Criteria for the Fund

Proposals for research from any biomedical or clinical discipline will be considered. This includes research proposals focused on public health and primary care.

Projects should be limited in scope and no project should take longer than 12 months to complete. The maximum size of funding for each project is £100,000. Please note the funding cannot be used to support research intended to lead to the higher degree of MPhil, MD or PhD. Projects should comprise of one or more of the following attributes:

• Hypothesis led new ideas – projects are expected to demonstrate a high degree of novelty and may be ‘risky’. ‘Safe bets’ and derivative research are outside of the scope of this fund. Projects may be at an early stage of development.
• The main purpose of such projects may be to build a body of evidence to enable the innovator to apply to an established funding programme run by a research council or medical research charity.
• Research projects with outputs capable of implementation into clinical practice within 12 months of completion.
• Development of a novel, untried approach to addressing an existing challenge in medicine or related sciences.
• Projects which address an immediate health need of the local population.

Please contact Michael Wright or your local Research and Development Office for clarification about a proposed project’s remit.

Eligibility

To be eligible to apply for the Fund, applicants must meet the following criteria:

• The principal investigator must be an employee of a partner organisation of King’s Health Partners (King’s College London; King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust; South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust; and Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust).
• Applicants may be the principal investigator on one application per meeting of the Research Assessment Committee. The Committee meets three times a year to consider applications.
• Applicants can act as collaborators on only one application per Committee meeting. Please note that the Committee will consider the level of engagement of co-applicants and collaborators and their capacity to meet requirements.
• Collaborators can be drawn from institutions that are not members of King’s Health Partners.
• Collaborators from commercial organisations are welcomed.