NIHR GOSH BRC Junior Faculty Conference and Training Support Fund

The NIHR Great Ormond Street Hospital Biomedical Research Centre (NIHR GOSH BRC) Conference and Training Support Fund provides an opportunity for early career researchers working on translational research projects across Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) and the UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health (ICH) to apply for funding to support their attendance at conferences to disseminate their research findings or to attend training to learn new skills.

The NIHR GOSH BRC is a collaboration between GOSH and ICH and provides cutting-edge facilities and world-leading expertise and access to over 200 rare disease patient populations allowing our staff and NHS, university and industry collaborators to conduct pioneering translational research into childhood illnesses. We were first awarded BRC status from the NIHR in 2007 and, in 2022, we secured £35 million for our fourth term until 2027.

Early career researchers applying for this scheme will either be a student towards the end of their PhD or a post doc who has not secured independent funding yet. They should also be working in translational research, which aligns with the remit of the BRC. The call is open to all early career researchers who hold a substantive employment or studentship contract with either GOSH or ICH, including clinicians, non-clinical, nursing, AHP, pharmacy and health care scientists. You do not need to have had any prior links with the BRC to be eligible to apply – we welcome applications from those new to the BRC.

Applicants to the fund should be actively participating in the conference (e.g. they have been invited to do an oral or poster presentation), to encourage interactions with other attendees and for recipients to take full advantage of the experience. The fund is also for training opportunities of a similar scope to attending a conference (e.g. a one-day training course), where it can be demonstrated that the training opportunity would allow the recipient to learn a new skill or knowledge, which could also be shared or implemented within the wider team at GOSH/ICH. In both scenarios, it would be necessary to demonstrate how the conference or training opportunity would benefit the recipient’s career development.

The Junior Faculty has a small amount of funding to award for this call. To maximise the number of early career researchers who can benefit from the budget available, we advise applicants to explore whether matched funding from either their supervisor, employer, conference/training provider, or from alternative funding schemes is available. We ask the applicant’s supervisor/line manager to confirm whether matched funding is available as part of the application form.

You can apply for the following costs in this call:

1) Registration fees associated with attending a conference/meeting or training course.

2) Travel, accommodation and subsistence fees associated with attendance at an in-person conference.

3) Childcare costs if required to allow you to attend the conference.

4) Applicants can also apply for costs for a PPIE representative to attend the conference where the research due to be presented has been co-produced (i.e. the PPIE representative has worked together with the researcher from the start to the end of the project, including the generation of knowledge).

Any trips will have to abide by national COVID-19 guidelines and policies and those of the employing institution (GOSH/UCL). Candidates are required to undertake a risk assessment within their area of employment and seek permission from their employer for international trips, as appropriate. Only allowable expenses for travel in line with the candidate’s employing organisation and insurance will be allowed.

Find out more about how awardees have benefited from the Conference and Travel Grant scheme here: https://www.gosh.nhs.uk/our-research/our-research-infrastructure/nihr-great-ormond-street-hospital-brc/about-our-biomedical-research-centre/central-development-hub-brc/junior-faculty/eight-reasons-to-attend-a-conference-or-training-course-as-part-of-your-research/

Applicants must be an early career researcher working on translational research projects and hold a substantive employment or studentship contract with either GOSH or ICH at the time of the application and at the time of attending the meeting, conference or training opportunity - no claims will be processed if staff end their employment prior to attending to the meeting or training event.

• There is no cap on the amount you can apply. However, we expect applications to request no more than £250 (UK)/£500 (Europe)/£750 (beyond UK and Europe).
• All applicants should explore whether matched funding from another source is available to attend the conference/meeting/training course.
• For conferences and meetings, applicants should proceed to apply for the fund when they have had an abstract accepted for a poster presentation or an oral presentation and where the research due to be presented aligns with the remit of the BRC. Conformation of this will need to be provided as part of the application form.
• Applications cannot be made for retrospective reimbursement of expenses for conferences or training courses already attended.
• Applicants need to submit their application at least a month before the planned conference/training course in order for the peer review process to take place.
• No early career researcher will be awarded more than one award from this call per BRC year (1st April – 31st March).
• Costs associated with the conference or training event need to be fully expensed by 20th March of the financial year they were awarded, but attendance can be after this date.
• Applicants must consult their employer’s expense claim policy before submitting their application. Any expense claim made must be within the rules of the applicant’s employer’s expense claim policy (UCL and GOSH). We will not be able to approve expense claims that are not aligned with the relevant policy.
• NIHR funding is formally not allowed to support any research using animals; therefore, the research you present must contain a substantial component of human translational research activity.
• Awardees must acknowledge the NIHR GOSH BRC in any presentations and produce a short report to feedback to the Junior Faculty on their experience of at the conference or training activity.

If you would like to apply, please read and complete the Guidance and Application Form, which should be sent to the GOSH BRC (BRC@gosh.nhs.uk), along with a copy of your CV. This is a rolling call and therefore there is no deadline for applications. Instead, applications will be reviewed every month. Please submit your application as soon as you know what support is required.

For any queries please contact BRC@gosh.nhs.uk.