Types of grant

Deadline for submission: 12:00 Wednesday 5 April 2023

Shortlisting notification: July 2023

Interview: 27 September 2023

Funding decision: October 2023

Contact: research@medicalresearchfoundation.org.uk Tel: 020 7395 2420.

Versus Arthritis in partnership with the Medical Research Foundation are pleased to announce the launch of a call for two schemes in the field of child and adolescent musculoskeletal pain.

Catalyst Fellowships are available for early career researchers who are seeking to broaden their research experience and develop their own distinct research ideas. Applicants may apply for up to £150,000 to support their research, over a maximum of a 2-year period.

Career Development Fellowships are available for mid-career researchers who are seeking to make a transition to research independence and establish their own research niche. Applicants may apply for up to £400,000 to support their research, over a maximum of a 4-year period.

The Medical Research Foundation and Versus Arthritis will make a total of £2,200,000 available for these competitions, which will be split flexibly between both funding schemes.

For full information on how to apply for this funding, please see www.medicalresearchfoundation.org.uk

Maximum duration: One to two years

Deadline: 15:00 Friday 10 March 2023

Contact: Academy of Medical Sciences grants team at clinicallecturers@acmedsci.ac.uk

This scheme is a partnership between the Academy of Medical Sciences and Versus Arthritis. Other partners in this scheme include the Wellcome Trust, the British Heart Foundation, the Medical Research Council and Diabetes UK.

What do starter grants for clinical lecturers provide?

The starter grants for clinical lecturers scheme provides modest starter funds of up to £30,000 over one to two years to enable research active clinical lecturers to pursue their research work, gather preliminary data and so further strengthen their applications for longer term fellowships and funding.

Who can apply for a starter grant for clinical lecturer?

The grants are intended as start-up funding and as such are not intended for applicants who have already obtained substantial funding through, for example, Clinician Scientist Fellowships, New Investigator Awards or large project grants.

All eligible applicants must:

• Have a PhD or MD 
• hold a medical, dental or veterinary undergraduate degree and be registered with the General Medical Council, General Dental Council or Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons 
• hold a clinical contract.

What can you apply for?

The maximum grant available is £30,000. This can be spread over one to two years to contribute towards directly incurred research costs such as consumables and equipment.

Grants cannot be used to pay for your personal salary costs or to employ research assistants, PhD students or postdoctoral staff.

How to apply

These grants are administered by the Academy of Medical Sciences, more information and details on how to apply can be found at acmedsci.ac.uk.

During the review process, prior career breaks will be taken into account when evaluating a candidate’s research output and progress.

Successful applicants cannot reapply. Unsuccessful applicants are limited to one resubmission.

Opening: May 2023

Deadline: July 2023

Funding decision: November 2023

Contact: Julie Marsden at awards@versusarthritis.org

This scheme has two funding rounds a year: one with a submission deadline in January with a decision in May and one with a submission deadline in July with a decision in November.

Our new bridging fellowship scheme will provide up to 2 years funding for current Versus Arthritis fellowship holders in the final year of their fellowship, irrespective of length of award. The aim of the fellowship is to provide fellows with additional financial support to bridge them to their next fellowship application or academic post, providing them with the opportunity to continue the development of an independent research career and progression towards higher-level appointments. Applications should be jointly submitted by the candidate with a sponsor.

Full details of the scheme and guidance documents are available here.

Versus Arthritis is partnering with Orthopaedic Research UK to provide MSK clinicians with an opportunity to enhance their knowledge and research skillset in AI, thereby enabling effective application of AI solutions within the NHS.

Two free training courses will be provided in partnership with Microsoft in January and April 2023.

Those that successfully complete both courses will be eligible to apply for the Fellowship in Spring 2023.

Further information regarding the Orthopaedic Research UK/Versus Arthritis AI Research Fellowship in MSK will be available soon. Please check this webpage for further updates.

To sign up for the first workshop, register at oruk.org

Opening: April 2023

Deadline: July 2023

Funding decision: 2024

Contact: Sydney Ambrose and Julie Marsden at awards@versusarthritis.org

Our new enhanced career development fellowship aims to attract and retain talented medical, veterinary, nurse and allied health professionals or science graduates committed to a research career in any discipline relevant to arthritis and related musculoskeletal diseases, and provide them with the opportunity to develop an independent research career and progress towards higher-level appointments. These fellowships offer five years of funding and applications should be jointly submitted by the candidate with a sponsor. Full details of the scheme and guidance documents are available here.

Maximum Duration: 60 months

Costs: £50,000 to £800,000

Application Deadline: 16:00 Wednesday 9^th November 2022

Contact: awards@versusarthritis.org

Focus

We want to bring about more accurate and faster diagnosis and more timely, effective and targeted treatments, tailored to individuals, taking into consideration not just their genes but also the environment they live in.

Our Better Lives Today, Better Lives Tomorrow Research Strategy 2022-2026 focusses our investment and influence on four priority areas over the next four years. It is striving to bring ground-breaking scientific discoveries to people with arthritis at pace and with precision.

This call for applications for research funding focusses on two of the priority areas:

• Early detection and prevention: spotting the biological signatures of arthritis early to maximise the opportunities for timely intervention and preventing it from getting worse.
• Targeted treatments: taking the guesswork out of treatment by increasing effective, reliable and timely drug and non-drug solutions to reduce, manage or cure disease.

What are we looking for?

The impacts sought from this investment are progress toward:

• better understanding and tools to identify markers of risk to enable proactive screening and early detection (secondary prevention) approaches
• better tools and biomarkers to diagnose arthritis accurately and as rapidly as possible after symptoms begin
• clinical and care pathways applying a precision medicine and holistic approach – accounting for individual variability in genes, environment and lifestyle and the management of pain, mental health and fatigue
• more effective, safer treatments and ultimately cures, that work for more people
• better tools to help decide the most appropriate treatments
• better understanding of how different diseases can be most effectively tackled together.

Who can apply?

• The lead applicant must be based at an eligible UK institution.
• One applicant must have a tenured position within the lead institute.

For further information see the Priorities 2023: Application Guidance (PDF, 279KB).

What you can apply for

• Costs for salaries, expenses and small items of essential equipment can be requested.
• Awards of up to 60 months duration, between £50,000-£800,000 in value are available. We plan to invest around £4 million in different sized projects.

For further details on what you can apply for see the Priorities 2023: Application Guidance (PDF, 279KB).

How to apply

Applicants are invited to submit applications through Grant Tracker, where the form is available.

There is a single stage application process for all applications.

Applicants must carefully read the Priorities 2023: Call Document (PDF, 200KB), application form and Priorities 2023: Application Guidance (PDF, 279KB) before starting an application.

Please ensure that the most appropriate language is being used in each section of the form and that the correct sections are completed.

The deadline for the receipt of applications in 16:00 on Wednesday the 9th of November 2022. Please allow time for management of appropriate reviewers and signatories to access the GrantTracker system and provide their approvals. Submissions after 16:00 will not be accepted.

If you have any questions about the call please email awards@versusarthritis.org

We have partnered with the Kennedy Trust for Rheumatology Research to increase the evidence around fatigue in musculoskeletal conditions.

Maximum Duration: 12 months

Costs: £100,000

Application Deadline: 16:00 Monday 7 November 2022

Contact: awards@versusarthritis.org  

Focus

We are looking to fund a single proposal that can generate a substantial and well-evidenced scoping review that comprehensively covers how chronic fatigue is measured, assessed, and treated. Reviews should include scientific and clinical evidence, as well as meaningful inclusion of the needs of people living with chronic fatigue.

We expect the primary focus of the review to be on musculoskeletal fatigue, but encourage cross-disease applications, including outside musculoskeletal diseases where chronic fatigue is a key component. We welcome proposals that include Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) /ME in the analysis, but proposals that include CFS/ME as the primary focus will not be reviewed. Studies that also include COVID-19 in the analysis will be accepted. We strongly encourage applications that carefully consider chronic fatigue across the life course (younger to older) and across diverse demographics and ethnic groups.

There is an expectation that applicants meaningfully involve people living with chronic fatigue in the development of the outlined work.

What are we looking for?

We aim to fund a comprehensive scoping review on the ways of measuring, assessing, and treating chronic fatigue. This can include:

• the amount of evidence in each area
• the quality of evidence available
• where there are substantial gaps in our current knowledge
• the needs of people living with chronic fatigue
• future research priorities based on the information gathered

The outputs of this scoping review are expected to provide an important guide and inform future research partnership activity.

Applicants must carefully read the application form and guidance documentation before starting an application. Please ensure that the most appropriate language is being used in each section of the form and that the correct sections are completed.

Who can apply?

• The lead applicant must be based at an eligible UK institution.
• One applicant must have a tenured position within the lead institute.
• For further information see Fatigue evidence review 2023 Application Guidance (PDF, 208KB).

What you can apply for

• Costs for salaries, expenses and essential research costs can be requested.
• One award of up to 12 months duration, £100,000 in value is available.
• For further details on what you can apply for, please see Fatigue evidence review 2023 Application Guidance (PDF, 208KB).

How to apply

Applicants are invited to submit applications through Grant Tracker, where the form is available.

There is a single-stage application process for all applications.

Applicants must carefully read the Fatigue evidence review 2023 Call Document (PDF, 196 KB), application form and Fatigue evidence review 2023 Application Guidance (PDF, 208KB) before starting an application.

Please ensure that the most appropriate language is being used in each section of the form and that the correct sections are completed.

The deadline for the receipt of applications is 16:00 on Monday the 7 November 2022. Please allow time for the management of appropriate reviewers and signatories to access the GrantTracker system and provide their approvals. Submissions after 16:00 will not be accepted.

If you have any questions about the call, please email awards@versusarthritis.org