NC3Rs New Grant Funding Announcements

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£4M of new funding available: NC3Rs Non-animal methods infrastructure grants

A total of £4M is available for infrastructure grants to accelerate the use of non-animal methods that replace the use of animals in scientific procedures. The funding is exclusively for non-research proposals that will increase the capacity and capabilities of the UK research base to use non-animal methods.

Multidisciplinary, cross-institutional, cross-departmental or cross-sector applications are of particular interest and proposals with an industrial partner are strongly encouraged.

Awards will be made for spending in the 2024/25 financial year. The maximum amount that can be requested is dependent on the need of the project. Equipment only grants should not exceed £500k.

Application forms: Available now.
Deadline for full application submission: 30 July, 4pm (BST).

Find out more: Non-animal methods infrastructure grants

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NC3Rs Partnerships and Impact awards: Scheme details live

These new awards support researchers to work together to test and transfer 3Rs approaches between labs, accelerating their widespread use. The scheme’s scope is broad to enable applicants to tailor their proposal to what is needed for their approach to achieve wide 3Rs impacts. Applications can include studies focused on building an evidence base to show a 3Rs approach is appropriate for the intended scientific purpose, demonstrating transferability or applying a model to a new discipline. Studies demonstrating that an approach is fit-for-purpose in a new lab or organisation are encouraged to build further confidence in the model’s use.  

Awards are for up to 24 months and a maximum of £200k (80% FEC).

Joint Partnership and Impact awards with CRUK and BHF

Additional joint awards with Cancer Research UK and BHF are available for grants seeking to achieve a 3Rs impact within cancer or cardiovascular research fields. Additional eligibility criteria apply for these awards.

To learn more join the Partnership and Impact awards launch webinar on Thursday 6 June, 2pm (BST).

Application form live: 27 June.
Deadline for applications: 19 September.

Find out more: Partnerships and Impact awards

UKRI-supported facilities and services Webinar

UKRI are hosting a webinar which aims to inform the research community about UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)-supported facilities and to support applicants in understanding how to access them.

The event is aimed at applicants to round two of the UKRI cross research council responsive mode scheme but is open to all interested UKRI applicants and research organisations.

Sign up for the event by clicking here

Date: 4 July 2024

Time: 10:00am to 11:30am UK time

Please access the link to register your interest!

Breast Cancer Now – New Funding Opportunity

Breast Cancer Now have launched their new Improving Public Health, Equity and Wellbeing funding scheme.

The new funding scheme aims to support innovative research addressing public health, wellbeing (including physical, mental, or emotional wellbeing) and health inequalities. 

Research should either address inequalities faced by under-represented groups or demonstrate inclusivity across the population.

The value and duration of projects may vary and you can apply for how much and how long you need. They will consider applications for projects costing more than £400,000 or lasting more than 4 years.

They also welcome applications for PhD studentships – offering awards of up to £170,000 for 3 or 4 years.

Applications open 05/06/2024, Applications Close 05/09/24

UKRI Funding opportunities – BBSRC Update

Dear Colleagues, please see this excellent funding opportunity within the BBSRC remit. To discuss further please get in touch with the Research Development team at researchapplications@mmu.ac.uk

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BBSRC Network Grant: responsive mode 2024 round 3

Apply for funding for a network grant within the remit of Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC). You must be based at a UK research organisation eligible for BBSRC funding. The full economic cost (FEC) of your project can be up to £650,000.

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UKRI Funding opportunities – MRC Update

Dear Colleagues, please see this list of excellent funding opportunities within the MRC remit. To discuss further please get in touch with the Research Development team at researchapplications@mmu.ac.uk

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Neurosciences and mental health: programme: responsive mode

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

• be employed at an eligible research organisation eligible to apply for MRC funding
• have a record of securing funding and delivering research

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Molecular and cellular medicine: programme: responsive mode

Apply for funding to support a programme of research focused on molecular and cellular medicine. You must:

• be employed at an eligible research organisation eligible to apply for MRC funding
• have a record of securing funding and delivering research

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Infections and immunity: research grant: responsive mode

Apply for funding to support research projects focused on infections and immunity. You must be employed at a research organisation eligible to apply for MRC funding. You can involve more than one research group or organisation in the project.

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Population and systems medicine: programme: responsive mode

Apply for funding to support a programme of research focused on population and systems medicine. You must:

• be employed at an eligible research organisation eligible to apply for MRC funding
• have a record of securing funding and delivering research

NC3Rs Partnership and Impact awards launch

Sign up here for the NC3Rs Partnership and Impact Award Launch Webinar

Date: Thu, Jun 6 2024, 14:00 – 15:00

Partnership and Impact awards are designed to accelerate the adoption of existing Replacement, Reduction and Refinement (3Rs) models, tools and technologies to achieve an immediate impact.

With a maximum funding amount of £200k for up to 24 months; these awards enable researchers to transfer and test 3Rs approaches alongside their existing models and undertake validation work to build further confidence in the approach. Funding is provided at 80% fEC.

There are also additional joint awards available with Cancer Research UK (CRUK) and British Heart Foundation (BHF) for grants seeking to achieve a 3Rs impact within cancer or cardiovascular research fields.

The full application deadline is 19th September 2024. Attend the launch webinar on June 6, 2024, to learn more and apply.

Pre-announcement: Enhancing biomedical and health related data and digital platform resources (MRC)

Pre-announcement: Enhancing biomedical and health related data and digital platform resources

Opening date: 9 April 2024

Maximum award: £3,750,000 (duration up to 5 years)

Apply for funding for data and digital platform resources that will support, manage, link, share and access data at scale for biomedical, health and care research. You must be based at an eligible UK research organisation. This is a pilot funding opportunity co-funded by MRC and NIHR.

Access to reliable, annotated, and usable data at scale underpins recent advances in analytical capabilities, for example, advanced statistical techniques, large language models and deep learning. The need for harmonised data infrastructures (DRI), services, and tools to support biomedical science, health, and care research continues to increase.

This pilot funding opportunity aims to invest in enhancing DRIs, services, and tools that are outward facing and create a stimulating environment for all participants, from those delivering a harmonised and seamless data infrastructure ecosystem to those who will utilise this ecosystem to advance UK life sciences, health and care research and innovation.

Your application must focus on DRI, services, tools or other resources needed to support research within the remit of MRC, NIHR or both. You can see more information about scope on the call page.

If you are interested in developing an application, please get in touch with us at researchapplications@mmu.ac.uk

Best Wishes,

Zach

Great UKRI funding board insights – MRC expanding Board and Panel Observer Schemes

The MRC Board and Panel observer scheme is being expanded to allow more involvement for researchers in the ‘transition to independence’ career stage. This is pitched at those targeting the New Investigator Research Grant, Career Development Award or Clinician Scientist Fellowship, for example.

The scheme offers an opportunity to go behind the scenes of a board or panel meeting, to watch funding decision-making in action.

The key takeaways from the UKRI article are:

• The scheme gives you further insights into the processes underpinning funding decisions. Especially ‘introducers’ who present applications at meetings.
• Write applications to be understood by non-experts. Although ‘introducers’ often have a detached subject-specific experience. All members vote on applications out of 10. Getting non-specialists reviewers ‘on the hook’ of your research, and its potential impact, is vital.
• Board members want to fund research and give useful feedback even when unsuccessful. The Observer scheme gives a great chance to see decision making led by balancing groundbreaking research with significant health impacts and careful investment to minimise the risk of unfruitful projects.
• There is a lot to learn and respond to from the ‘response to reviewers’ exchange. Considered and humble reflection on feedback will aid applicants not only in their application, but also in project delivery.
• Getting a better sense of the roles of reviewers and panel members, what they are looking for, will help you to write more effective applications, as you become more aware of the various decision-making aspects.

If you’re interested in the opportunity, you can make an application via this link.

Additionally, they have also launched a new Board and Panel Associates Scheme. This scheme is a two-year programme for individuals from underrepresented groups who are actively transitioning to independence and leadership. The scheme aims to nurture diverse talent and support the development and retention of researchers. It offers experience of peer review, the opportunity to serve on an MRC funding board or panel, along with support, mentorship and training.

You can learn even more about MRC peer review and watch an animation explaining the peer review process here.

Apply for UKRI transnational research into care sector labour force shortages

UKRI are participating in a transnational joint-call for funding to conduct innovative social science research on the topic of ‘labour force shortages within the long-term care sector’.

Project teams must be composed of at minimum three different countries as part of the funding consortia, eligible to receive funding from the funding opportunity.

The joint call page specifies that this call aims to address how new forms of technological development and digitisation have the potential to be transformative and mitigate labour shortages, while also considering that solutions often start from a perspective of technology rather than from the user. They are especially interested in comparison between countries and in learning from different innovative strategies and solutions to attract and retain staff.

To address these issues they want to fund research on three interrelated aspects of the labour force shortages in the LTC sector within the framework of demographic change, ageing and care of older people. These are: ‘Working situation’, ‘Role of AI’ and ‘Cross-national differences and similarities within different welfare systems‘. Proposals must address all three research topics, paying particular attention to cross-cutting issues of gender, ethnicity and social inclusion.

Proposals should include the perspective of care givers as well as those receiving care and they encourage involvement of industry and/or third sector project partners where appropriate. Overall, they are interested in research that goes beyond only the mapping of issues described and instead proposes practical solutions informing policymakers, the care sector and/or other related organisations.

Funding is available for 36 Months. UKRI (via ESRC) will fund 80% fEC of the UK Project Costs.

The call closes: 14 May 2024 3:00pm UK time

If you are interested in making an application, please get in touch with the research development team at: researchapplications@mmu.ac.uk

Academy of Medical Sciences Round 10 EOI Stage – Open Now

We are happy to announce the opening of our internal Expression of Interest stage for Round 10 of the Academy of Medical Sciences Springboard scheme.

EOIs are required by 11th March 2024. The EOI form must be emailed for the attention of Kelly Lavender-Smith at researchapplications@mmu.ac.uk along with a 2-page CV document.

springboard-eoi-document-1Download

The timeline for internal stages is as follows:

• 26^th Feb – EOI open
• 11^th Mar – EOI close
• Week commencing 1^st April – Review Panel
• 8^th April – Applicants informed.
• April, May, June – Work with applicants on submissions ready for 5^th June 2024 deadline.

We look forward to receiving your EOI and supporting you in relation to this opportunity. The external timeline as outlined by AMS is attached here:

round-10-timelineDownload