Grants
Current BSRA members are eligible to apply for funding to support their work on the biology of ageing. Full terms and conditions below.
NOTE: We have closed our grant funding streams for the September 2024 round, as we build up to a larger funding scheme in 2025.
In 2025 we will be increasing the value of our Summer Studentships and Small Research Grants from £2,000 to £3,000 to reflect increases in costs of living and consumable costs in the United Kingdom
Eligibility
All BSRA members who are based at an eligible UK institution and conducting research related to the biology of ageing are eligible to apply for funding. However, applications from early-to-mid career researchers (defined as doctoral and post-doctoral scientists up to 10 years post-PhD) will be considered more favourably.
The proposed activity must have a clearly defined objective and be within the remit of BSRA’s charitable objectives.
For summer studentships/student vacation awards, the university or research institution that the student is registered at does not have to be in the UK. Funding recipients are ineligible to apply for further funds for a 2-year period.
Only one submission per applicant is permissible in a year.
The applicant must read and will comply with the Terms and Conditions of BSRA funding.
Application
To apply for funding from the BSRA please download and fill in this funding application form, clearly indicating which type of funding you are applying for. Please email the completed application form to grants@bsra.org.uk
The next call will open 1st December 2024 with a 1st March application deadline.
Small Research Grant
CLOSED for applications
Closed for September 2024, will reopen for March 2025 application deadline
Small Research Grants are intended to provide an opportunity for an early-to mid-career researcher to enable research where the resources, equipment and infrastructure are already in place to support the intended activities. This might also include costs to support ongoing research including publication costs, outreach and public engagement, laboratory consumables, collaborative meetings, training, and laboratory exchanges to support career development that would have, otherwise, not been possible. Funds cannot be used to pay for staff salaries.
Awards are available of up to a total of £3,000. Awards are available for a maximum of 12 months.
Travel Grant
CLOSED for applications
Closed for September 2024, will reopen for March 2025 application deadline
Attend and present (oral communication or poster) at the BSRA conference and/or a biology of ageing-related conference. If attending the BSRA meeting, it is expected that awardees will attend the conference dinner. We also support applications for funds to support presentation of free communications at international conferences in the field of ageing (e.g., American Ageing Association meetings). These grants are to cover conference registration, travel and economy flights and conference accommodation costs only.
A total of four grants for up to a total of £500 each are available each year, 1 per applicant.
For BSRA 2024 the MRC is also supporting ECR Applicants. Read more here.
Summer Studentship
CLOSED for applications
Closed for September 2024, will reopen for March 2025 application deadline
This grant is for undergraduate students to get hands-on research experience during the summer (typically), related to the biology of ageing. We welcome applications from supervisors (and/or directly from students who have found a suitable supervisor) in UK universities who are already working on these kinds of projects and are willing to share their experiences with undergraduate students for skill and career development.
The value of the grant is £300 per week per student (paid directly to the student to contribute to living expenses: please note, this is not a salary). The grant covers a maximum of a ten-week studentship (i.e., a total value of £3,000). If additional consumables are required, the applicant is encouraged to apply for a Small Research Grant, which will be assessed independently.
Applications where existing investigative costs are already covered by the hosting laboratory will be considered favourably.
If awarded, we request confirmation from the applicant that they will be able to complete the project in the absence of Small Research Grant funds, should they be unsuccessful in obtaining the latter. Only one application is to be submitted per supervisor/student per year.
How To Apply
Download an application form from the Members area to apply.
You can attach up to 2 supporting figures to your application.
The BSRA adheres to the Association of Medical Research Charities (AMRC) principles of peer review.
The BSRA peer review policy can be downloaded and viewed here. BSRA Peer review policy 2022
View previous funding opportunities (now closed).
Terms and Conditions
- Successful applicants must acknowledge the BSRA funding in all of their research activities which relate to the award. For example, the BSRA logo must be presented in all conference presentations and the BSRA must be acknowledged in all publications. The BSRA logo can be found here: https://bsra.org.uk/bsra-logo-2022/. For conference communications, presenters shall acknowledge BSRA funding.
- Successful candidates must produce a final report to the BSRA, outlining how this funding has been used, the benefit to the applicant and how this activity is important for ageing research. This summary will be posted to the BSRA webpage and social media profiles. Successful candidates will also be interviewed by the BSRA Communications Editor for a news item on the BSRA website.
- Funds cannot be used to pay for staff salaries or membership of professional bodies, etc.
- In the event of a submission being unsuccessful, we are unable to give feedback and the final decision of the grant panel is not subject to appeal.
- The payment of a grant is subject, at all times, to BSRA being satisfied that all these conditions are being complied with.
- The awarding department is responsible for administering all aspects of the award including, but not limited to, ensuring any necessary ethical committee approvals, animal licences and requirements of regulatory authorities are in place before the work begins and are maintained for the duration of the work. The awarding department will also be responsible the identification, protection and exploitation of any intellectual property rights arising from the work.
- Grants awarded shall not be used for any purpose other than that stated in the grant offer letter. If, for example, a conference is cancelled or the scheduled venue or dates of a conference change after a grant has been allocated, then the recipient must notify BSRA of the changes, so that the award can be re-assessed.
- In making an application for a grant, the applicant agrees to abide by each of the terms and conditions contained within this schedule, upon and following any award of a grant. This schedule, together with the requirements set out in the application guidelines and any subsequent grant offer letter, constitute the agreement between BSRA and the recipient.