Funding Opportunities

Availability: Your organisation submits an idea via the online application form. Illustrating how your concept uses AI to improve outcomes for citizens in Scotland.

Closing Date: Submissions close on the 23rd August 2024.

Value:£20,000

Summary:

ABOUT THE CHALLENGE
Artificial Intelligence (AI) can help the public sector to increase productivity, save money, and improve services, if harnessed effectively, responsibly and ethically. This competition invites public sector organisations to use AI to solve real-world problems.

It is open to all public sector organisations in Scotland, including the Scottish Government and its agencies and non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs), Local Government, Health and Social Care and arms-length organisations (ALEOs). The winner will receive the equivalent of £20,000 in technical support from Storm ID to further develop their proof of concept.
The Futurescot AI Challenge was conceived by Futurescot and our technology partner, Storm ID – two organisations bound by their mutual dedication to Scotland’s digital technology sector.

WHY TAKE PART?

The challenge offers multiple benefits for participants.

Gain insight into the application of AI
Explore and accelerate AI use cases with no financial and minimal resource commitment
Shortlisted organisations will receive a workshop and proof of concept to bring their idea to life, as well as a chance to showcase their idea at the biggest annual public sector digital transformation conference in Scotland
The winner will receive £20,000 in technical support from Storm ID, helping them make progress towards future adoption

Availability: Full details of the award are published and the call opens to applications: Week commencing 29 July 2024

Closing Date: N/A

Value:£3 to 7 million per project

Duration: Up to 5 Years

Summary:

Is your research right for this call?

The proposed intervention:

should target symptom(s) and/or functional impairments related to anxiety, depression or psychosis to advance early intervention
can include (but is not limited to) software, artificial intelligence, web-based programmes, mobile applications, chatbots, extended reality, wearable devices or video games
can be standalone or adjunct to other treatments and can be designed for delivery in a range of settings such as healthcare, workplaces, schools, homes or other environments

Proposals should also demonstrate the potential for the developed intervention to be delivered at scale, considering factors such as acceptability, affordability, feasibility and sustainability.

We expect that projects will have both a minimum viable product and feasibility data. Proposals should plan for evaluations of the intervention, employing appropriate comparators.

A range of designs are eligible such as (but not limited to):

clinical trials
case-control studies
quasi-experimental designs
real-world evidence generation studies
hybrid effectiveness-implementation studies

Involvement of people with lived experience

Lived experience experts should be engaged in multiple aspects and stages of the research. They should be involved as colleagues who use their personal knowledge and expertise to inform the strategic direction, governance, design and delivery of the research.

Upcoming events

Discussion and networking events on digital mental health (July to October 2024)
Partnering for Progress: Building Industry-Academic Partnerships in Digital Mental Health on Thursday 18 July 2024, 17:00 to 19:30 BST
Matchmaking events for companies and researchers (September 2024)
Funding webinar (10 September 2024)

Availability: Open

Closing Date: 13:00 on 26 September 2024

Value: N/A

Summary:

We are seeking to commission up to ten Application Development Awards (ADA) to carry out development work prior to research applications, with a requirement for applicant teams to involve Health and Care Professionals (HCP).

Through these ADAs and other HCP specific initiatives, we are offering more opportunities for HCPs to develop as highly skilled researchers and research leaders, and to move towards a more multi-professional approach to addressing the health and care challenges of today and the future.

The Health and Care Professionals (excluding doctors and dentists) eligible for this ADA call are listed below and must hold registration with one of the listed HEE/NIHR ICA Programme approved regulatory bodies or have plans in place to hold the required registration by the proposed award start date:

nurses (including nurses that work in social care)
midwives
pharmacists
healthcare scientists
Allied Health Professions

These ADAs are intended to support future applications for funding from any of the NIHR research programmes. Therefore applicants may find it helpful to look at the information available about the programmes. These ADAs are not programme-specific in nature.

This funding opportunity will be assessed via a single stage application process. Applicants are invited to submit a stage two application. In order to apply for this, you will need to carefully review the following documents:

Commissioning brief
Stage 2 guidance notes (specific to this opportunity)

Timescales

Any changes to these dates will be emailed to all Lead Applicants with an application in progress.

Stage 2 deadline: 1pm 26 September 2024
Notification of out of remit/non-competitive decision if unsuccessful: mid November 2024
Notification of Stage 2 funding decision: mid December 2024
Start date for funded studies: 1 April/1 May 2025

A webinar will be held on Wednesday 20 March 2024, 10-11am to support this funding opportunity. Please email us at crossprogramme@nihr.ac.uk to register.

Availability: 16 April

Closing Date: N/A

Value: £750,000

Duration: N/A

Eligibility: Eligibility varies. You should check the specific criteria of a funding opportunity before applying.

Summary:

The Global Advanced Fellowship is a mid-career postdoctoral award. The scheme will create a career pathway for Global Health researchers from the UK and low and middle income countries to become research leaders.

The Global Advanced Fellowship is for postdoctoral researchers at all levels. The NIHR Global Advanced Fellowship is aimed at individuals at various points of their career

This £750,000 award will fund research projects, training and development, and institutional capacity strengthening. The programme funds researchers undertaking research that aims to specifically and primarily benefit people in LMICs eligible for Official Development Assistance (ODA).

We welcome applications from different professional backgrounds, clinical and non-clinical.

Eligibility:
To be eligible for an NIHR Global Advanced Fellowship you must:

Hold a relevant PhD or postgraduate medical research degree, or have submitted your thesis for examination at the time of application. You must have been awarded your PhD or postgraduate medical research degree by the time you attend interview.
Not already hold a Professorship/Chair at the point of application.
For clinical applications: have completed relevant pre-registration training.
Be employed by a Higher Education Institution (HEI) or Research Institute in a LMIC or a HEI the UK
Be conducting research that directly and primarily benefit patients and the public in countries on the OECD DAC list.
Institutional eligibility
LMIC-based researchers
If you are employed by a Higher Education Institution (HEI) or research institute in a LMIC:

The institution must be able to provide appropriate academic support throughout the length of your Fellowship
The institution should have examples of recent research awards and a track record of research funding.
You may wish to include other LMIC partner organisation/s
The research outputs must be of direct and primary relevance to the health and care challenges of LMICs.
UK-based researchers
If you are hosted by a HEI in the UK (England and the Devolved Administrations):
You must have at least one partner organisation in LMIC(s).
The research outputs must be of direct and primary relevance to the health and care challenges of LMICs.
Apply to the Global Advanced Fellowship
The Global Advanced Fellowship will open for applications on 16 April 2024.If you are interested in applying for the scheme, please fill out an expression of interest form.

To find out more about the scheme subscribe to our Global Health newsletter and follow us on Twitter @NIHRglobal.

Webinar:
We will be hosting a webinar to support applications. The webinar will run twice on Tuesday 23 April 2024:

The morning session takes place 9:00am-10:00am GMT on 23 April 2024
The afternoon session takes place 3:00pm-4:00pm GMT on 23 April 2024
A recording of the session will be available on YouTube.

Availability: Open

Closing Date:

The 2024/2025 application windows are as follows:

1. Monday, 10th June 2024 at 12 noon (April until June)
2. Monday, 10th November 2024 at 12 noon (September until November)

Value: up to £350,000

Duration: N/A

Eligibility:

Applications are invited from teams who have been identified and supported by UK’s regional innovation boards such as Health Innovation Networks (HINs) in England, Innovation Hubs in Scotland, the Cardiac Network Board in Wales and the Cardiology Network in Northern Ireland.

The lead applicant/principal investigator must be employed by an NHS Organisation or UK academic institution. Applications can include working with other partners, such as the third sector and industry where you think such partners could drive innovation that would benefit patients with cardiovascular condition.

If you would like an informal discussion on a possible application/proposal prior to submission, please email us at healthcareinnovation@bhf.org.uk to arrange.

Summary:

Through the Healthcare Innovation Fund BHF is seeking to test and evaluate innovative approaches to the delivery of improved services for patients with cardiovascular disease.

The Healthcare Innovation Fund will be accepting applications in two rounds during 2024.

Round 2 opened on Monday 15th April 2024 and closes Monday 10th June 2024 at midday (no late applications). You can apply to the fund in the ‘How to apply’ section.

Round 3 opens on Monday 9th September 2024 and closes on Monday 4th November 2024 at midday (no late applications).

Previous calls have sought applications on ideas which:

Identified an unmet need that required further scoping and consensus building around need and potential solutions.
Had been scoped by an appropriate group of stakeholders and were ready to be tested and evaluated in practice.
Had been tested locally by an appropriate group of stakeholders and were ready for early stage of scaling.

Availability: Applications for cohort 9 of the CEP will open 1st October 2024.

To get application ready join us for our CEP Prep Learning and Application session.

Closing Date: N/A

Value: N/A

Duration: 12 months

Eligibility: All NHS workforce staff (including NHS Scotland, NHS Wales and Health and Social Care in Northern Ireland) and those providing NHS Services such as: GP’s, dentists, pharmacists, physios, are welcome to apply, including those in both clinical (including clinician academics who work in research/university) and non-clinical roles. If you are working as a locum, or in a hospice you can also apply.

Summary:

NHS Clinical Entrepreneur Programme – Mentoring Opportunities

Scottish clinicians and entrepreneurs are invited to join over 300 mentors from across industry and the commercial sector, academia, the NHS and public sector and start-ups, who give their time voluntarily to help and guide NHS Clinical Entrepreneurs.

Volunteering as a mentor allows you to make a difference to Clinical Entrepreneurs, by sharing your specialist knowledge and expertise while getting to know some of the brightest and creative minds in the NHS.

The benefits of mentoring can be:

Allowing others to benefit from your insight, experience, and knowledge
Sharing of personal and professional best practice
Professional networking opportunities
Developing mutual leadership, communication, and interpersonal skills
Developing a mutual sense of respect and professional validation
Identifying opportunities for your mentee
Invitation to the NHS CEP pit stops, workshops and partner events.

Availability: Open

Closing Date: 01 August 2024

Value: N/A

Duration: 12 months.

Eligibility: Regulated health and care professionals (nurses, midwives, allied health professionals, pharmacists and healthcare scientists)
social work and public health professionals,
researchers in methodology,
applicants from ethnic minority backgrounds,
applicants who are disabled.

Summary:

The Pre-Application Support Fund provides extra support to those who need it, to enhance their chances of making a successful application to an NIHR career development scheme in the future.

Through providing additional funding, the Pre-Application Support Fund aims to enhance the opportunities available to those that otherwise would not have sufficient support to apply for NIHR career development funding.

Applicants can request:

a contribution to the salary of the applicant to buy out the necessary time to prepare an application
relevant training and development, mentorship or supervisory costs specifically associated with developing an application
other costs where the additional support required to submit an application extends beyond the categories outlined above

Applicants should clearly demonstrate why extra support is needed and how the pre-application support fund will help enhance their planned application.

Availability: Open

Closing Date: Not specified

Value: £25,000 of initial funding

Duration: Not specified

Eligibility: NHS staff

Summary:

InnoScot Health is seeking forward-thinking ophthalmic solutions that can help support NHS Scotland to strengthen and make meaningful change in this priority area of its recovery plan. During the pandemic, this was one of the health care areas which suffered most as patients were unable to see ophthalmologists and optometrists for face-to-face appointments so waiting lists and backlogs grew.

This in turn meant that individuals with eye problems saw a worsening of their condition over the course of the pandemic and it is only now that we are beginning to see a return to normal practice. However, there remains a significant accumulation of people still requiring treatment and so encouraging the diverse NHS Scotland workforce to come up with new ways of working and identifying ways to reduce that backlog is vital.

Submitting your idea is a simple process – taking approximately 5-10 minutes – and all are confidential.

Location: Scotland

Availability: Open

Closing Date: Not specified

Value: Up to £25,000 of initial funding

Duration: up to 4 months.

Eligibility: NHS Scotland staff

Summary:

InnoScot Health is seeking sustainable, forward-thinking ideas from health and social care professionals that can help support NHS Scotland to adapt, develop and strengthen in response to climate change.

Encouraging NHS Scotland’s diverse workforce to come up with new ideas that achieve sustainable outcomes is vital, and is at the heart of the latest InnoScot Health innovation call.

The behaviours of NHS Scotland’s 160,000-strong workforce will influence how the service mitigates and adapts to climate change impacts; and so, encouraging this diverse workforce to come up with new ways of working is vital.

The package of support for health and social care staff with ideas to support NHS Scotland includes £25,000 of initial funding, regulatory support, project management and the innovation expertise of InnoScot Health.

Location: Scotland

Availability: Ongoing

Closing Date: None – apply at any time

Value: Part-funded grant.

Duration: 12-36 months

Eligibility: Aimed at partnerships between a UK-based business of any size or non-profit organisation, an academic organisation and a suitably-qualified graduate.

Summary: Aimed at improving business’ competitiveness and productivity through funded partnership with academics and researchers.

Location: UK

Availability: Open

Closing Date: Not Specified

Value: Not Specified

Duration: Not Specified

Eligibility: The NIA is open to applicants from any background, including SMEs, clinical entrepreneurs and academia, with innovations of any type that solve a problem for the NHS

Summary:

To be successful, your innovation should be:

• In use in at least one site, in the NHS or elsewhere
• Supported by an evidence base and able to demonstrate better patient and/or staff outcomes
• Ready to spread across the NHS
• Led by an applicant who is open to learning and sharing insights
• Aligned with one of the 2023 call themes (to be confirmed)

Location: Not Specified

Availability: Open

Closing Date: Not Specified

Value: Between £1,000 and £5,000

Duration: Not Specified

Eligibility:

Applications from all company sectors are welcome. However, vouchers are only available to SMEs, sole traders, social enterprises and third sector organisations with main business operations in Scotland, working with Scottish Universities or Scottish Further Education Colleges.

Summary:

There are two types of Standard Innovation Vouchers:

Product/Process/Service Innovation Voucher – to support outward innovation to develop a new product, process or service.
Workforce Innovation Voucher – to support inward innovation to develop the company’s internal workforce such as new or enhanced workplace processes, innovative workplace practices and innovative business expertise. This does not include staff CPD or to finance any external training courses.

Location: Scotland

Availability: Open

Closing Date: N/A

Value: Up to £20, 000 towards Higher Education Institutes (HEI) costs

Duration: Less than a year

Eligibility: The projects must be led by at least one of Scotland’s talented Higher Education Institutes (HEI).

Summary:

The Industrial Biotechnology Innovation Centre (IBioIC) invites applications for proof-of-concept projects from researchers with an ambition to spin-out a company within 1-2 years of the project ending.

Spin-out projects should focus on innovative applications of biotechnology and address a real market need or commercial opportunity.

This call invites applications from academic researchers addressing challenges that could be addressed with a biotechnology solution with the near-term ambition of forming a spin-out or start-up company.

Location: United Kingdom

Availability: Ongoing

Closing Date: Shortlisting meetings happen every 3 months

Value: Up to £500K or £750K for collaborations

Duration: Usually 2 years, or 3 years for multidisciplinary collaborations

Eligibility: Researchers, individuals and teams from not-for profit and commercial organisations that can be any size, based anywhere in the world (apart from China).

Summary: For researchers who are developing healthcare innovations that could have a major and measurable impact on human health. Proposals should describe global burden of a disease, unmet healthcare need, and the impact of innovation in a patient population.

Location: UK

Availability: Due to a potential change in approach, the 5th Call has been suspended. The challenges will be reviewed to better match Scottish Government ambitions.

Closing Date: Currently working to explore and define potential Calls and their timelines.

Value: SBRI: £10k -£40k per supplier (Phase 1), £50k –200k per supplier (Phase 2); CivTech: £3k per supplier (Exploration Stage), £20k per supplier (Acceleration Stage)

Duration: Suspended

Eligibility: Scottish companies of any size and academic and third sector organisations who can demonstrate how they will commercialise solutions which they develop.

Summary: Funding to support the development of innovative solutions for challenges faced by a Scottish public body where there is no clear fix or current market solution.

Location: Scotland

Availability: From Autumn 2023

Closing Date: Various (depending on programme)

Value: Various (depending on programme)

Duration: Various (depending on programme)

Eligibility: Researchers and in some cases SMEs (depending on programme)

Summary:

From autumn 2023, health and social care researchers in the devolved administrations will have increased access to health and social care research funding via the National Institute for Health and Care Research. This expands the list of NIHR research programmes that are available to researchers in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Researchers and in some cases SMEs will be able to access the following NIHR research programmes from autumn 2023:

Location: Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland

Availability: Open

Closing Date: All year round

Value: Up to £100,000

Duration: 6 – 18 Months

Eligibility: Small or medium sized business, university spin-out or an individual based in Scotland

Summary:

The SMART: SCOTLAND grant is one of our research and development (R&D) grants that aims to support high-risk, highly ambitious projects.

It covers conducting feasibility studies. It’s only available to small and medium enterprises (SMEs)* based in Scotland and supports activities that have a commercial endpoint.

Location: Scotland

Availability: OPEN

Closing Date: Not specified.

Value: £50,000 – £150,000

Duration: 6-12 month period

Eligibility: Technologies which have regulatory approval or demonstrated equivalent safety and efficacy

Summary:

The NIHR Invention for Innovation (i4i) Programme is a translational research funding scheme aimed at medical devices, in vitro diagnostic devices and digital health technologies addressing an existing or emerging health or social care need.

i4i is now open to the whole UK

We’re excited to announce that the NIHR i4i programme is now accepting applications from researchers and organisations based in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, in addition to applications from England. This change will be effective for our upcoming i4i competitions in autumn 2023, including PDA Call 27, Challenge Call 16, and Connect Call 8. We are looking forward to receiving applications from across the UK.

Location: UK

Available Funding Opportunities

FUTURESCOT AI Challenge

stormid

Mental Health Award: Accelerating scalable digital mental health interventions

24/20 NIHR Application Development Award for Health and Care Professionals

NIHR

NIHR Global Advanced Fellowships - Round 1

NIHR

Healthcare Innovation Fund

British Heart Foundation

NHS Clinical Entrepreneur Programme

Chief Scientist Office

Pre-Application Support Fund - Round 3

NIHR

Opthalmic innovation call

InnoScot Health

Sustainability Innovation Call

InnoScot Health

Knowledge Transfer Partnership

UK Government

NHS Innovator Accelerater

The AHSN Network England

Standard Innovation Vouchers

Interface

Spin Out Support Programme

IBioIC

Innovators Awards

Wellcome Trust

Innovation Challenge Fund

Can Do (Scottish Enterprise)

Further NIHR funding for Scottish Researchers

SMART:Scotland Grant

Scottish Enterprise

Invention for Innovation

NIHR