We offer funding to UK-based researchers working in our three priority areas - headache and facial pain, neuro-oncology and acquired brain and spinal cord injury.
Grants are awarded in open competition through our two national funding schemes: project grants and post-doctoral fellowships (also incorporating clinical PhD studentships).
Both schemes are focused on funding research in our three priority areas:
Research may be pre-clinical or clinical, must be based on a mechanistic hypothesis, and must demonstrate a clear pathway to translation.
Additionally, we will fund the development of biological models of disease that enhance the three research themes and facilitate translation.
Brain Research UK project grants provide funding of up to £300,000 for projects lasting up to three years. We particularly encourage applications from early career researchers (up to 10 years post-doc), and applications for collaborative projects (including international collaborations, if led by a UK team).
Our 2025 call for applications is now closed. The next call will launch late 2025, with a Spring 2026 deadline for preliminary applications.
Project grant call: further information
These new fellowships provide up to £300,000 for salary funding and research costs for post-doctoral candidates working towards independence, as well as prospective clinical academic PhD students.
The next deadline will be Autumn 2025, for Spring 2026 awards.
Fellowship call: further information
We are pleased to receive high numbers of excellent applications under our annual calls. Through our review processes, applications are judged in competition with each other to identify the research that offers the best hope of advancing understanding and treatment of the conditions on which we focus.
Project grants
We receive particularly high numbers of project grant applications. In 2024 we received 63 project grant applications, of which four were ultimately funded - a success rate of 6%.
To minimise the burden on both applicants and reviewers, we operate a two-stage application process for the project grants. The first stage involves submission of a short outline proposal; these are reviewed and short-listed by the members of our Scientific Advisory Panel (SAP), with short-listing decisions based on:
• how well the project aligns with our remit;
• the perceived need that the project is addressing;
• the potential impact of the project; and
• the feasibility of the project, including the capacity of the research team to successfully carry out the research.
Short-listed applicants are invited to submit a detailed proposal, which is then subject to external peer review before returning to the Panel for further discussion.
The number of applications received under our fellowship scheme is lower; we received 17 applications in 2024, out of which two candidates were funded – a success rate of 12%. This was a new scheme in 2024, however, and we expect the number of applications to increase.
For the fellowship call, we have a single stage application process with two stages of review/assessment. Applicants submit a full application at the outset; these are reviewed and short-listed by the members of our SAP, who consider:
Our Research strategy, updated in 2023.
Our Conflict of interest policy sets out how we deal with potential conflicts of interest arising in the assessment of grant applications.
Our Policy on the Use of animals in scientific research sets out our approach to funding research involving animals.
Please email katie.martin@brainresearchuk.org.uk if you have any queries concerning our research funding or if you would like to be notified of future funding opportunities.
