Managed External Calls

Open Calls

NIHR Global Research calls

The current NIHR Global Research calls: Global Health Research – Researcher-led | NIHR (deadline 6^th November) and Research on Interventions for Global Health Transformation | NIHR (deadline 23^rd October) have requirements that may mean internal management is needed (see below for details).

To ensure that we are aware of all applications going forward, PIs that are planning to submit applications to either of these calls must submit a one-page summary of your application to include the names and affiliations of all Joint Leads, co-Is and collaborators by Friday 27^th September.  At this point if further review is required, we will let you know ASAP.

Please submit summaries to Kimberley Trim (k.trim@imperial.ac.uk).

Sir Jules Thorn Award for Biomedical Research

The Sir Jules Thorn Award for Biomedical Research application process is open. 

Imperial College London is eligible to submit one application.

To ensure we comply with the rules of the award and are competitive, internal selection process will be held to determine which application to submit. Applications are welcome from across the College but must involve research on patients. To note, Principal Applicants should be of outstanding quality in the early years of an established research and academic career.

Key Dates

• 16 Oct: Deadline for EoIs to be submitted to FoM Research Strategy team (Kimberley Trim, k.trim@imperial.ac.uk)
• By 6 Nov: Candidates informed of outcome. Successful candidate has approx. 5-6 weeks to amend their EoI and complete additional paperwork
• By 9 Dec: Final application submitted to the Research Strategy team for compliance checking and Dean sign-off/LoS
• 12 noon, 16 Dec: Candidate submits EoI to Sir Jules Thorn Trust

Expressions of Interest:

Nominated candidates should read the guidelines carefully and submit the following for consideration:

• 2000-word summary of the proposed research and explaining why it would be suitable for a translational study, the timescale for clinical applicability, the unmet need which is to be investigated and how the research will meet that need.  The summary should include a word count
• 250-word abstract of the proposed project
• Short statements (150 words each) explaining how the Principal Applicant meets the person specification and how they will meet the required time commitment
• Key references (maximum of 30) supporting the proposed research.  Each reference to include PubMed ID number, title, name of first author and number of citations to date
• Short CV of the principal applicant, including major publications relevant to the application, a list of current grant awards and a list of grant applications awaiting a decision.  The CV, publications list and grant list not to exceed 3 pages in total
• A single page appendix containing figures/diagrams may also be included if appropriate
• Draft costs completed on Worktribe. A copy of the Worktribe summary statement will suffice
• An email from the Head of Department confirming their support

Please read the Sir Jules Thorn Award for Biomedical Research 2024/25 overview for more details. Complete guidelines can be found here.

Please send any queries to Kimberley Trim (k.trim@imperial.ac.uk)

Rosetrees Trust Interdisciplinary Award 2025

The 2025 Rosetrees Interdisciplinary Award aims to support cutting-edge research investigating environmental impacts on public and human health. We are looking for proposals that investigate how factors such as air pollution, climate change, and exposure to environmental toxins, carcinogens and microplastics affect health from birth to adulthood. The winning project will win up to £330,000 paid over 3 years. The College is permitted to submit one bid to this opportunity.

Please note funding from Rosetrees does not include any overheads.

Research must be interdisciplinary and could involve collaborations between clinicians/clinician scientists, surgeons/surgical scientists, discovery scientists, and environmental/ toxicology/ epidemiology and public health experts, focusing on understanding the underlying disease causative mechanisms and developing novel strategies for prevention, mitigation, and intervention.

Further information about eligibility and what the composition of the two lead investigators can be found in the attached guidance and FAQs.

Interested applicants should submit the following to researchoffice.fundingstrategy@imperial.ac.uk by 1600 Thursday 6 February 2025.

• A completed Rosetrees IDA 2025 - Internal Application
• A supporting data document with preliminary data that supports your application, maximum of 1 page of A4, font size 11.
• Confirmation from the relevant heads of department (or delegates) of the lead applicants that they approve participation as Rosetrees do not award any overhead contribution, email is fine.

The deadline for submission to Rosetrees is Wednesday 5 March 2025 and requires mostly the same information as we are using for the internal selection process, but will also need a letter of support.

Recurring calls

AXA Chair and Fellowship

For further detail contact researchoffice.fundingstrategy@imperial.ac.uk

There is one opportunity a year to put someone forward for an AXA Chair or Fellowship position (note Fellowship calls are for specific research areas). Imperial is only permitted to submit one candidate per call, and the process is managed centrally. More information about these opportunities can be found on the AXA Chair position webpage or the Fellowships webpage

AXA Chair

2024 round open

The Chair scheme is primarily to attract an individual to the College and Departments should initially approach researchoffice.fundingstrategy@imperial.ac.uk stating the individual that they wish to attract and the strategic benefit to the College of pursuing an application. If the Vice-Provost (Research and Enterprise) is convinced of the strategic need, and the College has not met its application limit, the department will be informed of the next steps to continue the process. 

AXA Fellowship

Next call expected to launch Spring 2025

Below information is relating to the 2024 call

For the 2024 round, the AXA Research Fund is seeking to support postdoctoral research geared towards assessing, identifying, quantifying, and understanding the socio-economic impact of misinformation and exploring solutions to mitigate it. They will fund innovative and transdisciplinary research projects focusing on the following areas:

1. Investigating AI’s impacts on media and information ecosystems, the actors at play, motivations, and strategies;
2. Examining the societal and economic impacts of AI modified information ecosystem (on public health, economic growth, climate policies, social cohesion, and political stability…);
3. Exploring the implications for democratic institutions and processes as well as other political regimes
4. Investigating the role of private sector firms in operationalizing AI in a safe and ethical way;
5. Investigating ways on how to best regulate new emerging technology systems to avoid increasing polarization;
6. Assessing the effectiveness of different mitigation and prevention strategies (including digital literacy as a proactive strategy and practical tool to combat misinformation).

Interested candidates' Departments should initially approach researchoffice.fundingstrategy@imperial.ac.uk stating the individual that they wish to put forward/attract, why AXA is the best route to support them, and the strategic benefit to the College of pursuing an application. The deadline for initial contact is 10^th April 2024.

If the Vice-Provost (Research and Enterprise) is convinced AXA is an appropriate fit for the candidate, and the College has not met its application limit, the department will be informed of the next steps to continue the process.

NERC 'Pushing the Frontiers of Environmental Science Research' rounds (July and January closing dates)

For further detail contact researchoffice.fundingstrategy@imperial.ac.uk

In 2015, NERC introduced a Demand Management quota system, whereby institutions whose 6-round success rate for the former Standard Grants (response mode, including New Investigator grants) fell below 20% received a cap on the number of proposals they could submit for that financial year's rounds. Imperial is currently subject to this demand management quota, which is being applied to the new Pushing the Frontiers scheme. To manage the cap and increase the quality of proposals being submitted to avoid future restriction, an internal review group has been established to aid in the support (and selection where required) of bids. For more information view the NERC Demand Management webpage.

For further details of how to submit your proposal to the internal NERC Proposals Review Group and the key dates for the next upcoming round under Demand Management measures, please visit our dedicated NERC Internal Demand Management page.

EPSRC Strategic Equipment Outlines

For further detail please contact Mark Bambury.

EPSRC have relaunched their strategic equipment call as a responsive mode opportunity for which the College is permitted to submit up to 6 applications in the period to 18 June 2025.

Funding is for either:

• purchase and set-up of infrastructure
• resources to support existing infrastructure

The full economic cost (FEC) of your infrastructure must be at least £400,000.

The resources to support existing equipment applications must have a maximum duration of two years.

Interested parties should complete the EPSRC Strategic Equipment Outlines Application Proforma (.docx).

The completed form should be submitted to researchoffice.fundingstrategy@imperial.ac.uk, outlines will be considered at the College’s Research Advisory Group (RAG).

Outlines will be considered three times across 2024/2025 as per the following timetable.

Applications should be submitted to EPSRC no more than four weeks after approval to submit by RAG.

Additional information can be found on the EPSRC Strategic Equipment process webpage

Below are the calls that have been pre-announced and are expected to need management. A process for these calls will be announced as soon as possible.