One of the key challenges in translating University research within the Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences is access to the early stage funding necessary to take a novel idea to an early stage of proof - thereby validating the translational and commercial potential in order to attract additional investment. To overcome this funding challenge, the University is utilising Medical Research Council Confidence in Concept (CiC) funding to pump prime a pipeline of projects with significant potential to deliver translational and economic impact.

The award of up to £10,000 is intended to develop early stage ideas or to generate additional data to support validation of the idea. Projects should aim to provide sufficient data to provide confidence in the underlying concept before seeking more substantive funding from sources such as the MRC Impact Acceleration Account (IAA) fund (formally CiC) that is due to be launched in early 2023. It is expected that applicants will apply for an MRC IAA grant.

An Invention Disclosure Form (IDF) must be submitted with your application (ideally before your application), and must be fully signed by all inventors. The IDF can be downloaded at the link below.

This call will be launched on the 10th October as outlined in the timeline below:

For further details on this scheme, or to discuss your potential applications, please contact Matthew Wilson m.wilson@qub.ac.uk or Feargal Cosgrove f.cosgrove@qub.ac.uk in the IP and Commercialisation team. Details on the scheme, and the application form, can be accessed in the documents below.

Useful documents and links

• MRC Confidence in Concept application form
• MRC Confidence in Concept funding guidance
• Invention Disclosure form