Funding opportunities
You can find information on funding opportunities for translational and experimental medicine research projects from Manchester BRC and partners below.
Innovation and Partnerships Core Pump Priming Call 2025-26
Advancing Inclusive Practices in Commercial Clinical Trials
Up to £15,000 of funding is available per project for collaborative projects between industry and research partners that drive inclusive practices in commercial clinical trials.
The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Manchester Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) invites project proposals for this Core Pump Priming Call, which aims to address critical health equity challenges, such as:
- Overcoming language barriers
- Enhancing diverse recruitment strategies
- Refining inclusion/exclusion criteria
- Novel approaches to analysis of research data.
We particularly encourage projects that focus on under-served groups, including women, as well as those underrepresented due to age, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, disability, health conditions, sexual orientation, digital exclusion, or other structural barriers to participation in clinical trials.
Successful projects should demonstrate a clear pathway for scaling into larger funding opportunities.
Funding call timeline
- Project duration: Up to 6 months – activity can go on for up to 8 months, but funds must be spent by 31 March 2026
- Funding call opens: 10 March 2025
- Funding call closes: 2 June 2025
- Panel review: w/c 23 June 2025
- Award letters issued: 7 July 2025
- Project start date: 1 August 2025
- Project end date: 31 March 2026
The Core Pump Priming Call will fund direct costs:
- Directly incurred staff costs, in line with the call guidance
- Materials and consumables – these should be project specific and not general costs
- Equipment/facilities access
- Equipment purchases (capped at £5,000 per item and must be justified against the duration of the project)
- Workshops and patient engagement activities
- Other engagement, knowledge exchange, training and culture change activities can also be supported.
Applicant eligibility
Applications from early career researchers are encouraged. We would also welcome applications from nursing, allied health professional, psychologist, pharmacist and healthcare scientist staff groups along with other healthcare professionals.
You do not need to have prior links with Manchester BRC however lead applicants are expected to have approached the associated Themes, prior to submission, to help foster collaboration. We can facilitate this through the enquiry details below.
The lead applicant must hold an appropriate contract with a Manchester BRC partner organisation and/or with a Higher Education Institute within the Greater Manchester area. This contract must exceed the duration of the proposed project.
The industry partner should be a commercial organisation (Pharma, MedTech, CRO, Digital Health) with an in-kind contribution (e.g., resources, expertise, patient engagement tools, technology).
How to apply
Please review the following documents before applying:
Please complete and submit the application form below to brc-crfpartnerships@mft.nhs.uk
For further enquiries please contact:
Dr Colette Inkson, BRC Innovation and Partnerships Manager: colette.inkson@mft.nhs.uk
Prof Rick Body, BRC Partnerships Lead: richard.body@manchester.ac.uk.
NIHR funding opportunities
View current funding opportunities from the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) on their website.