Our strategic investment of government research funding
Each year, the UK Government invests around £58 million pounds in Imperial’s research through the QR (Quality-Related) mainstream grant. The case studies below show how Imperial strategically invests these funds in world-leading research, research equipment and the career development of our people.
The funding we receive each year from QR provides the foundations on which we stand. It allows us to secure research funding for projects from our partners in the UK, Europe and across the world. In 2022-23, for every £1 Imperial received in mainstream QR, we earned £5.88 in research grants and contracts from businesses, industry, charities, and governments.
Three additional elements of QR funding also bridge gaps in the funds we can attract from our partners. The charity support fund (£14.2 million in 2024-25) supports our work in this area including medical research, and the business research element (£9.7 million in 2024-25) enables us to secure funding from these partners. The QR research degree programme fund (£23.1m) is invested in supporting emerging researchers as they undertake postgraduate research.
Research
The Future Vaccine Manufacturing Research (FVMR) Hub, a globally-leading multidisciplinary research centre on vaccine manufacture enabled the research behind the self-amplifying mRNA vaccines that were the first to be trialled during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The FVMR Hub facility at Imperial was underpinned by QR funding, including supporting the recruitment and of a senior lecturer in vaccinology, driving forward the fundamental science behind the next generation of vaccines, providing reduced cost and increased availability of large-scale vaccines and rapid public health response to emerging threats.
The Business School’s newly established ‘Research Fund’ is financed from QR income. This is a key piece of infrastructure for the Faculty, with strategic importance, to support research.
More broadly, QR funding has supported research into business mergers that has transformed European Union policy, on household financial decisions leading to the structural reform of mortgage regulations in the UK and India, and on the measurement of financial risk in asset management that has generated new policy guidance for the International Monetary Fund.
The Centre for Environmental Policy (CEP) is using QR funding to develop a project to help Imperial reach its 2050 Net Zero target. Together with colleagues, Professor Jem Woods is updating his Carbon Calculator to apply it to Imperial’s various divisions to ensure we drastically reduce our Carbon footprint.
Equipment
QR funding enabled Imperial to purchase a Faraday Cage, an enclosure to block electromagnetic fields from interfering with highly sensitive microscopy equipment in Imperial’s Centre for Cryo Microscopy of Materials facility.
This Centre was established by a £10.3m grant from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), creating a unique facility in the UK for characterisation of environmentally sensitive materials. Without our ability to purchase the Faraday Cage from QR funding, in addition to further refurbishments of Imperial facilities, the Centre would not be able to fully function.
The purchase of a new positron emission tomography (PET) scanner in the Department of Brain Sciences was only made possible from QR funding. Part of Imperial’s Clinical Imaging Facility, QR funding has enabled Imperial to play a pivotal role in the development and application of PET tracers in different fields of medicine particularly neurology and oncology.
Imperial undertook the first steps into research at our Hammersmith campus over twenty years ago to use PET scans to detect amyloids, who’s build up is thought to cause serious disease, is now an established diagnostic for Alzheimer’s Disease. Imperial researchers have also led ground-breaking research using PET to investigate traumatic brain injury (TBI).
Imperial’s Automated high-throughput platform suite (ATLAS) has only been made possible because of QR funding. ATLAS, opened in 2023, enables researchers and industrial partners to undertake rapid discovery and development of new molecular systems, helping these innovators to overcome traditionally timely processes.
The refurbishment of Imperial’s facilities for ATLAS was funded by QR, which allowed the purchase of equipment, supported by EPSRC, that is being utilised as part of over £8m worth of research projects.
Located in our White City Deep Tech Campus, the Molecular Sciences Research Hub is the most advanced molecular science facility in the world. The facilities, including the Centre for Rapid Online Analysis of Reactions (ROAR) and Centre for pulse electron paramagnetic resonance (PEPR) need QR funding in order to remain world-class.
Imperial ensures that local SMEs and industrial partners can also access these world-class facilities and Imperial expertise, helping growing businesses to characterise and test their products. For example, half of the equipment time in the ROAR facility is utilised by SMEs and industrial companies.
Careers
QR funding provides Imperial with the opportunity to offer Imperial College Research Fellowships (formerly Junior Research Fellowships) to some of the most outstanding early-career researchers to establish their independent research careers.
Available to post-doctoral researchers from inside and outside of Imperial, these fellowships allow us to attract and retain some of the most talented people to establish their research careers and act as a springboard towards permanent lectureships.
Careers
Dr Mirabelle Muûls was awarded an Imperial Junior Research Fellowship (JRF) at Imperial College Business School following postdoctoral work in the Grantham Institute for Climate Change and the Environment. The JRF award allowed Dr Muûls to collaborate with colleagues across Imperial’s faculties, creating lasting relationships and opportunities to learn from senior academics.
Dr Muûls’ research focuses on the economics of climate change, seeking to understand the impact of climate change policies and climate change on firms' emissions, innovation, and performance. Her research also explores the determinants of households’ energy demand flexibility.
The JRF award provided her with valuable training to prepare for a future career as a lecturer, as well as the independence to establish her research autonomously. Dr Muûls is now a Co-Director of the Hitachi-Imperial Centre for Decarbonisation and Natural Climate Solutions, driving research in the transition to net-zero pollution.
Beyond her research, Dr Muûls collaborated with her networks across the university to establish Imperial’s Climate Change, Management & Finance MSc, drawing on cross-disciplinary expertise to create a cutting-edge course at the intersection of science and business that now recruits 160 students a year.
“Being awarded a Junior Research Fellowship enabled me to advance into an academic career while raising young children, in a field where most economists typically transition directly into tenured positions.”
Dr Rachael Barry is an Advanced Research Fellow in the Nutrition Section within Imperial’s Faculty of Medicine. She was awarded her ICRF in 2020, which allowed her to move from Imperial’s Faculty of Natural Sciences to the Faculty of Medicine to pioneer research into hydrolytic enzymes and their role in cancers.
The award of an ICRF enabled Dr Barry to connect with clinical research whilst utilising her background in life sciences, and existing networks in the Faculty of Natural Sciences to take a cross-disciplinary approach to her work. Dr Barry was awarded an Organ-on-a-Chip Network and Emulate Proof of Concept Award and CRUK-Imperial Development Funds to work on pioneering ‘gut-on-chip’ research to model the impact of hydrolytic enzymes on the colon.
The ICRF allowed Dr Barry to prioritise her research, collaborate across disciplines and adopt a flexible to approach aimed at maximising impact. She now leads a team within Imperial’s Department of Metabolism, Digestion and Reproduction and was awarded a UKRI Future Leader Fellowship in 2024, which identifies and supports some of the most talented researchers across the country.
“The ICRF programme enables people with great ideas to be able to explore and tackle them in an independent way. Without these opportunities, we risk losing the transformative impact these ideas could achieve.”
Dr Sophie Morse was awarded an ICRF in 2022 and is undertaking her fellowship in Imperial’s Department of Bioengineering. Dr Morse has been able to advance her research into the use of ultrasound technology to delay the onset of brain aging and diseases such as Alzheimer’s, whilst also looking at these techniques for applications in non-invasive and targeted treatment for brain tumours.
In the first year of her ICRF, Dr Morse was given the freedom to apply for research grants across a number of funders and research applications, successfully winning six grants and amassing £400,000 in funding to drive her research forward.
This provided Dr Morse with the chance to build and manage a research group. Her group is now made up of 18 researchers all tackling different aspects of research, from technological development, to immune system biology, to devising patient treatments that target a range of disease applications.
“My group is made up of engineers, biologists, neuroscientists and medical doctors, all coming together with the excitement and commitment to reach a common goal. My ICRF award has greatly expanded the reach of my research which wouldn’t be possible without this multidisciplinary effort.”
The independence and ability to apply as a primary grant holder and lead a research group, have led to further recognition for Dr Morse, who has been named an Emerging Leader in the UK Dementia Research Institute and a fellow of the European Talent Academy, alongside 24 research awards, including the Top 50 Women in Engineering Award.