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.
Past funding calls can be viewed using these links:
Upcoming Funding Calls
Enabling AI adoption across science and engineering
Funder: EPSRC
Opens: 29 September 2026
Closes: 4pm, 1 December 2026
Sector: AI
Funding level: £5 million total fund. Maximum £250,000 full economic cost per project; UKRI funds 80% of FEC.
Project duration: Maximum 12 months, with a fixed start date of 26 April 2027.
Eligibility: Applicants must be based at a UK research organisation eligible for UKRI funding.
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UKRI is funding ambitious and exploratory projects that bring together artificial intelligence and domain expertise, with the potential to unlock new opportunities for applying AI to important research challenges in priority science and engineering disciplines.
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Applications must address domain-specific research challenges within one of five named priority areas: engineering biology, advanced materials, quantum technologies, medical research, and fusion energy. Within engineering biology, UKRI particularly encourages applications in AI-enabled biotechnologies relevant to sustainable food systems, clean growth, health and environmental solutions — with named examples including identifying novel biological components and pathways, modelling cellular and metabolic systems, predictive genome design, automation and high-throughput phenotyping, and biosecurity and biological risk management.
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All five priority areas have been identified as offering significant opportunities for AI to accelerate research and innovation and for deeper integration of AI capabilities to drive scientific and technological progress. A webinar is scheduled for 14 October 2026, ahead of the 1 December closing date.
More information here.
i4i Product Development Awards
Funder: NIHR
Opens: 7 October 2026
Closes: 1pm, 2 December 2026
Sector: Healthcare & Life Sciences
​Funding level: Funding is uncapped, with typical awards between £0.5m and £1.5m. Applications are not required to sit within that range if well justified.
Project duration: Typically 24 to 36 months.
Eligibility: Open to higher education institutions, small and medium enterprises, NHS or social care providers, not-for-profit organisations, and local authorities and governments based in the UK. PDA requires at least one co-applicant from an organisation different to the contracting organisation, so a collaboration is mandatory. Proposals must address an area of unmet need and show a clear pathway to adoption and commercialisation.
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The NIHR i4i Product Development Awards are the programme's flagship translational stream, supporting collaborative research and development projects for medical devices, in vitro diagnostic devices and high-impact, patient-focused digital health technologies intended for use in the NHS or social care systems.
Scope covers preclinical and clinical product development and the generation of real-world evidence to support NHS or social care adoption. The entry point is experimental proof-of-concept or laboratory-validated technology. Innovations focused on real-world evidence generation must already hold regulatory approval, or demonstrate equivalent safety and efficacy for the intended use.
More information here.
Programme Grants for Applied Research - October 2026 (children and young people)
Funders: NIHR, in partnership with the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health
Opens: 7 October 2026
Closes: 1pm, 2 December 2026
Sector: Child health
​Funding level: Programme-scale funding (PGfAR awards are typically £2–3 million)
Project duration: Typically three to five years
Eligibility: Ring-fenced funding opportunity; UK research teams addressing transformative change in CYP health, care and wellbeing, aligned to the Health and Growth Missions and the Fit for the Future 10 Year Health Plan
NIHR is again partnering with the RCPCH to invite programmes of research capable of delivering a transformative stepped change in children and young people's health, care and wellbeing. The opportunity is ring-fenced for this theme.
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Applicants are encouraged to draw on current government policy ambitions, including the 10 Year Health Plan and equivalent initiatives across the devolved administrations.
More information here.
Pre-announcement: Experimental medicine to define mechanisms of gambling disorder
Funders: Medical Research Council (lead), with AHRC, ESRC and UKRI; assessed jointly with DCMS
Opens: 8 October 2026
Closes: 4pm, 14 April 2027
Sector: Healthcare & Life Sciences
​Funding level: £10 million total fund. The full economic cost of each project can be up to £3 million, of which MRC funds 80 per cent.
Project duration: Three years
Eligibility: To lead an application you must be based at a UK research organisation eligible for MRC funding. Businesses and charity or third sector organisations cannot lead but can join as project partners; charities that are UKRI-approved Independent Research Organisations can lead. International researchers can be included as project co-lead (international).
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This two stage competition sits within the new Research Programme on Gambling, funded from the statutory levy on gambling operators that commenced in April 2025. Twenty per cent of levy income flows to UKRI and the Gambling Commission for research, and this £10 million call is one of the first substantial deployments of that money.
The scientific framing is deliberately mechanistic. UKRI wants academically led experimental medicine studies in humans that generate causal insight into how gambling disorder develops, progresses and responds to treatment. Projects must focus on a clearly articulated mechanistic hypothesis, must include an experimental intervention or challenge in humans, and must move beyond identifying correlates and behavioural endpoints to test causal pathways. Studies that simply observe or describe will not be competitive.
The scope note is explicit that modern gambling products and environments are evolving rapidly and incorporate features engineered to maximise engagement by leveraging human reward, learning and attentional processes. Applications may explore intersections between gambling, gambling products and addiction across biopsychosocial domains, identify opportunities to modify trajectories, or enable future therapeutic and diagnostic development.
Meaningful public and patient involvement is described as essential, and lay summaries will be reviewed by public contributors recruited through partner gambling harms charities. Successful projects must also coordinate with the GHR-UK evidence centre.
More information here.
NHS Cancer Programme: Innovation Open Call 4
Funders: SBRI Healthcare, in partnership with NHS England
Opens: 14 October 2026
Closes: 1pm, 1 December 2026
Sector: Healthcare & Life Sciences
Funding level: Up to £3 million excluding VAT per project, 100 per cent funded
Project duration: Up to 24 months
Eligibility: Strand 1 is open to any innovator organisation based in the UK or EU - private, public or third sector. Applicants must have a demonstrable partnership with at least one adopting NHS organisation in England and an independent evaluation partner. The innovation must hold a CE mark or equivalent regulatory approval, where required, for the cancer-related use intended, and must show evidence of safety and clinical utility from prospective use in at least one healthcare site. Engagement with Health Innovation Networks is strongly encouraged.
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NHS England has announced the fourth round of its NHS Cancer Programme Innovation Open Call. The Application Portal will open in October 2026, there is a
webinar - Support To Build Your Application - on 9 September 2026 at 12:30 pm.
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Two challenges are in scope. The first is improving productivity through managing demand or improving capacity on cancer care pathways, aimed at supporting the NHS to meet all Cancer Waiting Time standards by March 2029.
The second is driving the earlier detection and diagnosis of cancer, through novel screening, prompt presentation, case-finding or diagnostic tools, in support of the ambition that three quarters of people diagnosed with cancer will be cancer-free or living well with cancer after five years by 2035. Applicants are asked in both cases to consider the impact of their innovation on health inequalities.
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At 100 per cent funding with no match requirement and no equity dilution, it remains one of the most commercially attractive routes available to a UK health tech company.
More information here.
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Current Funding Calls
Local Innovation Partnerships Fund — Clinical Commercial Catalyst for Health & Life Sciences
Funders: WMCA and UKRI
Open
Closes: No date given. Respond asap
Sector: Healthcare & Life Sciences
Funding level: £100k–£1m grant (projects sized £200k–£2m; 50% industry match required)
Duration: Project-dependent
Eligibility: UK-registered businesses with a primary or secondary base in the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) area (Birmingham, Coventry, Dudley, Sandwell, Solihull, Walsall, Wolverhampton), or able to demonstrate clear economic benefit to that area. Companies outside the West Midlands region must commit to relocating before project end.
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The Local Innovation Partnerships Fund (LIPF) is a WMCA/UKRI programme providing grant funding and business support to companies commercialising at scale in three priority sectors. The Clinical Commercial Catalyst for Health & Life Sciences is one of them, led by the University of Birmingham in partnership with Aston University, Birmingham City University, Coventry University, University of Warwick, University of Wolverhampton, NHS teams, Medilink Midlands, and RESILIENCE Ltd.
The programme offers flexible grant funding alongside access to clinical trials infrastructure, NHS testing environments, health data and patient populations, near-patient biomanufacturing facilities, academic and clinical R&D partnerships, investment readiness and scale-up support, and regulatory-ready evidence development.
Grants are paid in arrears. Up to 30% of grant value can flow to a research or technology organisation (RTO). The entry point is a short expression of interest form; detailed conditions follow an initial assessment.
More information here.
Greater Manchester LIPF: Wearables & Remote Monitoring Innovation Cluster
Funders: UKRI / LIPF (Greater Manchester Combined Authority)
Open
Closes: SME sub-calls not yet open - register interest now
Sector: Health tech - wearables, remote monitoring, digital health
​Funding level: £5.5m LIPF + £5.6m private co-investment (total £11.1m); individual SME grant levels TBC when sub-calls open
Duration: Programme runs to 2031
Eligibility: SMEs with wearable/remote monitoring technology; primary connection to or willingness to work within Greater Manchester. Sub-call eligibility criteria TBC.
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The Greater Manchester Wearables and Remote Monitoring Innovation Cluster (GM-WIC) is a newly launched LIPF-funded programme led by Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust (MFT) in partnership with the University of Manchester, Manchester Metropolitan University, and the NIHR Manchester Health Determinants Research Collaboration. It is designed to accelerate wearable and remote monitoring technologies from concept to NHS deployment by integrating the region's health system, academic infrastructure, and commercial partners in a single cluster.
GM-WIC will support SMEs through targeted accelerator programmes, real-world NHS testing platforms, and clear adoption pathways, with the explicit aim of enabling companies to scale rapidly from development through to deployment. MFT's Hospital at Home programme provides an established NHS environment for piloting connected and wearable technologies. SME-facing open calls are expected to emerge as the programme moves from setup to delivery.
More information here.
Contact: Health Innovation Manchester >>>
Greater Manchester LIPF — Greater Data Accelerator
Funders: UKRI / LIPF (Greater Manchester Combined Authority)
Open
Closes: SME sub-calls not yet open - register interest now
Sector: Healthcare & Life Sciences
​Funding level: £6.7m LIPF to the programme; individual SME support levels TBC when sub-calls open
Duration: Programme runs to 2031
Eligibility: SMEs with data, AI, diagnostics or medicines-development technology; connection to or willingness to work within Greater Manchester. Sub-call eligibility TBC.
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The Greater Data Accelerator is a newly launched LIPF-funded programme led by Health Innovation Manchester and the University of Manchester. It is designed to harness Greater Manchester's population-scale health data infrastructure - one of the largest integrated health datasets in the country - to accelerate the development and adoption of new medicines and diagnostics technologies.
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The programme builds on Health Innovation Manchester's existing Greater Data Innovation Services platform, which provides structured access to NHS health data for research and innovation. SME-facing accelerator rounds and data-access calls are expected to follow as the programme enters delivery. The focus is on translational work that moves innovations from research into clinical and commercial use.
More information here.
Contact: Health Innovation Manchester >>>
Discovery Awards
Funder: Wellcome
Open
Closes: 22 September 2026
Sector: Healthcare & Life Sciences
Funding level: Up to £10 million (average ~£3.5m)
Project duration: Up to 8 years
Eligibility: Established researchers and multidisciplinary teams worldwide. Eligible UK institutions can host the award.
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The Wellcome Discovery Awards provide major, long-term funding to support ambitious discovery research that advances understanding of human life, health and wellbeing. The scheme is deliberately broad - proposals are judged on intellectual ambition, the team's track record, and the likelihood of transformative insights.
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Recent cohorts have included projects in computational biology, AI-driven understanding of mental health, microbiome science, and societal determinants of health. The eight-year horizon enables genuinely programmatic work that would be impossible to fund through shorter awards.
More information here.
Therapeutic Catalyst 2026
Funder: Cancer Research UK
Open
Closes: 25 September 2026 (expression of interest; mandatory first stage)
Sector: Cancer
Funding level: Target Award up to £250,000. Early Therapy Award up to £350,000.
Project duration: Target Award 12 to 18 months. Early Therapy Award 18 to 24 months.
Eligibility: Academic researchers based at any university or research institute worldwide. Applicants should have their own laboratory or otherwise conduct independent research. The current round is focused on adult cancers using antibody-based therapeutics or small-molecule approaches. Childhood cancer therapeutic projects go through a separate Childhood Cancer Therapeutic Catalyst.
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The Therapeutic Catalyst supports academic researchers seeking to translate promising laboratory discoveries into new cancer therapeutics. What distinguishes it from a conventional project grant is that the money comes bundled with access to Cancer Research Horizons' experienced drug-discovery scientists, who work with the award holder to validate therapeutic targets, assess druggability, identify potential therapeutic hits and advance early treatment concepts.
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The 2026 programme offers two routes. The Target Award is the earlier, funding target validation and druggability assessment. The Early Therapy Award is for projects that already have a candidate approach and need to advance it toward a defined developmental inflection point. In both cases the project is expected to reach a point that positions the work for subsequent drug discovery, licensing, partnering or additional funding within the award period.
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Applications are reviewed three times per year, in February, June and October. The 25 September expression of interest deadline feeds the October round and is the last remaining 2026 submission date currently listed. The EOI stage is mandatory. Cancer Research UK strongly encourages an informal discussion with the Therapeutic Translation team before applying.
More information here.
Discovery Programme Award
Funder: Cancer Research UK
Open
Closes: 29 September 2026
Sector: Healthcare & Life Sciences
​Funding level: Long-term programme funding (multi-million pound awards)
Project duration: Typically five to six years, potentially renewable
Eligibility: Researchers at UK universities, medical schools, hospitals or research institutes; pre-submission discussion with CRUK required
The CRUK Discovery Programme Award funds ambitious, long-term programmes of discovery science addressing fundamental questions in cancer biology.
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More information here.
European Rare Diseases Research Alliance (ERDERA) Clinical Trial Call 2026
Funder: NIHR
Opened: 1 July 2026
Closes: 30 September 2026
Sector: Life Sciences
Funding level: Multinational consortium funding; NIHR funds the UK components
Project duration: Trial-dependent, typically three to five years
Eligibility: Multinational consortia running GCP-compliant Phase I, Phase I/II or Phase II interventional trials in rare diseases; NIHR participation enables applicants across England and the devolved administrations
ERDERA is the European partnership on rare disease research. Its 2026 Clinical Trial Call supports multinational interventional trials in rare diseases, with NIHR funding UK partners across the full remit of the call.
Consortia must include partners from multiple participating countries. This is a substantive route to European collaborative funding that remains open to UK participants.
More information here.
RPSC Commissioned Call
Funder: NIHR
Opened: 3 June 2026
Closes: 1pm, 30 September 2026
Sector: Social Care
Funding level: No stated per-project cap; recent RPSC rounds awarded £250k–£750k per project (£7.5m across 14 projects in May 2025; £2.8m across 9 in February 2026)
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Project duration: Varies by project scope; typically 24–48 months
Eligibility: Researchers at any career stage. Applications can be submitted through UK higher education institutions, charities, local authorities, NHS trusts, and third-sector organisations. Industry co-investigators are permitted under NIHR rules.
This is a commissioned call with three discrete funding streams running simultaneously under a single application window. The primary stream (2026/436) invites proposals addressing methods development, adaptation and implementation of evaluative research in social care (meaning new or adapted methodologies that improve how social care interventions are studied, tested or evaluated).
The second stream (2026/437) is the NIHR NICE rolling opportunity, which funds studies that will directly inform NICE guidelines or technology appraisals relating to social care.
The third stream (2026/438) is the NIHR James Lind Alliance rolling opportunity, funding research that addresses priority questions identified through JLA Priority Setting Partnerships involving service users, carers, and practitioners.
The application process is two-stage: outline submissions close 30 September 2026, with full applications invited from January 2027. NIHR is hosting a webinar on 22 June 2026 (2–4pm) with a live Q&A.
More information here.
Research Innovation Awards
Funder: Prostate Cancer UK
Opened: Late July 2026
Closes: 1pm, 6 October 2026
Sector: Prostate cancer
Funding Level: No financial ceiling, applicants should request what is needed
Project Duration: Project-dependent; outcomes assessed December 2026 with second-stage by March 2027
Eligibility: Researchers based at UK universities, medical schools, NHS trusts, or research institutions. Industry partnerships are welcome. PPI (Patient and Public Involvement) assessment is mandatory.
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Prostate Cancer UK's Research Innovation Awards fund bold, high-impact research projects with genuine potential to change how prostate cancer is diagnosed and treated. The scheme covers both fundamental and clinical research, with an explicit focus on delivering real-world benefit for men affected by the disease.
In recent years, Prostate Cancer UK has been increasingly receptive to proposals involving AI-assisted pathology, digital biomarker identification, liquid biopsy technologies, and risk prediction models. The charity's research strategy explicitly acknowledges the potential of AI and machine learning to transform prostate cancer detection, particularly through MRI image analysis and PSA monitoring algorithms.
The application process is two-stage: initial applications are reviewed in December 2026, shortlisted applicants submit second-stage proposals by March 2027, and final outcomes are notified July 2027. A mandatory Patient and Public Involvement assessment adds credibility to applications that demonstrate genuine patient benefit from their health technology.
More information here.
​​Experimental medicine stage one
Funder: MRC
Opened: 30 April 2026
Closes: 4pm, 7 October 2026
Sector: Life Sciences
Apply for funding to investigate the causes, progression and treatment of human disease.
Your project must:
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focus on a mechanistic hypothesis
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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 stages.
Apply here.
Innovative Health Initiative (IHI): Call 13
Funder: EU/Horizon Europe
Opened: Summer 2026 (Call Days: 24 - 30 June 2026)
Closes: 5pm CET, 8 October 2026
Sector: Healthcare & Life Sciences
Funding Level: Large collaborative grants; individual projects typically €5m–€50m total (IHI contributes up to ~50% of eligible costs)
Project Duration: Multi-year; typically 3–6 years
Eligibility: Legal entities from EU member states, Horizon Europe-associated countries (including UK), and other participating nations. Consortia must include industry, research, and/or healthcare organisations. Two-stage application (Expression of Interest, then full proposal).
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IHI Call 13 includes three confirmed topics:
(1) a network to accelerate European healthcare innovation and knowledge translation;
(2) an AI foundation toxicology model to support drug safety assessment and potentially reduce animal testing; and
(3) research decoding the immunoscience of age-related immune-mediated diseases - relevant to AI-based immune profiling tools and digital diagnostics in immunology and ageing.
IHI calls are two-stage. The first stage typically requires a concise concept paper; shortlisted applicants are then invited to submit full proposals. Industry participation is a mandatory component, and industry partners contribute in-kind costs.
Register for the call days here.
More information here.
​Quarterly Research Grant Funding Programme
Funder: Cure Parkinson's
Open:
Closes: 12 October 2026
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.
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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.
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2025/2026 application deadlines:
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Monday 3 November 2025
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Monday 12 January 2026
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Monday 13 April 2026
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Monday 22 June 2026
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Monday 12 October 2026
More information here.
Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP): 2026 – 2027 Round 3
Funder: Innovate U
Opened: 13 August 2026
Closes: 11am, 14 October 2026
Sector: ALL
Funding: £12.5 million total fund. Typical project cost £8,500 per month; Innovate UK funds up to 67% of the knowledge base costs for SMEs, 50% for large companies, 75% third sector, 50% public sector
Duration: 12 to 36 months
Eligibility: Application is led by a UK registered higher or further education institution, RTO or Catapult, partnered with a UK registered business of any size with two or more full-time employees. The business contributes to project costs.
The Knowledge Transfer Partnership programme places a high-calibre graduate or postgraduate (the KTP Associate) inside a business to deliver a strategic innovation project, supervised jointly by the company and an academic partner.
Applications are submitted by the knowledge base partner, but the project is designed around the business partner’s innovation need and the business retains the resulting capability.
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KTP is one of the most reliable routes for a smaller health tech company to embed genuinely new technical capability - clinical data science, regulatory-grade software engineering, health economics modelling, AI/ML development - without carrying the full salary cost or the recruitment risk. The grant contribution is calculated against the knowledge base costs, so the cash contribution required from an SME is typically around a third of the total.
More information here.
UKRI Translation: BBSRC Proof of Concept 2026
Funder: BBSRC
Opened: 5 August 2026
Closes: 4pm, 14 October 2026
Sector: Biosciences
Funding level: £3 million total fund. Award range £100,000 - £800,000 full economic cost (FEC); BBSRC funds 80% of FEC
Project duration: Up to 24 months
Eligibility: The project lead must be based at a UK research organisation eligible for BBSRC funding. Projects must build on prior BBSRC support and set out a clear pathway to real-world use through commercialisation, adoption or progression towards deployment. Businesses participate as project partners and as the commercialisation route rather than as the lead applicant.
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BBSRC Proof of Concept is the bioscience arm of UKRI's consolidated translation portfolio. It funds the step that sits between a research finding and something a customer will buy - generating the technical, regulatory or market evidence needed to move a bioscience result towards a product, service or solution with economic, societal or environmental impact.
The requirement for prior BBSRC support means the underlying science must already exist; this is not a call for new discovery work.
More information here.
Translation Accelerator Kidney Award Scheme (TAKA) - 2026 round
Funder: Kidney Research UK
Opened: 2 September 2026
Closes: 19 October 2026 (EoI)
Sector: Healthcare & Life Sciences
Funding level: Level 1 up to £79,999; Level 2 £80,000–£125,000. 100% of eligible
costs. Several awards expected.
Duration: Up to 15 months
Eligibility: Applications welcomed from researchers in UK higher education
institutions, NHS clinicians and clinical academics. Two parallel
workstreams: Therapeutics and MedTech.
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TAKA exists to close the funding gap between early university and NHS research and a product or treatment that reaches everyday care. The awards fund short, discrete, patient and clinic-focused projects that address one specific challenge or question about an innovation in order to get it to the clinic faster. The stated purpose is explicitly commercial de-risking.
Kidney Research UK says this funding is intended to develop the opportunity and
reduce risk for potential commercial partners, making the innovation more attractive to them.
The application process splits into two parallel workstreams. Therapeutics covers
interventions that prevent, treat, cure or modify the course of kidney disease through a direct biological, pharmacological or physiological effect. MedTech covers technologies, devices or tools for diagnosis, monitoring, prevention or delivery of care in kidney disease that do not act by pharmacological, immunological or metabolic means; which captures digital diagnostics, remote monitoring, decision support and dialysis-adjacent technology.
This is an expression of interest process, so the first-stage is lower effort relative to the award size, and at 100% of eligible costs there is no match funding requirement.
More information here.
​Next generation artificial intelligence (AI): explainable AI
Funders: UK Research and Innovation / EPSRC
Opened: 11 August 2026
Closes: 4pm, 20 October 2026
Sector: ALL
Funding: £12.05 million total fund. Maximum £602,500 full economic cost per project; UKRI funds 80% of FEC (£482,000)
Duration: Up to 24 months. Projects must start 1 February 2027
Eligibility: Project lead must be based at a UK research organisation eligible for UKRI funding.
This call funds speculative, high-risk fundamental research aimed at delivering a step change in the explainability of future AI systems. It sits within UKRI’s Next Generation AI programme and is deliberately framed around ideas that would struggle to find funding through conventional responsive-mode routes. A webinar is scheduled for 8 September 2026.
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Explainability is the single largest regulatory and adoption obstacle facing AI in health and care. UKCA and CE marking of AI-enabled medical devices, MHRA expectations on algorithmic transparency, NICE evidence standards for digital health technologies and NHS procurement assurance all turn in part on whether a system’s outputs can be explained to clinicians, regulators and patients. Advances funded here will shape what is expected of commercial health AI products over the next five years.
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The award is academically led and there is no route for a company to apply as project lead. The realistic opportunity is to join as a named project partner supplying real-world clinical data, a deployment environment, or a use case that grounds the research in a regulated setting.
More information here.
​Engineering Biology Access to Infrastructure Pilot
Funder: Innovate UK
Opened: 7 September 2026
Closes: 11am, 21 October 2026
Sector: BioTech
​Funding level: Share of up to £5m; total eligible project costs must be between
£200,000 and £750,000
Duration: Pilot scale and validation projects (see competition scope for
project dates)
Eligibility: UK registered businesses. Indicative success rate stated by
Innovate UK at up to 20%.
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Innovate UK will invest up to £5m to scale engineering biology innovations through pilot scale and validation projects. Projects must focus on developing or applying engineering biology solutions to one or more of six themes, of which Health is listed first.
The distinguishing feature of this competition against the sibling collaborative R&D round is the project size band. At £200k to £750k total eligible costs it is accessible to a single SME or a small partnership without the consortium-building overhead of a multi-million-pound collaborative bid, and the emphasis on accessing infrastructure means the money is aimed at getting a validated process onto pilot-scale equipment rather than at fundamental discovery.
More information here.
Advancing innovation in accelerated cancer diagnosis
Funder: Innovate UK, on behalf of the Office for Life Sciences Cancer Healthcare Goals programme
Opened: 1 September 2026
Closes: 11am, 28 October 2026
Sector: Healthcare & Life Sciences
​Funding level: Up to £25.4 million in total across the competition
Project duration: To be confirmed in the competition brief at opening
Eligibility: Open to collaborations only. To lead, your organisation must be a UK registered business of any size, an academic institution or an NHS organisation. The consortium must contain at least one UK registered micro, small or medium sized enterprise claiming grant funding on the application.
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Innovate UK, acting for the Office for Life Sciences Cancer Healthcare Goals programme, will invest up to £25.4 million to support the clinical validation and evaluation of early cancer diagnostic technologies and devices.
The emphasis on clinical validation and evaluation rather than early-stage development is the defining feature. This competition is aimed at technologies that already exist and need the real-world clinical evidence base required to move into NHS deployment, rather than at concepts still being proven in the laboratory. That places it downstream of Biomedical Catalyst and upstream of routine commissioning, occupying the evidence-generation gap where a great many UK diagnostics companies stall.
The eligibility structure is broad on the lead side - a business, an academic institution or an NHS organisation can all lead - but narrow in one crucial respect: at least one UK registered SME must be claiming grant funding on the application.
In effect the competition cannot proceed without commercial participation, which is unusually favourable for smaller diagnostics companies looking to attach to a clinically credible consortium.
More information here.
Pathfinder Challenges 2026: Biotechnology for Healthy Ageing
Funder:EIC - Horizon
Open
Closes: 5pm (CET), 28 October 2026
Sector: Biotech
​Funding Level: Up to €4,000,000 per project (EU contribution); total Challenge budget: €32,000,000
Project Duration: Typically 3–4 years.
Eligibility: UK applicants are eligible as a Horizon Europe Associated Country. For Pathfinder Challenges, single applications and 2-member consortia (including UK-only) are permitted. Multi-country consortia also welcome. Applicants should be research institutions, SMEs, or collaborative partnerships.
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The EIC Pathfinder Challenges 2026: Biotechnology for Healthy Ageing is one of three challenge themes under the EIC Work Programme 2026. The Challenge targets breakthrough proof-of-concept research into biotechnology and pharmaceutical interventions that can prevent, delay, or reverse age-related diseases - a rapidly growing priority given demographic trends across Europe.
Projects are expected to deliver proof of concept in one of three areas:
(a) a biotechnology or pharmaceutical intervention to prevent, delay, or reverse the onset of a specific age-related disease;
(b) a biomarker-based tool to support the responsible deployment of ageing-related interventions; or
(c) a novel New Approach Methodology (NAM) that advances the state of the art and enables future development of healthy ageing interventions. Digital health, AI-driven biomarker discovery, and precision diagnostics approaches are strongly aligned with option (b).
Unlike EIC Pathfinder Open (see above on this page), this Challenge stream allows single-entity applications, making it significantly more accessible for UK health tech companies without a pre-existing European consortium.
More information here.
CfI: Innovation in play to improve child outcomes
Funder: Innovate UK
Opened: 15 September 2026
Closes: 11am, 28 October 2026
Sector: Child health
Funding level: Up to £3 million total. Phase 1 projects of £200,000 to £500,000 total eligible costs, inclusive of VAT. Phase 1 of a potential three-phase competition; only successful Phase 1 applicants are invited to Phase 2.
Project duration: Phase 1 duration set by the competition timetable; subsequent phases depend on Phase 1 outcomes and separate applications.
Eligibility: Contracts for Innovation. Open to organisations developing practical, deliverable solutions. Applications centred on screen-based play are explicitly ineligible.
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UKRI is investing up to £3 million through its Breaking Down Barriers to Opportunity Mission in this Contracts for Innovation competition. The aim is to support organisations to develop practical solutions that reignite the importance of play and increase access to real-world play environments and experiences, improving outcomes for children and young people up to the age of 18.
The competition is focused specifically on the role of play in shaping the home learning environment - the everyday interactions, relationships and experiences outside the classroom known to strongly influence children's development and educational outcomes. UKRI is seeking evidence-informed solutions that leverage play as a mechanism to improve children's learning, development, health, happiness and wellbeing; reduce inequalities in access to enriching play experiences; support families, caregivers, educators and communities to facilitate play; and strengthen the role of play across home, education and community settings.
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UKRI is open to intervention programmes or services, behaviour change approaches, new delivery or partnership models, and design-led or place-based innovations. By the end of Phase 1, projects must demonstrate robust evidence for practical approaches deliverable in real-world settings and adoptable more widely by organisations, services and communities.
More information here.
Research for Patient Benefit (RfPB) – July 2026
Funder: NIHR
Opened: 15 July 2026
Closes: 1pm, 28 October 2026
Sector: Healthcare
Funding level: Regionally administered awards (typically up to c.£350,000)
Project duration: Up to 36 months
Eligibility: Three streams: researcher-led (2026/442), NIHR JLA rolling (2026/443) and NIHR NICE rolling (2026/444). Includes a highlight notice on oral and dental health. Two-stage: outline then full.
RfPB funds research concerned with the day-to-day practice of health service staff, with clear potential to benefit patients and NHS users. It is one of NIHR's most accessible programmes and is regionally administered.
More information here.
​Engineering Biology Collaborative R&D: Round 3
Funder: Innovate UK
Opened: 8 September 2026
Closes: 11am, 3 November 2026
Sector: BioTech
​Funding level: Share of up to £8.5m; total eligible project costs must be between
£750,000 and £2.5m
Duration: Per competition scope; two-stage assessment process
Eligibility: UK registered businesses, business-led collaborative projects
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The aim of this competition is to deliver business-led research and development that leads to new engineering biology products, processes or services, and that de-risks the adoption of new engineering biology technologies offering high market potential. As with the infrastructure pilot, projects must address one or more of six themes with Health listed first.
This is the larger and more strategic of the two engineering biology competitions open this week. The £750k to £2.5m band implies a genuine consortium - typically an SME lead with academic, clinical or manufacturing partners - and the two-stage assessment process means a first-stage pass is required before a full submission is considered.
More information here.
Impact Acceleration Awards
Funder: MRC
Opened: 16 July 2026
Closes: 4pm, 11 November 202
Sector: Healthcare & Life Sciences
Funding level: £50,000 - £300,000 full economic cost, funded at 80% FEC plus 100% of permitted exceptions
Project duration: 6 to 18 months
Eligibility: Project leads must be based at an MRC-eligible research organisation. Projects must target a single high-risk development step backed by prior funding. Industry partners join as collaborators and can be the intended route to market.
The MRC Impact Acceleration Award provides single-step support for developing a new or repurposed medicine, medical device, diagnostic or other medical product. The design is deliberately narrow: the applicant identifies one high-risk step in the development pathway, and the award generates the critical data needed either to de-risk onward progression or to establish failure early and cheaply.
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The scheme (previously known as the 'Gap Fund: single-step support for medical product development) sits strategically between the smaller Impact Acceleration Account block awards and the larger MRC Proof of Concept scheme, filling a gap that has historically stranded promising device and diagnostic projects.
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This is one of the most practical translational schemes on the current landscape for medtech and diagnostics SMEs, because the 'one high-risk step' framing maps cleanly onto the real blockers SMEs face - a usability study, a regulatory gap analysis, a validation dataset, etc.
More information here.
Safeguarded AI: Cybersecurity
Funder: ARIA
Opened: 4 September 2026
Closes: 2pm, 31 October 2026
Sector: AI
​Funding level: £20m total call. Track 1 (Blue Teams) approximately £2.5m–£3.5m per project, with 3–6 teams expected to be funded
Project duration: 10–15 months, running from project start to the end of November 2027
Eligibility: Open across the R&D ecosystem including startups, industry and academia; single organisations or teams spanning sectors. ARIA typically requires more than 50% of project costs and personnel time to be in the UK, with exceptions possible where a strong UK-benefit case is made in the application. Single-stage application, maximum 5 pages for Track 1.
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Safeguarded AI is a £59m ARIA programme sitting within the Trust Everything, Everywhere opportunity space. This £20m call seeks to test and accelerate the hypothesis that AI-enabled formal methods can make production-grade cyber defence practical at scale. Track 1 funds Blue Teams to build security-critical software components whose key security properties are backed by machine-checked proofs, under clearly stated threat models and assumptions, using AI as a central means of reaching levels of formal proof that would not otherwise be tractable.
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Funded teams work in 8-week sprint cycles. Six weeks are spent building and formally verifying a system or component against a declared specification and threat model. One week is given to red-teaming, in which a central Red Team that has had full viewing access to the development and verification process attempts to break the system and delivers a detailed report covering attack attempts, outcomes and reproducible artefacts for any successful breaks. The final week is for review and retargeting, with the next sprint target agreed in conversation with the ARIA programme team. Applicants are asked to propose a tractable but ambitious initial target together with plausible candidates for more ambitious follow-on targets; final target selection is subject to programme team approval both at project start and at each sprint cycle.
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ARIA expects the majority of project costs to fund a small, high-calibre technical team (typically two to four people) plus compute, which it estimates teams will budget at up to £200k per sprint on average.
More information here.
Developmental pathway funding scheme: stage one
Funder: MRC
Opened: 2 July 2026
Closes: 9am, 18 November 2026
Sector: Healthcare & Life Sciences
Apply for funding to develop and test novel therapeutics, medical devices, diagnostics and other interventions.
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Your project can start and finish at any stage on the developmental pathway from prototype development, through pre-clinical refinement and testing to early-phase clinical studies and trials (up to phase 2a).
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You must be based at a research organisation eligible for Medical Research Council (MRC) funding.
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There is no limit on the amount of funding you can apply for, but it should be appropriate to the project. We usually fund 80% of a project’s full economic cost (FEC).
More information here.
Definitive social care evaluations
Funder: NIHR - HTA
Opened: 6 August 2026
Closes: 1pm, 18 November 2026
Sector: Social Care
Funding level: No fixed cap. HTA commissioned awards are budgeted to the study; multi-site effectiveness trials in this programme typically fall in the £1m - £3m range and must be fully justified
Project duration: Typically 3 – 5 years for a definitive multi-site trial. Full applications open late January 2027, close 18 March 2027, decision June 2027
Eligibility: Two-stage commissioned call, outline first. Applications may be led by universities, local authorities, and NHS bodies or other providers of NHS services across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Interventions must already have progressed with UK funding and be ready for a definitive multi-site trial. SMEs join as intervention providers, technology partners or evaluation partners.
The HTA Programme is seeking social care research studies that have already progressed with UK funding and are now ready for a multi-site effectiveness and cost-effectiveness trial - the study that establishes whether an intervention works in practice and should be recommended for use. The call is explicitly intervention-focused, with service user and carer focused outcomes, and defines an intervention as any social care therapy or programme intended to improve quality of life.
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Crucially, this is a broad call rather than a narrow topic specification. There is no restriction to a particular condition, setting or population, provided the proposal falls within the HTA remit and the intervention has a credible prior evidence base. That breadth is unusual for an HTA commissioned call and considerably widens the range of SMEs who could plausibly feature in a bid.
More information here.
Speech and language therapist-led interventions for school-aged children with developmental language disorder
Funder: NIHR - HTA
Open: 6 August 2026
Closes: 1pm, 18 November 2026
Sector: Paediatric Health
Funding level: No fixed cap; budget must be justified against the research specification. Evidence-gathering and prioritisation studies of this type generally sit below the cost of a definitive trial
Project duration: Full applications open late January 2027, close 18 March 2027, decision June 2027
Eligibility: Two-stage commissioned call, outline first. Standard HTA Programme eligibility applies. Multidisciplinary teams are expected; technology providers and speech and language therapy services are natural collaborators.
The research question is which speech and language therapist-led interventions supporting school-aged children with developmental language disorder (DLD) are most suitable for future studies of comparative effectiveness. This is a prioritisation and evidence-mapping call rather than a definitive trial: the programme wants to know which of the many interventions currently in use deserve to be tested head to head.
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The specification is explicit that eligible interventions include in-person, online, digital and remote delivery, provided individually or in groups. Required outputs include a survey of current practice describing the interventions and techniques in use, the factors influencing therapists' decisions about which interventions to offer, and how interventions are adapted to the heterogeneity of the target group.
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This is one of three related paediatric speech and language calls released simultaneously, alongside developmental stammer and non-progressive motor disorders affecting speech. Teams working in this space should read all three specifications together before deciding which to target, or whether a coordinated approach across more than one is feasible.
More information here.
Interventions for school-aged children with a developmental stammer
Funder: NIHR - HTA
Opened: 6 August 2026
Closes: 1pm, 18 November 2026
Sector: Paediatric Health
Funding level: No fixed cap; budget must be justified. Clinical and cost-effectiveness trials in the HTA portfolio commonly run to seven figures
Project duration: Full applications open late January 2027, close 18 March 2027, decision June 2027
Eligibility: Two-stage commissioned call, outline first. Standard HTA Programme eligibility. Applicants must define and justify inclusion criteria, with explicit attention to children with comorbidities such as ADHD and children for whom English is not a first language.
This call asks a straight effectiveness question: what is the clinical and cost-effectiveness of intervention(s) for school-aged children with a developmental stammer? Unlike the DLD call, this is framed as a comparative trial rather than a prioritisation exercise, so the programme is looking for a study that produces a definitive answer.
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The specification asks applicants to detail intervention parameters including the intensity, frequency and duration of sessions, to demonstrate how the intervention responds to the heterogeneity of individual participants in terms of their characteristics, circumstances and needs, and to outline any training that speech and language therapists would require to deliver it.
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Research inclusion is given unusual prominence. Applicants are directed to consider the inclusion of children with common comorbidities such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and children for whom English is not their first language - both groups routinely excluded from stammering research to date.
More information here.
​Interventions for children and young people with nonprogressive motor disorders affecting their speech
Funder: NIHR - HTA
Open: 6 August 2026
Closes: 1pm, 18 November 2026
Sector: Paediatric Health
​Funding level: No fixed cap; budget must be justified against the research specification
Project duration: Full applications open late January 2027, close 18 March 2027, decision June 2027
Eligibility: Two-stage commissioned call, outline first. Standard HTA Programme eligibility. The anticipated target group is children and young people of primary and secondary school age, potentially extending to age 25.
The programme is seeking evidence on the relative clinical and cost-effectiveness of different direct speech interventions for children and young people whose speech intelligibility and overall communication is affected by cerebral palsy or other non-progressive motor disorders. The comparison is between direct speech interventions rather than between intervention and no intervention.
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The specification anticipates a target group spanning primary and secondary school age and potentially extending to those up to 25 years old. Importantly, it notes that in addition to the direct speech interventions being studied, participants may use or continue with a form of Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) - meaning AAC is treated as part of the real-world context rather than an exclusion criterion.#
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This is the third of the paediatric speech and communication trio. It addresses a population with substantial unmet need and a notably thin comparative evidence base, which is generally a favourable position for a well-constructed application.
More information here.
UK Obesity Research Institute
Funder: Medical Research Council
Opened: 30 July 2026
Closes: 4pm, 19 November 2026
Sector: Healthcare & Life Sciences
Funding level: Up to £60 million
Project duration: Seven years, with potential to renew
Eligibility: Director-led applications to establish a collaborative national institute; funding subject to approval of a full business case
MRC is seeking director-led applications to create a UK Obesity Research Institute investigating the mechanistic biomedical drivers of obesity and related cardiometabolic disease, and delivering transformative impact in obesity research.
At up to £60 million over seven years this is one of the largest single UK health research opportunities currently in the market. Applications must set out the design and delivery of a collaborative institute, not a single-site programme.
More information here.
Efficacy and Mechanism Evaluation (EME) Programme: researcher-led workstream
Funder: NIHR
Opened: 6 August 2026
Closes: 1pm, 25 November 2026
Sector: Healthcare & Life Sciences
Funding level: £500,000 stated as the funding available amount for this opportunity
Project duration: Two-stage; outline followed by full application. Methodological sub-studies (SWATs) are eligible within the award
Eligibility: Two-stage funding opportunity, outline first. Proposals must fall within the EME Programme scope: research into the efficacy and/or mechanism of interventions based in, or used by, the NHS and its partners. Open to researcher-defined topics rather than a prescribed specification.
The EME Programme funds ambitious studies evaluating interventions with the potential to deliver a step-change in the promotion of health, the treatment of disease, or the improvement of rehabilitation and long-term care. The researcher-led workstream carries no topic restriction - applicants bring their own question, provided it addresses efficacy and/or mechanism for an intervention used in or by the NHS.
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The opportunity is eligible for a methodological sub-study (a Study Within A Trial, Review or Project) which allows a team to test and improve research methodology alongside the main evaluation and can add meaningful value to an application.
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The absence of a prescribed topic makes this the most flexible NIHR route available to SMEs right now. Where an SME has an intervention with a plausible efficacy claim and an academic or NHS partner willing to lead, the question is defined by the applicant rather than by a commissioning brief. The mechanism arm is particularly useful for digital and device interventions, because it funds work establishing how and why something works, often the missing evidence in a health tech company's dossier when it comes to NICE or commissioner scrutiny.
More information here.
HTA Application Development Award
Funder: NIHR
Opened: 11 June 2026
Closes: 1pm, 25 November 2026
Sector: Healthcare & Life Sciences
Award Size: £150,000. A one stage process.
Duration: Up to 18 months.
Eligibility: Researchers in England intending to submit a full application to the HTA Programme. Applications must relate to questions of direct relevance to the NHS and social care.
This grant supports the development stage of health technology assessment research proposals - covering systematic reviews, pilot studies, and feasibility work that will inform a full HTA application.
More information here.
Development of novel evaluative methodologies to overcome systemic barriers in social care research
Funders: NIHR / MRC - Better Methods, Better Research (BMBR) Programme
Opens: 8 September 2026
Closes: 1pm, 1 December 2026
Funding level: £625,000 available
Project duration: Methodology development project; full application (single stage)
Eligibility: UK research teams meeting BMBR remit; priorities set with DHSC, NHS, local government, Department for Education and public contributors
This BMBR call funds the development of highly applicable evaluative methodologies that overcome the logistical and design barriers inherent in conducting robust social care research; fragmented providers, small sites, consent complexity and weak routine data.
More information here.
Sector: Social Care
The use of synthetic data in health and social care research
Funders: NIHR / MRC - Better Methods, Better Research (BMBR) Programme
Opened: 8 September 2026
Closes: 1pm, 1 December 2026
Sector: Healthcare & Life Sciences
​Funding level: £625,000 available
Project duration: Methodology development project; full application (single stage)
Eligibility: UK research teams meeting BMBR remit; priorities set with DHSC, NHS, NICE, MHRA and the devolved administrations.
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The joint NIHR–MRC Better Methods, Better Research programme is funding methodology development using synthetic health data; creating methods that leverage the opportunities of synthetic data while managing its limitations.
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Synthetic data is central to unlocking health data for AI development where real patient data cannot be shared, and this call is explicitly aimed at building the methodological foundations regulators and the NHS will rely on.
More information here.
Understanding inhabitants’ experiences of neighbourhoods to support their health and well-being
Funder: Horizon Europe
Open
Closes: 5pm (CET), 1 December 2026
Sector: Healthcare
​Funding level: Indicative budget €15 million; approx. €5 million EU contribution per project
Project duration: Not stated in the published call summary
Eligibility: Standard Horizon Europe consortium rules. Projects must involve a wide range of participants including vulnerable and marginalised groups (older adults, children and young people, disabled people and carers, migrants and refugees, LGBTQIA+ communities) across urban, peri-urban, rural, coastal and island settings. UK organisations eligible as associated-country participants.
Evidence on how people experience their neighbourhood (sensory, emotional and social) and how that shapes health and wellbeing, with recommendations for local authorities and the cultural and heritage sector. Fits population health, health inequalities and healthy-place agendas.
More information here.
Researcher-led (BMBR Programme)
Funders: NIHR and MRC
Opened: 8 September 2026
Closes: 1pm, 1 December 2026
Sector: Healthcare & Life Sciences
Funding level: Up to £625,000 (100% FEC basis for valuation); MRC and NIHR will
usually fund up to 80% of FEC
Duration: Per project specification
Eligibility: One-stage, researcher-led. Full application required at first
submission.
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The BMBR Programme is a joint MRC and NIHR programme that aims to ensure optimal research methods are used to advance biomedical, health and care research, policy and delivery. This researcher-led opportunity is a single-stage call.
Two features are worth noting. First, the call is eligible for methodological substudies, (Studies Within A Trial, Review or Project) which can be attached to a host study to improve the methodology of future research as well as the host study itself, and which can support the decarbonisation of research. Second, research outputs are expected to be available and usable to the fullest extent, with open-source software and code explicitly encouraged and the supporting costs eligible under NIHR open access funding guidance.
More information here.
Using 'big data' to impact health and health inequalities
Funder: NIHR (Public Health Research Programme)
Opened: 21 July 2026
Closes: 1pm, 8 December 2026
Sector: Healthcare & Life Sciences
Funding level: PHR programme-scale funding
Project duration: Two-stage: outline then full application
Eligibility: UK research teams; research into data linkage and big data usage in local and/or regional government, or interventions addressing barriers to and risks of big data usage
This new PHR commissioned call funds research into the health and health inequality impacts of data linkage and big data usage in local and regional government, and into interventions that address the barriers to, or risks associated with, that usage.
More information here.
​Clinical Research Funding Scheme
Funder: Cancer Research UK
Open
Closes: 3 December 2026 (full application stage)
Sector: Cancer
Funding level: Flexible and module-dependent. This is a modular scheme with no single fixed award ceiling.
Project duration: Typically up to 10 years; longer durations considered if justified. Project dependent.
Eligibility: Applicants must be based at a UK university, medical school, hospital, UKCRC-registered clinical trials unit or research institution. Proposals must be investigator-led, and all applications must have a UKCRC-registered clinical trials unit coordinating the clinical trial or study. Open to researchers at any career stage. This is a closed round - applicants must contact CRUK ideally one month, and at least two weeks, before the deadline for a confidential eligibility discussion before submitting.
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Cancer Research UK's Clinical Research Funding Scheme is a modular scheme providing support for high-quality clinical research, associated translational research, and the collection of samples and data. Funding amount is flexible and depends on which modules are requested, and funding periods typically run up to ten years, with longer durations considered where justified.
Each module carries its own applicant eligibility guidance, and the scheme is deliberately open across career stages - from early-career researchers nearing completion of clinical trials training through to established investigators. CRUK encourages applications that include early-career researchers who have had limited previous involvement as co-investigators and collaborators.
More information here.
Public Health Research Programme Rapid Funding Scheme
Funder: NIHR
Opened: 16 December 2025
Closes: 16 December 2026
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.
The Rapid Funding Scheme (RFS) was launched in March 2018 and offers researchers the opportunity to apply for funds to conduct rapid baseline data collection, as well as other feasibility work, prior to intervention implementation, for unique, time-limited opportunities such as a natural experiment or similar evaluations of a new public health intervention.
This scheme is not intended to fund studies which provide definitive answers to questions to inform service provision – it is to prepare for such studies.
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Funding is a maximum of £50,000 for a duration of 6 months.
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More information here.
Small Molecule High Throughput Screen using AstraZeneca Facilities
Funders: MRC and AstraZeneca
Opened: 10 September 2026
Closes: 4pm, 28 January 2027
Sector: Life Sciences
Funding level: £1m total fund; maximum award £270,000
Duration: Per project
Eligibility: Research organisations eligible for MRC funding.
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This scheme funds researchers to run a high throughput screen using AstraZeneca's compound library and screening robots. The real prize is access to a pharmaceutical company's industrial screening infrastructure and compound collection which is not otherwise purchasable at this price point, and the award covers the cost of running the screen rather than simply granting cash.
The round is open to all targets, which removes the therapy-area gating that constrains many industry-partnered schemes.
More information here.
Project Grants
Funder: British Heart Foundation
Open
Closes: There are no closing dates. Please submit the application when it is ready and allow up to 6 months from submission to decision.
Sector: Healthcare & Life sciences
Funding level: Up to £500,000 per award
Project duration: Up to 4 years (longer only in exceptional circumstances)
Eligibility: Principal investigator usually a post-doctoral researcher at any career stage, based at an established UK research institution.
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Project Grants are the British Heart Foundation's core scheme for short-term, hypothesis-driven cardiovascular research, covering staff costs, consumables, essential equipment and limited conference travel. Because there is no fixed deadline, it functions as an always-open funding line rather than a single competition round. The scheme explicitly supports clinical studies (with additional costing guidance for clinical trials units and clinical imaging), making it relevant wherever a digital health or medtech innovation needs a formal clinical evaluation in a cardiovascular population - for example remote monitoring, AI-assisted diagnostics, or digital rehabilitation tools being tested against a defined clinical hypothesis.
More information here.
Programme Grants
Funder: British Heart Foundation
Open: Rolling - no closing dates (allow up to 9 months to decision)
Sector: Cardiovascular research
Funding level: Long-term renewable programme funding (typically c.£1–1.5m over 5 years)
Project duration: Usually five years
Eligibility: Established researchers at UK universities, medical schools or research institutes; committee meets four times a year
BHF Programme Grants provide long-term support for internationally competitive cardiovascular research programmes. Applications are accepted at any time and considered by the Programme Grants Committee, which meets quarterly.
While academic-led, cardiovascular programmes increasingly incorporate digital diagnostics, wearables, imaging AI and data science - areas where industry collaboration is welcomed.
More information here.
Research grant: applicant-led
Funder: MRC
Opened: 7 April 2026
Ongoing
Sector: Healthcare & Life Sciences
​Funding Level: Typically 80% of Full Economic Cost (FEC); project values vary
Project Duration: Usually up to 5 years
Eligibility: UK-based researchers at eligible research organisations; projects must fall within MRC remit (human health and disease). Industry partners can collaborate but a UK academic institution must lead.
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The MRC Research Grant (Applicant-Led) is one of MRC's flagship discovery research awards, supporting ambitious, researcher-driven projects that transform understanding of human health and disease, accelerate diagnosis, advance treatment, and prevent illness. The programme re-opened on 7 April 2026, with applications submitted in April and May 2026 expected to be considered in a shortlisting process concluding in July 2026.
Grants support high-quality basic and translational research across the full MRC remit, including infection and immunity, neuroscience, population health, mental health, and biomedical data science. Projects involving novel digital health approaches, computational medicine, or AI-driven biomarker discovery are particularly encouraged where they address fundamental biological questions.
Applications can involve more than one research group or organisation, making this an excellent vehicle for academic-industry partnerships. Shortlisted applications from the first phase are invited for interviews during November–December 2026, with award decisions anticipated in December 2026.
More information here.
AI Futures Fund
Funder: Google
Ongoing
Sector: ALL
Google has launched its AI Futures Fund, a new initiative that seeks to invest in startups that are building with the latest AI tools from Google DeepMind, the company’s AI R&D lab.
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The fund will back startups from seed to late stage and will offer varying degrees of support, including allowing founders to have early access to Google AI models from DeepMind, the ability to work with Google experts from DeepMind and Google Labs, and Google Cloud credits. Some startups will also have the opportunity to receive direct investment from Google.
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“The AI Futures Fund doesn’t follow a batch or cohort model,” a Google spokesperson told TechCrunch. “Instead, we consider opportunities on a rolling basis - there’s no fixed application window or deadline. When we come across companies that align with the fund’s thesis, we may choose to invest. We’re not announcing a specific fund size at this time, and check sizes vary based on the company’s stage and needs - typically early to mid-stage, with flexibility for later-stage opportunities as well.”
More information here.
Apply here.
Rolling opportunity seeds
Funder: ARIA
Ongoing
Sector: Mathematics for Safe AI
Breakthroughs require finding people who think differently about what’s possible – and empowering them to follow their vision. To support scientific and technological breakthroughs, ARIA Programme Directors can award funding to small but highly ambitious projects, “opportunity seeds”, to support ambitious research aligned to their opportunity spaces. To understand how opportunity seeds work within ARIA's broader funding model and complement its programme funding, see ARIA's research model.
For opportunity seed projects, ARIA's Programme Directors are looking for bold ideas that could change the conversation about what is possible or valuable and provide steps towards new capabilities. If you have an important idea you’re obsessed with, but you don’t currently have the resources or support to take it forward, ARIA would like to hear from you. Ideas could come from anywhere, so they welcome proposals from individuals and teams who are early in their career or who have atypical backgrounds. They care more about your idea and your intrinsic motivation than they do about your CV.
More information here.
Impact in Healthcare Fund
Funder: Peter Sowerby Foundation
Ongoing
Sector: Healthcare
Initial discussions with prospective organisations will take place before an invitation to submit a formal application is made. If you believe that you have an idea for a project that is closely aligned with the Foundation's aims and recent grants, please submit a brief synopsis, including a summary budget and proposed timeline, using the form here. The Foundation cannot respond to all the ideas it is sent, but they do read all proposals and get in touch with those they feel could be a good fit.
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The Foundation is currently seeking to fund projects which:
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Tackle a clear and demonstrable need* across a range of health condition
AND
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Are proven to be impactful and where additional funds could EITHER increase the scale or depth of impact OR sustain projects ‘at risk’.
The Foundation will prioritise applications which focus on:
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outreach and delivery in the community, as opposed to formal healthcare settings OR
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work with a digital or data focus OR
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preventative health care to improve patient well-being.
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The Foundation is seeking projects where:
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there is clear evidence of the need for a specific health intervention OR
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there is a gap in the availability of treatment or support OR
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the quality of support available is not up to a required standard.
Applicants may look to evidence need in different ways. This might include empirical evidence, academic or sector-led research or consultation (for example, with beneficiary groups or health professionals).
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There are two strands of grants:
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Grant 1
Grants of up to £500,000, potentially over multiple years - for projects which are (projects must fit all of the below):
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proven
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ready to scale
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run by organisations with compelling track records and an established leadership team.
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backed by clear evidence of need.
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sustainable in the long-term following the Foundation’s investment.
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Grant 2
Substantial Grants ~£2-3million over multiple years.
From time to time, the Foundation will invite organisations to develop projects which are impactful in a specific area of the Foundation’s interest, and which align with the aims and objectives of the Impact in Healthcare Fund.
It is envisaged that funds could be spent in a range of different ways for example:
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supporting infrastructure OR
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core staffing posts OR
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existing impactful initiatives and which could be sustained over a long-term period thanks to funds from the Foundation OR
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scale-up of pilot activities which show proven impact OR
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other means suggested by the applicant.
Impact Jersey Innovation Programme
Funder: Impact Jersey
Open
Closes: Ongoing
Sector: Healthcare
Whether you’re developing a pilot, a proof of concept, or a scalable solution, the programme offers:
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Applications open all year round
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Flexible funding aligned to Jersey’s strategic priorities
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1-to-1 support to shape stronger proposals
From application guidelines to funding info and FAQs, everything you need is now live on the application page.
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Up to £500,000 will be available per quarter (with a maximum of £1 million available in 2025 and £2 million during 2026).
Impact Jersey focuses on funding a range of technology solutions to key issues and addressing strategic priorities defined by the Government of Jersey. To delve deeper into Ministerial Priorities click on pages 6 & 7 of the Impact Jersey Strategic Programme Proposal.
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Key health ones are:
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Ageing Population - How can we help people live independently for longer?
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Health & Wellbeing - How can we monitor and identify hazards to health and provide interventions at the earliest opportunity?
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Global Innovation Fund- Grants
Funder: Global Innovation Fund
Open, no closing date
Sector: All
The Global Innovation Fund is a non-profit, impact-first investment fund headquartered in London with offices in Washington, D.C. and Nairobi. It invests in the development, rigorous testing, and scaling up of new products, services, business process, or policy reforms that are more cost-effective than current practice and targeted at improving the lives of the world's poorest people.
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It accepts applications from organisations working in any sector in any developing country. Any type of organisation may apply. This includes social enterprises, for-profit companies, non-profit organisations, government agencies, international organisations, and research institutions in any country. It is recommended that individual innovators, entrepreneurs, or researchers apply through an affiliated organisation.
Big Ideas
Funder: CW+
Open, no closing date
Sector: Healthcare & Life Sciences
If you're an employee of Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, then you can apply for this grant.
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The programme is designed to: promote innovation, transformation and new service development; support staff in the delivery of front line patient care. Awards are usually up to £50,000.
More information here.
Pre-Seed Challenge Fund
Funder: Lyva Labs
Ongoing
Sector: Healthcare & Life Sciences
Businesses and start-ups working in the Diagnostics/Med Tech/Health Tech/Digital Health space can apply for funding to support idea development and commercialisation.Innovative businesses and start-ups across the region (Liverpool City) can apply for investment of £25,000 to £250,000 for idea development and commercialisation. Total fund of £6m. Businesses must be based or willing to relocate to Liverpool City Region.
More information here.
Catapult/RTO Grants
Funder: Innovate UK Business Growth
Open, no closing date
Sector: All
Up to £15,000 grants available for:
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Sector specific advice on expertise;
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Testing and/or development work;
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Market analysis, cost modelling etc;
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Identifying opportunities for R&D, partnership building & collaboration, and more.
More information.​
Partnership Grant (Applicant-Led)
Funder: MRC
Opened: 7 April 2026
Closes: No closing date
Sector: Healthcare & Life Sciences
Funding level: not stated, but historically varies (typically £300,000 – £2 million+; industry co-investment required). Funding is available for between 18 months and five years.
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The MRC Partnership Grant supports biomedical and health sciences research conducted in partnership with industry or other non-academic organisations. The scheme is designed to enable translation and application of basic research insights, with industry or commercial partners contributing to project costs. Like the Research Grant, applications are accepted on a rolling basis from 7 April 2026, with shortlisting in July 2026 and decisions in December 2026.
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Eligibility: Lead applicant must be a UK-based researcher at an eligible research organisation. A confirmed non-academic partner (industry, NHS, charity, or other) is required, with the partner contributing to project costs. Falls within MRC scientific remit.
More information here.