MRC Centre of Research Excellence: round five: outline application

Open UKRI funding opportunity · Grant. Closes 2027-02-03. Total fund £50 million. Opportunity page: https://www.ukri.org/opportunity/mrc-centre-of-research-excellence-round-five/

Apply for MRC Centre of Research Excellence (MRC CoRE) funding to tackle complex and interdisciplinary health challenges.

You must be based at a UK research organisation eligible for Medical Research Council (MRC) funding.

MRC CoREs will be funded for up to 14 years. Your award will initially last for

seven years, with a further seven years based on successful review.

The full economic cost (FEC) of your MRC CoRE can be up to £26.25 million for the first seven years. MRC will fund 80% of the FEC. The maximum MRC contribution will be £21 million.

This is an annual funding opportunity. We expect to fund one or two MRC CoREs every year.

What we're looking for Scope

MRC CoRE funding aims to tackle complex and interdisciplinary health challenges. As such, MRC CoREs should support bold and ambitious research focused on a defined challenge. Tackling such challenges will be transformative to biomedical research, health research or both within 14 years, and will enhance approaches to the prevention, early detection, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, improving health and wellbeing for all.

MRC CoREs will be beacons of excellence in research culture, equality, diversity and inclusion, leadership models and innovation.

A MRC CoRE should be distinct in the context of other national and international activities and its research positioned in the context of ongoing investments across MRC and the broader landscape, synergising with or capitalising upon existing knowledge and investments where relevant.

These major investments should be outward facing, harnessing the best talent in the UK to deliver upon their proposed vision and providing a stimulating environment to train the next generation of researchers and technologists.

Applications can be from a single research organisation or in…