Research funding opportunities

Supports audit programmes to improve quality of service and outcomes.

Through strategic grant funding, the MRC supports a number of ongoing research initiatives.

Provides support for clinical and non-clinical researchers while they are establishing themselves as independent principal investigators. Applicants must hold a PhD, Dphil or an MD with three to 10 years' postdoctoral research experience.

Provides core funds for one to five years to support new partnerships between diverse groupings of researchers and can be used for infrastracture support, platform activities and for bringing together managed consortia or multidisciplinary collaborations.

Provides grants for larger, longer term and renewable programmes. A programme is defined as a coordinated and coherent group of related projects, which may be developed to address an inter-related set of questions across a broad scientific area. Applicant must contact the Programme Manager of the relevant MRC Research Board to confirm whether the application fits the scheme at least six weeks before the submission deadline.

Funding for focussed research projects that may be short or long term in nature.

Primarily supports clinical trials, and other robustly designed studies that test the efficacy of interventions. The interventions should have the potential to improve patient care or benefit the public. The programme will only support studies where there is sufficient evidence that the intervention might work in man, i.e. that there is ‘proof of concept’.

Funds research about the clinical and cost effectiveness and broader impact of healthcare treatments and tests for NHS users and service providers. The study outcomes should lead to findings that have potential to be of direct benefit to NHS patients.

To support the application of emerging technologies and demonstrate their usefulness and broader applicability within clinics.

Supports work that will deliver findings with practical application, typically through improved healthcare or better healthcare delivery, within three to five years of programme's end.