You can apply for a partnership grant to support new partnerships between diverse groups of researchers in the area of molecular and cellular medicine. Funding is available for between one and five years to:
Any UK-based researcher with an employment contract at an eligible research organisation can apply. You will need to:
You can include one or more industry partners as project partners in your application. International co-investigators can be included if they provide expertise not available in the UK.
A principal investigator must lead the partnership. Any researchers you invite to become co-investigators must contribute to the academic leadership of the partnership.
You can find more details on eligibility in section one of our guidance for applicants.
The focus of this funding opportunity is molecular and cellular medicine research. There are similar opportunities across other areas of medical research within our remit including:
You can also apply for a partnership grant through the methodology research programme. There are also other types of awards including research, programmes and new investigator.
You should contact us if you are not sure which opportunity to apply to.
We fund partnerships working to transform our understanding of molecular and cellular medicine. Partnership grants are expected to support these research areas, although research itself is not supported through this route.
The Molecular and Cellular Medicine Board funds research into basic biological mechanisms or technologies relevant to human health and disease. We aim to increase understanding of the structure and function of molecules and complexes, the cellular environment during development and mature states, and how biological systems respond to challenges (for example, drugs and toxins) and diseases.
We lead MRC’s investments in cancer, from fundamental discovery science to epidemiology, experimental medicine and early translation. Research focused on specific organ systems or diseases (with the exception of cancer and haematology) is normally supported through our other research boards.
Research we fund includes, but is not limited to, the following areas:
Find out more about the science areas we support and our current board opportunity areas.
We encourage you to contact us first to discuss your application, especially if you believe your research may cross MRC research board or research council interests. If your application fits another research board remit better then we may decide to transfer it there to be assessed.
We will fund partnerships between diverse groups of researchers. These partnerships must:
We will not fund stand-alone, hypothesis-driven research projects which are eligible for MRC research or programme grant funding.
Collaborative activities can include:
We may support small scale, pump-priming projects, but your focus should not be on specific research questions. These should be interdisciplinary, high-risk and high-gain projects that would exemplify your partnership’s novel capability.
Successful partnership grants usually include a combination of these components. We will reject applications for funding only networking activities.
We expect partnership grants to reach maturity by the end of the initial award. You should find alternative ways of funding any follow-on activities.
Resource requests will vary between partnerships so we advise you to discuss this with the relevant programme manager before you apply.
You can request funding for costs such as:
We will not fund:
If you are asking for funding to cover investigator time, you must:
Usually we will fund only the principal investigator and a small number of co-investigators. Other co-investigators may be involved without funding. We do not expect to fund project partners for participating in the partnership.
You should request minimum resources for research. For example, we will support postdoctoral research positions only in exceptional cases. We may support technical posts if you can justify them.
You may use a partnership grant to buy equipment. You can also use it to cover the cost of essential infrastructure or to provide a platform for partnership activities.
We will fund the cost of working at an overseas research organisation if international collaboration is important to the success of your partnership. You must discuss this with the programme manager before you apply.
Application deadlines for Molecular and Cellular Medicine Board funding are usually around January, May and September, although sometimes dates can change so check the funding finder for details.
You can submit to any one of the available deadlines in the year. We do not expect you to submit more than two applications at the same time and encourage you to focus on application quality, not the number you can submit. Read our guidance for applicants for details of our resubmission process.
You must contact the programme manager at least six weeks before you apply for a partnership grant. You must provide a brief abstract of your application to help them decide if it is eligible.
After we have received your abstract, the programme manager will give you advice on how best to develop your application. They will also ask you to email a pre-application summary. This should be no more than two pages A4 but may include an extra page of references if needed.
The summary should include the following information:
You should also provide a two-page CV for the principal investigator and co-investigators, including a summary of recent funding for those investigators. You can add a list of publications as page three of the CV document.
We may invite you to complete a full application via our online Je-S system. We will do this in advance of the closing date.
Your application should include a cover letter confirming the name of the programme manager who agreed you could apply.
You should read section two of the MRC guidance for applicants for information on how to complete the application.
If you want to include one or more industry partners as a project partner, you must also:
Find out more about MRC industry collaboration agreements.
The list below covers specific points that you should address when writing your case for support. You must make sure that your application answers all these questions. You should read this list in conjunction with the general guidance in section 2.2.3 of the MRC guidance for applicants.
You must include the following in your case for support:
State the aims of the partnership.
Explain:
Describe the activities associated with the partnership, including timelines and indicating where activities may be concurrent. You may include a Gantt chart to depict this.
For any infrastructure or equipment requests, state how you will use this to further the aims and objectives of the partnership.
If you are requesting funding for an infrastructure project in one university but providing a service to the wider research community, you should make this clear in your application.
Outline future plans:
Describe:
Justify why each of the named investigators is necessary for the partnership, including their level of time commitment.
Provide a brief report on the progress of recent research for investigators in the partnership including an acknowledgement of any previous or current MRC funding and progress to date on delivery of this research. You should also include the scale of support provided, for example, the number of post doctorates and/or technicians, and total amount of consumables and equipment.
Describe:
If your proposal requests shared equipment, describe where this will be and how the host research organisation will support this equipment. Describe the management arrangements for ensuring equity of access
Provide an overview of how you will manage the partnership. For example, who will bring coherence and management to the partnership and how? Outline any plans for:
While networking or workshop activities can add value to a partnership, we will not accept applications centred only on these types of activities.
You must apply through the Je-S system. Please read the Je-S how to apply guidance (PDF, 190KB) for more information. If you need further help, you can contact the Je-S help desk on 01793 444164 or by email jeshelp@je-s.ukri.org.
You should give your administrative department sufficient notice that you intend to apply. Your organisation must submit your application before 16:00 on the deadline date.
When applying select:
● council: MRC
● document type: standard proposal
● scheme: research grant
● call/type/mode: research boards May 2021 submissions
Select the ‘grant type’ option from the proposal document menu, within the Je-S proposal form. Within the section, select the radio button adjacent to the ‘partnership grant’ option and select the ‘save’ button.
When we receive your application, it will be peer reviewed by independent experts from the UK and overseas.
You can nominate up to three independent reviewers. We will invite only one to assess your research proposal and may decide not to approach any of your nominated reviewers.
Peer reviewers will assess your application and provide comments. They will also score it using the peer reviewer scoring system against the following criteria:
Read the detailed assessment criteria for each grant type.
We will review these scores and comments at a triage meeting and expect to continue with the highest quality applications with potential to be funded. If your application passes the triage stage, we will give you the chance to respond to reviewers comments.
A board meeting will then discuss your proposal and decide if it is suitable for funding. We make a decision within six months of receiving your application.
Visit our science contacts page or contact the programme manager most relevant to your research area for advice on developing your application and which board to apply to:
For queries about submitting your application using Je-S, email jeshelp@je-s.ukri.org or call 01793 444164
For general enquiries about your application, email mcmb@mrc.ukri.org.
For general queries about MRC policy and eligibility or if you are not sure who to contact, get in touch with our research funding policy and delivery team:
