MRC Inviting Applications for Applied Global Health Research

The Medical Research Council’s (MRC) Applied Global Health Research Board is providing funding to support a portfolio of high-quality global research that will address global health challenges and inequities.

The funded portfolio is intended to be diverse, promote multidisciplinarity and strengthen global health research capacity. This includes: late-stage intervention development and testing, which can include global health trials implementation and scale-up research health systems; implementation and scale-up research; and health systems, health policy and health economics research. Applicants can apply for funding to address any health topic of relevance in the context where the research will be conducted.

Applicants may apply to any of the following grant schemes through the Applied Global Health Research Board. The scale and type of activities that may be conducted vary across these channels, so applicants are advised to consult them before submitting an application:

• Research Grant – Suitable for focused research projects that may be short- or long-term in nature. Grants can last up to five years, but those of two years or less are for proof of principle work only.
• Partnership grant – Designed to support novel partnerships between diverse groupings of researchers. Funding will be provided to establish new, high-value collaborative activities/capabilities that should add value to high-quality scientific programmes that are already supported by grants from the MRC and other funders.

Applicants are required to develop plans to strengthen research capacity within their proposal, which will be assessed as part of the peer review process and inform funding decisions. Activities could target the individual, institutional or contextual level (or span multiple) and plans should be proportionate to the scale of the project, with larger proposals expected to be more ambitious.

Applicants must hold a graduate degree, and ideally a PhD, and be researchers based at an eligible research organisation. Full details about institutional and individual eligibility are available at the MRC guidance for applicants and UKRI eligibility requirements.

The MRC particularly encourages applications from overseas researchers based in LMICs and the Global South, as well as researchers based in the UK working in partnership with Global South investigators.

Applicants may not act as PI on more than two proposals at any one time. They may support others as a Co-I, as long as they have the capacity to do so without detriment to the project being led.

All sizes of applications, including large applications over £2 million and small to medium scale applications will be accepted. The resources requested should be commensurate with the objectives of the proposal. Value for money will be taken into account when assessing proposals.

For funds requested by research organisations based overseas, the MRC will fund 100% of the full Economic Cost (fEC). For funds requested by research organisations based in the UK, the MRC will typically fund 80% of the fEC.

Applications should be submitted by the 28 July 2022 (16:00) deadline.