NIHR GOSH BRC Pre-Application Support Fund (PASF) 2025

Applications are welcome to offer salary support for researchers working in the areas of child health and substantively employed by either GOSH/ICH, or our partner hospitals (Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, Birmingham Women’s and Children’s Hospital or Sheffield Children’s Hospital) who plan to apply for NIHR career development awards. This award can be from pre-doctoral through post-doctoral and professorial level. Staff from any professional background (doctors, nonclinical and any wider healthcare professional) will be welcomed to apply. The funding will be available between 01 June 2025 and 31 March 2025.

The GOSH BRC is pleased to launch the Pre-Application Support Fund, which is a new funding call which will provide support for salaries, and associated costs relating to PPIE, training and development, and accessibility needs, for staff who are preparing applications for NIHR Career Development Fellowships, to increase their chances of success.

Successful applicants will be expected to apply to one of the following NIHR Career Development schemes within a year of starting their PASF award. Further details of these schemes can be found on the NIHR website.

Predoctoral level

Doctoral Level

Postdoctoral Level

The NIHR awarded the GOSH BRC this £60,000 funding on the understanding that we would anticipate using it to support the career development of between 2-3 researchers. We will therefore also consider the total amount requested by each applicant, relative to the available funding pot. In addition, applicants can apply for up to £10,000 for consumables. The successful applicant(s) can start their NIHR Pre-Application Support between 01 June 2025 and 31 March 2026

• Applications are welcome from researchers working in the areas of child health research for patient benefit.
• Applicants must be substantively employed by either GOSH/ICH or our partner hospitals (Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, Birmingham Women’s and Children’s Hospital, or Sheffield Children’s Hospital). Please contact the BRC if you are unsure about the eligibility of your institutional affiliation.
  • PLEASE NOTE: An honorary contract with GOSH or ICH is not sufficient; you need to hold a substantive employment contract. However, applicants who hold substantive contracts at universities affiliated with Sheffield, Birmingham, or Alder Hey, and honorary contracts at one of these hospitals, may be eligible to apply if they have a supervisor at the hospital who would host the PASF research. Please contact us for a discussion if this applies to you.
• Researchers working in the areas of child health from all relevant professions are invited to apply, including clinicians, non-clinical researchers, nurses, allied health professionals, pharmacists, health care scientists and any other appropriate clinical professional.
• If any signatures are missing from the application form on the day of the deadline, then the application will not be considered. Please get in touch with the BRC in advance if you have issues obtaining signatures.

The projects/area of work for the proposed Career Development Fellowships must relate to research that will lead to patient benefits for children and young people with rare or complex conditions. Translational research and patient experience research are both within remit. Purely basic science studies would not be within the remit of this call. Quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods projects are all eligible.

The BRC is not allowed to support any research using animals or animal tissues.

The deadline for applications is Sunday 30 March 2025, 5 p.m. Any application received after this time will not be considered for review.

To apply for the NIHR GOSH BRC Pre-Application Support Fund, please read the Guidelines and Application Form for further details and about the call, including eligibility criteria, and to access the application form.

Completed application forms (with e-signatures) should be submitted as a word document by e-mail to BRC@gosh.nhs.uk by, Sunday 30 March 2025, 5 p.m.

GOSH BRC NIHR Pre-Application Support Fund application form and guidance 2025 FINAL

Following submission, applications will be reviewed and shortlisted by members of the BRC’s Leadership Team, Career Development Academy Leads, Research Hospital Career Development Lead and the BRC Junior Faculty Leads, in addition to internal and external members of academic staff if required. They will assess applications using the selection criteria outlined in the NIHR GOSH BRC Pre-Application Support Fund Guidelines and Application Form.

• Shortlisted applicants will be invited for interview.
• Interview dates are being finalised, but they are likely to take place on the week beginning Monday 28 April 2025.
• Awardees are likely to be notified within one week of the interview date.

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