Our Discovery Research Grants support projects that will generate knowledge to underpin the discovery of treatments for hearing loss or tinnitus or improve how treatments are developed and tested. We also fund research to improve current treatments for hearing loss, such as medical devices like hearing aids and cochlear implants.
In addition, we support research to provide a better understanding of the link between hearing loss and dementia, to help us find better ways to treat and prevent both conditions.
See our Biomedical Research Strategy for more information.
Summary of Grant
Deadline for preliminary application
The deadline for the 2025 scheme has passed. The 2026 scheme will launch in early 2026
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 £225,000 in total, funding will not exceed £75,000 in one year.
In 2024, we received 48 preliminary applications. Of these, 25 applicants were invited to submit a full application. The outcome of this round of funding will be announced in early 2025 (4 projects expected).
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.
All applications should be submitted via our online grants management system, Flexi-Grant. There is further guidance within Flexi-Grant to help you complete your application. Please contact us if you have any problems using Flexi-Grant.
If you have any questions about the scheme, please contact us at least three working days before the deadline so that we have time to help you.
As part of the application process, you are required to obtain approval to submit from an authorised representative at your institution. We will not extend the deadline to allow you to secure this approval, so please allow plenty of time for this. See the Flexi-Grant user guide (below) for more details.
The call and guidelines for 2025, a sample copy of the preliminary and full application forms, our standard terms and conditions (subject to review), and a guide to using Flexi-Grant can be downloaded below:
- Discovery Research Grant call and guidelines 2025 (PDF, 206 KB)
- Discovery Research Grant sample preliminary application form (PDF, 96 KB)
- Discovery Research Grant sample full application form (PDF 156 KB)
- Discovery Research Grant standard terms and conditions (PDF, 356 KB)
- Flexi-Grant user guide (PDF, 222 KB)
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. They are asked to rate the proposals on the following criteria:
- Clarity of the research question and relevance to the aims of the scheme
- Quality of the background information provided
- Feasibility and design of the project – its likelihood of success in answering the research question
- Potential benefit and relevance of the research outcomes to people with hearing loss and/or tinnitus
Full applications are sent to at least two (ideally three) external referees in the field, who are asked to rate the scientific value and feasibility of the project. They are asked to assess the proposal against the following criteria:
- Relevance to people with hearing loss or tinnitus/potential to lead to significant benefit for people affected by hearing loss or tinnitus in the short- or long-term
- Novelty and originality/likelihood of leading to significant new understanding
- Quality of background information and preliminary data provided
- Appropriate project design, methodology, analysis and ethical considerations (for research involving people or animals)
- Feasibility – timescale and budget
- Research team – expertise and resources
- Adequate justification of costs requested
All external peer reviewers must agree to abide by our conflicts of interest and confidentiality policy for peer-reviewers. Applicants will be given the opportunity to respond to the external peer reviews.
The reviews, rebuttals and original full proposals are then considered and rated by members of our Discovery Research Grant review panel. All members of the panel must agree to abide by our conflicts of interest and confidentiality policy for panel members, at all stages of the assessment process.
Discovery Research Grant review panel
- Professor Ronna Hertzano, University of Maryland/NIH (chair)
- Professor Sally Dawson, University College London
- Dr Conny Kopp-Scheinpflug, Ludwig-Maximilians University, Munich
- Professor Berthold Langguth, University Hospital of Regensburg
- Dr Zoe Mann, King’s College London
- Dr Alexander Galazyuk, Northeast Ohio Medical University
- Dr Erik de Vrieze, Radboud University Medical Center
- Dr Amber Leaver, Northwestern University
- Dr Catherine Weisz, NIH/University of Maryland
- Dr Tobias Goehring, University of Cambridge
- Dr Nishchay Mehta, University College London
- Dr Alan Sanderson, Brighton and Sussex Medical School
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.
- [email protected]