Purpose of shortlisting
Medical Research Council (MRC) boards and panels usually undertake a shortlisting stage five to six weeks before the funding meeting. The purpose of shortlisting is to:
- ensure applications discussed at the funding meeting are of scientific and strategic interest to the board or panel
- ensure the number of applications assessed at each meeting is manageable and conducive to effective discussions
- identify, at an early stage, those applications that are uncompetitive and therefore unlikely to be awarded funding
Rejection at the shortlisting stage is considered beneficial for applicants unlikely to be successful as it enables them to take account of external peer reviewer comments at an earlier stage.
Shortlisting process
Shortlisting is conducted by seeking board or panel members’ critical evaluation of each funding application aided by the comments provided by external peer reviewers. Should expertise be required from another field, guest introducers are invited to contribute. These evaluations are then discussed at a shortlisting meeting, where the final ‘shortlist in’ (application proceeds to funding meeting) or ‘shortlist out’ (application rejected) decisions are taken.
Assessment criteria for recommendations
Board and panel members consider each application based upon its core assessment criteria, and score the applications using the scoring matrix for board and panel meetings. If the application has the potential to be fundable and any concerns can be addressed in the project lead response, members recommend ‘shortlist in’ and provide comments to justify this. If the application does not have the potential to achieve a fundable score at the funding meeting or presents concerns which cannot be addressed at the project lead response, members recommend ‘shortlist out’ and again provide justification.
Reproducibility
Board and panel members are required to comment on information relating to the justification of methods, statistical analyses and experimental design aspects of the application. Members note if suitable and sufficiently detailed information is provided to convince the board or panel that the proposed experiments will be carried out appropriately to produce robust and reproducible research.
Communication of decisions
MRC head office communicates shortlisting decisions within 10 working days of the shortlisting meeting.
Feedback
All applicants receive peer review comments following the shortlisting meeting. Applicants may also receive additional feedback from the shortlisting panel. In most cases (excluding the Developmental Pathway Funding Scheme and some targeted mode funding opportunities) applicants who pass the shortlisting stage have the opportunity to respond to all comments either ahead of or at the funding meeting.
Last updated: 7 May 2025