Quest for Cures: Progression Funding

Applications to this grant round should encompass a significant body of work that represents a clear and impactful progression of work conducted under the previous Quest for Cures award. Applicants should demonstrate how further investment in their research will progress further their initial ideas toward a cure for patients with brain tumours. Importantly, this mechanism will not fund completely new research ideas unconnected from the prior award, nor prolong funding for research aims proposed under the prior award.

Continued funding for collaborative multi-disciplinary teams with research ideas that will be translated to the clinic within two years of the end of the grant. The scheme aims to fund proven teams, possibly with new collaborations, who are pursuing recently revealed directions of research, or significant elaboration of previous themes, bringing benefits to patients faster.

Key dates

Applications open: 02 September 2019
Application Deadline: 14 October 2019, 5pm (BST)
Funding decision: March 2020

Purpose and scope

Funding of up to £1.5 million per programme over five years is available.

Building on the previous programme grant, the new proposal should have a clear and rapid line of sight to the clinic. Multidisciplinary collobarations should be consolidated with the most talented and promising researchers across institutions to utilise technological advances across fields. The multidisciplinary team should facilitate research which would not be achievable without such a collaboration.

This funding for pre-clinical studies aims to:

foster a collaborative research process
strengthen the ties between basic and clinical research
ultimately, create new clinical opportunities for people with brain tumours

This funding should be allocated to cover direct costs for staff, including salaries, consumables and publication costs. Requests for capital / infrastructure will not be considered since it is expected that this will be available at the Lead Institution as well as all partner organisations. Grants will be awarded to the Principal Investigator's institution. Funding can be allocated to co-investigator institutions with agreements put in place between all partner institutions.

Public and patient involvement

To obtain input from those affected by brain tumours, we strongly recommend that applicants access our Research Involvement Network (RIN) for public and patient involvement. In order to receive feedback from the RIN, please allow for a minimum of 3 weeks turnaround time.

Eligibility Criteria

This grant round is open to researchers who have been named Principal Investigator on a previous Quest for Cures grant award. (Programme grants we awarded before the Quest for Cures grants were developed may be eligible as a rare exception)
Grants awarded under the Clinical Biomarkers funding scheme are specifically ineligible for this funding.
The previous programme grant must have finished within 12 months of submission, or have less than 12 months of funding remaining at submission.
All grant applications must focus on at least one of the research priorities highlighted in our research strategy
The award is open to international researchers but applications including a UK collaborator will be looked on favourably
Teams should be formed of researchers across at least two institutions
Teams should be comprised of both established and promising researchers from multidisciplinary backgrounds
The principal applicant must hold an employment contract beyond the period of the grant
If the principal applicant does not hold an academic or research position, the application must include a co-applicant at the Lead Institution who does
A researcher may serve as principal applicant on only one proposal per grant round
The collaborating teams should have the relevant expertise of laboratory and clinical researchers to demonstrate how discoveries will be translated and taken forward to patient benefit

Assessment Criteria

Applications to this grant round should encompass a significant body of work that builds on the foundations set by the previous grant. It should not simply prolong funding of the same projects.

Innovative and transformative research

The proposal should investigate new aspects, not covered in the original programme grant, with a strong scientific and clinical rationale
The proposal should demonstrate the capacity to revolutionise treatments and/or clinical decision making
The proposal should demonstrate the capacity to develop new approaches or the translation of technologies for the use in the diagnosis, management or treatment of brain tumours
We encourage proposals that include aspects of high-risk, high reward approach to addressing the key questions preventing progress in brain tumour research

Collaborative and multidisciplinary emphasis

The application should outline the strengths of the collaborative team and indicate how the proposed work will achieve scientific and/or clinical goals that could not be realised by the individual components of the team
The application should highlight any new avenues of research involving experts who currently work outside the brain tumour research field
In order to substantially develop the line of research, we expect that the proposal will include researchers not on the original Quest for Cures application

Potential for patient benefit

Applications should demonstrate a potential pathway for the proposed research to lead to patient benefit and the anticipated impact of this
Because this is building on work started in the original programme grant, the research plan should include clinical application within two years of completion of this funding

Milestone and goal-driven approach

The research programme must have detailed milestones which will be used for monitoring progress

Value for money and communication plans

Applications to this grant round should demonstrate the progress and value for money of the previous programme grant
The proposal should demonstrate how the requested funds are essential for the work and explain how the project represents value for money
The proposal should include clear plans and mechanisms for sharing resources and information across the team, including existing resources and platforms

The Brain Tumour Charity is a member of the Association of Medical Research Charities (AMRC) and adheres to its principles of peer review. All applications will be considered by our Biomedical Scientific Advisory Board (Biomedical SAB) alongside lay representatives of people affected by brain tumours.

Please read the following documents before applying for funding

Grant conditions - PDF

These grant conditions, together with the grant award letter, set out the terms and conditions on which we make a grant to the host institution and grantholder.

Finance guidelines - PDF

These guidelines explain which of the costs incurred will be paid for by The Charity

Data protection statement - PDF

This statement details how the information you give us will be processed, used and stored in accordance with data protection legislation

Guidance document - PDF

Please take note of, and allow sufficient time for, the approval steps required to complete the submission process. We cannot guarantee late submissions will be accepted.

How to apply

To apply for the Quest for Cures: Progression Funding grant please click the button below and complete the application process

Apply here

Further information

If you would like to discuss your application or need any information, please contact the Research Team.

E-mail: research@thebraintumourcharity.org
Phone: +44 (0) 1252 418190