UKRI translation: MRC proof of concept: stage two

Open UKRI funding opportunity · Grant. Closes 2026-11-04. Total fund £10 million. Opportunity page: https://www.ukri.org/opportunity/mrc-proof-of-concept-stage-two/

This funding opportunity was previously titled ‘Developmental pathway funding scheme: stage two’.

You must be invited to apply for stage two of this funding opportunity.

Apply for funding to develop and test novel therapeutics, medical devices, diagnostics and other interventions across any stage of the developmental pathway, from prototype development, through pre-clinical refinement, to early-phase clinical studies (up to phase 2a).

There is no funding limit but requested costs should be appropriate to the project. We usually fund 80% of a project’s full economic cost (FEC).

What we're looking for Scope

You can apply for academically-led translational projects that aim to either:

- improve prevention, diagnosis, prognosis or treatment of significant health needs

- develop research tools that increase the efficiency of developing interventions

All human diseases and medical interventions are eligible for support, both in the context of UK healthcare and addressing global health issues.

Your project can start and finish at any stage on the developmental pathway from early prototype development, through pre-clinical refinement and testing, to early-phase clinical studies and trials (up to phase 2a). You can submit follow-on proposals where you can justify the need for continued support.

Activities we support

You can apply for funding for work on novel:

- candidate therapeutic entities (for example, drug discovery)

- vaccines for infectious or non-infectious disease

- biologics (antibodies, peptides, proteins)

- advanced therapeutics (for example, gene therapy and cell therapy)

- regenerative medicine approaches

- repurposing clinical studies or using existing therapies for new indications

- medical devices

- digital healthcare and app development

- diagnostics (including biomarker…