A Medical Research Council (MRC) partnership grant will provide funds for one to five years.
Resource requests will vary between partnerships (explore partnership grant case studies), therefore applicants are strongly advised to discuss this with the relevant programme manager before applying. For details of the pre-application stage, see how to apply.
What we will fund
You can request funding for costs such as:
- a contribution to the salary of the project lead and a small number of co-leads contributing to academic leadership of the partnership
- support for technical staff
- consumables
- equipment or infrastructure that is key to the aims of the partnership or provides a platform for activities associated with the partnership
- travel costs
- data preservation, data sharing and dissemination costs
- estates and indirect costs
- public partnerships and related activities, including payments to public contributors
Project lead and co-lead salaries
Where resources are requested for project lead and co-lead time, the application should explain the input of each of the named lead and co-leads, and justify why the stated time commitment is necessary for the partnership.
It is anticipated that in most instances only the project lead and possibly one or two co-leads will seek reimbursement in this context.
Project partners are not usually expected to request MRC funding to participate in the partnership, although minor costs will be considered.
Research costs
Minimal resources should be requested for research. For example, research staff may only be supported in exceptional cases. However, where justified, technical posts may be requested.
Partnership grants may support purchase of equipment, or infrastructure that is key to the aims of the partnership or provides a platform for activities associated with the partnership.
International costs
If international collaboration is key to the success of the partnership you can include research and salary costs and international project co-leads at an overseas organisation. You must justify in your application why their expertise is required.
We will fund 100% of the eligible international costs.
The total costs requested for international applicants from high-income countries (those not on the OECD DAC List of ODA Recipients), India and China must not exceed 30% of the total resources requested.
There is no cap on costs requested for international applicants from DAC list countries.
For more information on international costs and what we will and will not fund see costs we fund and the Collaborate with Researchers in Norway guidance.