Discovery Research Grant

Our Discovery Research Grants support projects that will generate knowledge to underpin the discovery of treatments for hearing loss or tinnitus, or improve how new treatments are developed and tested.

This year, we are also working with Alzheimer’s Research UK to co-fund research that will increase our understanding of the common biological mechanisms underlying hearing loss and dementia.

We are also working with the Cystic Fibrosis Trust to co-fund research that will lead to new ways to protect hearing from the ototoxic side-effects of aminoglycoside antibiotics.

See our Biomedical Research Strategy for more information

Summary of Grant

Deadline for preliminary application

Thursday 15 April 2021

Full application

By invitation only

Duration

Up to three years

Eligibility

Applicants may be from any university or research institute based anywhere in the world

Value

Up to £200K in total, funding will not exceed £67k in one year.

In the last round of funding, we received 84 preliminary applications. Of these, 34 applicants were invited to submit a full application, following which, five grants were awarded.

Application process

Please note that the application procedure for the Discovery Research Grant has two stages, an open preliminary application stage followed by an invitation-only full application stage. Please see the call and guidelines below for further details.

The guidelines for the call and the preliminary application form for 2021 are below. There is also guidance on how to complete the form – please read this document before preparing your application.

We will acknowledge receipt of your application – if you do not hear from us within three days of submitting your application, please email us at ProjectGrant@rnid.org.uk to check we have received it.

Selection procedure

Preliminary applications are assessed by our Discovery Research Grant review panel; they will identify the best proposals to take forward to the full application stage.

Full applications are sent to at least two external referees in the field, who are asked to rate the scientific value and feasibility of the project. Applicants will be given the opportunity to respond to the external peer reviews. The reviews, rebuttals and the original proposals are then rated by members of our Discovery Research Grant review panel. The top-rated applications are funded. Applicants are notified of the outcome as soon as possible following the final decision.

Everyone involved in the review process of any grant application is asked to abide by our code of conduct.

Review panel

Professor Abigail Tucker, King’s College London (chair)
Professor Doug Hartley, University of Nottingham
Dr Roland Schaette, University College London
Dr Padraig Kitterick, University of Nottingham
Professor Cynthia Morton, Harvard Medical School/University of Manchester
Professor Graham Naylor, University of Nottingham
Professor René Gifford, Vanderbilt University
Dr Gwenaelle Geleoc, Boston Children’s Hospital
Dr Sally Dawson, University College London
Dr Conny Kopp-Scheinpflug, University of Munich.

For this year’s scheme, members of the Alzheimer’s Research UK Grant Review Board and the Cystic Fibrosis Strategic Implementation Board will join the Discovery Research Grant review panel.

Europe PubMed Central (Europe PMC) and open access publications

RNID is a member of the Europe PMC Funders’ Group. We support open access publications and require RNID grant holders to make their publications open access.

Read our open access publication policy for more information and visit the Europe PMC website.

For more information

If you would like more information about the Discovery Research Grant, please get in touch:

Telephone: +44 (0)20 3227 6159
Email: ProjectGrant@rnid.org.uk