Medical Research Council (MRC) Confidence in Concept Round 7 funding has been awarded to a consortium led by the University of Sheffield with partners Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust and Sheffield Hallam University. 

This funding is a key part of the MRC’s Translational Research Strategy and a component of the high profile MRC/Innovate UK Biomedical Catalyst. The scheme is designed to “accelerate the transition from discovery research to translational development projects by supporting preliminary work or feasibility studies to establish the viability of an approach” within the healthcare remit.

The scheme is now inviting applications for grant awards to be used to support the transition between fundamental and translational research, to provide project teams with funding to enable them to develop a concept to a point where it is competitive enough to be used in a bid for more substantive follow on funding.

Applications with industrial collaborators are eligible for the scheme and standard MRC guidelines and intellectual property arrangements for industrial collaboration will apply. The appropriate business/commercial manager from the four institutions above must be contacted at least four weeks before the deadline to ensure that applications fit the scheme and that concepts are registered with the respective institutions and the University of Sheffield.

If you have a potential application that would fit within D4D’s remit and clinical areas (diabetes, renal, and long term neurological conditions) for which you would like to discuss the potential for collaborations please get in touch through our ‘looking for collaborators’ option on our website, here. The funding application must be led from one of the four listed organisations in Sheffield.