Apply for Launchpad Grants in Mental Health – United Kingdom

Deadline: 08-May-2024

The Medical Research Foundation is inviting mid-career researchers in the field of mental health to support their research.

Funding Information

• Applicants may apply for up to £100,000 to support their research, over a maximum of a 2-year period (pro-rata for part-time positions). There will be up to £500,000 available in this competition.

Responsibilities

• Lead Research Organisation:
  • By submitting an application, a Lead Research Organisation (LRO) indicates their formal acceptance of the proposal, approval of the salaries and resources sought and, if the application is successful, acceptance of the Terms and Conditions of a Medical Research Foundation award.
  • Administrative authorities have responsibility for ensuring that salaries and resources cited in the proposal are sufficient to undertake the proposed research, attract sufficiently experienced and skilled staff and represent good value-for-money.
• Principal Investigator (PI):
  • The PI is responsible for the intellectual leadership of the research project and for the overall management of the research. They will be the Medical Research Foundation’s main contact for the proposal. There can only be one PI on this grant proposal.
  • The PI must be based at the LRO at which the award will be administered.

What they’re looking to fund?

• Most people will experience or be affected by mental illness during their lifetime, with a high social, emotional, functional and economic impact. The prevalence of mental health problems has increased in the past three decades and severe mental illness is associated with a substantial mortality gap, highlighting the importance of prevention, early detection and diagnosis, and effective treatment options.
• Multidisciplinary approaches bringing together researchers with complementary areas of expertise are required to drive forward understanding of the factors involved in mental health outcomes.
• Proposals are particularly encouraged from those looking to develop multidisciplinary partnerships with researchers in other fields, expanding the applicant’s research networks and building their research profile.
• Applications within a broad field of mental health research are welcomed.
• However, they particularly encourage applications from neglected areas of mental health, including suicide and self-harm, trauma-related mental health, borderline personality disorder and OCD. Neurodevelopmental disorders are considered within the scope of this competition, and they particularly encourage applications from researchers working in ADHD and Tourette’s.
• Applicants to the Launchpad Grants in Mental Health can use the funding to conduct pilot studies, generate data and collaborations, and develop competitive research proposals for larger funding.
• The research should have a UK focus; prior work leading to the application does not need to be solely UK-based, but the applicant should make clear the relevance of the proposed research for mental health in the UK.

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion:

• The Medical Research Foundation is committed to achieving equality of opportunity for all funding applicants and aims to create an inclusive environment that encourages excellence in research through good equalities practice. Diversity is important to the Medical Research Foundation, and they are working to ensure that the ways in which they fund research embraces a diversity of thought, people, geographical locations and ideas.
• They strongly encourage applications from under-represented groups including female and ethnic minority researchers, and researchers with disabilities or long-term health conditions. They will support their researchers and their teams to work flexibly and in a way that meets their personal circumstances.

Eligibility Criteria

• This competition is open to all UK-based researchers and clinical academics at eligible institutions (UK HEIs, Research Council research institutes, hospitals, and other independent research organisations).
• Applicants must hold a PhD, DPhil, MD or doctorate in a relevant area and be conducting their research at an eligible institution. Partnerships outside of academia are allowed, providing the collaboration will advance the research project in line with the aims of the funding call. Clinical academics and applicants with clinical duties are encouraged to apply.
• This competition is for mid-career researchers. Mid-career researchers are those with extensive postdoctoral experience and in the process of, or ready for, transition to research independence. Applicants should be taking steps to start their own research group. It is expected that applicants will be in a permanent or fully funded post and will not need to cost for their own salary. This grant is not intended to support those who have already secured substantial research funds and/or have already established their own research group (e.g. Senior Lecturers, Professors, MRC and other funders’ Senior Fellows), however, applicants who have held an early career fellowship may still be eligible.
• Applicants will need to demonstrate productivity across past appointments relevant to their current career stage, an upward career trajectory and clear plans to establish their own research niche. The attributes needed to win support in this scheme are detailed at the MRC webpages on skills needed to win support. Please see the relevant pages for ‘transition to independence’.
• Applicants who do not meet the eligibility criteria will not have their proposal assessed.
• Only one application will be accepted per applicant for this funding call, though individuals can hold more than one Medical Research Foundation grant at any one time.

For more information, visit Medical Research Foundation.