Any researcher from within the Imperial Academic Health Science Centre (i.e. anyone undertaking research within the partnership of Imperial College London and Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust) that holds a contract extending to at least the end of the proposed project, and has departmental approval, is eligible to apply. For this call Royal Marsden (RM) employees may also apply as lead applicants providing they have an Imperial College co-applicant. Royal Marsden employees may be co-applicants on proposals led by Imperial staff.

No, this call is open to all eligible researchers irrespective of site, as long as the project is focussed on progressing new therapeutics/diagnostics/devices.

The first represents an award from the MRC to provide pilot funding to bridge the potential gap between discovery research and well-developed applications for DPFS support. The remit of the MRC Confidence in Concept fund includes novel therapeutics, devices and diagnostics, including “repurposing” of existing therapies. The NIHR Imperial BRC Therapeutic Primer Fund is to support the discovery and development of new therapeutics only. The Wellcome Trust Imperial ISSF fund can support all types of multidisciplinary application with the stipulation that it falls within the Wellcome Trust remit. Funds from The Royal Marsden will only fund joint projects between Imperial and Royal Marsden employees. It is anticipated that all supported projects will evolve into applications to DPFS/DCS or similar follow-on funding schemes.

The MRC component is open to anyone with an Imperial College contract, honorary or otherwise. This is the fourth year that The Royal Marsden has contributed funds to this scheme and as such collaborative applications are encouraged. Previous schemes have involved an element of funding from the Chelsea & Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and therefore collaborative applications between Chelsea & Westminster and Imperial are also encouraged.

This year ICR has received an MRC Confidence in Concept award. As a consequence, for this call the ICR employed researchers are not eligible to apply for the Imperial Confidence in Concept Scheme, but are encouraged to submit projects aiming to speed up translation of discovery/fundamental science into new therapeutic approaches to the ICR Confidence in Concept Scheme instead.

Applicants should use InfoEd to assist with costing their proposals and if there are any queries about this, they should email confidenceinconcept@imperial.ac.uk or contact Julie Williams (j.williams@imperial.ac.uk) or Ra Chitnavis (r.chitnavis@imperial.ac.uk), the JRO contacts for this scheme. Applicants should select ‘internal scheme’ as the funder.

In addition, collaborations between Imperial and the Royal Marsden researchers must contact BRCfinance@rmh.nhs.uk prior to submission to their proposals assist with costing.

It is vital to accurately cost proposals so that the research will not be impeded by resource constraints. This involves accurately costing all the staff effort and other direct costs required to deliver the research project, including a realistic view of investigator time.

Projects should be costed as FEC projects including staffing and outsourcing costs. No indirect or directly allocated costs will be supported.

Outsourced contract work is permissible and should be fully costed and supported with a reasonable justification for using that supplier/collaborator. Where more than one supplier is available, the presentation of quotations acquired would be welcomed.

Generally, it is envisaged that this budget will not cover the recruitment of new staff. Directly incurred staff costs are permissible, however these are not standard research grants, but are milestone-driven grants designed to prove concepts/”prime” an idea (to facilitate successful projects applying for further translational funding from research funding bodies such as the MRC in the future). The Scheme Committee has the authority to cease project funding in the event that project milestones are not met. Therefore applicants are advised that employing staff on contracts beyond the term of a milestone is at their own risk (the grant will not allow funds for redundancy should the project be terminated).

All budget items must be justifiable and candidates invited to submit a full application will be asked to discuss the budget at the full application meeting. Budget items that cannot be justified will not be approved/included in the award and re-working of budgets may be requested post-meeting.

It is envisaged that project awards will be for 100% of the directly incurred costs only. This is shown in InfoEd by selecting the “charity” rule on the recovery page after completing the finance section.

Due to the restrictions on our award from the MRC all projects must be completed by March 2021; no extension requests will be granted. We advise applicants to have staff already in place to prevent recruitment delaying the project start date.

Given the size of the grants, it is not anticipated that capital equipment will form part of the grants.  However, if applicants make a justifiable, specific case these items may be considered up to a maximum of £10K. NIHR Imperial BRC funded projects and the Royal Marsden funded projects are limited to £5K per item of capital expenditure.

Only co-applicants from The Royal Marsden or Chelsea & Westminster Hospital may be included. Activities can be outsourced, but these should be Imperial-led projects. Researchers from The Royal Marsden may also be lead applicant on proposals providing they have an Imperial co- applicant. Other academics or industry partners may be included as collaborators on the application.

We strongly recommend that applicants contact technology transfer specialists in the College’s Industry Partnership and Commercialisation (IPC) team before submitting an expression of interest, to discuss market potential analysis and any arising IP. Please contact Jon Wilkinson (jonathan.wilkinson@imperial.ac.uk), IPC Senior Executive or Stephanie Morris (stephanie.morris@imperial.ac.uk), IPC Director for the Faculty of Medicine.

Please note that, as of 1 March 2019, tech transfer work is now led directly by the College. This replaces the external technology transfer office arrangement that was previously in place.

The Scheme Committee is composed of representatives from Imperial Innovations, Imperial College Faculties of Medicine, Engineering and Natural Sciences, external experts and The Royal Marsden.

With the funding originating from HEFCE, MRC, NIHR Imperial BRC, Wellcome Trust ISSF, The Royal Marsden Foundation Trust the scheme looks to support a balanced portfolio of projects including both pre-clinical and clinical work elements.

Yes. The Scheme Committee recognise the importance of a centralised Project Manager who is familiar with all the projects and can facilitate, monitor and report progress to the Committee.

(e.g. Confidence in Concept fund, NIHR Imperial BRC/Imperial Innovations Therapeutic Primer Fund, Wellcome Trust ISSF, The Royal Marsden)

Applicants will apply through a single competition. The Selection Panel will determine the funding source of supported applications. Funding of the projects will be 100% of the directly incurred costs applied for.

NIHR Imperial BRC funded projects and the Royal Marsden funded projects will need to adhere to NIHR BRC contract terms and conditions, in particular concerning the ineligibility of costs relating to animal work, the limits on items of capital expenditure, intellectual property, the need to spend within NHS financial years, and requirements to meet clinical study performance metrics.

Further MRC Confidence is Concept funding is dependent on a subsequent call from the MRC.