NIHR GOSH BRC Early Career Researcher New Projects Funding Call

Applications submitted through the call should seek to propose novel research ideas around therapies, biomarkers, diagnostics and surgical innovations, including proof of concept, validation studies, new methodologies, novel uses of data and/or PPIE activity related to the BRC themes.

We would expect successful applicants to generate preliminary data to support future grant application and patent applications, and ultimately to accelerate the likelihood of the new interventions delivering patient benefit in future. Projects may be based in the lab, the clinic, or be data driven, but they must focus on human cells, tissues, participants, or data. NIHR funding is not allowed to support any research using animals; therefore, the research project must not involve animal work.

Projects may be preclinical or clinical, but NIHR rules for BRCs mean basic science projects (i.e. not translational) or clinical projects supporting phase III trials are not eligible. Further details of the theme remits can be found on our website. Projects must be within the remit of one or more of our research themes, which will need to be listed and justified in the application. Cross-theme projects are also encouraged.

Applications are welcome from early career researchers who are substantively employed by either GOSH/UCL GOS ICH, including clinicians, non-clinical, nursing, AHP, pharmacist and health care scientist staff and any others not mentioned here. For this call, an early career researcher is defined as someone who is within six years** of receiving their PhD (or equivalent), has ≤£250k in total grant income as Primary Investigator/Lead applicant since the start of their research career (excluding their own salary e.g., a fellowship grant) and does not hold a tenured academic position.

**six years of full-time active research pro rata. Eligibility can be extended for reasons such as caring responsibilities, illness, career breaks or change in profession, clinical activity and any extenuating circumstances that resulted in time away from research.

Please contact the brc@gosh.nhs.uk if you have any queries regarding your eligibility for this call.

The call has around £100,000 to award for projects across all our research themes. Applicants can request up to £25,000 of non-pay funding as part of their application and we are planning to award four projects through the call. The call does not support salary costs. You can also apply for a project focused solely on PPIE activities through this call and we'd expect PPIE projects to request between £250 - £2,000.

Project funding will be available from 1st April 2024 so your project start date must be after this date. All funds awarded will need to be spent within the financial year (by 31st March 2025), but project objectives can be planned for completion for up to two years (until March 2026).

The GOSH BRC team will be holding a webinar on Wednesday 17 January 2024 from 12.30pm – 1.30pm and Thursday 18 January from 5.00pm – 5.30pm will present briefly about the funding call, expectations for applicants and common areas of feedback from previous calls for successful and unsuccessful applications. We encourage all applicants to join one of the webinars and the Zoom details for the call can be found below.

Wednesday 17 January 2024 from 12.30pm – 1.30pm, via Zoom

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84180652067?pwd=VjlHOVJ3ZzQ1Wm02bnBFVyt2a0cvdz09

Meeting ID: 841 8065 2067

Passcode: 674783

Thursday 18 January from 5.00pm – 5.30pm, via Zoom

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84941483018?pwd=MXUzOXk5K0U4KzVzQ0J1UnNhTDNVQT09

Meeting ID: 849 4148 3018

Passcode: 110623

• The deadline for applications is Tuesday 20 February 2024.
• Applications must be registered with the R&D office and formal costings obtained. Please ensure this is done in sufficient time as they require at least 15 working days to provide costings.
• Applicants will be notified of the outcome of their application in the middle of March and the funding will be available from 01 April 2024.
• A Review Panel, the membership of which will include representatives from the BRC’s Leadership Team, each BRC Theme, the Paediatric Excellence Initiative and the BRC Junior Faculty, in addition to external and internal members of academic staff, will assess applications using criteria outlined in the guidance document.
• A lay member of the Panel will review the plain English summary and PPIE section of each application form to ensure patient/public views are considered in the selection process.
• Applications will be anonymised before being sent to the Review Panel.
• To apply please read and complete the Guidance and Application Form and submit an electronic copy as a word document to brc@gosh.nhs.uk

Please contact brc@gosh.nhs.uk if you have any questions about the scheme.