Funding and opportunities

Resources

• Forging Your Research Pathway: Exploring Development Opportunities with NIHR and Beyond. NIHR event held on January 22 13:00-16:30. Recording now available. Access the recording and the responses to the FAQs from the event.
• Recording of Professor Hannes Rakoczy seminar at LuCiD on “Coming to think about thoughts. Early developments of modal and meta-cognition” from 3 March 2026. View a recording of this and other LuCiD seminars.
• PPI in Action Webinar Series. Patient and public involvement is a prerequisite for all research funded by NIHR. It can enhance the relevance and quality of research and help build trust in the research and its outcomes. But how do we do it effectively? What lessons can we learn from when things didn’t go as well as intended? And how do the UK public involvement standards find expression in practice? This webinar series draws on the experiences of public contributors and researchers, showcasing examples of patient and public involvement in NIHR funded research. View the webinar on YouTube.
• Reporting GUideline for Intervention DEscription in Rehabilitation (GUIDE-Rehab): a tool to open the ‘black box’ of rehabilitation complex interventions. The Cochrane Rehabilitation, functioning and disability thematic group have developed guidelines for reporting rehabilitation interventions. The complete version comprises 16 items, while the version for uncontrolled studies includes 13. The GUIDE-Rehab graphical illustration (nine items) facilitates intervention description. GUIDE-Rehab will assist in the reporting of interventions in rehabilitation to enhance clinical research and support clinical implementation. The complete article and guidelines can be found in BMJ Evidence-Based Medicine.
• NIHR Be Part of Research is a free service that matches volunteers to health and care studies, based on their interests, taking place online or at locations near them. Volunteers who sign up to take part in research projects will be matched to suitable studies and sent clear information about what’s involved and how they can take part, if they choose to, whatever their state of health. For those running funded research studies, it can take the hard work out of recruitment once you have added your study to the NIHR registry and Be Part of Research service.  It already has over half a million research-ready volunteers waiting to take part in research studies. Be Part of Research provides the first UK-wide registry for all health and care specialties – as well as social care and public health research. We can identify volunteers for your study through a wide range of data available including age, ethnic group, sex, location and condition. A short video guide is available on YouTube.
• Applying for Funding – advice and support for Northern Ireland applicants. For those in NI considering applications to NIHR grant schemes, researchers can discuss applications with members of HSC R&D Division. Further information and contacts on the HSC R&D website.

Inclusive research opportunities and resources

• Bradford Pathways to Academia/Research for Minoritised Ethnicities is a £1.3m project focused on the West Yorkshire region and the University of Bradford which brings together partners from across the region to improve access and participation for Black, Asian and/or Minority Ethnic (BAME) groups in PGR study within the HEI sector. The initiative includes fully funded studentships, Post Graduate Research (PGR) placements, undergraduate, postgraduate and alumni internships and travel bursaries. In addition, there is a seminar series and research summer school. For more information contact: Dr Tiffany R Holloman –t.r.holloman@bradford.ac.uk (Brad-ATTAIN Project Manager) or Lenka Kaur – l.kaur5@bradford.ac.uk (Brad-ATTAIN Coordinator).
• Paul Hamlyn Foundation supports people with unusual or radical ideas to improve the life chances and opportunities of people in the UK. The Foundation is focused on leading change and designing solutions to overcome inequality. Various funds are currently open, focusing on Migration, Youth, Arts Based Learning and India.  Priority is given to people and organisations with direct lived experience of the issue they want to explore.
• Nuffield Foundation Racial Diversity UK Fund. Research funding to understand the barriers and pathways to a racially just and inclusive society. Outline application deadline in October 2026.

Project/programme grants and funding

HSC R&D Division Northern Ireland

PPI in Research Support Small Grant Scheme: grants to facilitate the involvement of patients, carers, and public in the research process as partners rather than participants, and to encourage innovative practice in the delivery of PPI through the development of new ways of working with patients, carers and the public. Open call. Further details on the HSC R&D website

National Institute of Health Research (NIHR)

All funding opportunities from NIHR can be found online. Open calls include themed calls for funding opportunities that focus on priority research areas. Various funding opportunities available – current themes include Dementia, MND, Brain Tumour, Work Health (working age adults living with chronic health conditions). 

NIHR James Lind Alliance Priority Setting Partnerships rolling funding opportunity. This is a funding call with a focus on palliative and end of life care, in line with the JLA Palliative and End of Life Care Priority Setting Partnership that was refreshed in 2025. For this funding opportunity, 4 additional priorities identified through the refresh are of interest. These are how palliative and end of life care can: enable people to die well at home; what helps or hinders the delivery of care at home; what skills do staff and carers need; meeting the needs of people with multiple health conditions, and meeting the needs of people who live alone or are socially isolated. Outline application closing date 6 May 2026.

Medical Research Council (MRC)

All funding opportunities from MRC can be found online. Open calls include:

• Researching ME/CFS priority area. No closing date.  

Please see MRC funding for personal fellowships below, as the MRC offers a number of opportunities for individual fellowships and funding.

Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)

All funding opportunities from ESRC can be found online. ESRC’s funding remit includes economic, social, behavioural and human data science.

Open calls for topics in ESRC’s remit include:

• ESRC responsive mode: research grants round two. No closing date.
• ESRC responsive mode: new investigator grants round two. No closing date.
• ESRC responsive mode: secondary data analysis round two. No closing date.

Wellcome  

All funding opportunities from Wellcome can be found online.

Leverhulme Trust 

All funding opportunities from Leverhulme Trust can be found online.

Nuffield Foundation 

All funding opportunities from Nuffield Foundation can be found online.  Open calls include:

• Main grant Research Development and Analysis Fund. Closes 13 April 2026.
• Racial Diversity UK Fund. Closes October 2026.

Other funders and charities

• Parkinson’s UK non-drug approaches grants, includes Speech and Language therapy. Deadline for outline proposal 5 May 2026, 16:00 (application portal opens 3 months before the deadline). Full application for successful proposals deadline 3 September 2026, 16:00.
• BBC Children in Need Grants. Apply for funding in one of the following priority areas: preventing mental health issues, alleviating the impact of poverty and deprivation, reducing social inequity for marginalised children and young people, addressing the impact of family related challenges. Priorities for funding differ by geographical region in the UK. Full details on the BBC Children in Need website.

Fellowships and clinical academic opportunities

Parkinson’s UK senior research fellowship round for 2026

Through our fellowship awards, we invest in talented researchers to help them become future leaders in Parkinson’s research. Senior research fellowships are for people who want to specialise in Parkinson’s research by establishing their own independent research group. These awards provide applicants with funds they need to to set up their own project teams as they develop their careers. Our fellowships are initially for three years and for up to £300,000. Applicants should have a strong track record of original and productive research in their area, and be able to demonstrate the progress they’ve made in moving towards independence. Deadline for proposal applications is 1 July 16:00. View more details.

National Institute of Health Research (NIHR)

Find all NIHR fellowships under the Research career development funding programmes. Highlights include:

• Principal Investigator Pipeline Programme (PIPP). Offers AHPs in England the opportunity to develop as Principal Investigators on NIHR portfolio studies. The next cohort will be open for applications in April 2026.

MRC

• Capacity building: clinical research training fellowship for registered healthcare professionals with PhDs who have been working outside research for 5 or more years. This funding opportunity is for if you if you have a PhD and want to apply for funding to reacquire research skills. Closing date 8 April 2026 16:00.
• Professional doctorate: clinical research training fellowship. Open to registered healthcare professionals to apply for funding to undertake a PhD, within any area of Medical Research Council (MRC)’s remit to improve human health. This is an ongoing funding opportunity with application rounds close every January, April and September. Closing date 8 April 2026 16:00.
• Early independence: clinician scientist fellowship. An early independence fellowship  supports your career transition within the new Fellowship investment framework, if your research focus is within Medical Research Council (MRC) remit. Open to registered healthcare professionals with PhDs, who have clear plans for establishing a research niche enabling them to become independent researchers. Closing date 8 April 2026 16:00.
• Daphne Jackson fellowship. For researchers returning after a career break. No closing date.

Stroke Association

All funding opportunities from the Stroke Association can be found on their website.
A new round of fellowships are being launched in 2026. These include:

• Postdoctoral Fellowships – opening March 2026
• Lectureships – opening April 2026
• Postgraduate Fellowships (PhD Studentships) – opening July 2026

Wellcome

• Early-Career Awards  provides funding for early-career researchers from any discipline who are ready to develop their research identity. By the end of the award, they will be ready to lead their own independent research programme. Closing date 21 July 2026.

PhDs

Other PhD opportunities

We now share funded project-based PhD opportunities, sourced from findaphd.com 

Note, that there may be opportunities to apply for funding with institutions to pursue other PhD topics and we encourage you to contact relevant universities and browse Find a PhD to explore this. 

Latest opportunities: 

• Wearable AI for Total Communication Support. King’s College London. Deadline July 24.