MRC Centre of Research Excellence: round four: invited full application

MRC Centre of Research Excellence: round four: invited full application is sponsored by Medical Research Council (MRC). MRC Centre of Research Excellence: round four: invited full application. Funding opportunity from Medical Research Council (MRC).

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MRC Centre of Research Excellence: round four: invited full application – UKRI Funding opportunity: MRC Centre of Research Excellence: round four: invited full application Medical Research Council (MRC) Ministry of Defence (MOD) 14 May 2026 9:00am UK time 10 September 2026 4:00pm UK time Apply for Medical Research Council Centre of Research Excellence (MRC CoRE) funding to tackle complex and interdisciplinary health challenges.

You must be invited to apply for this stage of the funding opportunity. be a researcher employed by an eligible research organisation meet individual eligibility requirements have submitted an MRC CoRE round four outline application and, after successful assessment, have been invited to submit a full application MRC CoREs will be funded for up to 14 years.

Your award will initially last for seven years, with a further seven years based on successful review. The maximum MRC contribution will be £21 million. You can only apply for this funding opportunity if we have invited you to do so following a successful outline application.

To lead a project, you must be based at an eligible organisation. Check if your organisation is eligible .

To be eligible to apply for this opportunity you must: be a researcher or technologist employed by an eligible research organisation show that you will direct the project or be actively engaged in the work have the relevant expertise and experience to lead or contribute to an MRC CoRE and its research culture be part of a team that submitted an MRC CoRE round four outline application and, after successful assessment, have been invited to submit a full application to the second stage of this opportunity.

Additional team applicants can be included that were not in the outline application be from a single eligible organisation or a partnership of eligible organisations Because of the long duration of MRC CoREs applicants do not require a contract for the full duration of the award.

By submitting the application, the research organisation is confirming support for the named applicants, that they are capable of taking part in the MRC CoRE and will accept its relevant terms and conditions.

Applicants and other members of the team International researchers While international organisations cannot lead an application, you can include international co-leads, and it is possible for an international researcher to apply as part of the leadership team. We expect international co-leads to offer expertise, or facilities not available in the UK, and to provide clear indicators of commitment to the MRC CoRE.

The contribution and added value of the international participants to the research collaboration should be clearly explained and justified in the application. Read the UKRI project co-lead (international) eligibility for more details. Please contact us if you are uncertain about eligibility.

You should include all other international collaborators as project partners. Find out more information about the role of researcher co-lead . Established researchers should use the project co-lead role for this application.

In this funding opportunity you do not need to provide additional supporting information for any researcher co-leads involved. Who is not eligible to apply You are not eligible to apply for this funding opportunity as a project lead if you are based at an international research organisation.

This does not include project leads from MRC Unit The Gambia at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) or MRC/UVRI (Uganda Virus Research Institute) and LSHTM Uganda Research Unit.

If you are employed by the organisations below you cannot apply as project lead or project co-lead, but can participate as project partners on an application led by an eligible UK organisation: charity and third sector organisations However, charities and third sector organisations that are approved UKRI Independent Research Organisations are eligible to apply as project lead or project co-lead.

Equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) We are committed to achieving equality of opportunity for all funding applicants. We encourage applications from a diverse range of researchers. We support people to work in a way that suits their personal circumstances.

This includes: support for people with caring responsibilities alternative working patterns UKRI can offer disability and accessibility support for UKRI applicants and grant holders during the application and assessment process. Diversity is one of the core MRC values and we are committed to creating inclusive environments that encourage excellence in research through good equalities practice.

We strongly encourage applications from currently underrepresented groups including female and ethnic minority researchers, and researchers with disabilities or long-term conditions. We expect MRC CoREs and their leadership to be diverse. We encourage the leadership model to be inclusive, diverse, and creative, with rotation or succession of positions as appropriate.

Demand management is not being applied to this funding opportunity. MRC CoRE funding aims to tackle complex and interdisciplinary health challenges. MRC CoREs will support bold and ambitious research focused on a defined challenge.

Tackling such challenges will be transformative to biomedical research, health research or both within 14 years, and will enhance approaches to the prevention, early detection, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, improving health and wellbeing for all. MRC CoREs will be beacons of excellence in research culture, equality, diversity and inclusion, leadership models and innovation.

An MRC CoRE should be distinct in the context of other national and international activities and its research positioned in the context of ongoing investments across MRC and the broader landscape. An MRC CoRE should synergise with or capitalise upon existing knowledge and investments where relevant. These major investments should be outward facing, harnessing the best talent in the UK to deliver upon their proposed vision.

MRC CoREs should provide a stimulating environment to train the next generation of researchers and technologists. Applications can be from a single research organisation or in partnership across multiple organisations. Applications may include project partners.

What types of challenges should MRC CoREs tackle MRC CoRE challenges are expected to: be bold, ambitious, and innovative, and address a gap or opportunity which is not being adequately addressed elsewhere address substantial unmet needs in understanding or modifying human health and disease be specific, with definable major strategic objectives achievable within the 14-year timeframe, which, if achieved, will transform the research field or area of health research align to the MRC mission, and contribute to UK government priorities require coordinated and flexible, major long-term funding MRC CoRE challenges will be achieved through: fostering innovation and engagement to establish the capability and capacity to place the UK at the international forefront of impactful health research an outward facing position, harnessing and networking the best expertise in the UK bringing together creative and diverse approaches for cross-sectoral and multi or interdisciplinary, and novel ways of working distinct and disruptive research that drives breakthrough advances and addresses specific bottlenecks through knowledge generation, technological or methodological innovation, with clear translational relevance pursuing a compelling vision around specific questions of importance or critical knowledge gaps, not through open ended discovery research programmes developing a stimulating and supportive research environment What areas of research should the challenge address For round four, applications are addressing challenges across any part of MRC remit, including discovery, understanding mechanism, and development of concepts or interventions for prevention or treatment.

In addition, in round four we are considering applications in partnership with the Ministry of Defence (MOD) under the highlight on innovation in the development and translation of blood products. For further information see the additional information section It is not our expectation that any single MRC CoRE will address the challenge of the field as a whole within 14 years.

Your challenge should be built around a defined gap or opportunity, a major barrier or bottleneck that needs to be surmounted, or the breakthrough advance that is pivotal for our understanding and ability to prevent, diagnose and treat disease.

Your application must explain how your challenge and the proposed MRC CoRE will be positioned in the context of ongoing investments and activities across MRC and the broader UK and international landscape. Your challenge and the proposed MRC CoRE should synergise with or capitalise upon existing knowledge and investments where relevant.

You should consider what you would need to put in place to promote or achieve equity of access to resulting knowledge, technologies, interventions, and therapies. Applicants invited to apply to the second stage of this funding opportunity must continue to develop their MRC CoRE application within the challenge described in their outline application and in response to any outline stage feedback provided.

MRC CoRE research environment MRC CoREs provide an opportunity for a different approach to research, creating collaborative and stimulating multidisciplinary or interdisciplinary research environments. MRC CoREs are expected to adopt and maintain the highest standards in the way research is conducted and openly communicated.

They should support creative leadership approaches and a team science ethos, develop and nurture career paths and a training environment which supports a positive research culture. Public partnerships are all the different ways that people and the research community can come together to shape and share scientific research.

Sharing knowledge and experience improves the quality and relevance of research, making it more likely that everyone will benefit. MRC’s public partnerships strategy outlines MRC’s ambition and actions for effective collaboration and genuine partnerships between researchers, MRC staff, public involvement and engagement professionals, individuals and communities.

The strategy applies to all the research that MRC supports, including non-clinical research. Host research organisations Applications can be from a single eligible organisation or a partnership of organisations. When there are two or more eligible organisations involved single project lead affiliated with the lead research organisation must be identified.

This is required for administrative purposes. However, the balance of activity and leadership across the partner organisations can be equally shared if desirable. What is critical is for the approach to leadership and decision-making across multiple organisations needs to be clearly specified.

Support from research organisations There is no requirement for matched funding from the institution(s) hosting the MRC CoRE, beyond any 20% FEC contribution. However, considerable, sustained and clearly defined support from the research organisation is essential to a successful application. This will be an equal part of the assessment of applications for MRC CoREs.

We expect research organisations to provide: access to facilities and equipment access to necessary digital support infrastructure support to manage estates underpinning of key staff positions access to additional sources of funding and support available to other researchers across the research organisations MRC CoRE governance, monitoring and review All MRC CoREs must establish an independent strategic advisory board (ISAB) as part of governance structure to provide critical advice and support to the director and leadership team.

This board must hold a meeting in year one of the award and at least annually thereafter. You may wish to describe the areas of input you will seek through your ISAB, but do not include proposed members of the MRC CoRE’s ISAB as applicants or project partners. In your application you will be asked to confirm key objectives for the MRC CoRE and propose a performance monitoring framework.

Progress against this framework should be considered annually by your ISAB. This framework will form a crucial component of the mid-term review of your MRC CoRE investment, alongside other information to be confirmed closer to the review point. We will support MRC CoREs for up to 14 years.

The initial duration of this award is for seven years (84 months), with a review point in year six to approve release of the second period of funding. The MRC CoRE start date can be from 1 April 2027 to 30 September 2027. The full economic cost (FEC) of your project for years one to seven can be up to £26.

25 million. We will fund 80% of the FEC. Any identified exceptions will be funded at 100%.

The maximum MRC contribution, including any identified exceptions funded at 100%, is £21 million. UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) indexation will be applied at the time of award. We will not supplement awards for inflation after they have started.

We will provide all the awarded funding to the lead organisation, to manage and distribute accordingly. Awards spanning multiple organisations will require a clear plan addressing award governance and management to ensure funds can be used flexibly to support changes in research delivery and opportunity across the course of the award.

We will support a limited number of interlinked research activities or themes, with funding focused on key strategic objectives, achievable during the 14-year lifespan. The MRC CoRE award should provide a platform to win additional grant support from all available funders. A minimum expectation is for doubling of the MRC CoRE associated budget through external funding by the mid-term point (year seven).

We expect to fund up to two MRC CoREs within the published budget.

You can request funding for costs such as: directly allocated contributions to salaries of the leadership team and other established researchers, usually between 15% to 30% of their time, in line with their research contribution directly incurred salaries of research staff, technicians, and professional enabling staff, where there is a clear justification for their critical role in delivering the MRC CoRE recruitment of new researchers critical to addressing the research challenge, for example those switching disciplines or sectors, or from overseas, where up to 100% salary may be requested for up to three years, before other grant support is established.

The requested salary should reflect their time spent on the MRC CoRE up to £500,000 start-up costs for routine equipment (items over £25,000 that constitute normal elements of a well-founded laboratory), if required. All items will have to be fully justified and may not include generic departmental equipment.

Routine equipment will be funded at 80% FEC mid-range or large equipment critical to establish platforms or facilities, funded at 100% of the requested costs, if requested and accepted at the outline application stage.

For other mid-range equipment MRC CoREs must apply to the MRC annual mid-range equipment opportunity in competition with the wider community data preservation, data sharing and dissemination costs costs for innovative training and capacity building required to address the research challenge, when not available elsewhere studentships (an exception funded at 100%), including iCASE studentships , may typically be requested for up to two studentships starting each year across the duration of the award (up to 14 studentships).

However, numbers should not exceed the supervisory capacity of the MRC CoRE.

See Support for UKRI funded students technology and data platforms to provide accessible facilities and capability essential to the mission and to promote open-science, when not available elsewhere experimental medicine studies initiatives to underpin or strengthen a positive research culture knowledge transfer and exchange activities, including translational research and commercialisation public partnerships and related activities, including public engagement and involvement, and payments to public contributors initiatives to improve environmental sustainability estates and indirect costs creation and maintenance of a website You can also request costs for work to be undertaken at international organisations by international project co-leads.

We will fund 100% of the eligible costs. The total of such costs requested for international applicants from high-income countries (those not on the OECD DAC list of ODA recipients ), India and China must not exceed 30% of the total resources requested. There is no cap on costs requested for international applicants from DAC (Development Assistance Committee) list countries.

For more information on international costs and what we will and will not fund see costs we fund and the Collaborate with Researchers in Norway guidance . Mid-range or large equipment is a single item costing over £138,000 (£115,000 excluding VAT). Quotes for equipment exceeding £25,000 and business cases for equipment exceeding £138,000 are not necessary.

However, successful applicants must be able to show UKRI evidence of adherence to procurement rules, such as quotes, if audited. The leadership team will have flexibility over use of the directly incurred funding within the total awarded, especially considering the award duration. There are constraints on the use of directly allocated and capital equipment funding.

Flexible directly incurred or exceptions funds can be requested and used to develop activities and support new opportunities but must be appropriately justified with clear plans for financial management. The funding request can differ from the outline application within the overall funding available. Respond directly to any outline stage feedback on the funding request.

open access costs: these must be covered by the UKRI open access grant training and capacity building that can be accessed through existing funding routes, such as existing doctoral training programmes, MRC or UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) fellowships mid-range equipment other than agreed and assessed as necessary as part of the start-up requirements.

All other mid-range equipment must be requested through the annual MRC equipment funding opportunity or other funding routes routine equipment (that constitutes normal elements of a well-founded laboratory) over and above the start-up fund of up to £500,000.

MRC has other arrangements to modestly support ongoing routine equipment needs of its major investments additional or duplicative equipment that is already part of the existing research environment of the applicants generic computing platforms for data analysis or data storage, which should be part of wider research organisation data management activities buildings and other types of infrastructures clinical trials or longitudinal population studies, which have specific governance requirements and for which alternative funding routes are available.

MRC CoREs may utilise existing cohorts or clinical trials funded through other routes.

If such activities are relevant applicants should make clear in the application how these would be supported You may include project partners that will support your research project through cash or in-kind contributions, such as: recruitment of people as research participants providing samples, such as human tissue, for the project Each project partner must provide a statement of support.

If your application involves industry partners, they must provide additional information if the team project partner falls within the industry collaboration framework . Find out more about subcontractors and dual roles . Who cannot be included as a project partner Any individual included in your application with a core team role cannot also be a project partner.

Any organisation that employs a member of the application core team cannot be a project partner organisation. This includes other departments within the same organisation. If you are collaborating with someone in your organisation, consider including them as project co-lead, or specialist.

They cannot be a project partner. Supporting skills and talent We encourage you to follow the principles of the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers and the Technician Commitment . MRC’s vision for doctoral training is to support high-quality doctoral training programmes that take a student-centred approach, focusing on scientific excellence, positive research culture and wider training opportunities.

Funding for studentships may be requested as part of your approach to training and capacity building in the challenge area. Our expectation is that non-clinical studentships offered by an MRC CoRE would be four years in duration but may be shorter to account for a student’s relevant prior qualifications or experience.

Studentships will be fully aligned with an existing Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP), Doctoral Landscape award (DLA) or equivalent at the host research organisation(s). This ensures a consistent national standard for doctoral training and ensures that MRC CoRE students benefit from the best practice approaches, expertise and cohort element provided by the DTPs and DLAs.

Resource awarded for MRC CoRE Studentships would be ring-fenced and the scientific agenda driven by the MRC CoRE. Trusted Research and Innovation (TR&I) UKRI is committed in ensuring that effective international collaboration in research and innovation takes place with integrity and within strong ethical frameworks.

Trusted Research and Innovation (TR&I) is a UKRI work programme designed to help protect all those working in our thriving and collaborative international sector by enabling partnerships to be as open as possible, and as secure as necessary. Our TR&I Principles set out UKRI’s expectations of organisations funded by UKRI in relation to due diligence for international collaboration.

As such, applicants for UKRI funding may be asked to demonstrate how their proposed projects will comply with our approach and expectation towards TR&I, identifying potential risks and the relevant controls you will put in place to help proportionately reduce these risks. See further guidance and information about TR&I , including where you can find additional support.

We are running this funding opportunity on the new UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Funding Service, so please ensure that your organisation is registered. You cannot apply on the Joint Electronic Submissions (Je-S) system. The project lead is responsible for completing the application process on the UKRI Funding Service, but we expect all team members and project partners to contribute to the application.

If the lead research organisation is an NHS organisation, check it is available in the Funding Service. You are encouraged to check this early as there may be additional steps for the organisation to be set up before you can apply. Only the lead research organisation can submit an application to UKRI.

You can only apply for this funding opportunity if we have invited you to do so following a successful stage one application. The start application link will be provided via email: Confirm you are the project lead. Please allow at least 10 working days for your organisation to be added to the Funding Service.

We strongly suggest that if you are asking UKRI to add your organisation to the Funding Service to enable you to apply to this opportunity, you also create an organisation Administration Account. This will be needed to allow the acceptance and management of any grant that might be offered to you. Answer questions directly in the text boxes.

You can save your answers and come back to complete them or work offline and return to copy and paste your answers. If we need you to upload a document, follow the upload instructions in the Funding Service. All questions and assessment criteria are listed in the How to apply section on this Funding finder page.

Allow enough time to check your application in ‘read-only’ view before sending to your research office. Send the completed application to your research office for checking. They will return it to you if it needs editing.

Your research office will submit the completed and checked application to UKRI. Please be aware that research office and finance teams undertake checks on hosting arrangements and financial eligibility. The ultimate responsibility for ensuring compliance with all opportunity requirements lies with the applicant.

Where indicated, you can also demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if relevant.

When including images, you must: provide a descriptive caption or legend for each image immediately underneath it in the text box (this must be outside the image and counts towards your word limit) insert each new image on a new line use files smaller than 5MB and in JPEG, JPG, JPE, JFI, JIF, JFIF, PNG, GIF, BMP or WEBP format Images should only be used to convey important visual information that cannot easily be put into words.

The following are not permitted, and your application will be rejected if you include: sentences or paragraphs of text excessive quantities of images A few words are permitted where the image would lack clarity without the contextual words, such as a diagram, where text labels are required for an axis or graph column.

For more guidance on the Funding Service, see: how applicants use the Funding Service how research offices use the Funding Service how reviewers use the Funding Service References should be included within the word count of the appropriate question section. You should use your discretion when including references and prioritise those most pertinent to the application. Hyperlinks can be used in reference information.

When including references, you should consider how your references will be viewed and used by the assessors, ensuring that: references are easily identifiable by the assessors references are formatted as appropriate to your research persistent identifiers are used where possible General use of hyperlinks Applications should be self-contained. You should only use hyperlinks to link directly to reference information.

You must not include links to web resources to extend your application. Assessors are not required to access links to conduct assessment or recommend a funding decision. Generative artificial intelligence (AI) Use of generative AI tools to prepare funding applications is permitted, however, caution should be applied.

For more information see our policy on the use of generative AI in application and assessment . We must receive your application by 10 September 2026 at 4:00pm UK time. You will not be able to apply after this time.

Make sure you are aware of and follow any internal institutional deadlines. Following the submission of your application to the funding opportunity, your application cannot be changed, and applications will not be returned for amendment. If your application does not follow the guidance, it may be rejected.

MRC, as part of UKRI, will need to collect some personal information to manage your UKRI Funding Service account and the registration of your funding applications. We will handle personal data in line with UK data protection legislation and manage it securely. For more information, including how to exercise your rights, read our privacy notice .

MRC, as part of UKRI, will need to share the application and any personal information that it contains with the Ministry of Defence (MOD) so that they can participate in the assessment process. For more information on how the MOD uses personal information, visit MOD privacy notice . If you or a core team member need to tell us something you wish to remain confidential, email CoRE@mrc.

ukri. org Include in the subject line: [the funding opportunity title; sensitive information; your UKRI Funding Service application number].

Typical examples of confidential information include: individual is unavailable until a certain date (for example due to parental leave) additional information about eligibility to apply that would not be appropriately shared in the ‘Applicant and team capability’ section conflict of interest for UKRI to consider in reviewer or panel participant selection the application is an invited resubmission For information about how UKRI handles personal data, read UKRI’s privacy notice .

Institutional matched funding There is no requirement for matched funding from the institutions hosting the project lead, project co-leads or other staff employed on the application, beyond the standard 20% FEC. Expert reviewers and panels assessing UKRI funding applications must not consider levels of institutional matched funding as a factor on which to base recommendations.

Direct and in-kind contributions from third party project partners are encouraged. This policy does not remove the need for support from host organisations who must provide the necessary research environment and infrastructure for award-specific activities funded by UKRI. For example, research facilities, training and development of staff.

MRC, as part of UKRI, will publish the outcomes of this funding opportunity at Board and panel outcomes . If your application is successful, we will publish some personal information on the UKRI Gateway to Research . In plain English, provide a summary we can use to identify the most suitable experts to assess your application.

We usually make this summary publicly available on external-facing websites, therefore do not include any confidential or sensitive information. Make it suitable for a variety of readers, for example: the wider research community Guidance for writing a summary As this will be the first information in your application use it as your ‘elevator pitch’, where your audience is a variety of readers.

Avoiding the use of jargon and complex language, clearly describe your proposed challenge in terms of: the gap, opportunity, or unmet need which the challenge addresses top level aims and objectives innovative approaches to delivering the challenge the transformational impact it will have if successful List the key members of your team and assign them roles from the following: project co-lead (UK) (PcL) project co-lead (international) (PcL (I)) professional enabling staff research and innovation associate Only list one individual as project lead.

If you include more than one project lead your application will fail at the checking stage. This should be the person who will act as the grant holder with responsibilities to MRC at the start of the MRC CoRE award, this is for administrative purposes. Other leadership team members should be the project co-leads.

The leadership team members’ application roles should not imply relative status or influence the leadership model which is for the applicants to propose. When there are two or more host organisations involved, the project lead must be affiliated with the lead research organisation. All host organisations must be represented by an eligible project co-lead.

Do not include proposed members of the MRC CoRE’s International Strategic Advisory Board as applicants or project partners. UKRI has introduced a new addition to the ‘Specialist’ role type. Public contributors such as people with lived experience can now be added to an application as a ‘Specialist’.

Find out more about UKRI’s core team roles in funding applications . What is the research challenge, why is it important, and why do you need MRC CoRE funding?

What the assessors are looking for in your response the distinctive research challenge you will address over 14 years, this should include a clear challenge statement that articulates your challenge in no more than 50 to 100 words what will be different as a result of your work; how it will make a difference and lead to transformative impact in biomedical or health research and place the UK in an internationally leading position how your proposed MRC CoRE is positioned in relation to other research efforts in the field, nationally and internationally how the challenge is aligned with the MRC mission how the proposed work will contribute to UK government priorities the bold, distinctive, disruptive, and innovative approaches you will use to achieve your ambitions why these ambitions are best achieved through MRC CoRE funding rather than other available funding mechanisms References may be included within this section.

You may demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if relevant. Further details are provided in