Funding for early stage healthcare-biomedical translational projects
The University of Sheffield, Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust, Sheffield Hallam University and Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust form a consortium to advance early stage translational healthcare projects.
MRC Impact Acceleration Account 2022-27: Funding for early stage healthcare-biomedical translational projects
The MRC IAA will be used to support projects in the MRC remit 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 a biomedical and healthcare remit. This may include technology or diagnostic assessment.
- 2025 Funding calls - NOW OPEN
MRC IAA funding is aimed at supporting commercialisation of research, developing new partnerships and strengthening our collective impact.
We are now seeking EOIs for projects that demonstrate strong potential for impact and align with our strategic goals, particularly in developing a robust pipeline of innovative projects for future funding bids. Please submit separate EOIs if you are interested in applying for more than one of the funding streams outlined below. All EOIs must be submitted by Monday 15 September, 2025.
- Open Call for New Projects: Up to £75k over 6-9 months for novel projects with strong commercialisation or impact potential.
- ECR Commercialisation Fellowship: To support dedicated time (0.5FTE over 3 months) for commercialisation activities. For further details, see section below.
- ECR KE Partnership Fellowship: Up to £20k over 6 months to support Early Career Researchers (ECRs) in developing external partnerships. This scheme will focus on fostering partnerships with external organisations, with the expectation that external partners will contribute an equal amount in cash or in-kind support, ensuring mutual investment in the project’s success. Fellows gain business engagement experience, build industry partnerships, and enhance their career development through this initiative. ECRs and PDRAs can apply as Co-Investigators with support from a permanent academic (PI). Full applications will need to outline the technology or opportunity for advancement, alongside a personal development statement detailing the fellow's vision and goals.
Please speak to your local KE/Business Manager who can provide further guidance and the EOI application form (contact information below).
Please note that this is a two-stage process. All EOI applicants will be notified of the outcome by early October, with successful applicants invited to submit a full application by Monday 1 December 2025. All projects must complete by Friday 27 February 2027 and extension requests for these awards cannot be considered.
- Projects must be within UKRI scope and objectives for the IAA;
- Projects must add value to other UKRI support mechanisms;
- Projects should support multi-disciplinary work and collaborations with non-academic partners;
- Projects do not have to have been funded previously by MRC (but there is no restriction on projects that have had IAA funding previously);
- Collaborations must follow principles of the MRC ICF.
- 2025 Top-Up Awards - CLOSED
The University of Sheffield, Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust, Sheffield Hallam University and Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust form a consortium to advance early stage translational healthcare projects.
The MRC IAA monies received are to be used to support projects in the MRC remit 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 a biomedical and healthcare remit. This may include technology or diagnostic assessment.
The funding will enable teams to develop a concept to a point where it is competitive enough to be used in a bid for more substantive follow on translational funding.
We now have a limited amount of funding available to award 'top-up' grants to completed or existing MRC CiC/IAA-funded projects.
Please speak to your KE/Business Manager who can provide the scheme guidance and application form (contact information below).
To be eligible to apply for up to £40k, 6-month top-up funding, previous projects should either be able to demonstrate progress against the original objectives, or that the results indicated a different approach was needed. The proposed top-up work should be essential to realising translational aspirations and increase the likelihood of securing external funding.
Applications should be submitted by Friday 28 March 2025 to be eligible for panel review. Decisions will be communicated by Monday 12 May 2025. Projects should complete by Friday 27 February 2026. Please note that extension requests for these additional top-up awards cannot be considered.- 2026 ECR Commercialisation Fellowships - OPEN
The Fellowship aims to attract and fund PhD students and Early Career Researchers to engage with the Commercialisation Journey for 3 months (50% FTE) as 'Entrepreneurial Leads' for a project. Successful candidates are expected to complete Stage 1 of the Commercialisation Journey.
The stage training helps Entrepreneurial Leads understand the project opportunity and ambition through developing market awareness, assessing the intellectual property landscape, and investigating the commercial context. Please speak to your KE/Commercialisation Manager who can provide the scheme guidance and application form (contact information below).
- 2023 funding call - CLOSED
Due to the competitive nature of the funding and staff resources to assist researchers with the generation of their applications, please note there is a project registration deadline of Friday 26 May 2023, and preliminary draft applications must be received by your institutional professional support staff for input by Friday 9 June 2023. The final date for submission of applications is 7 July 2023.
Please get in touch with your institutional contacts listed below to receive the guidance and application forms, available from February 2023. Your project must be registered via the link provided within these documents.
Provisional timeline:
March 2023 Call Opens May - June 2023 Scheduled training sessions (please see schedule below) 26 May 2023 Deadline for applicants to register their project 9 June Deadline for receipt of draft applications 7 July Deadline for receipt of final applications July - August 2023 Review of applications September 2023 Panel Meeting October 2023 Funding decisions communicated
Contacts
- Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust
Dr Gillian Gatenby, Associate Director for Research & Innovation, gillian.gatenby@nhs.net
- Sheffield Teaching Hospital Trust
Dr Dipak Patel, Research & Innovation Manager, dipak.patel12@nhs.net
Daniel Lawrence, Research Coordinator (CRIO), daniel.lawrence12@nhs.net
- Sheffield Hallam University
Dr Neil Bowden, Innovation Funding Manager, n.bowden@shu.ac.uk
Georgia Hatzigiannidou, Funding Advisor, g.hatzigiannidou@shu.ac.uk
University of Sheffield
- Faculty of Health
Knowledge Exchange team FH-KE@sheffield.ac.uk
Sue Smith, Commercialisation Manager, sue.smith@sheffield.ac.uk
Alex Wilkinson, Commercialisation Manager - Insigneo, a.wilkinson@sheffield.ac.uk
- Faculty of Engineering
Knowledge Exchange team FE-KE@sheffield.ac.uk
Sam Trotter, Commercialisation Manager, s.j.trotter@sheffield.ac.uk
Alex Wilkinson, Commercialisation Manager - Insigneo, alex.wilkinson@sheffield.ac.uk
- Faculty of Science
Knowledge Exchange team FS-KE@sheffield.ac.uk
Maria Fernanda Velazquez de la Paz (Life Sciences), Commercialisation Manager
Joe Gaunt (Physical Sciences), Commercialisation Manager, j.gaunt@sheffield.ac.uk
Previous Panel Members
The MRC IAA panel includes expert internal and external reviewers. Previous expert reviewers have included:
External:
- Prof Edward Draper, Entrepreneur in Residence
- Dr Clare Lankester, Regulatory Expert in Residence
- Dr Andy Merritt, Director of Academic Engagement, LifeArc
- Dr Michael Murray, Entrepreneur in Residence.
Internal:
- Dr Richard Mead, Faculty KE and Innovation Lead, Medicine, Dentistry & Health, University of Sheffield
- Dr Gillian Gatenby, Associate Director for Research & Innovation, Sheffield Children’s Hospital
- Prof Jon Wheat, Associate Dean, Research and Innovation, College of Health, Wellbeing and Life Sciences, Sheffield Hallam University
Dr Steven Wood, Head of Scientific Computing, Sheffield Teaching Hospital.
Useful information