Population and Systems Medicine: Research Grant

Population and Systems Medicine: Research Grant is sponsored by Medical Research Council (MRC). Funds research projects focused on population and systems medicine, including pathology-related studies.

Population and systems medicine: research grant – UKRI Funding opportunity: Population and systems medicine: research grant Medical Research Council (MRC) 1 May 2025 9:00am UK time 4 September 2025 4:00pm UK time Last updated: 8 September 2025 - see all updates Apply for funding to support research projects focused on population and systems medicine.

You must be employed by a research organisation eligible to apply for Medical Research Council (MRC) funding. You can involve more than one research group or organisation in the project. There is no limit to the funding you can apply for, but it should be appropriate to the project.

We will usually fund up to 80% of your project’s full economic cost. Projects can last up to five years, but they typically last three to four years. 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 funding opportunity you must: show that you will direct the project and be actively engaged in the work focus your application within the research area of population and systems medicine For applicants who do not have a contract of employment for the duration of the proposed project, by submitting an application the research organisation is confirming, 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 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 or MRC/UVRI Uganda Research Unit at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. International researchers As MRC is a 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 should be clearly explained and justified in the application, see Applicant and team capability to deliver. 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. 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. We are looking to fund research in population and systems medicine.

The Population and Systems Medicine Board (PSMB) funds research to unlock the complexity of human health and disease across the life course. Our remit includes population health and the impact of environmental factors including the social environment on health outcomes.

PSMB supports research focused on the physiology and pathophysiology of all the major organs and systems, with the exception of the brain and the immune system, which are normally supported through our other research boards.

We are looking to fund research in areas including, but not limited to: renal medicine and liver function endocrinology and reproductive health maternal health and the early origins of health and disease nutrition, metabolic regulation, diabetes and obesity trauma, acute medicine and surgery inflammation in relation to disease processes and the resolution of the inflammatory response lifestyle, socio-economic and behavioural impacts on health population and disease related cohort Find out more about the population and systems medicine areas of investment .

We encourage you to contact us first at psmb@mrc. ukri. org to discuss your application, especially if you believe your research may cross MRC or research council interests.

If your application fits another research board remit better, we may decide to transfer it there to be assessed.

MRC applicant led research grants: are suitable for focused short or long-term research projects can support method development can support development and continuation of research infrastructures and resources specifically relevant to the needs of our research communities, that cannot be supported through other routes may involve more than one research group or organisation For more information on the background of this funding opportunity, go to the ‘Additional information’ section.

We will fund projects lasting up to five years, although projects typically last three to four years. If your project will last more than three years, you must justify the reason for this. If your project will last less than two years, it must be for proof of principle or pilot work.

We expect proof of principle applications to support high-risk or high-reward research by critically testing a key hypothesis or demonstrating the feasibility of an approach that could lead to fundamentally new avenues of research. Contact psmb@mrc. ukri.

org for advice if you would like to apply for a short or long-duration project. Projects should start between one to six months after the funding decision date. There is no limit to the funding you can apply for.

Your application must be for an amount that: is appropriate to the project you can justify in order to deliver the objectives of the proposed research 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 and co-leads support for other posts such as research and technical staff data preservation, data sharing and dissemination costs estates and indirect costs NHS research costs , when they are associated with NHS studies public partnerships and related activities, including payments to public contributors 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 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 . research involving randomised trials of clinical treatments costs for PhD studentships funding to use as a ‘bridge’ between grants If you are applying using a lead agency agreement, we will not fund the international partners, they will be funded by their respective funding agency.

You may include team 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 relationship falls within the industry collaboration framework . Find out more about subcontractors and dual roles . Who cannot be included as a team project partner Any individual included in your application core team 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.

Four grant types are available, research , new investigator , programme and partnership . Before you select ‘Start application’, check you are applying for the appropriate grant type. Applications submitted to the incorrect grant type will be rejected.

Select ‘Start application’ near the beginning of this Funding finder page. 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. 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 counts towards your word limit) insert each new image onto 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 may 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 . MRC must receive your application by 4 September 2025 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 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 psmb@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 the application is an invited resubmission For information about how UKRI handles personal data, read UKRI’s privacy notice .

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 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.

Find out more about UKRI’s core team roles in funding applications . Select the primary MRC research area your application most closely aligns to.

In the text box, copy the number corresponding to your selected area: Population and System Medicine Board dentistry and orofacial medicine metabolism and metabolic disease longitudinal population studies maternal health including pregnancy and childbirth renal function and disease hepatic function and disease paediatrics and child health integrated understanding of human physiology and disease myalgic encephalomyelitis or chronic fatigue syndrome This is for administrative purposes to help with the initial application processing.

We will check your choice and make a final decision on which board will lead the assessment of your application. 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 fields or areas 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: identify the potential direct or indirect benefits and who the beneficiaries might be identify potential improvements in human or population health, whether through contributing to relieving disease or disability burden, improving quality of life or providing benefit to the health service or health-related industry 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. How are you going to deliver your proposed work?

What the assessors are looking for in your response Explain how you have designed your approach so that it: is effective and appropriate to achieve your objectives is feasible, and comprehensively identifies any risks to delivery and how they will be managed uses a clearly written and transparent methodology (if applicable) summarises the previous work and describes how this will be built upon and progressed (if applicable) will maximise translation of outputs into outcomes and impacts describes how your, and if applicable your team’s, research environment (in terms of the place and relevance to the project) will contribute to the success of the work Within the Approach section we also expect you to: demonstrate access to the appropriate services, facilities, infrastructure, or equipment to deliver the project provide a project plan including milestones and timelines, in the form of an embedded Gantt chart or similar explain and justify how you will approach diversity and inclusion in the study population and follow the MRC embedding diversity in research design policy (if applicable) show how you will use male and female animals or tissues and cells from female and male donors (if applicable) in your research.

If you are not proposing to do this justify why explain and justify the inclusion of public partnerships (if applicable) and the added value these offer 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.

Reproducibility and statistical design How will you ensure your proposed work is reliable, robust and reproducible? What assessors are looking for in your response Information about reproducibility and how you will ensure reliability and robustness of your proposed work, such as further details of statistical analyses, methodology and experimental design, not provided in your approach.

We expect you to seek professional statistical or other relevant advice in preparing your response, which should include, as appropriate: planned statistical analyses models chosen (for example animal model, cell line) potential sources of bias and how these will be mitigated during analysis how your approach to addressing diversity is reflected in the experimental design and analyses Refer to the MRC guidance for applicants , for further information, examples and online tools.

If your proposed work involves animals, and you provide information on animal sample sizes and statistical analyses here, you should not duplicate it in the ‘Research involving the use of animals’ section. Use the ‘Research involving the use of animals’ section to provide information on the rationale for using animals, choice of species, welfare and procedure severity.

You may demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if relevant. Further details are provided in the Funding Service. The length of your response will vary depending on the type of project, you may not need to use 500 words.

Data management and sharing How will you manage and share data collected or acquired through the proposed research? What the assessors are looking for in your response Provide a data management plan which should clearly detail how you will comply with MRC’s published data management and sharing policies , which includes detailed guidance notes.

Provide your response in the text box following the headings in the MRC data management plan template . You are not required to upload the document to your application.

The length of your plan will vary depending on the type of study being undertaken, as follows: population cohorts, longitudinal studies, genetic, omics and imaging data, biobanks, and other collections that are potentially a rich resource for the wider research community: maximum of 1,500 words all other research, less complex, the plan may be as short as 500 words Applicant and team capability to deliver Why are you the right individual or team to successfully deliver the proposed work?

What the assessors are looking for in your response Evidence of how you, and if relevant your team, have: the relevant experience ( appropriate to career stage ) to deliver the proposed work the right balance of skills and expertise to cover the proposed work the appropriate leadership and management skills to deliver the work and your approach to develop others contributed to developing a positive research environment and wider community You may demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if relevant.

Further details are provided in the Funding Service. The word limit for this section is 1,650 words: 1,150 words to be used for R4RI modules (including references) and, if necessary, a further 500 words for Additions.

Use the Résumé for Research and Innovation (R4RI) format to showcase the range of relevant skills you and, if relevant, your team (project and project co-leads, researchers, technicians, specialists, partners and so on) have and how this will help deliver the proposed work. You can include individuals’ specific achievements but only choose past contributions that best evidence their ability to deliver this work.

Complete this section using the R4RI module headings listed. Use each heading once and include a response for the whole team, see the UKRI guidance on R4RI .

You should consider how to balance your answer, and emphasise where appropriate the key skills each team member brings: contributions to the generation of new ideas, tools, methodologies, or knowledge the development of others and maintenance of effective working relationships contributions to the wider research and innovation community contributions to broader research or innovation users and audiences and towards wider societal benefit, including public partnerships Provide any further details relevant to your application.

This section is optional and can be up to 500 words. You should not use it to describe additional skills, experiences, or outputs, but you can use it to describe any factors that provide context for the rest of your R4RI (for example, details of career breaks if you wish to disclose them). Complete this as a narrative.

Do not format it like a CV. References may be included within this section. The roles in funding applications policy has descriptions of the different project roles.

Add details about any project partners contributions. If there are no project partners, you can indicate this on the Funding Service. A project partner is a collaborating person or organisation who will have an integral role in your proposed research.

Their involvement may include direct (cash) and or indirect (in-kind) contributions such as expertise, staff time, use of facilities or recruitment of research participants. Project partners may be in industry, academia, third sector or government organisations in the UK or overseas, including partners based in the EU.

A project partner is not anyone in your core team or anyone from your organisation or any of the other organisations represented by core team members.

Add the following project partner details: the organisation name (searchable via a drop-down list or enter the organisation’s details manually, as applicable) the project partner contact name and email address the type of contribution (direct or in-direct) and its monetary value If a detail is entered incorrectly and you have saved the entry, remove the specific project partner record and re-add it with the correct information.

If there are specific circumstances where project partners do require funding for minor costs such as travel and subsistence, these project partner costs should be claimed and justified within the resources and costs section of your application. If you are adding a project partner to this section, you must ensure they provide you with a letter or email of support and you upload it to ‘Project partners: letters or emails of support’.

If your project partners are from industry or a company, you must also complete the ‘Industry Collaboration Framework (ICF)’ section. Project partners: letters (or emails) of support Upload a single PDF containing the letters or emails of support from each partner you named in the ‘Project partners’ section. These should be uploaded in English or Welsh only.

What the assessors are looking for in your response If you do not have any project partners, you will be able to indicate this in the Funding Service. What supporting statements we are looking for We are looking for you to provide letters or emails of support from all your identified project partners.

What we are not looking for We don’t want any other letters (or emails) of support, from people who are not your identified project partners, such as those simply expressing general support for your project. If these are included by you, they will be ignored by us and will not be used in the assessment process.

You should only provide letters or emails of support from people you have identified in the project partner section of your application, who will have an integral role in your proposed research.

What each project partner letter or email of support must include Each project partner letter or email you provide should: include the name of the project partner organisation and contact information explain the project partners’ commitment to the project explain the value, relevance, and possible benefits of the proposed work, to them describe any additional value they will bring to the project not exceed two sides of A4 per project partner Project partner letters and emails of support are not required to be on headed paper or include handwritten signatures (electronic signatures are acceptable).

The Funding Service will provide document upload details when you apply. Project partners from industry or a company Industry or company project partners are required to download and complete the industry or company letter of support template . You must also complete the ‘Industry Collaboration Framework (ICF)’ section.

Find out more about ICF .

Project partners responsible for recruiting research participants or providing human tissues or samples If the project partner is responsible for the recruitment of people as research participants or providing human tissue their letter or email of support should include: agreement that the project partner will recruit the participants or provide tissue confirmation that what is being supplied is suitable for the proposed work confirmation that the quantity of tissue being supplied is suitable, but not excessive for achieving meaningful results (if applicable) Agreement with your project partners Ensure you have prior agreement from project partners so that, if you are offered funding, they will support your project as indicated in the ‘Project partners’ section.

For audit purposes, UKRI requires formal collaboration agreements to be put in place if an award is made. Industry Collaboration Framework (ICF) Does your application include collaboration with industry or company project partners? What the assessors are looking for in your response The assessors are looking for you to confirm if your proposed work involves collaboration with an industry or company project partner.

If it does, you will need to follow the MRC industry collaboration framework (ICF). By ‘industry or company’ we mean an enterprise that puts or has intention to put goods or services on a market.

For guidance to assist your decision if your proposed work requires you to follow ICF, you should explore the ICF decision tree and find out more about ICF which includes: definitions of basic or applied research internationally based companies intellectual property (IP) arrangements fully flexible and gated contributions the ICF assessment criteria Enter ‘Yes’ in the text box if you have industry or company project partners and you are likely to follow ICF.

You should also confirm your answers to the ICF questions one to nine in the text box for each ICF project partner. Contact psmb@mrc. ukri.

org if you are unsure if your application should follow ICF. In addition to the project partner information completed in the previous section, the assessors are looking for information relating to the nature, goals and conditions of the collaboration and any restrictions or rights to the project results that could be claimed by the industry or company project partner.

Confirm your answers to the ICF questions in the text box, repeat this process for each ICF project partner: Name the industry or company project partner considered under ICF. Indicate whether your application is basic research or applied research. Explain why, in the absence of the requested UKRI funding, the collaboration and the planned research could not be undertaken.

State whether your application is under the category of fully flexible contribution or gated contribution (based on the IP sharing arrangements with the industry or company partner). Outline the pre-existing IP (‘background IP’) that each partner, including the academic partner, will bring to the collaborative research project and the terms under which partners may access these assets.

Outline the IP that is expected to be developed during the collaborative research project (‘foreground IP’) and briefly outline how it will be managed, including: what rights industry or company partners will have to use academically-generated foreground IP during and after the research project, for internal research and development or for commercial purposes any rights of the academic partner to commercialise the foreground IP, including foreground IP generated by industry or company partners Outline any restrictions to dissemination of the project results, including the rights of the industry or company partner to: review, approve or delay publications (including the time period