MRC Infection & Immunity Board Partnership Grants, May 2018
Partnership grants provide core funds for one to five years to support partnerships between diverse groupings of researchers and can be used for infrastructure support, platform activities and for bringing together managed consortia or multidisciplinary collaborations.
The Partnership grant scheme is designed to support collaborative activities that add value to high-quality scientific programmes that are already supported by grants from the MRC and other funders. It is NOT designed to fund stand-alone, hypothesis-driven research projects, which may otherwise be eligible for MRC Research or Programme grant type funding.
Typically, successful Partnership grants include a varying combination of the following components: networking and partnership activities, underpinning infrastructure activities (either for establishing a unique resource or exploiting it), capacity building and primary research. Please refer to the Partnership grant case studies as exemplars of successful grants.
Funding can be provided for the following activities:
- Establishing multi-disciplinary collaborative partnerships or consortia
- Developing strategy to strengthen research activity across the field
- Knowledge sharing across research departments, or between Institutions
- Training, career development and capacity building (excluding fellowships but including PhD studentships, see details on ‘Studentships’ below)
- Establishing shared infrastructure, for example staff, systems, equipment, seminars, workshops. This could include a co-ordinated set of needs-led and complementary networking activities (including outreach work and travel) with a defined output. Applications for funding to support only networking activities will be rejected.
- Exceptionally, small scale, pilot, proof of principle, multidisciplinary, high risk projects which will strengthen the Partnerships’ strategy may be considered but should not be the focus of the application
The Infections and Immunity Board (IIB) funds research into infectious human disease and disorders of the human immune system. This is underpinned by fundamental research into human pathogens, as well as the normal development and functioning of the human immune system. They fund basic, clinical and translational research into pathogens implicated in human infectious diseases. This includes understanding of the pathogen at the molecular and cellular level through to host pathogen interactions and into epidemiology of infectious diseases. They are also keen to fund research to inform novel strategies for preventing and controlling infectious and immune disease control, including research on human behaviour and lifestyle.
Who can apply?
The partnership must be led by a Principal Investigator (PI) based at a research organisation (RO) that is eligible to apply in response mode.
For the full call text please visit the MRC grant call webpage.
