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 Connect, Call 9

Funder: NIHR

Opens: 18 February 2025

Closes: 1pm, 18 March 2025

Sector: Healthcare & Life sciences

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

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

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

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

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

Funder: NIHR

Opens: 2 April 2025

Closes: 9 September 2025

Sector: Healthcare & Life Sciences

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

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

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

More information here.

i4i - Product Development Award, Call 30

Funder: NIHR

Opens: 9 April 2025

Closes: 28 May 2025

Sector: Healthcare & Life sciences

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

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

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

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

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

More information here.

EIC Pathfinder

Funder: European Commission - Horizon

Opens: 21 May 2025

Closes: 29 October 2025

Sector: ALL

There are two types of Pathfinder grants:

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

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

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

Who can apply

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

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

Your proposal must meet all the following essential characteristics:

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

EIC Work Programme 2025 - here

More information here.

EIC Transition

Funder: European Commission - Horizon

Opens: TBC

Closes: 17 September 2025

Sector: ALL

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

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

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

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

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

Current Funding Calls

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

Funder: Innovate UK

Opened: 28 October 2024

Closes: 11am, 15 January 2025

Sector: Healthcare

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

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

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

Innovate UK is NOT funding projects that are:

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

More information here.

Research Programme for Social Care Competition 3

Funder: NIHR

Opened: 01 October 2024

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

Sector: Social Care

A 2 stage process.

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

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

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

More information here.

Design Foundations Round 6

Funder: Innovate UK

Opened: 4 November 2024

Closes: 11am,15 January 2025

Sector: ALL

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

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

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

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

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

This may include:

people
organisations
communities
the planet

You must consider their:

experiences
motivations
behaviours

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

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

This list is not exhaustive.

Your project must:

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

To lead a project your organisation must:

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

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

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

This activity can include:

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

More information here.

4C Accelerator #9

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

Open: 07 December 2024

Closes:17 January 2025

Sector: Medtech

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

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

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

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

Innovation Grant

Funder: University Hospitals Birmingham Charity

Closes: 17 January 2025

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

Sector: Healthcare

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

Funder: Wellcome

Open

Closes: 21 January 2025

Sector: Healthcare & Life Sciences

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

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

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

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

More information here.

Smart grants: November 2024

Funder: Innovate UK

Opened: 14 November 2024

Closes: 11am, 22 January 2025

Sector: ALL

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

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

Advancing Healthcare - Small Grants

Funder: Barts charity

Open

Closes: 23 January 2025

Sector: Healthcare & Life Sciences

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

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

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

AI solutions to develop AI competencies in key sectors

Funder: Innovate UK

Opened: 11 November 2024

Closes: 11am, 29 January 2025

Sector: ALL

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

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

construction
transport and logistics
creative industries
agriculture and food processing

Your proposal must:

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

More information here.

Collaborative R&D: Creative Catalyst

Funder: Innovate UK

Opened: 9 December 2024

Closes: 11am, 29 January 2025

Sector: Creative industries

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

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

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

Your project must:

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

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

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

This is not an exhaustive list.

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

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

More information here.

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

Funder: Innovate UK

Opened: 25 November 2024

Closes: 11am, 12 February 2025

Sector: Net Zero

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

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

Your project must demonstrate:

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

Your project must accelerate the development towards achieving net zero.

Innovate UK would particularly welcome applications that focus on:

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

This list is not exhaustive.

Your project must:

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

More information here.

Prosperity partnerships: advanced therapies safety and toxicity

Funder: Medical Research Council

Opened: 27 November 2024

Closes: 4pm, 12 February 2025

Sector: BioMedical

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

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

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

You must be invited to apply. More information here.

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

Funder: Innovate UK

Opened: 9 December 2024

Closes: 11am, 12 February 2025

Sector: ALL

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

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

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

It can be any kind of project and must show:

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

More information here.

Scalable Neural Interfaces: Opportunity seeds

Funder: ARIA

Open

Closes: 13 February 2025

Sector: Healthcare & Life Sciences

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

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

More information here.

Advancing Healthcare - Large Grants

Funder: Barts charity

Open

Closes: 20 February 2025

Sector: Healthcare & Life Sciences

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

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

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

Research for Patient Benefit - Competition 56

Funder: NIHR

Opened: 13 November 2024

Closes: 1pm, 5 March 2025

Sector: Healthcare & Life Sciences

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

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

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.

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

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

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

More information here.

2025 project grant call

Funder: Brain Research UK

Open

Closes: 9am, 5 March 2025

Sector: Healthcare

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

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

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

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

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

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

Awards are expected to be announced in October 2025.

More information here.

EIC Accelerator

Funder: European Commission - Horizon

Open

Closes: 12 March 2025

Sector: ALL

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

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

Grant: maximum €2.5 million.

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

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

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

Titles of the five EIC Accelerator Challenges:

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

More information here.

Developmental pathway funding scheme: stage one

Funder: Medical Research Council

Opened: 21 November 2024

Closes: 4pm, 19 March 2025

Sector: Healthcare & Life sciences

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

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

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

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

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

You can apply for funding for work on novel:

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

More information here.

Decarbonising the health and social care system

Funder: NIHR

Opened: 27 November 2024

Closes: 26 March 2025

Sector:

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

From November 2024 NIHR will be welcoming applications for both:

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

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

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

More information here.

Artificial intelligence, engineering biology and quantum technologies

Funder: MRC

Opened: 1 April 2024

Closes: 4pm 31 March 2025

Sector: Healthcare and Life sciences

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

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

Ambitious data-enabled ‘e-trials’

Funder: NIHR - HTA

Opened: 28 November 2024

Closes: 1pm, 2 April 2025

Sector: Healthcare & Life Sciences

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

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

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

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

More information here.

Therapies for women, children and others who experience domestic abuse

Funder: NIHR - HTA

Opened: 28 November 2024

Closes: 1pm, 2 April 2025

Sector: Healthcare & Life Sciences

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

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

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

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

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

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

More information here.

Discovery Award

Funder: Wellcome

Open

Closes: 8 April 2025

Sector: Various

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

Your research can:

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

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

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

More information here.

NIHR/ NICE Rolling Funding Opportunity (EME Programme)

Funder: NIHR

Opened: 13 December 2024

Closes: 1pm, 8 April 2025

Sector: Healthcare & Life Sciences

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

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

More information here.

Mass Media Content

Funder: NIHR

Open: 28 November 2024

Closes: 1pm, 25 April 2025

Sector: Healthcare and Communications

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

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

Research specification here.

Suicide prevention

Funder: NIHR-HTA

Opened: 28 November 2024

Closes: 1pm, 25 April 2025

Sector: Healthcare

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

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

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

Examples include (but are not limited to):

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

More information here.

Innovation Grant

Funder: University Hospitals Birmingham Charity

Closes: 25 April 2025

Sector: Healthcare