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 continuing to work 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 hosted a free online workshop with Alzheimer’s Research UK on 1 March 2023 to highlight current research in the hearing loss and dementia field. There were talks from researchers in the field, followed by a panel Q&A session.

We would also like to particularly encourage research this year that will lead to improvements in medical devices for hearing or improvements in diagnosing hearing loss and measuring outcomes when testing new treatments for hearing loss, whether biological- or device-based.

See our Biomedical Research Strategy for more information

Summary of Grant

Deadline for preliminary application

The next call for applications will launch in early 2024.

Full application

By invitation only

Duration

Up to 3 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 2021, we received 48 preliminary applications. Of these, 25 applicants were invited to submit a full application, following which, 5 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.

All applications should be submitted via our online grants management system, Flexi-Grant. There is further guidance on Flexi-Grant about how to complete your application.

The call and guidelines for 2023 and our standard terms and conditions (subject to review) can be downloaded below:

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 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
Professor Berthold Langguth, University Hospital of Regensburg
Professor Mahmood Bhutta, Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust
Dr Zoe Mann, King’s College London
Professor Alexander V. Galazyuk, Northeast Ohio Medical University

For this year’s scheme, members of the Alzheimer’s Research UK Grant Review 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: [email protected]