NIHR GOSH BRC Early Career Researcher New Projects Funding Call 2025

Applications submitted through this call should align with the BRC objectives and propose novel research ideas related to therapies, biomarkers, diagnostics, data or surgical innovations. This may include proof-of-concept studies, validation studies, new methodologies, novel uses of data, and/or Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement (PPIE) and/or Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) activities aligned with one or more of the BRC’s strategic research themes.

We would expect successful applicants to generate preliminary data to support future grant application and patent applications, ultimately to accelerate the likelihood of new interventions delivering patient benefit.

Projects may be based in the lab, the clinic, or be data-driven, but they must focus on human cells, tissues, participants, or data. NIHR funding does not permit research involving animals; therefore, research projects must not include any animal work.

Projects may be preclinical or clinical, but NIHR rules for BRCs mean basic science projects (i.e. not translational) or clinical projects supporting phase III trials are not eligible.

Projects must fall within the remit of one or more of our strategic research themes. Cross-theme projects are also encouraged.

Applications are welcome from early career researchers who are substantively employed by either Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) or the UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health (UCL GOS ICH). Researchers from all professional backgrounds are welcome to apply, including clinicians, non-clinical staff, nurses, allied health professionals (AHPs), pharmacists, health care scientist staff and any others not mentioned here.

For the purposes of this call, an early career researcher is defined as someone who:

• holds a PhD (or equivalent)
• has received no more than £250,000 in total grant income as Primary Investigator across their career (excluding their own salary e.g. a fellowship grant), and
• does not hold a tenured academic position.

Please contact the BRC if you have any queries regarding your eligibility for this call.

Applicants may request for up to £25,000 in non-pay funding, with projects lasting up to 18 months. Please note that salary costs are not eligible under this call. You can also apply for a project focused solely on PPIE activities through this call and we'd expect PPIE projects to request between £250 - £2,000.

The GOSH BRC team will be holding two webinars and will present briefly about the funding call, expectations for applicants and common areas of feedback from previous calls for successful and unsuccessful applications. The webinars will last for around one hour and we encourage all applicants to join one of the webinars. The webinars will be held over Zoom, please click on the relevant session below to join a webinar. Details of the Zoom meetings can also be found in the guidance document below.

• To apply, please read and complete the Guidance and Application Form and submit as a word document to brc@gosh.nhs.uk.
• The deadline for applications is Monday 08 September 2025, 5p.m.
• Applications must be registered with the R&D office, and formal costings obtained. Please ensure this is done in sufficient time, as the R&D Office requires at least 15 working days to provide costings.
• Applicants will be notified of the outcome of their application by early October 2025, and the funding will be available from mid-October 2025.
• A Review Panel will assess applications. The panel will include representatives from the BRC Leadership Team, each BRC Theme, the Paediatric Excellence Initiative, the BRC Junior Faculty, and both internal and external academic staff.
• Lay members of the Panel will review the plain English summary and PPIE section of each application to ensure patient and public perspectives are considered in the selection process.
• Applications will be anonymised before being sent to the review panels. However, if an application receives a low PPIE review score, a member of the BRC Core Management Team will check whether the applicant has previously received similarly low PPIE scores in other BRC applications. If so, this will be flagged to the final review panel, although the application will remain anonymous.

Please contact the BRC if you have any questions about the scheme.