Funding
We have listed below some of the key funding calls (mainly grants) that are applicable to companies in UK healthcare. For more information, please contact us.
Upcoming Funding Calls
i4i FAST Call 4
Funder: NIHR
Opens: 18 September 2024
Closes: 1pm 23 October 2024
Sector: Healthcare & Life Sciences
Funding At the Speed of Translation (FAST) has a total available budget of £1.5m.
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.
i4i FAST Call 4 will support the development of innovative healthcare technologies for acquired brain injury (ABI), including the prevention, diagnosis and management of ABI as well as recovery from ABI.
Call 4 provides between £50K to £100K of funding for projects lasting between 6 and 12 months. FAST Awards are designed to have a rapid turnaround, and Awards must start by 01 February 2025.
A briefing webinar will be held for interested applicants on 18 September 2024 at 12:30 pm. For more information and to sign up to this event please visit the NIHR i4i FAST Awards Briefing Webinar eventbrite page.
More information here.
UK – Germany Bilateral: Collaborative R&D Round 4
Funder: Innovate UK, The (German) Federal Ministry For Economic Affairs And Climate Action
Opens: 30 September 2024
Closes: 11am 6 December 2024
Sector: ALL
UK registered organisations (a UK SME must be involved) can apply for grant funding of up to £500,000 per project to enhance UK and German collaborations in emerging fields of technology. Organisations must collaborate with at least one German SME applying under the equivalent German ZIM programme.
The aim of this competition is to enhance UK and German collaborations and capabilities in the emerging fields of technology in our society. This is to develop and deliver new innovations and applications of the technologies across a broad range of sectors.
A variety of projects across a range of sectors and technology areas may be funded. Applications are encouraged from the following emerging technology areas:
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Quantum
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AI
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Semiconductor Applications
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Engineering Biology
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Future Telecommunications
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Green Technologies including hydrogen and battery technologies
This list is not exhaustive.
German partners must apply to and will be funded by AiF, acting as an agent for BMWK, for the German component of the project set out in this application.
More information here.
Decarbonising the health and social care system
Funder: NIHR
Opens: 11 November 2024
Closes: TBC
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:
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new primary research studies to establish the effectiveness of new, promising, or existing interventions, and
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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.
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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.
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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.
Current Funding Calls
Eurostars Funding
Funder: Horizon - European Union
Open:
Closes: 12 September 2024
Sector: All
Innovative SMEs in any of the 37 participating countries can bid for up to €360,000 per project. Approximately 29% of all bids are likely to be successful. Innovate UK covers up to 60% of project costs in grants for SMEs. Innovate UK will not fund large companies, universities or research organisations as part of this grant.
To apply, you must fulfill seven eligibility criteria:
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The project consortium is led by an innovative SME from a Eurostars country.
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The project consortium is composed of at least two entities that are independent from one another.
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The project consortium is composed of entities from at least two participating countries with a minimum of one organisation from an EU or Horizon Europe Associated Country.
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The budget of the SMEs from the participating countries (excluding any subcontracting) is 50% or more of the total project cost.
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No single participant or country is responsible for more than 70% of the budget of the project.
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The project duration is 36 months or less.
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The project has an exclusive focus on civil applications.
Innovate UK has additional national criteria for projects to be eligible to receive funding - see here for details.
Applications can be made here.
Public Health Intervention Development
Funder: MRC
Opened: 25 July 2024
Closes: 12 September 2024
Sector: Healthcare
Apply for funding for the early-stage development of an intervention that seeks to address a UK or global public health challenge. This might include qualitative and quantitative primary research and the development of theory and logic models. However, emphasis should be placed on developing the intervention.
You must be a researcher employed by an eligible research organisation.
MRC will fund up to £150,000, for a maximum of 18 months.
Funds requested by UK research organisations will be funded at 80% of the full economic cost, in which case the full economic cost of your project can be up to £187,500. Overseas costs will be funded at 100% of the full economic cost.
More information will be updated here.
Competition 26 - Urgent & Emergency Care
Funder: SBRI
Opened: 31 July 2024
Closes: 1pm 18 September 2024
Sector: Healthcare
This competition aims to identify innovations at an advanced stage of development that address three priority areas:
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Health and Care outside of Hospitals: Accessing the Right Care and Reducing Demand
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Reducing Length of Stay and Improving Discharge
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Supporting Workforce.
The aim of the competition is to facilitate the collection of evidence in real-world settings and build on the value proposition required by commissioners and regulators to accelerate the uptake of the innovation into relevant health or social care settings.
Maximum grant funding is £500,000 excluding VAT.
More information here.
Register for the launch webinar, Tues 23 July, 1-3pm. Sign up on Eventbrite
Competition 26 - Stroke
Funder: SBRI
Opened: 5 July 2024
Closes: 18 September 2024
Sector: Healthcare
Under this Phase 3 Funding Competition, three challenges have been identified via consultation with clinicians and other stakeholders working in provision of care across the spectrum and review of the James Lind Alliance Stroke Priority Setting Partnership for Stroke Research:
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Early diagnosis
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Rehabilitation
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Life after stroke.
Emphasis should be placed on how the technology/innovation will address any challenges associated with health inequalities, such as demographic and geographic disparities, and it is expected that applicants provide details on how they will address these e.g. provide details on the care pathway the intervention will affect and how it can improve this.
The aim of the competition is to facilitate the collection of evidence in real-world settings and build on the value proposition required by commissioners and regulators to accelerate the uptake of the innovation into relevant health or social care settings.
The competition is open to any innovation (e.g., medical device, in-vitro diagnostic, digital health solutions and AI solutions, behavioural interventions, and service improvements) that meets the entry criteria and the challenges described in the Challenge brief.
Maximum grant is £500,000 excl VAT.
More information here.
Register for the launch webinar, Tues 23 July, 1-3pm. Sign up on Eventbrite
Accessible and Affordable Tests for Early Detection of Heritable Cancers in European Regions
Funder: European Commission
Opened: 18 April 2024
Closes: 18 September 2024
Sector: Healthcare
A single stage funding call, part of the Horizon Europe programme.
Expected EU Contribution per Project -between €10 million and €12 million out of a total indicative budget of €35 million.
Proposals should aim to deliver results through validating, piloting, and upscaling genetic, multi-omics, or other biomarker-based tests for early detection of cancers with underlying heritable genetic risk in routine healthcare. There are six topics included in the call:
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Improve understanding of the development of cancer in the context of the environment, work, and lifestyle in the broadest possible sense,
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Enhance cross-policy cancer prevention strategies,
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Optimise the diagnostics and treatment of cancer based on the principle of equitable access,
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Improve the quality of life of cancer patients, survivors and their families through widely analysing all key factors and needs that are related to the quality of life,
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Accelerate the digital transformation of research, innovation and health systems.
The work to be funded will include:
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Conducting clinical and socio-economic feasibility studies.
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Co-creating testing protocols and procedures with end-users, including healthcare professionals and citizens.
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Extensively piloting and upscaling testing in at least 3 different EU Member States or Associated Countries, with a focus on Eastern Europe.
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Collaborate with EIT-Health KIC networks for support in entrepreneurship, education, and innovation.
Knowledge transfer partnerships: 2024 to 2025 Round 3
Funder: Innovate UK
Opened: 1 July 2024
Closes: 11am 25 September 2024
Sector: Healthcare & Life Sciences
Led by an UK higher education (HE) or further education (FE) institution, research and technology organisation (RTO) or Catapult., 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:
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why the business needs this Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP)
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what new knowledge is required by the business
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what new capabilities will be embedded as a result of the KTP.
Typically, a project’s total costs are £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 remainder of the project costs are paid by the business partner.
More information here.
Impact of Climate Change on Health
Funder: Medical Research Foundation
Opened: 04 July 2024
Closes: 12 pm 25 September 2024
Sector: Healthcare
MRF is inviting applications for collaborative research grants, from mid-career researchers working on the impact of climate change on health.
This scheme is open to pairs of mid-career researchers, in countries in sub-Saharan Africa and the UK, who are making the transition to research independence and seeking to progress in their field. Projects should aim to develop a new collaboration or solidify an existing partnership between two researchers, expanding their research networks and building their research profiles to develop emerging research leaders in both countries.
Research supported through these grants should aim to increase understanding of the mechanisms underpinning, and processes involved, in the impact of climate change on infectious diseases and other non-infectious health outcomes that disproportionately affect sub-Saharan Africa.
More information here.
Novel and Emerging Technologies (NET) Grants
Funder: Heart Research UK
Open
Closes: 2 October 2024
Sector: Healthcare
This unique grant (limit of £300,000) gives researchers the opportunity to apply for funding to develop a novel and emerging technology or a new application of an existing technology.
NET grants are research projects which focus on the development of new and innovative technologies to diagnose, treat and prevent heart disease and related conditions.
Research projects with the emphasis on (1) novel and emerging technologies and (2) their application into cardiovascular disease prevention and/or treatment, which can be expected to benefit patients within a foreseeable timeframe, will be considered.
Appropriate approaches include tissue and bioengineering, the development and evaluation of new diagnostic devices, bio imaging, nanotechnology, biomaterials, genomic, and proteomic approaches, computational biology and bioinformatics.
Funding clinical trials through the NET Grant scheme is not appropriate. However, research projects incorporating a small scale clinical study to demonstrate the feasibility of the technology will be considered, providing that the clinical study is not the main focus of the research programme. Projects that are more specifically clinically focused should be directed to the Translational Research Project (TRP) grants scheme.
For example, the grant may support emerging strategies/ technologies in the management of risk factors, the evaluation of invasive cardiology procedures (eg angioplasty and stent replacement), and evaluation of new surgical approaches to cardiovascular disease, strategies aimed at improving the efficacy of ventricle assist and other devices, and the outcomes of resuscitation after cardiac arrest.
A multidisciplinary approach is encouraged. Proposals should be based on excellent science and also clearly describe the future clinical implications and the translational strategy.
UKRI Digital Research Technical Professional Skills NetworkPlus
Funder: Natural Environment Research Council for UKRI
Opened: 22 April 2024
Closes: 4pm 2 October 2024
Sector: ALL
Award range £1m - £2m, UKRI will fund 80% of the FEC. Awards will start by 1 April 2025 for up to 48 months.
This grant opportunity brings together disciplines, sectors, and domains to address cross-cutting challenges related to digital RTP skills and careers. For this funding opportunity UKRI specifically welcomes applications led by research technical professionals, including research software engineers, involved in the delivery of digital research infrastructure who meet the eligibility criteria. No overseas organisations may apply
You will provide leadership, coordinate collaborations, seed better ways of working, and catalyse learning, capability, and capacity for digital RTPs.
More information.
EIC Accelerator
Funder: Horizon Europe
Opens: 14 March 2024
Closes: 3 October 2024
Sector: All technology sectors
The EIC Accelerator is a funding programme under Horizon Europe that offers support to start-ups and SMEs that:
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have a innovative, game changing product, service or business model that could create new markets or disrupt existing ones in Europe and even worldwide,
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have the ambition and commitment to scale up,
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are looking for substantial funding, but the risks involved are too high for private investors alone to invest
Applications consist of:
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A 5-page form where you must summarise your proposal and respond to a set of questions on your innovation, your potential market and your team;
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A pitch-deck of up to ten slides in pdf format;
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A video pitch of up to three minutes where the core members of your team (up to three people) should provide the motivation for your proposal.
Applicants will normally receive feedback within 4 weeks.
Analysis for Innovators Round 14: Stage 1 EOI
Funder: Innovate UK
Opened: 9 September 2024
Closes: 11am 9 October 2024
Sector: ALL
Innovate UK will invest in small collaborative innovation projects working with its analysis for innovators (A4I) partners:
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the National Physical Laboratory (NPL)
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the National Measurement Laboratory (NML) at Laboratory of the Government Chemist Group (LGC)
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the National Engineering Laboratory (NEL)
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the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC)
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Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA)
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National Gear Metrology Lab (GEARS)
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Newton Gateway to Mathematics
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Advanced Sustainable Manufacturing Technologies (ASTUTE 2020+)
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Henry Royce Institute (HRI)
The aim of this competition is to help businesses address their existing analysis and measurement problems. These are problems that can be best explored by scientists and cutting-edge facilities available in the UK.
Your proposal must describe a measurement or analysis problem where you are seeking a solution to improve your business’s productivity or competitiveness. You must provide an estimate of the value to your business of solving it.
This is stage 1 of a 2 stage competition.
If you are successful at this stage, you will be invited to brokerage consultations with relevant analysis for innovators partners. These will focus on potential approaches to solving your problem. You will work together to propose joint projects to develop solutions and apply for the stage 2 competition to request funding.
There is no funding for stage 1 of this competition. If successful at stage 1, your stage 2 project’s total costs must be between £15,000 and £100,000.
More information here.
Call for Proposals to increase Health Literacy for Cancer Prevention and Care
Funder: European Commission
Opened: 18 June 2024
Closes: 10 October 2024
Sector: Healthcare
The European Commission (EC) has announced a call for proposals to support health literacy for cancer prevention and care, to improve health literacy and to focus on reducing inequalities in cancer prevention and care.
Indicative funding of 1 million Euros per project with a duration of 3 years.
The results of the project should include:
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guidelines, recommendations, lessons learned, best practices on how to increase health literacy in cancer prevention and care
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information materials (e.g. manuals for patients, leaflets, websites, videos) to citizens/patients of all ages (focusing on vulnerable populations) and healthcare specialists;
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mapping of sources providing reliable, accurate information on the internet, in easy-to understand language;
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training course for healthcare specialists.
Innovative Health Initiative JU Call 8 (Horizon)
Funder: EU Commission (Horizon)
Opened: 25 June 2024
Closes: 10 October 2024 (Stage 1)
Sector: Healthcare
Expected outcomes:
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organisations and institutions involved in the development of therapies for the treatment and management of chronic disease have access to a unifying framework and consensus-based recommendations for:
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using a combination of patient preference information (PPI), clinical outcome assessments (COAs), and digital health technology (DHT)-derived measures to demonstrate the importance to patients of what is being measured by DHT-derived clinical-study endpoints;
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determining, from the patient perspective, what constitutes a minimal clinically important difference (MCID) in a patient-centred, DHT-derived clinical-study endpoint.
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new methods for analysing PPI and COA data collected using DHT and for combining data from PPI, COA, and DHT-derived measures are available to researchers;
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a consistent framework for engagement regarding the development and use of patient-centred, DHT-derived clinical-study endpoints is available to industry and stakeholders;
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acceptance of the use of PPI, COAs, and patient-centred DHT-derived measures in addition to or in combination with traditional clinical-study endpoints to provide a robust view of the benefits of a therapy to patients;
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acceptance of the use of patient-centred DHT-derived measures for clinical-study endpoints as reliable evidence for the evaluation of the clinical and economic benefit of therapeutic medicinal products and medical technologies among stakeholders including, but not limited to, patient groups, regulatory bodies, and health technology assessment (HTA) bodies (including the EU Member State Coordination Group on HTA), indicated by a qualification opinion, endorsement, adoption or other approval by each relevant stakeholder group;
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patient-centred, DHT-derived endpoints are implemented along with traditional clinical-study endpoints in clinical studies of therapies to treat chronic diseases, and data from DHT-derived clinical-study endpoints are used in regulatory and reimbursement decision-making.
Scope:
Three types of patient-centred information related to how a patient feels and functions contribute to the evaluation of outcomes of a therapy:
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patient preference information (PPI);
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clinical outcome assessments (COAs) (including patient-reported outcome (PRO) measures);
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digital health technology-derived (DHT-derived) measures.
Each of these types of measures can be used to understand patient-centred benefits of therapies (i.e., meaningful improvements in how a patient feels or functions).
More information here. Second stage deadline - 23 April 2025.
Biomedical Catalyst 2024 Round 1: Industry-led R&D
Funder: Innovate UK
Opened: 2 September 2024
Closes: 12pm 16 October 2024
Sector: Healthcare & Life Sciences
The aim of this industry-led R&D competition is to support SMEs to develop innovative solutions to address health, and healthcare, challenges.
Your project can focus on:
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disease prevention and proactive management of health and chronic conditions
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earlier and better detection and diagnosis of disease, leading to better patient outcomes
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tailored treatments that either change the underlying disease or offer potential cures
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transforming the delivery of healthcare
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the development of digital health technologies
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consumer focused self-care
This list is not intended to be exhaustive.
The industry led research and development (R&D) stream of the Biomedical Catalyst programme supports pre-market R&D projects. You must be able to demonstrate existing evidence of commercial and technical feasibility.
Your project’s total costs must be between £150,000 and £4 million. The total grant cannot exceed £2 million.
More information here.
Sustainable Medicines Manufacturing Innovation: Collaborative R&D
Funders: Innovate UK and DHSC
Opened: 30 August 2024
Closes: 11am 16 October 2024
Sector: Life Sciences
The aim of this competition is to drive innovation in sustainable medicines manufacturing across three key pillars:
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green chemistry
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circularity
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productivity and resource efficiency
You must also consider both critical enablers:
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regulations: how to overcome any regulatory barriers to adoption of your innovation
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measurements, standards and data: approaches to capture data that support the measurement and reporting of sustainability indicators aligned with industry standards
These new manufacturing innovations are expected to support more environmentally sustainable manufacturing processes with significant and measurable improvements in at least one of the following areas:
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productivity
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waste reduction
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emissions reduction
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energy use reduction
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resource efficiency
You must also consider how to overcome any regulatory barriers to adoption of your innovation, alongside approaches to capture data that support the measurement and reporting of sustainability indicators aligned with industry standards.
Your project’s total grant funding request must be between £500,000 and £2 million.
More information here.
Sustainable Medicines Manufacturing: Expression of interest
Funders: Innovate UK and DHSC
Opened: 14 August 2024
Closes: 11am 16 October 2024
Sector: Life Sciences
The aim of this competition is to provide seed funding to establish a consortium and prepare a case for a later, full sustainable medicine manufacturing themed Grand Challenge award. A Grand Challenge is a large-scale collaborative research and development (CR&D) award, up to £10 million, involving at least three partners across the medicines manufacturing supply chain.
Sustainable medicines manufacturing is defined as the process of producing medicines in a manner that minimises environmental impact, conserves natural resources, and ensures economic and social sustainability. This approach focuses on reducing waste, energy consumption and emissions, while enhancing efficiency, safety and cost-effectiveness throughout the manufacturing lifecycle. It also includes the adoption of innovative technologies and practices that promote the long-term viability of the medicines manufacturing industry.
This competition will help unlock potential by giving organisations the capacity to collaborate in developing new innovations, technologies, tools, data sets and approaches that can ultimately contribute to a sustainable medicines manufacturing sector.
This is phase 1 of a 2-phase competition:
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Phase 1: expressions of interest (EoI) phase (this competition)
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Phase 2: full Grand Challenge phase
At this EoI phase projects will be supported to:
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build consortia
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complete background information and data gathering
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develop a proposal for the Grand Challenge phase
Only successful applicants at this EoI phase will be invited to apply for the Grand Challenge phase.
More information here.
Canada-UK: Biomanufacturing of Biologics and Advanced Therapies Round 2
Funders: Innovate UK, National Research Council of Canada Industrial Research Assistance Program
Opened: 8 May 2024
Closes: 11am 16 October 2024
Sector: Healthcare & Life sciences
UK registered organisations can apply for a share of up to £3 million for collaboration with Canadian SMEs on joint R&D projects, for enabling technologies and innovations in biomanufacturing of biologics and advanced therapies.
The aim of this competition is to stimulate the development and implementation of innovative technologies in biomanufacturing. The objective is to build the desired flexibility and technical capabilities required for the development and economically sustainable production of the next generation vaccines and therapies.
The total grant funding request for all UK partners can be up to £600,000 for each application. The total funding request for all Canadian partners combined can be up to CA$1 million for each application.
Advancing Healthcare Small Grants
Funder: Barts Charity
Open
Closes: 17 October 2024
Advancing Healthcare Small Grants provide funding of up to £50,000 for NHS 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. At least one applicant must be employed by Barts for the duration of the proposed work. This grant can be applied for 4 times a year. Duration of funding - 18 months.
Sector: Healthcare
Innovate UK Smart grants
Funder: Innovate UK
Opened: 23 July 2024
Closed: 11am 23 October 2024
Sector: All
UK registered organisations can apply for a share of up to £25 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.
Clinical Study Grants
Funder: British Heart Foundation
Open
Closes: 5pm 23 October 2024
Sector: Healthcare
The Clinical Study Grant supports funding for over £350,000 for:
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Interventional clinical trials: trials of specific interventions or pathways of care for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular disease. Interventions include drugs, surgery, devices, psychological, physical and educational interventions.
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Observational studies of specific patient groups that are hypothesis led and address a defined clinical question(s) over a fixed timescale (up to 5 years). The population of interest should be a patient population, who will usually be recruited within the NHS. The study should have a predefined outcome(s) that will lead to changes in clinical management directly or will inform the development of a clinical trial to test an intervention.
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Clinical studies can include a mechanistic evaluation, either as a sub-study within a clinical trial or as part of an observational study.
Research on Interventions for Global Health Transformation - Call 8
Funder: NIHR
Opened: 17 July 2024
Closes: 1pm 23 October 2024
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.
NIHR's Research on Interventions for Global Health Transformation (RIGHT) programme is launching its 8th call that will support targeted research to develop and evaluate interventions to strengthen and improve prevention, management, and response to unintentional injuries and accidents arising from any cause in ODA-eligible countries.
In this call, NIHR is especially interested in interventions relevant to unintentional injuries and accidents occurring in relation to climate change and natural hazards.
Two webinars for applicants to RIGHT 8 will be held to provide information about the call, remit, and eligibility. Both webinars will take place on Tuesday 6 August 2024. The morning session will be held at 10am-11am, and the afternoon session at 2pm-3pm. Please register for your preferred session via Zoom. A recording of the webinar and a copy of the slides will be available upon request after the webinar by contacting the Global Health team at right@nihr.ac.uk.
More information here.
Technology-Enabled Social Care Highlight Notice
Funder: NIHR
Opened: 10 July 2024
Closes: 30 October 2024
Sector: Social Care
This is a two stage process. The amount awarded and the length of the funding period depends on the nature of the proposed work.
The NIHR Research Programme for Social Care (RPSC) is inviting proposals for collaborative research projects that examine the development and utilisation of digital technology in social care. This includes artificial intelligence (AI) or digital devices in the provision of social care and/or to support any aspect of the lives of adults or children with social care needs in the UK.
Where possible applications should demonstrate how they are in alignment with one or more of the objectives set out in People at the Heart of Care and one or more of the identified priorities for innovation and scaling within them:
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Objective 1 People have choice, control and support to live independent lives
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Objective 2. People can access outstanding quality and tailored care and support
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Objective 3. People find adult social care fair and accessible.
In children’s social care, research must be in line with the principles of the Children's Social Care National Framework (.PDF). Applications will need to demonstrate how any technology-enabled social care interventions will increase the effectiveness of social care services, provide value for money, and benefit young people using children's social care services and/or carers.
More information here.
A virtual Q&A webinar for this call will take place on Tuesday 23 July from 10am to 11am for potential applicants. A recording and a copy of the slides will be made available upon request after the webinar, by contacting the RPSC team at rpsc@nihr.ac.uk. Register for the webinar via eventbrite.
Research for Patient Benefit - Competition 55
Funder: NIHR
Opened: 17 July 2024
Closes: 1pm 6 November 2024
Sector: Healthcare & Life sciences
NIHR 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.
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.
There is an additional highlight notice for this competition:
NIHR has identified three themed areas across the topic of mental health nursing which demand further research:
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Health equity, prevention and health promotion
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Person centred practice
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Workforce, people and culture
More information here.
SMART: SCOTLAND
Funder: Scottish Enterprise
Opens: 09 November 2023
Closes: 09 November 2024
Sector: All
SMART:SCOTLAND is a research and development (R&D) grant for small and medium-sized businesses that aims to support high risk, highly ambitious projects. It covers conducting feasibility studies to show how ideas could work in the real world and supports activities that have a commercial endpoint. The grant is only available to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) based in Scotland and supports the activities of commercially focused R&D projects.
The grant can support up to 70% of the eligible costs for a small enterprise and up to 60% of the eligible costs for a medium enterprise. Studies must last between 6 and 18 months, and the maximum grant is £100,000.
Smart Flexible Innovation Support (FIS)
Funder: The Welsh Government
Opens: 15 June 2023
Closes: 09 November 2024
Sector: All
The Welsh Government is investing £30 million in new programmes that will help Welsh organisations develop and embed new innovative products and services to help improve people’s lives, grow the economy and address the climate and nature emergency.
SMART FIS is not restricted to businesses and research organisations. It is open to any organisation wishing to engage in research, development and innovation (RD&I), including the third sector, local authorities and health boards.
For a new organisation this might mean accessing technology to get a new idea off the ground; for a developing one, it could be help with a project which you know has potential; and for an established organisation it might be about specialist know-how to give you an international edge by opening up new markets.
Funding is dependent on the organisation and type of project. A typical example would be £100,000 per year for 2 years.
ITEA4
Funder: EU Commission
Opened: 10 September 2024
Closes: 5pm CET 11 November 2024
Sector: ALL
ITEA is the Eureka RD&I Cluster on software innovation, enabling a large international community of large industry, SMEs, start-ups, academia and customer organisations, to collaborate in funded projects that turn innovative ideas into new businesses, jobs, economic growth and benefits for society.
It is industry-driven and covers a wide range of business opportunities facilitated by digitisation like smart mobility, healthcare, smart cities and energy, manufacturing, engineering and safety & security.
More information here.
Timeline here.
Implementation research for management of multiple long-term conditions in the context of non-communicable diseases
Funder: European Commission
Opened: 25 April 2024
Closes: 5pm (CET) 26 November 2024
Sector: Healthcare
It is expected that 5 grants will be awarded of €3m - €4m each.
This topic aims at supporting activities that are enabling or contributing to one or several expected impacts of destination 3 “Tackling diseases and reducing disease burden”. To that end, proposals under this topic should aim for delivering results that are directed, tailored towards and contributing to some of the following expected outcomes:
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Health care practitioners and providers in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) and/or those in high-income countries (HICs) serving disadvantaged populations have access to and use specific guidelines to implement health interventions that improve the availability of effective, equitable, efficient, integrated, patient-centred, safe, and timely care and the overall quality of life for people living with multiple long-term conditions including non-communicable diseases (NCDs).
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Public health managers and authorities, including from other relevant sector (e. g., social, culture) have access to improved insights and evidence on how to decrease the fragmentation of care for patients living with multiple chronic conditions, and ensure continuity of care across all stages of disease progression. They use this knowledge to design policies to reduce health inequities.
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Adopting an implementation science approach to studying interventions for management of multiple long-term conditions in the context of NCDs, researchers, clinicians and authorities have an improved understanding how the proposed interventions could be adopted in LMICs and/or disadvantaged populations of HICs setting, taking into account specific social, political, economic and cultural contexts.
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Communities and local stakeholders and authorities are fully engaged in implementing and taking up interventions for management of multiple long-term conditions in the context of NCDs and thus contribute to deliver better health.
The following types of projects will NOT be funded:
i) proposals focused on primary prevention of NCDs or other chronic conditions;
ii) proposals with the primary aim of informing the development and/or selection of an intervention for a given context, where the implementation component will be explored in a future project;
iii) epidemiological cohorts;
iv) etiological work, mechanistic, or epidemiological research, unless an essential component of a focused study to develop implementation research approaches;
v) clinical trials, validation studies, or intervention efficacy studies for a new or established pharmacological agent or behavioural intervention.
Healthcare Technology Translation Partnership Scheme
Funder: Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)
Opened: 9am 4 September 2024
Closes: 4pm 27 November 2024
Sector: Healthcare & Life sciences
Award range: £400,000 - £1,500,000
Apply for funding to accelerate progress of basic and fundamental engineering and physical sciences research towards application and impact through partnering with clinical and healthcare professionals, and industrial partners.
Projects will address unmet clinical needs or offer significant added value over current health solutions. Detailed translation plans are required. Applications deemed too fundamental are ineligible.
This opportunity is intended to support the progression of basic and fundamental research towards application and impact within one of the following three challenges:
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improving population health and prevention of ill health
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transforming prediction and early diagnosis
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discovering and accelerating the development of new interventions
Further information on each challenge can be found in the health technologies strategy.
The full economic cost (FEC) of projects can be up to £1,500,000. EPSRC will fund 80% of the FEC.
It is a mandatory requirement to partner with clinical and healthcare professionals. It is strongly encouraged to have business partners onboard, who in combination will provide a range of expertise to provide the support and guidance required to navigate the pathways to generating impact in the health sector. All partners will be expected to play an active role in the design and delivery of the project, as well as demonstrating significant direct or in-kind contributions towards the project.
Applicants are required to submit a detailed translation and patient and public involvement and engagement (PPIE) plan as part of the application, and these will form a key component in the overall assessment of proposals.
Research projects funded through this opportunity are expected to generate a range of outputs alongside possible publications that make significant contributions to delivering impact within our challenge areas.
More information here.
Management of blood pressure in elderly people with hypertension and symptomatic postural hypotension
Funder: NIHR
Opened: 26 July 2024
Closes: 1pm 27 November 2024
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.
Research question to be answered: What is the best strategy to manage blood pressure in elderly people with essential hypertension and symptomatic postural hypotension?
More information here.
Sector: Healthcare
Improving diagnosis of Urinary Tract Infection in older adults
Funder: NIHR
Opened: 26 July 2024
Closes: 1pm 27 November 2024
Sector: Healthcare
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.
Research question to be answered: Can diagnosis of Urinary Tract Infection (UTI) in older adults be improved based on a combination of clinical factors and rapid testing?
More information here.