Apply for funding for the early-stage development of an intervention that seeks to address a UK or global public health challenge.
You must be a researcher employed by an eligible research organisation.
MRC will fund up to £150,000, for a maximum of 18 months.
Funds requested by UK research organisations will be funded at 80% of the full economic cost, in which case the full economic cost of your project can be up to £187,500. Overseas costs will be funded at 100% of the full economic cost.
Before applying for funding, check the following:
UKRI has introduced new role types for opportunities being run on the new Funding Service, effective from 22 May 2023. For full details, see your eligibility as an individual
To be eligible to apply for this opportunity you must:
For applicants who do not have a contract of employment for the duration of the proposed project, by submitting the application the research organisation is confirming:
You can include international applicants as project co-leads if they provide expertise not available in the UK and make a major intellectual contribution to the design or conduct of the project. You must justify in your application why their expertise is required, see Applicant and team capability to deliver.
MRC is committed to achieving equality of opportunity for all funding applicants. We encourage applications from a diverse range of researchers.
We support people to work in a way that suits their personal circumstances. This includes:
Read MRC’s guidance on flexible working and career breaks. You can also find out more about MRC’s current EDI initiatives and equality, diversity and inclusion at UKRI.
MRC is looking to support the early-stage development of interventions that seek to address either UK or global public health challenges. This might include qualitative and quantitative primary research and the development of theory and logic models. However, emphasis should be placed on developing the intervention.
This opportunity supports the incorporation of systems thinking in addressing public health challenges. It is justifiable to focus on just aspect of a system as long as the wider systems context is recognised, for example, in the framework for evaluation.
It also strongly encourages the use of interdisciplinary teams and co-production with users and other relevant stakeholders, such as policy makers.
Population level interventions, with a focus on non-health care settings. Examples of the focus of health-related population level interventions include:
For the purposes of this funding opportunity, ‘population’ is defined as groups of individuals for which an intervention may subsequently be delivered and evaluated. For example, this includes organisations such as schools, prisons and workplaces, or settings such as:
Health care settings can be included, but projects should demonstrate potential for improved health of general, high-risk or vulnerable populations.
The creation of new interventions, where active components of existing interventions are combined to create a new intervention, is allowable within the scope.
The following activities are not within the scope of this opportunity:
You should address the following points about the proposed intervention, including:
The application should demonstrate a pathway to further development and evaluation of the intervention, and criteria for its progression to the next stage of development (detailed within the case for support).
Engagement of potential commissioners and users of an intervention is often crucial to its potential success. You should be able to identify potential beneficiaries of your intervention, who would be delivering the intervention and who would commission it.
Your application will be strengthened by demonstrating that users and the target population will be willing to participate in the development study (and potentially further testing and evaluation).
It may be helpful to refer to the MRC and National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) guidance for developing and evaluating complex interventions. This supports the development or identification, feasibility testing, evaluation and implementation of complex interventions.
We will fund projects lasting up to 18 months.
For information, MRC has previously funded awards with a shorter duration of eight and 10 months, however, successful awards typically span anywhere from 12 to 18 months in duration.
MRC will fund up to £150,000, for a maximum of 18 months.
Funds requested by UK research organisations will be funded at 80% of the full economic cost, in which case the full economic cost of your project can be up to £187,500. Overseas costs will be funded at 100% of the full economic cost.
You can request funding for costs such as:
A limited amount (approximately 15%) of the overall cost may be allocated to some acceptability and feasibility research, to:
We will not fund:
You may include project partners that will support your research project through cash or in-kind contributions, such as:
Each project partner must provide a statement of support.
We collaborations with an industrial partner or partners, where these add value to the project. You and your potential collaborators are advised to refer to the guidance on MRC Industry Collaboration Framework (ICF). ICF is the mechanism by which academic-industrial collaborations can apply to the MRC.
Find out more about subcontractors and dual roles for instances where a project partner is also providing paid services, such as a subcontractor.
The individual named as the contact for the project partner organisation cannot also be a named applicant, such as all those with a role of ‘investigator’ and any other named member of staff.
If your application includes international applicants, project partners or collaborators, visit Trusted Research for more information on effective international collaboration.
Find out about getting funding for international collaboration.
We are running this funding opportunity on the new UKRI Funding Service. You cannot apply on the Joint Electronic Submissions (Je-S) system.
We recommend you start your application as soon as possible after the opportunity opens on 13 July 2023.
Your host organisation will also be able to provide advice and guidance to assist you with the creation and completion of your application. They will also be able to guide you through any internal deadlines they have put in place, allowing them sufficient time to complete a review of your application before completing the final submission through TFS.
If an application is created by a member of an organisation where we do not currently have contact details with their research office, we will contact them to enable administrator access. This provides:
If you anticipate researchers from your organisation applying for this opportunity but have not already received an invitation to open an account, email: support@funding-service.ukri.org
As an administrator, you will be responsible for the final submission of the application to UKRI and ensuring internal deadlines are made clear to applicants from your organisation. To hear more about the role of administrators, and the current functionality of the new funding service and how it will further develop, watch our research office webinars about the new UKRI Funding Service.
Applications should be prepared and submitted by the lead research organisation but should be co-created with input from all investigators, and project partners, and should represent the proposed work of the entire consortia.
The project lead is responsible for completing the application process on the Funding Service, but we expect all team members and project partners to contribute to the application.
Only the lead research organisation can submit an application to UKRI.
To apply:
As citations can be integral to a case for support, you should balance their inclusion and the benefit they provide against the inclusion of other parts of your answer to each question. Bear in mind that citations, associated reference lists or bibliographies, or both, contribute to, and are included in, the word count of the relevant section.
MRC must receive your application by 14 September 2023 at 4:00pm.
You will not be able to apply after the funding opportunity has closed. Late applications will not be considered by MRC.
You should ensure you are aware of and follow any internal institutional deadlines that may be in place at your research organisation, to ensure the timely final submission of your application before the opportunity closes.
Following the close of the opportunity, your application will not be returned for amendment.
External links are only permitted in the ‘References’ section. Your application should be a self-contained description of the proposed project and should not depend on additional information.
You will be asked to enter a distinct name for your application using 150 characters or fewer.
This is a standard TFS section that asks applicants to tell us the start date and duration of their proposed project. Your project can last up to 18 months.
In plain English, provide a summary of your proposed intervention.
This summary may be made publicly available on external facing websites if funded, so please ensure it can be understood by a variety of readers, for example:
Succinctly describe your proposed work in terms of:
Word count: 550
List the key members of your team and assign them roles, for example:
MRC policy only allows one person to be named project lead within your Public Health Intervention Development (PHIND) application. Applications that include more than one project lead will be rejected by MRC. More information about the roles listed above can be found here: Roles in funding applications: eligibility, responsibilities and costings guidance – UKRI.
Question: What are you hoping to achieve with your proposed work?
Explain how your proposed work:
Within the Vision section we also expect you to:
Word count: 1000
Question: How are you going to deliver your proposed work?
Explain how you have designed your approach so that it:
Within the Approach section we also expect you to:
Please do not use the Gantt chart to include information which should be detailed in the other sections of your application.
All applicants should be aware of the following:
Word count: 1,000
Question: What are the next steps for the development and evaluation of the intervention after the proposed PHIND project has been completed?
This question refers to future development and evaluation phases that would be informed by, or could lead on from, the proposed intervention development study. Include criteria for progression, the pathway to the next stage of evaluation and give an indication of what the intervention would likely involve.
It’s important to demonstrate:
Be as clear as possible about the future plans, including an outline of the design of a full-scale evaluation.
While you’re not expected to know the outcome of your research, a strong application will provide:
Not all PHIND projects will necessarily be developed into feasible interventions and high-risk high-impact projects are encouraged. Either way, results will be valuable for informing future research and should be appropriately disseminated.
You should also detail the criteria you’ll use to determine whether the project should progress to the next stage of evaluation. This may be related to uptake of the intervention, its feasibility or scalability, or practicality of delivery. It’s not essential to provide figures but you should give the panel an indication of what you’ll be looking for.
Word count: 400
Question: how will you manage and share data collected or acquired through the proposed research?
Provide a data management plan which should clearly detail how you will comply with MRC’s published data management and sharing policies, which includes detailed guidance notes.
Provide your response following the MRC data management plan template, using the headings:
The length of your plan will vary depending on the type of study being undertaken for:
Word count: 1,500
Question: Why are you the right individual or team to successfully deliver the proposed work?
Evidence of how you and your team, have:
The word count for this section is 1500 words, 1000 words to be used for R4RI modules and, if necessary, a further 500 words for Additions. Use the Résumé for Research and Innovation (R4RI) format to showcase the range of relevant skills you, and if relevant your team (project lead and project co-leads, researchers, technicians, specialists, partners and so on), have and how this will help to deliver the proposed work.
You can include individuals’ specific achievements but only choose past contributions that best evidence their ability to deliver this work.
Complete this section using the R4RI module headings listed below. You should use each heading once and include a response for the whole team, see the UKRI guidance on R4RI. You should consider how to balance your answer, and emphasise where appropriate the key skills each team member brings:
Provide any further details relevant to your application. This section is optional and can be up to 500 words. You should not use it to describe additional skills, experiences or outputs, but any factors that provide context for the rest of your R4RI (for example, details of career breaks if you wish to disclose them).
Complete this as a narrative. Do not format it like a CV.
UKRI has introduced new role types for funding opportunities being run on the new Funding Service.
For full details, see Eligibility as an individual.
Word count: 1,500
Question: List the references you have used to support your application
You should include all references in this section of the application, and not in the rest of the application questions.
You should not include any other information in this section.
We advise you not to include hyperlinks, as assessors are not obliged to access the information they lead to or consider it in their assessment of your application.
If linking to web resources, to maintain the information’s integrity, include persistent identifiers (such as digital object identifiers) where possible.
You must not include links to web resources to extend your application.
Word count: 800 words
Question: Provide details of any project partners’ contributions, and letters or emails of support from each named partner.
Download and complete the project partner contributions template (DOCX, 52KB). Include letters or emails of support from each partner in a single PDF.
Each letter or email you provide should:
The Funding Service will provide document upload details when you apply. If you do not have any project partners, you will be able to indicate this in the Funding Service.
Ensure you have prior agreement from project partners so that if you are offered funding, they will support your project as indicated in the template.
For audit purposes, UKRI requires formal collaboration agreements to be put in place if an award is made.
Do not provide letters of support from host and project co-leads’ research organisations.
If your application includes industry project partners, you will also need to complete the Industry Collaboration Framework (ICF) section.
Find out more about ICF.
Word limit: 1000
Question: Does your application include industry project partners?
If industry collaboration does not apply to any of your project partners, or you don’t have any project partners, simply add ‘N/A’ into the text box.
If your research project involves collaboration between an academic organisation and an industry or company, the assessors are looking for information relating to the nature, goals and conditions of the collaboration and any restrictions or rights to the project results that could be claimed by the project partner.
By ‘industry or company’ we mean an enterprise that puts goods or services on a market and whose commercial activities are greater than 20% of their overall annual capacity.
Find out more about ICF, including:
Use the ICF Decision Tree to establish whether you need to submit under ICF.
If ICF applies to your project, in addition to the project partner information completed in the previous section, confirm your answers to the ICF questions in the text box, and repeat this process for each ICF project partner:
Failure to provide the information requested for industry partners under ICF could result in your application being rejected.
You are recommended to discuss the goals and conditions of any collaboration with an industry or company project partner with your university technology transfer or contracts office before applying.
Word limit: 1,500
Question: What are the ethical or RRI implications and issues relating to the proposed work? If you do not think that the proposed work raises any ethical or RRI issues, explain why.
Demonstrate that you have identified and evaluated:
If you are collecting or using data, identify:
If you do not think that the proposed work raises any ethical or RRI issues, explain why.
Word count: max 500
Question: Will the project involve the use of human subjects or their personal information?
If you are proposing research that requires the involvement of human subjects, provide the name of any required approving body and whether approval is already in place.
Justify the number and the diversity of the participants involved, as well as any procedures.
Provide details of any areas of substantial or moderate severity of impact.
If this does not apply to your proposed work, you will be able to indicate this in the Funding Service.
Word count: 700
Question: Does your proposed research involve the use of human tissues, or biological samples?
If you are proposing work that involves human tissues or biological samples, provide the name of any required approving body and whether approval is already in place.
Justify the use of human tissue or biological samples specifying the nature and quantity of the material to be used and its source.
If this does not apply to your proposed work, you will be able to indicate this in the Funding Service.
Word count: 300
Question: What will you need to deliver your proposed work and how much will it cost?
Justify the application’s more costly resources, in particular:
Assessors are not looking for detailed costs or a line-by-line breakdown of all project resources. Overall, they want you to demonstrate how the resources you anticipate needing for your proposed work:
Where you do not provide adequate justification for a resource, we may deduct it from any funding awarded.
You should identify:
Word count: 1,000
Question: Is this application related to another application to MRC or other funding organisation?
If yes, explain how this new application is related to the other application.
If the related application was submitted to another funder you should identify the name of the funder and when you applied.
If this is a resubmission describe how it differs from the previous application and how feedback on the previous application has been considered and acted on.
Word count: 500 words
We will assess your application using the following process.
Following the close of the PHIND opportunity, all submitted applications will be examined by MRC to ensure the proposed project is within science remit of the PHIND opportunity.
Following our completion of the application examination process, all those with an application outside of the science remit of the PHIND scheme will be advised their application has been rejected shortly before the advertised expert review panel meeting planned for November 2023.
Applications within the science remit of the PHIND scheme will be taken forward to the expert review panel meeting planned for November 2023.
A Panel of experts, including independent academics and public health practitioners, will collectively review your application against the criteria of the PHIND opportunity, which is to:
Applications will rank alongside other applications after which the panel will make a funding recommendation.
The expert review panel will use the following criteria to assess your PHIND application:
UKRI supports the San Francisco declaration on research assessment (DORA) and recognises the relationship between research assessment and research integrity.
Find out about the UKRI Principles of Assessment and Decision Making.
We aim to complete the assessment process within 3 months of receiving your application.
The expert review panel meeting will take place approximately 12 weeks after the closing date.
MRC, as part of UKRI, will publish the outcomes of this funding opportunity at public health intervention development scheme – funding decisions.
If your application is successful, some personal information will be published on the UKRI Gateway to Research.
To see summaries of successful PHIND applications, you can search project reference IDs from the funding decision spreadsheet on Gateway to Research.
For help and advice on costings and writing your application, please contact your research office in the first instance. Allow enough time for your organisation’s submission process.
Email: support@funding-service.ukri.org
We aim to respond to emails within 2 working days.
Phone: 01793 547490
If you, or a key team member, need to tell us something you wish to remain confidential, email support@funding-service.ukri.org. Include ‘Sensitive information: PHIND Sep 2023’ in the subject line.
Typical examples of confidential information include:
For information about how UKRI handles personal data, see UKRI’s privacy notice.
MRC, as part of UKRI, will need to collect some personal information to manage your funding service account and the registration of your funding applications.
We will handle personal data in line with UK data protection legislation and manage it securely. For more information, including how to exercise your rights, read our privacy notice.
