MRC research grants are suitable for focused research projects that may be short- or long-term in nature. In addition, they can be used to support method development or development and continuation of research facilities and may involve more than one research group or institution.
A research grant can be awarded for any period of up to 5 years, but those of two years or less are for proof of principle work only. Proof of principle proposals are expected to support high-risk or high-reward research by critically testing a key hypothesis or demonstrating feasibility of an approach that could lead to fundamentally new avenues of research.
All work proposed would need to be fully justified. Applications seeking support of greater than 3 years should provide a clear justification as to why a longer timescale is needed, for example due to specific research deliverables, or the need for prolonged data collection or follow-up.
The budget for research grant awards will not typically exceed £1 million.
Research grants do not cover programmatic approaches or research involving randomised trials of clinical treatments. If your proposed research will lead directly to a separately funded clinical trial, please contact an MRC research board manager to discuss its eligibility.
The proposal success rates page shows the number of research grants awarded each year.