These pages are regularly updated, so new alerts will be included when appropriate.

Alzheimer's Society Research Grants

The Alzheimer's Society is committed to maintaining, improving and promoting its unique knowledge and understanding of dementia. The Society seeks to define and develop quality in its care and core services, to reach out to and include all people with dementia, their families and the professionals who work with them and to work in partnership with other organisations that share its aim. The following research grants are available.

Quality Research in Dementia (IRD) Research Fellowships
Applications are invited for Research Fellowships in the areas of cause, cure or care for dementia. These awards are intended for the support of post-doctoral researchers (medical or non-medical) who are in the middle stages of their training and wish to pursue an academic career in the field of dementia. Awards are usually for a period of two or three years, and may be made to United Kingdom universities and clinical centres only. There is a possibility for extension of the fellowship subject to satisfactory progress and sufficient funds of a further two years. The maximum award is £200,000. Closing date: 31st October 2008

Dissemination Grant
Its Dissemination Grants aim to support innovative dissemination of research outcomes of importance to people with dementia, their carers or other researchers with an interest in dementia. Additionally, projects aimed at raising awareness in the general public of specific issues pertaining to dementia may be considered. Grants available are for £5,000 - £30,000. Enquires: Phone: 0207423 3500 Email:enquiries@alzheimers.org.uk. Closing date for applications 28 November, 2008.

For more information on all the grant opportunities visit: www.alzheimers.org.uk

Big Lottery Research Programme

The Big Lottery Fund has research funding available for social, medical or socio-medical research led by voluntary and community sector (VCS) organisations. The Research Programme aims to influence local and national policy and practice by funding VCS organisations to produce and disseminate evidence-based knowledge.

Research grants of between £10,000 and £500,000 are available for research projects lasting up to five years.

The Research programme is open to VCS organisations in the UK only. VCS organisations can partner with the research community but these organisations may not apply for funding themselves. For further details visit: www.bigresearchprogramme.org.uk.

The schedule for application of funding grants for this programme has recently been changed. There is now only one more round of funding available (round two of the programme has been cancelled) and the new deadline for this final round is now Friday 30th May, 2009. For further details visit: www.bigresearchprogramme.org.uk.

British Psychological Society: Research Seminar Grants

The Competition provides grants to enable institutions to co-operate to hold a series of at least three scientific seminars. The proposed seminars should have tangible goals and should focus on developing and extending the understanding of a psychological process in any field of scientific psychology. Three grants are available each worth up to £3,000. These provide funding for travel and accommodation expenses for those attending the seminar. A minimum of two institutions will be involved, submissions should be made by a primary applicant and one co-applicants, at least one of whom should be a Society member.

For further details visit: http://www.bps.org.uk/the-society/organisation-and-governance/research-board/awards_grants_lectures_2007/research-seminar-competition.cfm

Children's Research Fund

The Children's Research Fund aims to promote, encourage & foster research into all aspects of diseases in children, child health and prevention of illness in children; support research centres & units by grants to academic institutions, hospitals and other bodies with similar aims to Children's Research Fund. Since the inauguration of the Children' s Research Fund in 1962, they have been involved in all aspects of child health at Institutes of Child Health and University Departments throughout the country.

Amount of funding available is unspecified. Applications can be submitted at any time and are considered twice-yearly in March and October. If the Review Committee feel that proposal falls within their sphere of interest, a detailed proposal will be required. No application form - applicants should submit 4 copies of outline proposal with costings and approval of Health of Department. (Ethical approval may be required). Contact: The Research Administrator: Head Office, 668 India Building , Water Street . Liverpool L2 0RA. 0151 236 2844. Visit: http://www.childrensresearchfund.org.uk/index.htm

Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)

The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) is the UK's leading research funding and training agency addressing economic and social concerns. They aim to provide high quality research on issues of importance to business, the public sector and government.

Research Grants Scheme
This is a flexible research grants scheme awards ranging from £15,000 to £1.5 million (100% FEC) to eligible institutions allowing individuals or research teams to undertake anything from a small project to a large-scale survey. Applications may be for basic research or more applied research topics. For those applications on more applied topics, the Research Grants Board will also consider their value to potential users, outside of the research community. There is considerable flexibility when it comes to subject areas, however, the choice of research topic needs to falls within the ESRC's remit, but it need not be relevant to its Strategic Framework.

For funding of more than £100,000 you need to apply to Standard Grants Scheme.
For funding of less than £100,000 you need to apply to the streamlined Small Grants Scheme. This scheme is particularly useful for new researchers making their first application to the ESRC. This is an 'open dates' scheme, so applications for all grants can be made at any time using the same application form - there are no fixed closing dates.

Research Fellowships Scheme
Whatever stage you have reached in your postdoctoral career, you can apply for funding under the Research Fellowships Scheme. This scheme gives both senior and less experienced researchers the opportunity to undertake a period of concentrated research activity. Fellowships fund a wide variety of academic activities ranging from further training to the consolidation of previous research. Fellowships offer a salaried period of two to three years (five years in exceptional circumstances) to researchers working in all areas of social and economic science. Another funding opportunity for researchers who have recently completed a PhD is the Postdoctoral Fellowship Scheme. Applications for Fellowships can be made at any time.

ESRC Postdoctoral Fellowships
ESRC Postdoctoral Fellowships provide a career development opportunity for those at a relatively early stage of their academic career who can demonstrate great potential in social science research. The scheme is also open to those returning to research following a career break. Applicants should have no more than three years' active postdoctoral experience when they take up the award.

The awards are designed to enable the following:

• to produce publications in order to help establish a track record in their chosen specialisation and secure opportunities for long term employment in the HEI sector;
• to disseminate their research findings that have come out of previous doctoral work to both academics and non-academic audiences;
• to further improve their research and related skills through additional specialised training; and
• to carry out further limited research based on their PhD work and related work through developing proposals for further funding.

The scheme is open to all disciplines. However, during 2008 ESRC is specifically encouraging applications in a number of disciplines identified as having particular capacity building difficulties. These are Economics, Education, Management and Business Studies, Advanced Quantitative Methods, Social Work, and Socio-Legal Studies. Awards are tenable for 1 year on a full time basis (2 years Economics) and up to 2 years on a part time basis (4 years in Economics).

For more information on all these awards and for updates on other ESRC funding announcements visit: http://www.esrcsocietytoday.ac.uk/ESRCInfoCentre/opportunities/

Joseph Rowntree Foundation: New Insights and Innovation: Responsive Mode Funding

The purpose of The purpose of this call is to encourage original ideas within the JRF's remit that are outside of their defined programmes of work. The Foundation view this as an opportunity to encourage fresh thinking around new or emerging issues in policy or practice, to generate innovative and imaginative ideas or be groundbreaking in some way.

Proposals must have relevance to their mission to ‘search, demonstrate and influence, providing evidence, solutions and ideas that will help to overcome the causes of poverty, disadvantage and social evil' and be within one or more of their overarching aims:

• Poverty: to examine the root causes of poverty and disadvantage and identify solutions
• Empowerment: to identify ways of enabling people and communities to have control of their own lives
• Place: to contribute to the building and development of strong, cohesive and sustainable communities.

There is a two stage process with the first stage being a short written outline proposal. The deadline for the receipt of outline proposals is 5 pm on 11th September 2008. The notification of shortlisted proposals is 19th September 2008. The deadline for receipt of final proposals is 2 pm on 20th October 2008. The Trustees' Meeting is on the 2nd December 2008. Please see their website for further details.

JRF's remit is UK wide and they are interested in all four countries of the UK and their different approaches to policy and practice.

The Foundation's capacity to fund projects costing more than £100,000 is limited. Their main goal is to seek a few high quality projects which are innovative or provide fresh thinking and are methodologically sound rather than one or two expensive projects. Closing date for applications: 11 September 2008. For further information visit http://www.jrf.org.uk/

MRC: Medical Research Council: Addiction Research Strategy - Call for Pilot Research Proposals Details

In the view of the MRC and others, the field of addiction research needs further investment and strategic support. For these reasons the MRC is launching the first of two calls for applications for funding of addiction research. This call is for pilot/proof-of-principle funding and focuses on making better use of the "infrastructure" that already exists and which could be further exploited to support innovative addiction research. There is also a strong basic neuroscience, psychology and health research community in the UK - and elsewhere - who are not currently engaging in this field but have a lot to offer. The MRC will make up to £2 million available for this call for pilot grants. Applications should request between £100-300K on a full economic cost basis for grants lasting a maximum of two years. A further call is planned to award grants that will provide more substantial support.

In the context of this call, addiction applies to illicit drug use, addiction to nicotine and abuse of alcohol and problem gambling. It excludes compulsive behaviours such as over-eating. This call will not support systematic reviews, economic evaluations of existing treatments, projects within ongoing research programmes, support for fellowships or PhD students, and research into other compulsive behaviours such as eating disorders.

Closing date for applications is: 19 November 2008. For more information visit: http://www.mrc.ac.uk/ApplyingforaGrant/CallsForProposals/Addiction/index.htm

Society for the Study of Addiction

The Society for the Study of Addiction (SSA) aims to support, facilitate, and enhance the work of members for the mutual benefit of all concerned with the study of addiction. It also aims to support projects in the following areas: evidence based policy implementation; multi-disciplinary reviews in neglected areas directly relevant to addiction policy; stimulation and support for addiction researchers and practitioners to exchange ideas across countries and subject areas. Projects can be proposed in a number of different formats. For example, the project may consist of a closed meeting designed to generate ideas, discussion and a publication or be a more formal piece of research using paid researchers. Support will only generally be given to projects and initiatives from the Members of the Society, including the Executive. The Society will not support initiatives that also receive support linked to the alcohol or tobacco industry. Applications can be submitted at any time. For projects requiring support of more than £10,000, co-sponsors should be sought.

For further details please visit http://www.addiction-ssa.org/; Email: membership@addiction-ssa.org; Tel: 0113 295 2787

The Nuffield Foundation

The Foundation aims to bring about improvements in society through research and practical experiment. The wide range of activities supported by the Foundation fall into two main categories:

• support of research and innovation that will bring about beneficial social change
• development of research and professional capacity in the sciences and the social sciences, targeted at people in the early stages of their careers
• Also there is the Elizabeth Nuffield Educational Fund that supports women students.

Social Science Small Grants Scheme
This Scheme makes small grants for social science research expenses. Awards are normally up to £7,500, although in exceptional circumstances awards may be made of up to a maximum of £12,000. The Scheme has no closing date. Applicants must be resident and working at a UK institution, although the research may be undertaken outside the UK.
The small grants scheme cheme has three priorities for funding:

• projects that develop social science research capacity particularly by supporting the work of those new to social science research;
• self-contained or pilot or preliminary projects that address the wider objects of the Foundation, namely a broad concern with the 'advancement of social well-being';
• outstanding small projects in the social sciences.

For further information visit www.nuffieldfoundation.org/

Elizabeth Nuffield Educational Fund
The Elizabeth Nuffield Educational Fund was set up in 1956 by Lady Nuffield and gives grants to women studying to improve their employment prospects. Grants are currently given to:

• women in higher education
• women in further education. 15 Colleges of Further Education across the country will offer Elizabeth Nuffield FE Grants to support students meeting the Fund's criteria. Further information available from the FE Co-ordinator
• refugee women through RETAS (this scheme is currently under review)
• other projects of interest to the Fund that address the financial needs of adult women learners.

Women Students in Higher Education
Awards for 2008 will be made at two meetings, in March and November. The maximum grant given is £2,200 per annum, £3,300 per annum for healthcare students. The deadline for the grant-making meeting on 20 March 2008 has now passed. The next meeting will be held in November. An application pack will be available to download from their web site at the end of June. For further information visit www.nuffieldfoundation.org/go/grants/enef/page_81.html

The Stammer Trust: Small Grants

Grants towards treatment or research in stammering
The Stammer Trust, a small charity mainly concerned with therapy and research in Oxford, invites applications for small grants up to £250 towards treatment and research anywhere in the UK. A total of £1000 is available at this time.

The grants may be a part or the whole of the cost of equipment, training or conference attendance, but are not limited to these examples. The closing date for applications is 1st October, 2008. For further details visit: http://www.stammering.org/stammertrustgrant.html

WellChild

WellChild aims to fund high quality innovative research with potential for direct benefit to children and young people's health and well-being. Since it was first established in 1977, WellChild has had a long history of funding innovative and transformational research in many areas of children's health. This has included supporting the early careers of a number of researchers who have subsequently made significant contributions in their field. Figures from the Association of Medical Research Charities (2004/5) showed that WellChild is the fifth largest investor in children's health research, with a total of over £20 million awarded to research over the last 30 years. They particularly welcome applications from early career clinical and non-clinical scientists. Applications should be no longer than three years duration.

The call for preliminary applications for its Research Grant Award Programme 2009/10 has now closed. If you'd like to be informed when the 2010/11 application process starts please contact Linda Partridge, WellChild's Director of Support and Research: research@wellchild.org.uk

Wellbeing of Women

Wellbeing of Women is the only UK charity dedicated to solving the health problems that affect women by funding medical research and training into all aspects of reproductive health. Wellbeing of Women funds research into gynaecological cancers, pregnancy and birth and quality of life issues including menopause, incontinence, sexual health, menstrual disorders and endometriosis. Applications will be considered by the Wellbeing of Women Research Advisory Committee and, for certain grants, by external assessors

Research Grants
for 2 to 3 year projects in basic science, clinical or translational research including explanatory and feasibility studies. The upper limit for any grant awarded is £150,000 and the research must be undertaken in the UK.

Research Training Fellowships
designed to further the training of a medical graduate embarking upon a career in obstetrics and gynaecology. Fellowships are awarded for up to three years and cover the cost of a full time salary per annum for Specialty Registrar (or equivalent), plus research expenses and registration fees for a higher degree.

Entry-Level Research Scholarships
intended to provide ‘pump-priming' funds to enable trainees to be exposed to a research environment, or to obtain pilot data for bids for definitive funding. Applicants would normally be within the first few years of graduation. Scholarships are a single payment up to a maximum of £20,000 to go towards salary and/or laboratory costs.

For further details visit: http://www.wellbeingofwomen.org.uk/