MRC Experimental Medicine is sponsored by Medical Research Council (MRC). Supports experimental medicine research to advance understanding of disease mechanisms and test new interventions, directly relevant to drug discovery and development pathways.

Experimental medicine stage one – UKRI Funding opportunity: Experimental medicine stage one Medical Research Council (MRC) 30 April 2026 9:00am UK time 7 October 2026 4:00pm UK time Last updated: 20 May 2026 - see all updates Apply for funding to investigate the causes, progression and treatment of human disease.

focus on a mechanistic hypothesis include an experimental intervention or challenge in humans You must be a researcher based at a research organisation eligible to apply for MRC funding. If you are taking the next step towards becoming an independent researcher, you may be eligible to apply as a ‘new investigator. There is no limit to the amount of funding you can apply for or the length of your project.

We will fund 80% of your project’s full economic cost. This is an ongoing funding opportunity. Application rounds close every April and October.

This opportunity is open to organisations with standard eligibility. Check if your organisation is eligible .

To be eligible to apply for this funding opportunity you must: show that you will direct the project and be actively engaged in the work be looking to investigate the causes, progression and treatment of human disease If you do not have a contract of employment for the duration of the proposed project, by submitting an application the research organisation is confirming that, if it is successful: contracts will be extended beyond the end date of the project all necessary support for the project and the applicants will be provided, including mentorship and career development for early career researchers New investigator applicants We welcome applications from early career researchers.

The new investigator award is aimed at researchers who are capable of becoming independent researchers and who are now ready to take the next step towards that goal.

If you are applying for this opportunity as a ‘new investigator’, you must also: have your research organisation support be able to demonstrate that your skills and experience at the time of your application match those of the ‘transition to independence’ career stage, as set out in the MRC skills and experience table use this grant to support your long-term career goals and chosen career route be able to demonstrate you are the sole intellectual leader of the application and the proposed work If you meet the eligibility criteria, you can also apply as a new investigator, if you: are employed as a postdoctoral research assistant, although this grant cannot start until your current work finishes hold a lecturer appointment, a junior fellowship or another research staff position hold, or have held, an early career training fellowship such as a Medical Research Council (MRC) skills development fellowship do not have a contract with your chosen host organisation are not currently based at the eligible research organisation that has agreed to host your new investigator award are either a non-clinical or clinically active researcher have any number of years of experience Who is not eligible to apply as a new investigator You are not eligible to apply if you have already achieved independence.

New investigator awards support individuals who have not previously led a research team or been awarded a substantial grant as fellow or project lead (formally known as principal investigator). A substantial grant is typically defined as for three or more years and including salary support for one or more additional team members.

You are also not eligible to apply as a new investigator if you have: an award or have held an award that facilitates the transition to independence applied for an MRC new investigator award twice before an application for any UK Research and Innovation fellowship currently under consideration, including a early independence: career development fellowship , early independence: clinician scientist fellowship or future leaders fellowships If you are unsure whether you meet the eligibility criteria as a new investigator or have any questions about your eligibility, you should contact experimental.

medicine@mrc. ukri. org to find out whether you can apply.

See further details on the New Investigator Award . Your other team members (new investigators) We recognise and support the value of team science and interdisciplinary research, which may be important to your career development. Therefore, project co-leads, specialists and other team roles may be included if you are applying as a new investigator.

Your team members should bring essential complimentary research, technical expertise or skills to the project, that you as the new investigator project lead cannot provide, or you are aiming to develop. We encourage you to use the appropriate application sections, such as ‘Applicant and team capability to deliver’, to make your leadership role clear and justify the team around you.

It is not usually appropriate for a current or recent supervisor, or lab head of the new investigator, to be part of the applicant team as this may make your leadership unclear. If this is essential to the proposed work, it must be specifically justified. You can only submit one application as project lead to this funding opportunity.

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 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 these organisations 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 Charities and third sector organisations that are approved UKRI Independent Research Organisations are eligible to apply as project lead or project co-lead.

International researchers As MRC is the lead funder for this funding opportunity, international researchers can apply as ‘project co-lead (international)’. Project co-leads (international) make a major intellectual contribution to the design or conduct of the project.

Their contribution and added value to the research collaboration should be clearly explained and justified in the application, using the appropriate application sections, such as ‘Applicant and team capability to deliver’. Read 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 (or UK partners not based at approved organisations) as project partners. Equality, diversity and inclusion 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 UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) applicants and grant holders during the application and assessment process. Demand management is being applied to this funding opportunity.

Further details are provided in the ‘Who can apply’ section. You can apply for academically-led experimental medicine projects that are conducted in humans. Your project should be based around a clearly articulated gap in understanding of human pathophysiology and have a clear path to clinical impact.

Successful projects will generate new mechanistic insights, including those that may: identify opportunities to modify disease pathways enable the future development of novel therapeutic or diagnostic approaches We welcome applications in all disease areas and interventions.

What your application must include Your application must involve an experimental intervention or challenge in humans, with safety profiles established, which has been designed to validate a mechanistic hypothesis.

The challenge may be, but is not limited to: The following types of work are eligible for support: the use of novel readouts or technologies primarily to advance understanding of human pathophysiology or disease mechanisms, while allowing early efficacy signals as secondary measures the use of drugs, other interventions or measures with established safety profiles in new settings or conditions.

For example, repurposing drugs as tool compounds to probe disease mechanisms Support for characterisation or phenotyping of subjects using samples from clinical studies may be included where there is a clear link to a current treatment strategy but should not be the sole focus of your application.

As such, limited, hypothesis-driven, retrospective sample analysis may be included at the start of the project to improve the design of the interventional, experimental medicine study. In such instance, milestone criteria should clearly detail what data is required from the confirmatory analysis for the project to progress.

Prospective, nested studies within a larger cohort trial may be eligible provided they: can demonstrate added value are exploring disease mechanisms address a different question to the main study Competitive applications will aim to address a clear mechanistic question and provide strong rationale to justify the suitability of the experimental system proposed to test the presented hypothesis.

Activities we do not support The activities that are ineligible for support are: characterisation or phenotyping work aiming to elucidate disease aetiology experimental intervention or challenge in animals, using clinical assets to explore disease mechanisms and pathways pre-clinical model development and validation MRC: new investigator research grant The following activities are also ineligible for support through this funding opportunity: development and evaluation of novel therapeutics, diagnostics or devices (supported by the UKRI Translation: MRC proof of concept funding opportunity) high-throughput screening approaches to target validation late-phase clinical efficacy trials (supported by the Medical Research Council (MRC) and National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Efficacy and Mechanism Evaluation Programme ) observational studies involving no experimental challenge We encourage you to contact us first at experimental.

medicine@mrc. ukri. org to discuss your application, especially if you believe your research may cross MRC or research council interests.

Learn about MRC’s remit, programmes and priority areas . There is no limit to the duration of projects. You should justify the timescale of the project in the context of the proposed work.

For new investigator awards, your project duration should be determined by the needs of your project and the case supporting your transition to independence. For this funding opportunity three years is a typical duration. However, you may apply for a longer project duration project, if you are able to justify why this is necessary.

New investigator awards do not normally last for less than three years, because it is unlikely the transition to independence could be achieved in that time. Milestones allow us to mitigate risk and support potentially high-risk, innovative projects.

Experimental medicine awards will typically have at least two milestones with defined success criteria that reflect timely progression points and allow mechanistic hypotheses to be laid out and assessed as the project moves forward. Your milestones should also provide a realistic indication of timelines for key steps, such as regulatory steps, study team recruitment, participant recruitment, study completion and data analysis.

Milestone success criteria should be SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and timely) and detail any robust Go or No-Go criteria. For all projects, it is advisable to structure the project so that the critical questions are addressed as early as possible in the plan. There is no limit to the funding you can apply for.

You should justify the resources needed in the context of the proposed work. We will fund 80% of the full economic cost and 100% of permitted exceptions. Find out more about full economic costing .

You can request funding for costs such as: a contribution to the salary of the project lead (if you are applying as a new investigator, your salary request is capped at 50% of your total working time) a contribution to salary for the time any co-lead will spend working on the project support for other posts such as research and technical staff data preservation, data sharing and dissemination costs estates and indirect costs NHS research costs.

Note: following authorisation from the AcoRD specialist, the Schedule of Events Cost Attribution Tool (SoECAT) ‘study information’ and ‘summary’ page of the ‘funder export’ must accompany your stage two application public partnerships and related activities, including payments to public contributors Note, if you are applying as a new investigator, the salary you request should be in line with the host research organisation’s usual new investigator levels.

New investigator salary costs will be funded at 80% of the full economic cost for the proportion of time requested. 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 Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Development Assistance Committee (DAC) list of official development assistance recipients ), India and China must not exceed 30% of the total resources requested.

There is no cap on costs requested for international applicants from Development Assistance Countries (DAC) list of 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 .

How you spend your time (new investigators only) New investigator awards are intended to support a research project, combined with a range of other academic or clinical activities, during the transition to independence, such as: time spent on other research grants research organisation administration duties other time spent in faculty To enable new investigator applicants to combine their research project with other activities, applicants are expected to request funding for up to 50% of their contracted working time, as determined by the project.

If you want to spend more than 50% of your working time on the project, a strong scientific justification must be provided. clinical studies designed to assess the safety or efficacy of treatments costs for PhD studentships funding to use as a ‘bridge’ between grants A project partner is a collaborating organisation in the UK or overseas, including partners based in the EU, who will have an integral role in the proposed research.

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 in the core team 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 . Trusted Research and Innovation (TR&I) UK Research and Innovation (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 applicants 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 Funding Service, but we expect all team members and project partners to contribute to the application.

Only the lead research organisation can submit an application to UKRI. 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.

Select ‘Start application’ near the beginning of this Funding finder page. Confirm you are the project lead. 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 . The Medical Research Council (MRC) must receive your application by 7 October 2026 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 this funding opportunity, your application cannot be changed, and submitted applications will not be amended. 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 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 .

If you or a core team member need to tell us something you wish to remain confidential, email experimental. medicine@mrc. ukri.

org Include in the subject line: [the funding opportunity title; sensitive information; your 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 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 Clearly describe your proposed work in terms of: the challenge the project addresses potential applications and benefits relationship with MRC priority areas or highlights (if applicable) 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. 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.

For all roles, with the exception of public contributors, such as people with lived experience, individuals must be based at the lead organisation or a collaborating organisation. Collaborating organisations are those organisations where project co-leads are based. Team members cannot be based at any other organisation.

Find out more about UKRI’s core team roles in funding applications . New investigator applications You should note that the role of researcher co-lead (RcL) is not permitted to be selected when you are applying as a new investigator. To make your leadership role clear and justify the team around you, we encourage you to use the appropriate application sections such as applicant and team capability to deliver.

New investigator applicants Do you consider yourself eligible to apply as a new investigator for this funding opportunity? What the assessors are looking for in your response If you are eligible to apply as a new investigator, answer ‘Yes’ in the text box. At stage two, new investigators will be asked to provide information about their eligibility, career development and research organisation support.

If you are not applying as a new investigator, you will be able to indicate this in the Funding Service. Find out more about eligibility and applying for a ‘New Investigator Award’ . Is this application a resubmission of a previous experimental medicine stage one or an invited resubmission of a stage two application and, if so, how have you considered and acted on the feedback you received?

What the assessors are looking for in your response If your application is a resubmission, ensure you: describe how feedback on your previous stage one or stage two application has been considered and acted on provide succinct responses to the panel’s comments on your previous stage one or stage two application References may be included within this section. You may demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if relevant.

Further details are provided in the Funding Service. Enter ‘N/A’ into the text box if this is your first time applying to experimental medicine stage one for your proposed research. What are you hoping to achieve with your proposed work?

What the assessors are looking for in your response Explain how your proposed work: is of excellent quality and importance within or beyond the field(s) or area(s) has the potential to advance current understanding, or generate new knowledge, thinking or discovery within or beyond the field or area is timely given current trends, context, and needs impacts world-leading research, society, the economy, or the environment Within the ‘Vision’ section we also expect you to: outline the current clinical challenge, healthcare burden or knowledge gap summarise the current state of understanding about the relevant mechanisms of disease identify the current gap in mechanistic understanding state the mechanistic hypothesis to be tested References may be included within this section.

You may demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if relevant. Further details are provided in the Funding Service. What is the planned intervention?

What the assessors are looking for in your response Explain the planned intervention to be used in the proposed work, including: the type of intervention, which may include compound, biologic, psychological, physiological, vaccine or immune challenge relevant background information, including its established safety profile and use in other mechanistic studies References may be included in this section.

You may demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if relevant. Further details are provided in the Funding Service. How are you going to deliver your proposed work?

What the assessors are looking for in your response Within the Approach section we expect you to provide an outline project plan, including project milestones and timelines, demonstrating: how you propose to address the identified gap in knowledge the objectives of the proposed research in order of priority the primary and secondary experimental outcomes and how they relate to the experimental objectives how the proposed work packages will ensure the project objectives are achieved the success criteria that will be used for each milestone, detailing the robust Go or No-Go criteria To support your project plan, you must also provide an embedded legible Gantt chart that should include project tasks and project milestones.

Experimental medicine projects must include at least two progression milestones which are: major specifically-timed decision points (including the project end goal) defined by SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and timely success criteria and, where appropriate, detailed and robust Go or No-go criteria Within the Approach section we also expect you to outline the proposed methodology and experimental design, including: the experiments you will undertake to probe the stated hypothesis the data you will collect and how it will test the hypothesis the proposed trial design and why this approach is appropriate to meet the study objectives As part of your methodology and experimental design, outline the nature of human participation in your proposed work, including: the characteristics of the participants (such as age, disease) and the rationale for their selection target and acceptable levels of participant recruitment across the project timeline evidence of recruitment feasibility the participant recruitment strategy, including the steps that will be taken if patient recruitment does not reach the set target if applicable, outline how any limited animal, library specimen or isolate cell work will inform the human-centric proposed work.

For any research involving animals, tissues and cells, you must show how you will use male and female donors . If you are not proposing to do this, a strong justification is required if applicable, explain and justify the inclusion of public partnerships and the added value these offer You should detail any information regarding your statistical analysis plan in the ‘Reproducibility and statistical design’ section.

Outline the project risks and risk management, including: how likely the risks are to occur what their impact would be on the success and deliverability of the project your risk mitigation strategy, giving particular consideration to any potential safety risks and how these risks will be managed, by whom and related escalation or mitigations procedures You may use a risk table to support your response.

You should also demonstrate access to the appropriate services, clinical support, facilities, infrastructure, or equipment to deliver the proposed work, including details of: specialist equipment or infrastructure required to deliver the project objectives the use of existing clinical infrastructure such as Experimental Cancer Medicine Centres, NIHR Biomedical Research Centres, NIHR Clinical research facilities, patient cohorts We suggest you structure your response using the following headings, with approximate words counts for each: project plan and milestones: 500 words methodology and experimental design: 500 words risk management: 300 words infrastructure and equipment: 200 words References may be included throughout the ‘Approach’ section.

We suggest you include your references under the most relevant heading. Any references you include count towards the approximate word limit indicated for each heading. You may demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if relevant.

Further details are provided in the Funding Service. Reproducibility and statistical design How will you ensure your proposed work is reliable, robust and reproducible?

What assessors are looking for in your response We expect you to seek professional statistical or other relevant advice in preparing your statistical analysis plan, which may include: planned statistical analyses Ensure you provide sufficient details to justify your proposed samples and effect sizes, and statistical analysis plan. Refer to the MRC guidance for applicants for further information, examples and online tools.

You may demonstrate elements of your responses