Securing funding is critical for conducting effective research. The table below contains links to the main funding opportunities organised by career stage. These pages include only the larger national funding bodies and are not exhaustive; much research that is conducted is funded by local institutions and charities. Check with your centre. See the additional sources of funding page for more opportunities. If you think there are organisations missing from this list please let us know at research@rcr.ac.uk
| Funding body | Type | Who is eligible | Tenure | Funding |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Pre-research degree | ||||
| National Institute for Health Research | Academic Clinical Fellowship | Part of the academic training programme | Depends on stage of training, usually 3 years | 25% of time to be spent in research |
| Cancer Research UK | Pre-doctoral research bursary | Clinicians pre-PhD without another fellowship | Single grant | £25k for salary or research expenses |
Research degree | ||||
Wellcome Trust | Clinicians without a PhD | 3 years | Salary at clinical level, PhD fees, research costs | |
| Cancer Research UK* | Clinicians in specialist training with an application supported by a Clinical Trial Unit | 3 years | £50,000 a year towards salary and running expenses, host institution expected to match this | |
Medical Research Council | Candidates without a PhD or who have started their PhD but have not been registered for more than 12 months | 3 years, occasionally 2 or 4 | salary at clinical level, costs of £20,000 per annum | |
| National Institute for Health Research | Candidates without a PhD or who have started their PhD but have not been registered for more than 12 months | 3 years, LTFT available | salary at clinical level and consumables | |
Post doctoral funding | ||||
National Institute for Health Research | Candidates with a PhD, less than 5 years of post-doctoral experience and the support of a host institution | Depends on remaining training time | 50% of salary costs | |
Medical Research Council | Candidates who obtained their PhD 5 or more years ago but have not been research active | 3 years, occasionally 2 or 4 | salary at clinical level, research costs | |
Wellcome trust | Completed or about to complete a PhD | 4-5 years | salary and research costs | |
| Cancer Research UK | Post-doctoral Research Bursary for Clinical Trainees | Clinicians with a higher degree, a national training number and salary support | 2 years | £35,000 for research expenses (not salary) |
*CRUK also fund a number of clinical PhD programmes through individual centres. Contact the centres directly for information. The Cancer Research UK Centres are: Birmingham, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Manchester, Newcastle Centre, Oxford Centre, Southampton and in London: Barts, King’s College, Imperial College, UCL and the Institute of Cancer Research