could advance healthcare delivery and improve the health of its local community.

Grants are for £5,000 up to £75,000. Projects can last up to 18 months.

More information here. This grant is run several times a year.

Supporting researchers to involve public at pre-application stage

Funder: MRC

Opened: 24 April 2025

Closed: 4pm 26 June 2025

Sector: Healthcare & life Sciences

Apply for funding to run a scheme at your research organisation (RO) to reimburse public partners who work with researchers to develop Medical Research Council (MRC) research funding applications. You must be based at a RO eligible for MRC funding.

Your RO scheme must:

support research applications to MRC
support researchers to develop, plan and deliver their public partnership activity

The full economic cost (FEC) of your scheme can be up to £20,000 and over a duration of up to 18 months. MRC will fund 100% of the FEC.

You must have completed the mandatory expression of interest stage to be invited to this full stage.
More information here.

Research Programme for Social Care (RPSC)

Funder: NIHR

Opened: 26 February 2025

Closed: 1pm, 25 June 2025

Sector: Social Care

A two stage process, this is the first (outline application) stage. RPSC aims to fund research that generates evidence to increase the effectiveness of social care services, provides value for money and benefits people who need or use social care services, and carers. Research will cover both adults and children's social care.

Applications are invited from higher education institutions, charities, local authorities/governments and relevant third sector organisations across the UK.

There are three different funding opportunities with separate applications on the awards management system: RPSC researcher-led; RPSC Commissioned NIHR NICE Rolling Funding; RPSC Commissioned NIHR JLA Funding.

There is an online webinar on Monday 7 April, 10am - 12pm for potential applicants. Join to find out more about this funding opportunity. Register now.

More information here.

Cancer Grand Challenges

Funders: Cancer Research UK and the US National Cancer Institute

Open:

Closed: 23:59 BST, 18 June 2025

Sector: Healthcare & Life Sciences

On 5 March 2025, CGC launched a new set of challenges:

These challenges are now open for EOIs from global, interdisciplinary research teams for awards of up to £20m ($25m).

More information here.

Contracts for Innovation: Scaling community initiatives in diet and exercise

Funder: Innovate UK

Opened: 19 May 2025

Closed: 11am, 18 June 2025

Sector: Healthcare & Life Sciences

This is a single phase Contracts for Innovation competition. The aim of the competition is to fund social enterprises with the ability to scale and deliver social impact. Your proposal must address the delivery of community based diet and (or) exercise initiatives and your existing innovation must require further testing and R&D.

Single phase projects can range in size up to total eligible costs of between £200,000 and £250,000, inclusive of VAT. A total of up to £1.8 million inclusive of VAT, is allocated to this competition. Innovate UK expects to fund up to six projects.

To lead a project, you can be a social care enterprise of any size.

The aim of the competition is to fund social enterprises with the ability to scale and deliver social impact. Your proposal must address the delivery of community based diet and (or) exercise initiatives and your existing innovation must require further testing and R&D.

In this phase 3 competition you must further develop your existing pre-commercial innovation, deploying, testing and iterating in a real world or representative environment. You must work closely with potential users and customers, conducting the R&D to progress your project toward commercialisation.

More information here.

DARE UK next-generation trusted research environment capabilities

Funder: UKRI

Opened: 4 April 2025

Closed: 4pm, 5 June 2025

Sector: ALL

Apply for funding to prototype the ‘next generation’ capabilities for federated trusted research environments (TREs) currently missing from the landscape.

Applications from across all disciplines and research councils’ remits are welcomed.

You must be based at a UK research organisation eligible for UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) funding. Applications may also challenge current assumptions about TRE federation.

The full economic cost (FEC) of your project can be up to £390,000. MRC will fund 80% of the FEC. The project will be funded for 12 months from September 2025 to September 2026.

More information here.

Advancing Healthcare - Large Grants

Funder: Barts charity

Open

Closed: 5 June 2025

Sector: Healthcare & Life Sciences

Barts charity's Advancing Healthcare Large Grants provides funding for its staff to pilot new ideas, technologies and ways of working within Barts Health NHS Trust that could advance healthcare delivery and improve the health of its local community.

Grants are from £75,000 up to £500,000. Projects can last up to 36 months.

More information here. This grant is run several times a year.

Proof of Concept

Funders: Multiple agencies within UK Research and Innovation

Opened: 12 March 2025

Closed: 4pm, 29 May 2025

Sector: All

Apply for proof of concept to support the commercialisation of research to enable spinouts or social ventures, licencing or other commercialisation pathways.

Applications from any disciplines are welcomed. No pre-existing UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) funding is required. The programme will not support discovery-driven research. You must be based at a UK research organisation.

The full economic cost (FEC) can be up to £250,000 for 12 months duration with a minimum of £100,000 for 6 months. UKRI will fund 80% FEC. Only UKRI eligible research organisations can apply.

The intention to submit was a mandatory step and the deadline was 3 March 2025 at 4:00pm (UK time).

More information here.

Weight Management Pathway Design Accelerator

Funder: Innovate UK

Open:

Closed: 11am, 28 May 2025

Sector: Healthcare

Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation will invest up to £3 million in a design accelerator. Your project’s total eligible costs must be up to £50,000. It can last up to 3 months. To lead a project your organisation must be a UK registered Integrated Care Board (ICB) or equivalent entities in the devolved nation health administrations

The aim of this competition is to enable NHS organisations to speed up the development of novel community based patient access models that are safe, effective and resource efficient.

This will open up the possibility that new obesity treatment options could be accessed by eligible patients through the NHS in anticipation of the release of additional funding for the implementation of new pathways.

This design accelerator will enable eligible NHS organisations to mobilise and meet a high level policy objective for the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) and the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC).

Your accelerator will prepare initial pathway designs and outline the business case and implementation plans for community based weight management services. This will include engagement with eligible businesses, including pharmacies, who would have the capability needed to provide the prescribing and behavioural interventions for a patient centred approach to care delivery.
More information here.

Generative AI for anxiety, depression and psychosis

Funder: Wellcome

Open:

Closed: 28 May 2025

Sector: Healthcare

This programme will fund fundamental research on using generative AI to improve the measurement or treatment of anxiety, depression and psychosis. Successful teams will research how to optimise generative models for mental health or how generative AI, mental health professionals and people affected by mental health issues can work together safely and efficiently.

Up to £3m per award. Duration: up to 2 years. Participants will join an accelerator stage for the first 4 months, which is not a grant. Then, they will have the opportunity to apply for grant funding for up to 2 years.

The application process for this programme is in two phases: a four-month accelerator stage followed by a separate funding call. Only participants selected for the accelerator stage will be eligible to apply for the funding call.

Wellcome will only accept applications from teams, not individual researchers. To find a team to apply with or to recruit additional team members, you can use the matchmaking service offered by Neuromatch. This service will close on 14 April 2025.
More information here.

i4i - Product Development Award, Call 30

Funder: NIHR

Opened: 9 April 2025

Closed: 28 May 2025

Sector: Healthcare & Life sciences

The i4i Product Development Awards (PDA) support collaborative research and development projects of medical devices, in vitro diagnostic devices and high-impact patient-focused digital health technologies for use in the NHS or social care systems. The PDA are researcher-led and aim to de-risk innovations, supporting early product development through to real-world evaluations, to make innovations more attractive for follow-on funding and commercial investment. The expected focus of a project funded by PDA is one or more of the following:

Product development required to enable technologies for clinical use or use in social care
Clinical development of a laboratory-validated technology
Real-world evaluations to accelerate the development and uptake of innovative products, which already have demonstrated safety and efficacy

The aim is to achieve benefits to patients and end users, de-risk technologies and make them attractive to follow-on funders, investors and buyers, in particular NHS commissioners and national guidance bodies.

All proposals must involve one of the following, and you are expected to state the classification of your technology very clearly in the application:

Medical devices or in vitro diagnostic devices
Digital health technologies
AI as a medical device

Minimum number of co-applicants: 2

Funding level: No maximum, NIHR is encouraging ambitious projects with the potential to make a real impact.

Project duration: Up to 36 months

More information here.

Japan-UK joint call for collaborations in advancing human-centred AI

Funder: Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council

Opened: 20 March 2025

Closed: 22 May 2025

Sector: ALL

Apply for funding to form world-leading partnerships with collaborators in Japan in the field of artificial intelligence and data science.

Your application must involve researchers from both Japan and the UK. UK applicants must be based at a UK research organisation eligible for EPSRC funding. Japan-based applicants must be eligible for JST funding.

You may request up to:

£1.5 million (80% full economic cost (FEC)) UK project component
¥280 million/project (incl. 30% overhead expenses) Japan project component

There will probably be funding for up to four projects for a duration of five years per project.

All proposals must include plans for promoting international talent mobility and development of the next generation of AI researchers. Proposals are also expected to contribute to and demonstrate how collaborative efforts between the researchers in Japan and the UK will advance human-centred AI.

Proposals related to one or more of the following research topics are encouraged, but submissions are not limited to these areas:

next-generation AI: improving machine learning (deep learning) algorithms, establishing reliable AI and responsible AI systems, and applied research in areas such as computer vision and speech recognition and natural language processing
robotics: research on autonomous systems, autonomous driving, industrial robots, communication robots, companion robots, and robots capable of teaching advanced skills (for example, craftsmanship) (excluding purely control-based or mechanical engineering research)
AI for health: future predictive research for a healthier population, covering novel AI, automation and data science techniques to creating a healthier state. This includes advanced diagnostics, visualisation of invisible disease lesions and prediction and prevention of lifestyle-related diseases, frailty and early detection of cognitive decline
human-computer interface: research related to novel technologies to allow humans to interact with digital technologies, for example through virtual reality (VR) and metaverse; and to enhance human physical and cognitive capabilities using information science technologies such as VR, AI, robotics and information communication technologies (ICT)

More information here.

i4i THRIVE - April 2025

Funder: NIHR

Opened: 14 April 2025

Closed: 1pm, 16 May 2025

Sector: Healthcare & Life Sciences

The NIHR Invention for Innovation (i4i) programme is accepting applications to their new researcher and clinician-led THRIVE (Translate Healthcare Research through InnoVation and Entrepreneurship) funding and training opportunity. Led by UK-based academics and clinicians.

THRIVE offers up to £150,000 over 9 months to support the development of the technology and a structured programme of entrepreneurial training, mentoring, peer support and networking. Through the programme the innovators will explore the market for their innovation and identify potential routes for commercialising (spin-out vs licensing) or sustaining their innovation (Intrapreneurship).

The programme supports innovations that can reduce health inequalities and meet needs in underserved communities. This is a one stage application process. The minimum entry point is Critical Function or Proof of Concept Established (TRL3).

More information here.

Advancing Healthcare - Small Grants

Funder: Barts charity

Open

Closed: 15 May 2025

Sector: Healthcare & Life Sciences

Grants are for £5,000 up to £75,000. Projects can last up to 18 months.

More information here. This grant is run several times a year.

Contracts for Innovation: READ-OUT digital cognitive dementia assessments

Funder: Innovate UK

Opened: 14 April 2025

Closed: 11am, 14 May 2025

Sector: Healthcare

Organisations can apply for a single award of up to £600,000, inclusive of VAT. To implement and assess a dementia based digital cognitive assessment to be evaluated as part of the Real-world dementia outcomes (READ-OUT) study being managed by the University of Oxford. This is a single stage process. This competition supports the government’s Dementia Goals programme.

This competition is a demonstrator and aims to accelerate innovation in dementia based digital cognitive assessments (DCA). High maturity DCA innovations will be deployed and assessed as part of the READ-OUT (REAl-world Dementia OUTcomes) blood based biomarker study and feed into the Davos Alzheimer's Collaborative System Preparedness project.

Your proposed DCA must demonstrate significant accuracy and specificity to the progression and correlation of diseases that can cause dementia. The University of Oxford will support and facilitate the real world use of the DCA test at READ-OUT clinical sites.

You must demonstrate how proven DCA technologies can be integrated into an NHS environment for the first time as ‘first of a kind’ demonstrations. This competition will support innovative suppliers in preparation for market readiness.

More information here.

Transformative and disruptive innovations to reduce waiting lists and waiting times

Funder: NIHR

Opened: 9 April 2025

Closed: 1pm, 7 May 2025

Sector: Healthcare

NIHR invites applications to enhance timely access to care through the development, clinical validation and/or real-world evidence generation of transformative and disruptive technologies. This funding opportunity, therefore, supports the development of innovative health technologies aimed at reducing waiting times and waiting lists for individuals in need of care, in any setting.

Types of eligible innovations include, but are not limited to, medical devices, in vitro diagnostics, NICE classified digital health solutions, software, behavioural interventions and new models of care. Innovations incorporating or employing a game-changing technology (artificial intelligence, quantum sensing, engineering biology, genomics or wearables including smart phones) are particularly welcomed, as well as innovations addressing NHS systemic reforms proposed by the government: analogue to digital; sickness to prevention; hospital to community.

Projects are expected to last between 12-36 months. Projects must include a collaboration of at least two organisations and may include two or more of the same organisation type. No maximum funding level. The lead applicant should be an HEI, SME, NHS or social care provider, or not-for-profit organisation, based in the UK.

More information here.

Cyber Local 2025-2026

Funders: Innovate UK, Department for Science, Innovation and Technology

Opened: 17 March 2025

Closed: 11am, 30 April 2025

Sector: ALL

This competition is open to single applicants and collaborations. Can be led by an SME, academic institution, charity or public sector organisation. Award range: £25,000 - £150,000. Total fund is £1.8m.

The aim of this competition is to develop impactful regional activities and events that focus on supporting the growth of the cyber security sector and the development of cyber security skills. These projects will be to resolve geographical disparities in the development and growth of the cyber security sector and to reduce the skills gap in the sector.

Your project must:

be delivered in one of the nine specified geographical areas
demonstrate clear impact in the cyber security sector of the region through the development of strong and innovative cyber security ecosystems or increasing opportunities for activities to reduce the skills gap
have endorsement of your area steering group

The nine specified geographical areas are:

North West England
South West England
Yorkshire and Humber
North East England
East Midlands
West Midlands
South East England
East of England
London

Specific themes

Your project must focus on one or more of the following:

strengthening the local cyber security sector through area partnerships and forging links between industry, public sector and academia
supporting the development of strong and innovative cyber security ecosystems
increasing opportunities for local people to pursue a career in cyber security, paying particular attention to underrepresented communities
cyber security skills for local people or communities to reduce the skills gap
upskilling underrepresented demographics in the cyber security sector

More information here.

Innovation Grant

Funder: University Hospitals Birmingham Charity

Closed: 25 April 2025

Sector: Healthcare

Suicide prevention

Funder: NIHR-HTA

Opened: 28 November 2024

Closed: 1pm, 25 April 2025

Sector: Healthcare

HTA's Public Health Research (PHR) Programme is looking to fund research which evaluates interventions aimed at reducing suicide attempts and suicide.

This is a two-stage, commissioned funding opportunity. To apply for the first stage you should submit an Outline Application. If invited to the second stage, you will then need to complete a Full Application.

Which interventions are effective in reducing the rate of suicide and suicide attempts?

HTA is interested in commissioning research to evaluate interventions aimed at reducing suicide attempts and suicide. Please note that interventions aimed at non-suicidal self-harm, or interventions for people accessing NHS mental health services, are not in remit for this funding opportunity. HTA is predominantly interested in interventions operating at a population level rather than at an individual level, and interventions should aim to influence the wider determinants of suicide and suicide attempts.

Examples include (but are not limited to):

Multiagency interventions aimed at preventing suicide and/or suicide attempts.
Interventions to prevent suicide and/or suicide attempts by restricting access to the means and methods of suicide.
Interventions to increase levels of support to people in different forms of crisis which may put them at risk of suicide or suicidal ideation.
Interventions to prevent suicide and/or suicide attempts in people in contact with the criminal justice system (a single setting or a range of custodial settings may be considered)
Interventions for groups where there are evidence gaps, such as minority ethnic groups including Gypsy Roma traveller groups; refugees and asylum seekers, people who are LGBTQ+, people who have experienced domestic abuse and people who have experienced harmful gambling.
Interventions aimed specifically at a high-risk group. (For example, this may include, but is not limited to, people where financial difficulty/cost of living concerns or alcohol/substance use is increasing the risk of suicide/suicide attempt)
Interventions aimed at promoting online safety and content to reduce harms, improve support and signposting, and provide helpful messages about suicide.

More information here.

Mass Media Content

Funder: NIHR

Open: 28 November 2024

Closed: 1pm, 25 April 2025

Sector: Healthcare and Communications

The Public Health Research (PHR) Programme is looking to fund research which evaluates the health and health inequality impacts of mass media content. It is expected that there will be a focus on online/ digital content.

There is a webinar on Tuesday 11 February 2025, 1:15pm to 2:30pm, and will focus on each funding opportunity as well as general tips for applying. There will be a Q&A at the end. Please complete the online form to sign up.

Research specification here.

Electronic Patient Records – Evaluation of Implementation and Delivery in the NHS (Frontline Digitisation)

Funder: NIHR

Opened: 18 March 2025

Closed: 1pm, 23 April 2025

Sector: Digital Health

The NIHR Policy Research Programme (PRP) invites applications for a single research project to conduct a multi-phase evaluation of Electronic Patient Record (EPR) systems in England. This study aims to address gaps in the available evidence base, and to provide insights to inform both national policy and local implementation of EPRs. Value of the funding - £1million. Duration - up to 36 months.

Key objectives of the research are to:

Assess the extent of EPR adoption across NHS trusts, identifying variations in adherence to national standards, including (but not limited to) digital, cybersecurity, clinical risk management and interoperability standards.
Examine how different EPR systems and vendors are implemented. Where multiple trusts have adopted a shared or standardised EPR system, this should focus on exploring how they are integrated and delivered across NHS trusts (including the extent and impact of convergence).
Evaluate the impact of EPRs on key operational and clinical outcomes, examining both tangible benefits and potential disbenefits to provide a balanced assessment of the overall effectiveness of EPR systems.
Identify key enablers and barriers to successful EPR adoption, exploring the factors that have helped or hindered successful implementation and uptake, including leadership, training, technical infrastructure and cultural factors within trusts.
Assess the cost-effectiveness and return on investment (ROI) of EPRs, providing a detailed economic analysis to understand the financial implications of EPR systems across NHS trusts, considering both direct and indirect costs and long-term value for money.
Explore the perceptions and experiences of EPR users, including NHS staff and patients, to understand their satisfaction, challenges and the overall user experience with EPR systems.

i4i FAST March 2025

Funder: NIHR

Opened: 11 March 2025

Closed: 16 April 2025

Sector: Paediatrics and Child Health

The NIHR Invention for Innovation (i4i) Funding At the Speed of Translation (FAST) programme, in partnership with the NIHR HealthTech Research Centre in Paediatrics and Child Health, invites applications to support the development of health technologies to reduce community and hospital waiting lists for children and young people, including those with learning disabilities, seeking mental healthcare or neurodevelopmental assessment.

This is a one-stage commissioned funding opportunity. Applications need to be clearly aligned with the Department of Health and Social Care’s (DHSC’s) area of research interest 1 to take early action to prevent poor health outcomes by developing effective prevention, early diagnosis, and intervention strategies that specifically support children and young people (up to 18 years of age) to enable the transfer of care from hospitals to the community and alleviate long-term burden on the NHS and social care system.

Awards made under FAST March 2025 may receive between £50k to £100k of funding for 6 to 12 months.

More information here.

Mental Health Award: Advancing target validation for novel mental health drug discovery

Funder: The Wellcome Trust

Opened: 10 February 2025

Closed: 15 April 2025

Sector: Life sciences

Funding up to £700,000 for a project duration of up to 2 years.

You can apply to this call if you are a team of researchers: 

from disciplines relevant to drug discovery and mental health science, including but not limited to genomics, computational psychiatry, molecular biology in psychiatry, medical chemistry, neuropharmacology, in-vitro/vivo/silico pharmacology and drug discovery

Commercial organisations are not eligible to apply as administering organisations for this call. However, commercial organisations can be added as consultants (service providers) or collaborators.

This call aims to support research activities to validate novel targets that have a clear therapeutic concept, a strong biological rationale and relevance to early intervention in anxiety, depression and/or psychosis.

More information here.

Investor Partnerships – digital technologies, North East: Round 2

Funder: Innovate UK

Opened: 24 February 2025

Closed: 11am, 9 April 2025

Sector: ALL

Innovate UK, as part of UK Research and Innovation, will work with North East Combined Authority to invest up to £1.7 million in innovation projects. For this competition, North East England refers to the geography of the North East Combined Authority which includes Northumberland, Tyne and Wear and County Durham. This could be demonstrated by:

your local innovation activities
the value that your innovation activities create in the cluster
your engagement with other innovation active organisations in the cluster, such as with Innovation SuperNetwork, this Launchpad’s cluster management organisation

Your project’s total costs will depend on your research category and must be between £50,000 and £300,000 (lasting 6 to12 months) for feasibility studies, £100,000 and £1 million (lasting 6 to12 months) for industrial research, £250,000 and £2 million (lasting 12 to 18 months) for experimental development.

For all projects, your project must:

not start before 1 September 2025
end by 31 March 2027

Feasibility studies and industrial research projects

For feasibility studies and industrial research projects, Innovate UK will fund:

up to 70% of eligible project costs for micro or small organisations
up to 60% for medium sized organisations

The aligned investment must always be at least equal to your grant funding request.

Experimental development projects

For experimental development projects Innovate UK will fund:

up to 45% of eligible project costs for micro or small organisations
up to 35% for medium sized organisations

The aligned investment must always be at least twice as much as your grant funding request.

Your project must focus on digital technologies that can be applied in growing and emerging markets. Growing or emerging markets, include but are not limited to:

advanced manufacturing
agriculture and forestry
automotive and transportation
creative industries
culture, tourism, leisure and sport
green industries
health
offshore industries
retail and town centre

More information here.

Innovate UK Investor Partners – UKRI

Investor Partnerships – health technologies, West Yorkshire: Round 2

Funder: Innovate UK

Opened: 24 February 2025

Closed: 11am, 9 April 2025

Sector: Healthcare & Life Sciences

Innovate UK, as part of UK Research and Innovation, will work with West Yorkshire Combined Authority to invest up to £3.9 million in innovation projects.The projects will be led by ambitious UK registered (SMEs who will use the funding to grow their innovation activities in the health technology cluster in West Yorkshire, both during and after the project. Your project must help to grow your innovation activities in the health technology cluster in West Yorkshire, both during and after your project.

This could be demonstrated by:

your local innovation activities
the value that your innovation activities create in the cluster
your engagement with other innovation active organisations in the cluster, such as with Health Innovation Yorkshire & Humber, this Launchpad’s cluster management organisation

The aim of this competition is to provide you with support for research and development and access to the capital investment you need to develop and commercialise your innovations. You must have gained a level of traction with one of Innovate UK’s investor partners. Innovate UK will contact them to confirm they are likely to make an offer of investment if you have a successful application to Innovate UK.

Your proposal must have a clear route to market, a clear link to innovation and evidence that you can create a team to deliver your proposal.

You must demonstrate that if your project is funded, it will:

have significant market impact
be scalable
be attractive to equity investors

Your project must focus on human health technology innovation. You can address any human health challenges that include, but are not limited to:

overcoming health inequalities
global net zero challenges in healthcare
major health conditions
the prevention of disease
earlier and better detection and diagnosis of disease
other challenges that can be tackled with health technologies

All applications scoring over 70% will be reviewed by a panel including Innovate UK and local Launchpad partners.

Eligibility
For feasibility studies projects:

your total project costs must be between £50,000 and £300,000
your project duration must be between 6 and 12 months

For industrial research projects:

your total project costs must be between £100,000 and £1 million
your project duration must be between 6 and 12 months

For experimental development projects:

your total project costs must be between £250,000 and £2 million
your project duration must be between 12 and 18 months

For all projects, your project must:

not start before 1 September 2025
end by 31 March 2027

Feasibility studies and industrial research projects

For feasibility studies and industrial research projects, Innovate UK will fund:

up to 70% of eligible project costs for micro or small organisations
up to 60% for medium sized organisations

The aligned investment must always be at least equal to your grant funding request.

Experimental development projects

For experimental development projects Innovate UK will fund:

up to 45% of eligible project costs for micro or small organisations
up to 35% for medium sized organisations

The aligned investment must always be at least twice as much as your grant funding request.
More information here.

Innovate UK Investor Partners – UKRI

Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP): 2025 – 2026 Round 1

Funder: Innovate UK

Opened: 18 February 2025

Closed: 9 April 2025

Sector: ALL

UK registered academic institutions, RTOs or Catapults can apply for a share of up to £9 million to fund innovation projects with businesses or not for profits. The number of public sector management KTPs (which includes NHS organisations) is limited to a maximum of 10 applications per competition round. A project’s total eligible costs are £8,500 per month. Projects must be between 12 and 36 months.

The Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) programme allows a UK registered business or not for profit organisation, (referred to as the ‘business partner’) to partner with a ‘knowledge base partner’, which is either a UK higher education (HE) or further education (FE) institution, research and technology organisation (RTO) or Catapult.

The KTP partnership brings new skills and the latest academic thinking into the business partner to deliver a specific, strategic innovation project. The knowledge base partner recruits the ‘associate’ to work on the project. The associate has the opportunity to lead a strategic development within the business, developing new skills and gaining valuable experience.

Scope
The application must be for a specific, strategic innovation project that tackles one or more challenges faced by the business partner.

It can be any kind of project and must show:

why the business needs this Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP)
what new knowledge is required by the business
what new capabilities will be embedded as a result of the KTP

Eligible costs depend on a number of factors, including:

the duration of the project
where the project will be located
the size of the business or group
if your business operates virtually

For full details on what costs you can claim, see the KTP project costs guidance.

Successful applications are partially funded on the following basis:

large companies and eligible public sector organisations may receive a grant contribution of up to 50% of eligible project costs, with the business paying the balance.
micro, small or medium sized enterprises (SMEs) may receive a grant contribution up to 67% of eligible project costs, with the business paying the balance.
not for profit organisations, charities or charitable business may receive a grant contribution of up to 75% of eligible project costs, with the charity or charitable business paying the balance.

More information here.

NIHR/ NICE Rolling Funding Opportunity (EME Programme)

Funder: NIHR

Opened: 13 December 2024

Closed: 1pm, 8 April 2025

Sector: Healthcare & Life Sciences

The Efficacy and Mechanism Evaluation (EME) Programme is accepting Outline Applications to this funding opportunity. The programme is interested in receiving applications to meet recommendations in research identified in NICE guidance that has been published or updated in the last 5 years.

Proposals must be within the remit of the EME Programme and the primary outcome measure must be health related. This funding opportunity is also open to proposals within the remit of at least one of the following participating NIHR Programmes, and applications which span the remit of one or more programme are also welcome:

More information here.

Discovery Award

Funder: Wellcome

Open

Closed: 8 April 2025

Sector: Various

Awards can be up to 8 years, but may be less for some disciplines, and may be longer if held on a part-time basis. The average duration of a Discovery Award is 7 years, although Wellcome have supported awards from 3 to 8 years. You should ask for the resources you need for your research programme – see the 'R esearch costs we'll cover' section. You will need to justify this in your application. The average size of a Discovery Award is £3.5 million. Applications above £5 million will be subject to additional scrutiny.

Your research can:

be in any discipline - including science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), experimental medicine, humanities and social science, clinical/allied health sciences, and public health
be in a single discipline or multidisciplinary.

The applicant organisation can be a not-for-profit:

higher education institution
research institute
non-academic healthcare organisation
charity or social enterprise.

More information here.

Therapies for women, children and others who experience domestic abuse

Funder: NIHR - HTA

Opened: 28 November 2024

Closed: 1pm, 2 April 2025

Sector: Healthcare & Life Sciences

This HTA programme is looking to fund research on therapies for women, children and others who experience domestic abuse.

The aim of the HTA Programme is to ensure that high quality research information on the clinical effectiveness, cost-effectiveness and broader impact of healthcare treatments and tests are produced in the most efficient way for those who plan, provide or receive care from NHS and social care services. The commissioned workstream invites applications in response to calls for research on specific questions which have been identified and prioritised for their importance to the NHS, patients and social care.

This is a brief of broader scope from which the programme is interested in potentially funding more than one proposal.

HTA is interested in proposals for the evaluation of trauma-informed therapies for women, children and others who have experienced domestic abuse. Evaluated therapies can include those operating in local systems of social care or delivered through multi-agency working. Therapies may include, but are not limited to, NHS services.

Examples of topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

trauma-informed therapies in mental health; substance use; criminal justice settings; and the community
past and present focused therapies
therapies targeting diverse and marginalised groups, including programmes for those who have suffered multiple forms of abuse and those who are still experiencing it

More information here.

Ambitious data-enabled ‘e-trials’

Funder: NIHR - HTA

Opened: 28 November 2024

Closed: 1pm, 2 April 2025

Sector: Healthcare & Life Sciences

The HTA Programme is inviting applications for studies using innovative data-enabled clinical trial designs to answer important research questions in health and social care.

Through this funding opportunity, the HTA Programme is hoping to attract ambitious data-enabled trial proposals (or “e-trials”) that can use routine data sources for key trial processes, such as patient identification, intervention delivery and for collecting outcomes in an efficient way. Proposed interventions need to be mature enough to be tested on a national scale. Applications should include an internal pilot to ensure that the study can accurately capture the data required to complete the trial.

Write a maximum of five A4 pages for your Research Plan. This should include the background, rationale and all figures. When reviewing applications, we will not consider any additional information over this five page limit. Please include the following information when writing your Research Plan.

More information here.

Artificial intelligence, engineering biology and quantum technologies

Funder: MRC

Opened: 1 April 2024

Closed: 4pm 31 March 2025

Sector: Healthcare and Life sciences

During the highlight period MRC particularly welcomes applications from teams that are applying AI, engineering biology or quantum technologies, to better enable them to meet relevant MRC board and panel and cross-cutting themes. MRC will usually fund up to 80% of your project’s full economic cost.

Artificial intelligence (AI) : You should be clear on the biomedical research challenge to be addressed, how use of AI will deliver impact beyond incremental optimisation of current systems, and where, if applicable complementarity exists with UKRI strategies (for example Transforming our World with AI) and existing investments in the same area (for example Responsible AI UK).
More information here.

Decarbonising the health and social care system

Funder: NIHR

Opened: 27 November 2024

Closed: 26 March 2025

Sector:

NIHR is interested in building research capacity and generating high-quality research evidence into developing and evaluating innovations focussed on decarbonisation of the health and social care system.

From November 2024 NIHR will be welcoming applications for both:

new primary research studies to establish the effectiveness of new, promising, or existing interventions, and
evidence synthesis to support the translation of effective interventions into policy and practice.

It is anticipated that a range of projects in size and scope will be commissioned where possible. Those interested in this funding should note the following events.

Information webinar - Friday 16 August 2024, 12pm to 1pm. Please email sustainability@nihr.ac.uk to register your interest in this webinar by Wednesday 14th August.
In-person workshop (London) - Friday 27 September 2024 (venue and time tbc). Please email sustainability@nihr.ac.uk to register your interest in this event.

More information here.

Sandpit: moving respiratory health diagnosis into the 21st century

Funder: Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council

Opened: 28 January 2025

Closed: 4pm, 20 March 2025

Sector: Healthcare & Life Sciences

Apply for funding to develop new, innovative, multidisciplinary and transformative diagnostic and monitoring approaches to respiratory health and disease in community healthcare settings.

You must draw in part on engineering and physical sciences (EPS) principles and research.

The first stage is a ‘sandpit’ event. In this five-day in-person event, you will work with other stakeholders to develop ideas for proposals. The Funder expects to fund three to five collaborative projects for up to four years, sharing up to £4 million.

EPSRC will fund 80% of the full economic cost (FEC).

More information here.

Developmental pathway funding scheme: stage one

Funder: Medical Research Council

Opened: 21 November 2024

Closed: 4pm, 19 March 2025

Sector: Healthcare & Life sciences

Apply for funding to develop and test novel therapeutics, medical devices, diagnostics and other interventions.

Your project can start and finish at any stage on the developmental pathway from early development, through pre-clinical refinement and testing to early-phase clinical studies and trials (up to phase 2a).

You must be based at a research organisation eligible for MRC funding.

There is no limit on the amount of funding you can apply for, but it should be appropriate to the project. The MRC usually funds 80% of a project’s full economic cost. Total fund is £30m.

This is an ongoing funding opportunity. Application rounds close every March, July and November.

You can apply for funding for work on novel:

candidate therapeutic entities (for example, drug discovery)
vaccines for infectious or non-infectious disease
biologics (antibodies, peptides, proteins)
advanced therapeutics (for example, gene therapy and cell therapy)
regenerative medicine approaches
repurposing clinical studies or using existing therapies for new indications
medical devices
digital healthcare, app development or artificial intelligence
diagnostics (including biomarker validation)
medical imaging technology
surgical techniques or tools
behavioural and psychological interventions
radiotherapy and radiation protocols
interventions that benefit health in low and middle-income countries

More information here.

i4i Connect, Call 9

Funder: NIHR

Opened: 18 February 2025

Closed: 1pm, 18 March 2025

Sector: Healthcare & Life sciences

The NIHR Invention for Innovation (i4i) Programme Connect Call is aimed at small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) developing medical technologies in need of a funding boost to reach the next stage in their development pathway (normally a PDA grant). i4i Connect is for SMEs developing medical devices, in vitro diagnostics, and digital health technologies for NHS or social care use.

Expression of interest applications will be assessed against the following criteria:

Clinical need, health economic case and impact on the NHS and patients
Level of innovation
Quality of the project plan, including the technological content, and risk mitigation strategy
Strength of the project team and management arrangements
Intellectual Property (IP) & commercialisation strategy
Value for money
Consideration of Patient and public involvement

On Call 8, the grant offered up to £150,000 over a 6-12 month period.

More information here.

EIC Accelerator

Funder: European Commission - Horizon

Open

Closed: 12 March 2025

Sector: ALL

The EIC Accelerator is a funding programme under Horizon Europe that offers support to start-ups and SMEs that:

have a innovative, game changing product, service or business model that could create new markets or disrupt existing ones in Europe and even worldwide,
have the ambition and commitment to scale up,
are looking for substantial funding, but the risks involved are too high for private investors alone to invest.

Grant: maximum €2.5 million.

Investment component: Between €0.5M and €10M. Applicants can choose to apply for a blend of grant and equity, grant only, grant first or equity only.

The grants application is a 3 stage process.
The first stage is a short proposal that can be done any time.

Next is the full proposal (twice this year): 12 March, 1 October 2025
Lastly, interview rounds: They will be held approximately 8-9 weeks after the cut-off dates. Open to single SMEs and start-ups (and individuals intending to establish a start-up/SME) established in EU Member State Countries.

Titles of the five EIC Accelerator Challenges:

Acceleration of advanced materials development and upscaling along the value chain
Biotechnology driven low emission food production systems
GenAI4EU: Creating European Champions in Generative AI
Innovative in-space servicing, operations, space-based robotics and technologies for resilient EU space infrastructure
Breakthrough innovations for future mobility

More information here.

Research for Patient Benefit - Competition 56

Funder: NIHR

Opened: 13 November 2024

Closed: 1pm, 5 March 2025

Sector: Healthcare & Life Sciences

The NIHR Research for Patient Benefit (RfPB) programme is inviting stage 1 applications for research proposals that are concerned with the day-to-day practice of health service staff, and that have the potential to have an impact on the health or wellbeing of patients and users of the NHS.

As a researcher-led programme, RfPB does not specify topics for research but instead encourages proposals for projects that address a wide range of health service issues and challenges.

Competition 56 sees the launch of two highlight notices for the RfPB Programme. The first of these is the initial instalment in a series of highlight notices that aim to solicit applications that address the specific health challenges facing the regions and communities of each funding committee. This is being launched initially for applications from the East of England and South West regions, before being rolled out in the other regions across subsequent competitions.

The second highlight notice has been launched as part of a cross-NIHR initiative that invites proposals that address the outcomes set out in the first of the Department of Health and Social Care’s (DHSC) areas of research interest, which is ‘Early action to prevent poor health outcomes’. Applications are requested that focus on tackling inequality in prevention/early detection or intervention/management for people at risk of poor health.

Applicants will need to provide evidence that they are addressing a regional research priority by citing, for example, ICS strategy documents, or other regional policy or strategy documents such as Joint Strategic Needs Assessments, regional NIHR Applied Research Collaborations (ARCs) research themes and/or Health Innovation Network (HIN) priorities. If applicants have engaged with, and have the support of, their local ICB/HIN/commissioners, they are also invited to provide a letter of support to demonstrate this. This is to ensure local relevance and utility of the proposed research. Furthermore, in applications that seek to generate evidence which has been initially produced through research in other regions, the applicants will need to clearly justify why pre-existing evidence is not applicable in the regional context proposed.

More information here.

2025 project grant call

Funder: Brain Research UK

Open

Closed: 9am, 5 March 2025

Sector: Healthcare

Brain Research UK project grants provide funding of up to £300,000 for projects lasting up to three years. It particularly encourages applications from early career researchers (up to 10 years post-doc), and applications for collaborative projects (including international collaborations, if led by a UK team).

The charity is inviting preliminary project grant applications under its three priority themes: headache and facial pain, neuro-oncology, and acquired brain and spinal cord injury.

Applications must address large unmet need within these three priority areas, and may be for either:

pre-clinical or clinical research driven by a mechanistic hypothesis and demonstrating a clear pathway to translation; or
the development of a biological model of disease that enhances one of the three research themes and facilitates translation. Such models may be in vivo or other 3D models, and must support the future testing of a mechanistic hypothesis.

There is a two-stage application process for project grants. The first stage involves submission of a preliminary application, the deadline for which is 5th March 2025.

The stage two submission deadline for short-listed applicants will be late June.

Awards are expected to be announced in October 2025.

More information here.

Advancing Healthcare - Large Grants

Funder: Barts charity

Open

Closed: 20 February 2025

Sector: Healthcare & Life Sciences

Grants are from £75,000 up to £500,000. Projects can last up to 36 months.

More information here. This grant is run several times a year.

Tackling obesity

Funder: MRC

Open

Closed:

Sector: Healthcare & Life sciences

Apply for funding to develop effective strategies to tackle overweight and obesity.

‘Tackling obesity’ is open to applications submitted to the Population and Systems Medicine Board.

The MRC is seeking multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary applications to tackle overweight and obesity. The research should support evidence-based approaches to improve health in real-life settings. In particular, the MRC wishes to better understand what makes an effective intervention. This is by encouraging greater integration and synergy across existing pockets of expertise in the biological, behavioural, psychological, environmental and social sciences.

You should apply through the existing funding opportunity most relevant to your science area and career stage. There is no limit to the funding you can apply for, but it should be appropriate to the research project. We will usually fund up to 80% of your project’s full economic cost. This is an ongoing funding priority for the Population and Systems Medicine Board. Application rounds close every January, May and September.

More information.

Scalable Neural Interfaces: Opportunity seeds

Funder: ARIA

Open

Closed: 13 February 2025

Sector: Healthcare & Life Sciences

ARIA (The Advanced Research & Invention Agency) is looking to fund transformative ideas in the Scalable Neural Interfaces space, aiming to revolutionise understanding of neurological disorders. Proposals should align with or challenge established assumptions, explore innovative brain interfaces, and push boundaries of what’s possible. Projects may range from curiosity-driven research to pre-commercial technologies, fostering bold approaches to redefine the potential and value of neural interfacing at scale. Products that are commercialised or close-to-commercial stage are out of scope.

Funding is available from £10k up to £500k per project, inclusive of VAT (where applicable) and all associated costs (both direct and indirect). There is no minimum length for a proposed project but the maximum length is three years.

More information here.

Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP): 2024 to 2025 Round 5

Funder: Innovate UK

Opened: 9 December 2024

Closed: 11am, 12 February 2025

Sector: ALL

UK registered academic institutions, RTOs or Catapults can apply for a share of up to £9 million to fund innovation projects with businesses or not for profits.

A project’s total eligible costs are typically £8,500 per month. Projects must be between 12 and 36 months. A proportion of the knowledge base partners costs will be funded by Innovate UK, the remaining costs are paid by the business partner.

Your application must be for a specific, strategic innovation project that tackles one or more challenges faced by the business partner.

It can be any kind of project and must show:

why the business needs this Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP)
what new knowledge is required by the business
what new capabilities will be embedded as a result of the KTP

More information here.

Prosperity partnerships: advanced therapies safety and toxicity

Funder: Medical Research Council

Opened: 27 November 2024

Closed: 4pm, 12 February 2025

Sector: BioMedical

Apply for funding to support emerging or established research partnerships between businesses and academic partners (lead must be UK-based).

Co-developed programmes should focus on the safety and toxicity of advanced therapies, developing tools and resources to assess and mitigate safety risks. The research will integrate discovery and translational science, aiming to propel future advanced therapies into clinics.

Multiple academic and business partners can participate, with MRC funding academic costs of £2 million to £4 million Full Economic Cost (FEC) for up to five years. Equal contribution is expected by the business partner(s).

You must be invited to apply. More information here.

India – UK Collaborative R&D for industrial sustainability Rd 2

Funder: Innovate UK

Opened: 25 November 2024

Closed: 11am, 12 February 2025

Sector: Net Zero

UK registered organisations can apply for a share of up to £2 million for innovative proposals developed with India. You must collaborate with at least one Indian business applying under the equivalent Technology Development Board programme.

The aim of this competition is to fund business led, collaborative research and development (CR&D) projects focused on Net Zero Technologies, for innovative proposals developed between the UK and India.

Your project must demonstrate:

a clear game changing or disruptive innovative idea leading to new products, processes or services
a strong and deliverable business plan that addresses and documents, market potential and needs
sound, practical financial plans and timelines
good value for money which will always be a consideration in Innovate UK and Department of Science and Technology funding decisions
a clear, evidence based plan to deliver significant economic impact, return on investment (ROI) and growth through commercialisation, as soon as possible after project completion
considerable potential to significantly benefit the UK and India economy
the benefits of participants from the countries working together and how this adds value
a clear definition of where intellectual property (IP) can be used and shared between the participants and countries
a clear route to exploitation or commercialisation

Your project must accelerate the development towards achieving net zero.

Innovate UK would particularly welcome applications that focus on:

advance materials
decarbonising manufacturing
renewable energy sources
storage and distribution
decarbonising mobility

This list is not exhaustive.

Your project must:

have a grant funding request of between £100,000 and £300,000, this does not include your Indian partner’s request
start by 1 September 2025
end by 31 March 2027
last between 6 and 18 months

More information here.

AI solutions to develop AI competencies in key sectors

Funder: Innovate UK

Opened: 11 November 2024

Closed: 11am, 29 January 2025

Sector: ALL

Innovate UK will invest up to £2 million in innovation projects as part of the BridgeAI programme. Your project’s total eligible grant funding request must be between £50,000 and £100,000.

The aim of this competition is to develop responsible and ethical AI personalised learning solutions, to support AI competency development in the key sectors of:

construction
transport and logistics
creative industries
agriculture and food processing

Your proposal must:

indicate how your solution could accelerate sector relevant AI competency development in a responsible and ethical manner
support high quality education through evidence based teaching and learning approaches
align proposed content with the relevant industry sector standards and the AI Skills for Business Competency Framework with a view to accreditation
identify proposed learning outcomes
indicate how your solution supports upskilling and reskilling of the existing workforce in one or more of the key sectors
identify an end user to pilot your solution

More information here.

Collaborative R&D: Creative Catalyst

Funder: Innovate UK

Opened: 9 December 2024

Closed: 11am, 29 January 2025

Sector: Creative industries

Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, will invest up to £2 million in collaborative innovation projects.

The aim of this CR&D competition is to advance the development of collaboration with innovators in the creative industries. Innovate UK is looking for products and tools across the creative supply chain which benefit and strengthen the UK creative economy.

The grant funding request must be between £150,000 and £200,000.

Your project must:

support the growth of the UK creative industries
demonstrate a clearly innovative and ambitious idea which addresses an industry challenge
be a significant improvement on what is currently available, with a demonstrable impact to your growth plan
create a new revenue stream, for example, new products, tools or intellectual property (IP)
be market ready within 12 months after project completion
demonstrate value for money

Innovate UK welcomes applications from businesses collaborating with other organisations in their regional cluster, and across the whole creative sector, including:

sustainability in the screen sector
music innovation including new fan engagement tools
managing copyright in digital media
new possibilities within visual effects (VFX)
modernising traditional design and craft practices
improving transparency and accountability across the online advertising supply chain

This is not an exhaustive list.

Your project lead’s area of business must focus on one or more of the following creative industries subsectors:

advertising and marketing
animation
architecture
arts and culture
crafts
design
fashion
film, TV and video
games
publishing
music and radio
visual art and photography

More information here.

Advancing Healthcare - Small Grants

Funder: Barts charity

Open

Closed: 23 January 2025

Sector: Healthcare & Life Sciences

Grants are for £5,000 up to £75,000. Projects can last up to 18 months.

More information here. This grant is run several times a year.

Smart grants: November 2024

Funder: Innovate UK

Opened: 14 November 2024

Closed: 11am, 22 January 2025

Sector: ALL

UK registered organisations can apply for a share of up to £15 million for game-changing and commercially viable R&D innovations that can significantly impact the UK economy. Applications can come from any area of technology and be applied to any part of the economy.

Projects of 6 to 18 months must have total eligible project costs between £100,000 and £500,000 and can be single or collaborative. Projects of 19 to 24 months must have total eligible project costs between £100,000 and £1 million and be collaborative.
Eligibility criteria.

Climate and Mental Health Award: Uncovering mechanisms between heat and mental health

Funder: Wellcome

Open

Closed: 21 January 2025

Sector: Healthcare & Life Sciences

Every website has a story, and your visitors want to hear yours. This space is a great opportunity to give a full background on who you are, what your team does and what your site has to offer. Double click on the text box to start editing your content and make sure to add all the relevant details you want site visitors to know.

If you’re a business, talk about how you started and share your professional journey. Explain your core values, your commitment to customers and how you stand out from the crowd. Add a photo, gallery or video for even more engagement.

This award will fund projects to advance our understanding of the biological, psychological and/or social mechanisms through which heat affects anxiety, depression and psychosis in the most impacted groups globally. Successful applications will identify relevant climate-resilient and/or mental health interventions with a realistic potential for real-world application.

£1million - £3million per project, for 3-5 years duration.

More information here.

Innovation Grant

Funder: University Hospitals Birmingham Charity

Closed: 17 January 2025

Sector: Healthcare

4C Accelerator #9

Funder: Startup-BW of Baden-Württemberg’s Ministry of Economic Affairs, B. Braun Stiftung, Hector Stiftung

Open: 07 December 2024

Closed:17 January 2025

Sector: Medtech

Founders with product ideas in the fields of medical devices, digital health and in-vitro diagnostics can apply for this internationally sought-after training program for MedTech startups.

The accelerator program focuses on the specific requirements that MedTech startups face on their way to the market– the so-called 4Cs – and how they can be connected in a smart way.

C1 | Commercialization: How do I generate revenue in the healthcare industry? Many stakeholders (e.g., patients, physicians, medical associations, nursing homes) and market characteristics (e.g., self-pay, complex reimbursement rules such as selective contracts) make market access and revenue generation difficult.
C2 | Certification: How do I get my product and company certified? The establishment of a quality management system for the company certification (e.g., ISO 13485, Good Manufacturing Practice) and the preparation of the technical documentation for the product approval (e.g., Medical Device Regulation, In-Vitro-Diagnostic Regulation) are the most fundamental requirements for a successful market access.
C3 | Clinical Studies: How can I provide the necessary evidence by collecting clinical data? Proofing safety and performance as well as the clinical and/or health economic benefit of a product (e.g., ISO 14155) is essential, but also costly and time-consuming for startups.
C4 | Copyright: How can I use data/property rights for my own advantage? Using and maintaining intellectual property rights (e.g., patents) is important for company valuation, successful negotiations with investors or licensees, and for planning exit scenarios. In addition, data rights (GDPR) and especially, the protection of personal health data, set requirements for product development and pre-clinical and clinical testing.

Thanks to the funding partners the program is free of charge for founders.
More information here.

Research Programme for Social Care Competition 3

Funder: NIHR

Opened: 01 October 2024

Closed: 1pm, 15 January 2025
(stage 1)

Sector: Social Care

A 2 stage process.

The Research Programme for Social Care (RPSC) funds research which generates evidence to improve, expand and strengthen the way social care is provided for users of care services, carers, the social care workforce, and the public across the UK - England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. The programme funds primary, secondary and evidence synthesis research including qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods designs. All proposals are expected to have a high degree of involvement from relevant people who need or use social care and the social care workforce.

RPSC welcomes high-quality proposals from researchers and practitioners that are focused on but not limited to:

Studies of social care needs, circumstances and relevant outcomes related to adults, children or young people who need or use social care and carers, including studies of inequalities in any of these domains
Evaluation of existing or new social care services, addressing their effectiveness, cost-effectiveness and distributional consequences
Effectiveness and cost-effectiveness evaluations of interventions, including adaptations or refinements of existing interventions/technologies
Developing and testing new assessments, interventions or services
Research methods development
Feasibility, pilot and definitive trials
Research examining consequences for social care users of provision of other services (e.g., health, education, criminal justice, family courts, housing, benefits)
Policy-implementation research
Studies that involve secondary data analysis or record linkage
Systematic or other reviews of evidence
Strategies for preventing or delaying the need for care and support
Research on approaches to support and strengthen the social care workforce
Capacity-building opportunities within awards

More information here.

Mindset extended reality (XR): Digital therapeutics for mental health

Funder: Innovate UK

Opened: 28 October 2024

Closed: 11am, 15 January 2025

Sector: Healthcare

UK registered businesses can apply for a share of up to £3.7 million for R&D projects that provide digital therapeutics for mental health solutions. Your project’s total eligible costs must be between £200,000 and £300,000.

The aim of this competition is to develop digital therapeutic extended reality (XR) solutions to provide mental healthcare services. These solutions will optimally be applied and trialled following an R&D cycle of between 12 to 18 months. Solutions must have the potential to be adopted at scale to form part of the UK’s formal mental healthcare ecosystem.

Your project must undertake industrial research and development in the application of extended reality (XR), to provide mental healthcare therapeutic solutions. Your proposal must include the design and features of your solution and how it will be applied.

Innovate UK is NOT funding projects that are:

early stage, feasibility research
unsuitable for potential trial following an R&D cycle of between 12 to 18 months
not using immersive or XR technologies
not focused on developing digital therapeutics for mental health conditions
targeted at primarily mild conditions in the generalised wellbeing space

More information here.

Design Foundations Round 6

Funder: Innovate UK

Opened: 4 November 2024

Closed: 11am,15 January 2025

Sector: ALL

UK registered organisations can apply for a share of up to £2 million for people centred and systemic design projects. These are across a range of themes and innovation areas to influence, inform and de-risk R&D activities.

The aim of this competition is to help businesses use people centred and systemic design methods. These will lay foundations for innovative ideas that can deliver significant benefits to people, the planet and society as a whole. The ideas can be for new or significantly improved products, services, places or business models.

To be within scope of this competition, your proposal must be one or more of the following three categories:

Defining innovation opportunities: You will use people centred and systemic design methods to identify, understand and prioritise needs and innovation opportunities that are relevant and valuable to your business. You will plan design led innovation activity to address these opportunities, including generating, testing and improving new ideas.
Generating new ideas: You have identified a specific need or opportunity and will use design methods to verify it, then generate and develop new or improved ideas in response.
Improving existing innovative ideas: You have an innovative idea and will use design methods to simulate, test, and validate it, enhancing its quality and the benefits it provides throughout its lifecycle.

Your project must explore opportunities and ideas from the perspective of key stakeholders involved with or affected by them.

This may include:

people
organisations
communities
the planet

You must consider their:

experiences
motivations
behaviours

Your project can focus on one or more of the following:

net zero
artificial intelligence and machine learning
other emerging or advanced digital technologies
health and wellbeing
food and agriculture (except primary production)

This list is not exhaustive.

Your project must:

have a grant funding request of between £40,000 and £80,000
have a grant funding request that matches your total project costs
last between three and six months
carry out its project work in the UK
intend to exploit the results from or in the UK
start by 1 June 2025
end by 30 November 2025

To lead a project your organisation must:

be a UK registered business of any size
collaborate with at least one other grant claiming UK registered organisation

Lead organisations must agree to contribute a minimum of one day and up to two days, in support of Innovate UK activities.

These activities are to promote the use of design in business innovation, or to help improve products and services.

This activity can include:

taking part in interviews
supporting the creation of case studies
contributing to seminars or showcases

More information here.

Studies seeking to improve the health and wellbeing of women

Funder: NIHR

Opened: 26 July 2024

Closed: 1pm 8 January 2025

Sector: Healthcare & Life Sciences

This is stage one of a two stage process. Successful stage one applications received will then be invited to submit a stage 2 application. Applicants will have 8 weeks to complete and submit their Stage 2 application form, which will then be considered at the following HTA funding committee meeting.

The Health Technology Assessment (HTA) programme is inviting applications for studies that aim to improve the health and wellbeing of women. This could include, but is not limited to, trials investigating conditions that only affect women, or conditions that affect both men and women but may affect women either disproportionately or in a different way.

All proposals submitted must describe an evaluation of an intervention or technology which falls within the scope of the HTA programme. Applicants should clearly define and justify their choice of patient group, study design and outcome measures, and explain how the research will fit into the remit of the HTA programme. Primary research (including randomised and observational studies) and evidence syntheses will be considered.

Under this call, the HTA programme is interested in all conditions and areas of research that focus on improving the health and wellbeing of women. Applications are particularly encouraged in the following areas:

Areas of research within which women have been historically under-represented.
Topics that are under-represented in the HTA portfolio (applicants can undertake searches of the funded portfolio on the NIHR Funding and Awards website).
Research into conditions that affect both men and women – but may affect women either disproportionately or in a different way.
Rare diseases that affect women.

Out of scope: Applications seeking to tackle maternity disparities should instead refer to the NIHR Challenge – Maternity Inequalities.

More information here.

Research in Mental Health Nursing (HSDR Programme)

Funder: NIHR

Open: 24 July 2024

Closed: 8 January 2025 (stage 1)

Sector: Healthcare

NIHR is interested in funding high quality applied health and social care research to increase and improve the evidence base about mental health nursing and the mental health nursing workforce. The Health and Social Care Delivery Research (HSDR) Programme is accepting Stage 1 applications to this funding opportunity.

There are no fixed limits on the duration of projects or funding, and proposals should be tailored to fully address the research problem. Research costs are the costs of the research activity itself. These include data collection, analysis, other activities needed to answer the research questions, trial registration (if required) and the salary and indirect costs of staff employed to carry out the research.

More information here.

Funding

Past Funding Calls 2025

Public Health Research Programme Rapid Funding Scheme

Research Programme for Social Care (RPSC)

Biomedical Catalyst 2025: Industry led R&D small projects

Biomedical Catalyst 2025: Industry led R&D large projects

Commercial practices and gambling

i4i Product Development Awards

Scope

Post-acute infection syndromes, including long COVID and myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome

6th REINFORCING Open Call

​SME Market Expansion Open Call 2026

Innovation Grant

Accelerator Programme

​Return to standing after a fall

Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP): 2025 – 2026 Round 4

Discovery Awards

Obesity Pathway Innovation Programme (OPIP): Strands 1, 2 and 3

Multi cancer detection (MCD) tests for individuals with abdominal symptoms in primary care workshop

Healthcare Innovation Fund

​Gap fund for early-stage development of new healthcare interventions

Mental Health Award: Transforming early intervention for anxiety, depression and psychosis in young people

ITEA Call 2025

Innovation Seed Fund

Future Leaders Fellowships: Round 10, business and non-academic

Research for Patient Benefit - July 2025

​Novel Technology for Intervening in Non-Compressible Haemorrhage

​Quarterly Research Grant Funding Programme

​Translation Accelerator Kidney Awards

STEP Scale Up

Expressions of interest: artificial intelligence humanities sandpits: Canada, UK and US

Biomedical Catalyst Accelerator – Hospital to Community

Generative-AI based Agents to Revolutionise Medical Diagnosis and Treatment of Cancer

EIC Pathfinder

​Research and partnership hubs for a healthy society

Productivity innovation

Research Innovation Award

Innovations in Mental Health Fund

Biomedical Catalyst Accelerator - Managing Chronic Conditions

IHI call 11

Developing XR Solutions for Community Healthcare

SHIFT Programme

Unlocking Urologic Oncology Innovation QuickFire Challenge

Diabetes research grant

Health Technologies Connectivity Awards: round two

i4i FAST

EIC Accelerator

​Experimental medicine stage one

Translational Award

Biomedical Catalyst Accelerator - Medtech Venture Kickstarter

​Biomedical Catalyst - Accelerating Femtech: Evaluate

MSK Innovation Accelerator

Biomedical Catalyst Accelerator - Future Medicines

Impact of Cancer and Cancer Care on Human Biology and Health

Family Focus Programme

Transformational Impact Award

James Lind Alliance Priority Setting Partnerships rolling funding opportunity

W. Midlands Health Innovation Fund

EIC Transition

RPSC Highlight Notice: Children's Social Care

Knowledge Transfer Partnership: 2025 to 2026 round three

Sovereign AI - Proof of concept

Swiss-UK investigator-led randomised controlled clinical trials in areas of unmet clinical need

Neurosciences and mental health: programme

Polyphonic™ AI Fund for Surgery QuickFire Challenge

'Late' TA2 Phase 1 applications

Children and young people’s mental health

Fewer lives lost: Research consortium to prevent cardiovascular disease

​Hospital at home/virtual wards: integration opportunities, improving service delivery and evaluating impact

Novel non-pharmacological approaches for diagnosis and treatment of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

Australia-UK platform studies in areas of unmet clinical need

Mental Health Award: Leveraging longitudinal data to transform early intervention in mental health

​Developmental pathway funding scheme: stage one

Gap fund for early-stage development of new healthcare interventions

Research for Patient Benefit - March 2025

Advancing Healthcare - Small Grants

​Supporting researchers to involve public at pre-application stage

Research Programme for Social Care (RPSC)

Cancer Grand Challenges

Contracts for Innovation: Scaling community initiatives in diet and exercise

SME Market Expansion Open Call 2026

Return to standing after a fall

Gap fund for early-stage development of new healthcare interventions

Novel Technology for Intervening in Non-Compressible Haemorrhage

Quarterly Research Grant Funding Programme

Translation Accelerator Kidney Awards

Research and partnership hubs for a healthy society

Experimental medicine stage one

Biomedical Catalyst - Accelerating Femtech: Evaluate

Hospital at home/virtual wards: integration opportunities, improving service delivery and evaluating impact

Developmental pathway funding scheme: stage one

Supporting researchers to involve public at pre-application stage

DARE UK next-generation trusted research environment capabilities

Transformative and disruptive innovations to reduce waiting lists and waiting times

Current funding calls

Funding Calls which ended in 2024