As a board or panel member, you will use your expertise and experience to help MRC invest in high-quality and impactful research, innovation and training as well as providing input into our strategy, including through interactions with other boards and panels and MRC’s advisory structures.
As it is not possible for individuals to provide in-depth expertise across all specialities, members will work collectively through open and objective discussions to provide advice across the board or panel remit, sharing responsibility for judgments and recommendations.
MRC Centres of Research Excellence (CoRE) are challenge-led investments focusing on distinct, disruptive, or multi and interdisciplinary activity, which has the potential to prove transformative to biomedical research, health research or both.
MRC CoRE will be beacons of excellence in:
- research culture
- equality, diversity and inclusion
- leadership models
- innovation
MRC is seeking to appoint up to three new members for the MRC CoRE Outline Panel to commence on 1 February 2026.
The primary function of the MRC CoRE Outline Panel is to assess applications received during the outline stage of the annual MRC CoRE funding opportunity. The panel meets once each year for this activity, with a two-day meeting taking place in March or April.
Members may also be asked to be involved in assessment of applications by interview at the full stage of the funding opportunity. Tenure for MRC CoRE outline panel members is one funding round, renewable for a further period of up to two funding rounds (reviewed annually).
A chair of the MRC CoRE outline panel is appointed for each funding round.
Applications to the MRC CoRE funding opportunity may address challenges across any part of the MRC remit, from basic discovery science through to translational and more applied research. We also encourage methodological and technological innovation, within MRC’s remit.
MRC CoRE outline panel members are internationally recognised leaders from academia and industry in areas of expertise corresponding to MRC’s major areas of remit. Panel members are broad strategic thinkers, with a breadth of knowledge across related fields, and are comfortable commenting on areas outside of their core expertise.
We invite applications from clinical and non-clinical researchers and from industry. We have up to three vacancies across the following areas:
- advanced therapeutics including regenerative medicine
- clinical immunology or haematology
- physiology and pathophysiology of major organs and systems not currently represented in the panel membership
We are particularly interested in:
- clinically active researchers
- researchers with expertise across scales from cells and tissues to organs and physiological systems
- individuals with additional expertise in artificial intelligence in the context of biomedical research
- individuals with interest in research culture or training and capacity building
As the panel represents the breadth of research across the UK, we are interested in receiving applications from individuals at research organisations not currently represented in the panel membership (excluding the chair).
