We’re pleased to be a recipient of funding from the National Institute of Health and Care Research (NIHR), through their Early Career Researcher Support Fund. The fund has given over £37 million to support medical research charities like RNID who support early career researchers (such as PhD students and post-doctoral fellows).
Funding has been awarded to 89 charities to support more than 800 early career researchers across England. This will help strengthen the UK’s clinical research workforce and sustain the UK’s pipeline of talent across a wide range of health conditions.
Building on previous government support
The scheme builds on the previous Medical Research Charities Early Career Researcher Support Fund, which ran between 2022-2024, where government funding supported medical research charities during the Covid-19 pandemic.
We were awarded £200,178 through the fund, the maximum amount we were eligible to apply for.
Why this funding matters for hearing research
Hearing research is a small field compared to other areas of research. It attracts a disproportionately low amount of funding compared to the number of people affected.
To tackle this, we work to increase the number of hearing researchers working in the UK by supporting early career researchers, so that they can go on to attract more funding, grow the field and speed up the development of treatments for hearing loss and tinnitus.
Dr Emma Holmes, Associate Professor at University College London, said:
My RNID Fellowship was a crucial stepping-stone for setting up my own research group at UCL. The Fellowship led to me obtaining a Wellcome Trust Career Development Award, an eight-year grant that funds me to conduct my research and supports my team as well.
It allows me to employ other people in my lab – so far, it has funded a post-doctoral researcher and a PhD student as well as the costs of their research.”
We’re grateful to the NIHR and Department of Health and Social Care for their support in helping us to achieve our aim.
