There are number of resources available which will enable researchers to find appropriate schemes for their grant proposals.
IDOX Grantfinder
The College subscribes to “Idox ResearchConnect” (previously called “Idox GRANTfinder 4 Education”), which is an online provider for research funding information, offering a searchable database of funding opportunities with the option to subscribe to email alerts. The system covers a very wide range of funding opportunities, from funders both in the UK and overseas. In all cases please check the specific call details to ensure you are eligible as the database is very broad.
To access Idox ResearchConnect:
- Connect to IDOX
- Select “Log in via my Institution”. Select Imperial College from the list of options and this will redirect you to your normal College login details
- Within Idox there are 2 primary databases:
RESEARCHconnect: Research funding is a database of all funder types (UK and international) that are available to both institutions and individuals. This would likely be the primary database to search for research grant funding.
Enterprise Funding: Database of infrastructure and development funding from all funding types (UK and European) that are available to institutions.
- You can simply search the database of your choice using keywords but do ensure you select the correct database (this can be changed with the button just to the left of the search bar).
- Once a search is performed you will be presented with a list of all the opportunities on the database.
- You can also save this search using the button on the right-hand side of the page and request weekly email updates. This makes it possible to quickly establish bespoke search terms which are relevant to your own research and then receive updates automatically.
Further information and guidance on Idox is available. If you have any problems setting up a search please contact Alun Owen to arrange a session (either at your desk or via Teams) to set up your search.
Postdoc and Fellows Development Centre Fellowships List
The Imperial College Postdoc and Fellows Development Centre maintains a list of fellowship funding opportunities.
These lists include links to the call, basic eligibility information and (where available) key dates.
Clinical Academic Training Office
The Clinical Academic Training Office (CATO) supports all clinical and allied health professional researchers with funding and training opportunities.
More information on clinical academic fellowships can be found on the Clinical Academic Training Office webpages.
College and Managed Grant Opportunities
Some funding opportunities are limited to College staff, or require a College level approval prior to submission (for example where there is a cap of the number of proposals that Imperial can submit). Details for this are linked below:
Ad Hoc Grant Opportunities
From time-to-time opportunities arise which will generally be emailed to academics and fellows within the Department.
NHLI does not operate any mailing lists for grant funding opportunities, as these inevitably become out of date very quickly. Funding opportunities are emailed to those holding academic positions and career-level fellowship for further distribution within their groups. If you would not receive such emails directly please ensure that your line manager is aware of your interest and request that they forward emails to you. Where the opportunity is relevant to specific groups, for example postdocs, these will be sent to the target groups where possible.
NHLI Funding Opportunities
A number of internal NHLI schemes are available.
The NHLI Research Fellowship is a 12 month fellowship to support excellent basic or clinical science researchers who have a clear research vision looking to secure a personal fellowship and establish their own research group within NHLI. The Fellowship provides 12 months support to develop and submit a strong application(s) for an independent externally funded fellowship.
The NHLI Pilot Awards are generously funded by the National Heart and Lung Foundation to support early career researchers who have completed their PhD to enable individuals wishing to transition to independence to develop their own funding portfolio with pilot research projects, laboratory visits and/or specialist training courses. The awards are flexible and can be used in any way that will provide benefit to the individual in pursuing an independent, academic career path. This scheme runs approximately twice per year.
The NHLI Travel Awards, funded by the National Heart and Lung Foundation and the Michael Alberman Travel Award endowment, supports travel awards for NHLI researchers for the purpose of presenting at conferences or attending scientific workshops in the fields of cardiovascular and respiratory research. This scheme runs approximately four times a year and reports of previous awardees can be found here.
Commercial Funding
Funding from commerical companies usually develops through direct contact with the company. In some cases, ad hoc opportunities do become available and these will be sent out by email. If you are looking to find a commercial partner the College's Enterprise team have numerous contacts and will be able to discuss this with you.
Grant Funding Webinar
On 27 August 2020 NHLI Research Manager, Alun Owen presented a webinar on how to get grant funding.
