Research funding opportunities
Finding research funding
People look for research funding opportunities for a variety of reasons and this page provides a list of opportunities from charities and UK Government agencies that are open to nurse or midwife researcher applications. You'll see awards to apply for a research project; attend a conference; and help with the cost of post-registration study, such as studentships and fellowships. It's fair to say that there will always be more people searching for research funding than there is research funding to give, so knowing where to look is an important first step.
If you are aware of, or would like to promote, a funding opportunity not currently listed below please send details to nicola.mills@rcn.org.uk Thank you.
UK Government Funding
- England: National Institute for Health Research (NIHR)
- Northern Ireland: Health and Social Care Research and Development (HSC)
- Scotland: Chief Scientist Office (CSO)
- Wales: Health and Care Research Wales (HCRW)
UK research councils
The UK's research councils invest around £3 billion each year into research.
Other sources of funding
- Action Medical Research for Children - research training fellowship
- Alcohol Change UK - grants
- Abbeyfield Research Foundation - PhD studentships, small project grants, pump-priming grants
- Alzheimer's Society - multiple grants
- Action Medical Research for Children - research training fellowship
- Barts Charity - healthcare innovation and delivery improvement grants
- Breast Cancer Now - PhD studentships and project grants
- British Geriatrics Society - nurses study grant
- British Heart Foundation – career development and research training fellowships
- British Scoliosis Research Foundation – grants
- Burdett Trust for Nursing - small grants programme and nurse-led projects
- Cancer Research UK - various bursaries and grants
- Coeliac UK - grants
- Commonwealth Fund - Harkness fellowships in health care policy and practice
- Crohn's and Colitis UK - research awards
- Crohn's in Childhood Research Association - small grants
- Diabetes UK – grants and fellowships
- Dunhill Medical Trust - research project grants
- European Oncology Nursing Society - awards
- Fight for Sight - grants
- Florence Nightingale Foundation - scholarships
- Fulbright Commission - postgraduate student awards
- General Nursing Council for England and Wales Trust – grants
- Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) Children's Charity - grant funding
- Guts UK – various awards
- Health and Care Research Wales - health research fellowship award
- Healthcare Infection Society - research grants and career development bursaries
- Kidney Research UK - allied health professional fellowship (open to nurses)
- Marie Curie - research grants
- Medical Research Council - clinical research training fellowships
- Moorfields Eye Charity – various opportunities
- MQ: Transforming Mental Health - awards
- Multiple Sclerosis Society - project award, early career fellowship, PhD fellowship
- NIHR – various grants and research opportunities
- Northern Ireland Health and Social Care Research and Development - doctoral fellowship award
- Northern Ireland Chest, Heart & Stroke - scientific research grants
- North West Cancer Research - funding
- Novo Nordisk UK Research Foundation - fund awards (diabetes)
- Parkinson's UK - project grants
- Prostate Cancer Research Centre – grant
- Psoriasis Association - PhD studentship, Cecil King memorial grant
- RCN Foundation - education grants
- Resuscitation Council (UK) - research and development grants
- Society for Endocrinology - various grant
- Stroke Association - post doctoral fellowships and lectureships
- Tenovus Cancer Care - research strategy grant
- Tenovus Scotland - small pilot grants
- The Brain Tumour Charity - quality of life awards
- The British Pain Society - various grants
- The Dowager Countess Eleanor Peel Trust - grants and fellowship
- The Healthcare Improvement Studies Institute – fellowships
- The Lullaby Trust - funding opportunities
- The Urology Foundation - smaller research projects fund
- UK Dermatology Clinical Trials Network - nurse fellowship and funding awards
- University of Exeter - contact APEx for information regarding funding available via SPCR to support primary care focussed research
- Versus Arthritis - clinical research fellowship
- Wellbeing of Women - research grants
- Wellcome - various awards
Research and innovation bulletin
Keep up to date with all the latest developments in nursing research by signing up to the RCN’s fortnightly research and innovation bulletin.
