Funding support for researchers

The Research Strategy and Services team provides support for a range of internal and external funding schemes available to researchers.

UK sources of research funding

There are multiple different ways to gain funding for your research in the UK, including Research Councils, societies and academies, charities and professional bodies.

Research Councils

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) is the national funding agency investing in science and research in the UK. Operating across the whole of the UK with a combined budget of more than £6 billion, UKRI brings together the 7 Research Councils, Innovate UK and Research England:

UKRI also hosts the Gateway to Research, an extensive record of publicly funded research in the UK.

UKRI Funding Service (TFS)

The Funding Service (TFS) is a new online system for finding, applying for and managing research funding from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). It aims to simplify and improve the funding experience for applicants, reviewers and research offices. 

TFS is being rolled out over 2023 and will replace the JeS system - find out how this will affect your funding opportunities and applications on our TFS information page.

Internal research and Impact funding 

Impact Acceleration Accounts 

Impact Acceleration Accounts (IAAs) support impactknowledge-exchange, and translational activity within each respective funder's remit. Funding is awarded to the University as an institution by each research council and then distributed via internal competition through various funding streams.


Birmingham Institutional Impact Fund

The Birmingham Institutional Impact Fund is an internal fund designed to support high qualtiy, academic-led, research impact projects. Research Impact is a crucial part of the University’s Birmingham Strategic Framework 2030, reflecting the University’s commitment to creating meaningful change in the world beyond academia by demonstrably improving the economy, society, the environment, and contributing to human health and wellbeing.

Learn more about the Birmingham Institutional Impact Fund

Other internally-managed funds

Gender Equality Research Funding

About

The IGI's Gender Inequality research theme has launched an open call for seedcorn funds of  up to £7,500. Projects must be interdisciplinary, align with or be complementary to existing Gender Inequality them research and take place by July 2023.  The deadline for applications is 28 October 2022.

Scope

We welcome proposals for new research ideas that tackle gender inequality. We are particularly interested in interdisciplinary projects that bring together our six research topics of interest in new ways. For example:

  • Respectful maternity care, from patient and health workers’ perspectives
  • Gender equality over the life-course, especially education and careers
  • Understanding ‘hard to observe’ aspects of gender inequality through data
  • Changing attitudes to sexual and reproductive healthcare and rights (especially miscarriage and abortion) and service provision
  • Women’s experiences of migration and incarceration
  • Traditional, indigenous, and cultural knowledge and gender roles
  • The changing role of technology in gender-based violence (in causation, reporting, access to justice or survivor support)

Queries

If unsure, please get in touch, we’d love to work with you on your ideas. Questions regarding the fund can be directed to Leah Fitzsimmons.

How to apply

A maximum of £7,500 per project is available. Further details are available in the scheme application form, linked below. Completed application forms should be sent to Leah Fitzsimmons.

The deadline for applications is 28 October 2022.

Full details and application form

IAS Workshops and Fellowships

IAS Workshops

The Institute of Advanced Studies and Institute for Global Innovation are pleased to make support available to University of Birmingham researchers to bring together expertise from across the breadth of our university. Workshop topics should be interdisciplinary and include substantial input from at least two Colleges. Consideration should be given to what might eventually be the benefits to UoB in terms of engagement, impact, high quality publications and grant income generation.

How to apply

To apply for a Workshop, please complete the IAS Workshop Proposal Form

Deadlines

17.00 on:

  • 27 February 2023;
  • 22 May 2023;
  • 26 June 2023;
  • 11 September 2023;
  • 16 October 2023;
  • 20 November 2023 

IAS Distinguished Visiting Fellows

This programme aims to attract outstanding researchers, operating at the cutting edge of their disciplines, to work collaboratively with colleagues at the University of Birmingham. We hope to support new collaborations on topics that are timely, relevant, address national and international priorities, and cross disciplinary boundaries. Fellows are normally expected to spend a period of between 4 and 8 weeks on campus, depending on the panel’s assessment of the proposed activity. We particularly welcome visits that enable new, rather than already established collaborations. Consideration should be given to what might eventually be the benefits to UoB in terms of engagement, impact, high quality publications and grant income generation.

Proposing an IAS Distinguished Visiting Fellow

Please complete the IAS Distinguished Visiting Fellow Proposal Form.

Deadlines

17.00 on:

  • 27 February 2023;
  • 22 May 2023;
  • 26 June 2023;
  • 11 September 2023;
  • 16 October 2023;
  • 20 November 2023 

IAS Vanguard Visiting Fellows

This programme aims to attract outstanding early and mid-career researchers, operating at the cutting edge of their disciplines, to work collaboratively with colleagues at the University of Birmingham. We hope to support new collaborations on topics that are timely, relevant, address national and international priorities, and cross disciplinary boundaries. Fellows are normally expected to spend a period of between 4 and 8 weeks on campus, depending on the panel’s assessment of the proposed activity. We particularly welcome visits that enable new, rather than already established collaborations. Consideration should be given to what might eventually be the benefits to UoB in terms of engagement, impact, high quality publications and grant income generation.

Proposing an IAS Vanguard Visiting Fellow:

Please complete the IAS Vanguard Visiting Fellow Proposal Form.

Deadlines

17.00 on:

  • 27 February 2023;
  • 22 May 2023;
  • 26 June 2023;
  • 11 September 2023;
  • 16 October 2023;
  • 20 November 2023 

Please contact Sue Gilligan if you have questions about these programmes.

Institutional Research England QR Funding

Internal grants up to a maximum of £100,000 are available to support research culture, research that informs policy, and participatory research.  Eligible research projects must deliver and spend during the period 1 January 2023 to 1 June 2024. Three different funding streams are available and applications are invited on a short online application form which should be submitted by 5pm Friday 4 November.

Find out more about Institutional Research England QR funding

MRC Proximity to Discovery

The MRC Proximity to Discovery and Impact Fund (P2D) aims to support individual mobility and discovery days to enable early engagement with industry as well as other non-commercial partners such as charities. In addition, the P2D scheme supports proof of principle projects with collaborators that could accelerate the translational potential of your work.

In contrast to previous MRC P2D rounds, the scope of the fund has been broadened to include non-commercial partners and projects/activities with a clear translational impact such as patient benefit or knowledge exchange. All work supported by the P2D fund should be aligned to biomedical science areas of interest to the MRC, as stated on the MRC website.

There are several streams within P2D:

Rapid Response Mobility (RRM)

RRM supports flexible funding requests for individual mobility to enable early engagement with industry or non-commercial partners. Researchers may visit partners anywhere in the world for face-to-face meetings to pursue early interactions.  

Up to £2,000 per project. RRM is an open call with no submission deadlines.

Knowledge Exchange & Dissemination (KE&D)

KE&D can support a discovery day seminar programme on discoveries, technologies and methodologies to transfer knowledge between academic institutions and commercial or non-commercial partners, to inspire new collaborations.

Up to £2,000 per activity. K&ED is a competitive funding call with quarterly deadlines.

Exchange & Explore (E&E)

E&E supports flexible interactions with businesses, industrial or non-commercial partners that could accelerate the translational potential of your work and support longer-term relationships, through delivery of short term, initial proof of principle work around mutual areas of interest.

Up to £6,000 per project. E&E is a competitive funding call with quarterly deadlines.

 

How to Apply


KE&D and E&E s
ubmission deadline: 12 noon, Wednesday 6th September 2023

RRM: Open call

The P2D institutional fund is managed by the Translational Research Team, part of the MDS Research Office. General enquiries should be directed to TranslationalResearch@contacts.bham.ac.uk.

Find out more about translational research at Birmingham

Birmingham International Engagement Fund (BIEF)

The Birmingham International Engagement Fund (BIEF) offers travel awards to facilitate collaboration with international partners. Further information about the scheme and details about how to apply can be found on the Birmingham Global intranet pages.

UK Funding schemes for major projects 

For more information on major funding schemes or support with bid development for large and complex research projects please contact us.

Funding for EU and international projects

EU Funding from Horizon Europe

The University of Birmingham and all organisations in the UK can take part in the European Programme that follows on from Horizon 2020, running from 2021 until 2027. The UK is an Associated Country, therefore we will take part in most calls and lead projects in the same way as when the UK was a member state.

Find out more about Horizon Europe

Horizon Europe has a budget of €95.5 billion. The programme’s general objective is to deliver scientific, technological, economic and societal impact from the Union’s investments in R&I, to strengthen the scientific and technological base of the Union, and to foster its competitiveness. Horizon Europe will consist of three main pillars – reflecting the current R&I priorities of the Union

Horizon Europe is the EU's research and innovation consisting of a range of funding opportunities to support our research activities running to 2020, from MSCA fellowships to collaborative projects and of course the European Research Council.

International funding for research

Expand the section below for more information on UK organisations supporting international activity and working with US Federal Funders and Conflicts of Interest (CoI).

Find out more about international research funding

Selection of UK organisations supporting international activity

Working with US Federal Funders and Conflicts of Interest (CoI)

In 2016 the University's Executive Board approved the implementation of a dedicated CoI US Conflicts of Interest Policy for use with US federal funding (particularly the US Department of Health & Human Services and US Public Health Services funding applications).  

What this means is that researchers seeking to apply for US federal funding, either direct or as part of a sub-award with a US collaborator, are required to disclose any financial and/or other conflicts of interest that could compromise the trustworthiness of their work in research proposals, publications and public communications as well as in all review activities.

Such individuals are therefore REQUIRED,  before applying, to complete the following documentation, electronically forwarding each to Karen Atkins, Research Support Services, Finance Office (k.atkins@bham.ac.uk)

Please ensure you use Google Chrome when accessing the above sites.

The University CoI US Conflicts of Interest Policy document contains a flow chart demonstrating the assessment routes that will be adopted for any identified CoIs.

Any queries should be directed to Karen Atkins at K.L.Atkins@bham.ac.uk 

For more information

Contact the EU and International team to discuss options for collaborating with international researchers: eusupport@contacts.bham.ac.uk

EU & International funding workshops

The EU and International Team run a number of internal information workshops focused on EU and international funding calls each year.  

You will find the full calendar of events on our dedicated Research and Development Team page. Please email Gail Bond G.Bond@bham.ac.uk to register.

UKRI and the UK’s National Contact points will also run webinars for EU schemes, these are available on the UKRO website or posted on our MS Teams site (requires a UoB account).

Funding for interdisciplinary activities

The Institute of Advanced Studies and Institute for Global Innovation are pleased to make support available to University of Birmingham researchers via:

Workshops aiming to bring together expertise from across the breadth of our university.

Fellowships to attract outstanding researchers from outside of the University who are operating at the cutting edge of their disciplines to work collaboratively with colleagues at the University of Birmingham. 

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