The MRC Confidence in Concept scheme provides awards of £300k-£1m to institutions, to be used flexibly to support the earliest stages of multiple
translational research projects.
The award can be used flexibly by the institution to support a number of preliminary-stage translational projects. The projects supported should aim to
provide sufficient preliminary data to establish the viability of an approach – i.e. to provide confidence in the underlying concept – before seeking more
substantive funding (e.g. from DPFS/DCS, TSCRC or from a commercial partner).
The funding is not intended to support:
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Entire translational projects; applicants seeking funding for entire projects are directed to the MRC’s DPFS/DCS scheme and TSCRC
Staff between posts/funding (i.e. as “bridging” funds), or PhD studentships
Continuation of normal research grants
Costs relating to protection of intellectual property
It is anticipated that individual projects funded from an institution’s award will be of the order of £50-100k and around 6 months, although this will be
dictated by the needs of each project.
The University of Edinburgh will be submitting an application to the Confidence in Concept Scheme and needs to provide evidence of the potential projects
that would be suitable to apply for the internal funding if the application was successful.
Likely themes for potential projects will include:
Contact and application: please contact your local Business Development colleague if you have any questions and return the completed template to
Lorraine Dobbs (lorraine.dobbs@bioquarter.com) by Wednesday the 20th of June.
1. drug and diagnostic targets where initial confidence could be established by early compound screens or clinical sample evaluation,
2. medical tools hardware/software (including devices, diagnostics or computer apps) where an early prototype would provide confidence.
We welcome suggestions within these themes and more widely as these could confirm capacity for additional themes.
If you have a suitable project idea please fill in the attached one page template. The deadline for project ideas is close of business on Wednesday 20th June.
If you have any questions please contact your local institute or school business development contact. Please send your completed templates to Lorraine
Dobbs (lorraine.dobbs@bioquarter.com).
Contact and application: please contact your local Business Development colleague if you have any questions and return the completed template to
Lorraine Dobbs (lorraine.dobbs@bioquarter.com) by Wednesday the 20th of June.
MRC Confidence in Concept (CiC) – Portfolio Application Summary Information.
College
Department / Institute /
School
Principal
investigator(s)
Project Title
Therapeutic area
and/or diagnostic or
medical device
Description of project: e.g.
drug target, diagnostic or
medical device that is
seeking transitional
funding to move from
discovery to translational
research (max 250 words).
Current project status
and future position
following CiC funding
Detail current project
status and summarise how
and what data would be
generated by CiC funding
to establish the viability of
the proposed approach
(max 250 words). Estimate
project timeframe and
(FEC) total cost.
Ref No.
(leave blank)
Projects should be at the stage whereby CiC funding would develop the approach highlighted to a point where it would be capable of applying for larger translational
funding sources e.g. DFPS/DCS, TSCRC.
The purpose of the awards is to assist in moving projects forward from conventional research funding to a defined translational outcome. It is not to support the
continuation of normal research grants and or to support bridging posts.
Contact and application: please contact your local Business Development colleague if you have any questions and return the completed template to
Lorraine Dobbs (lorraine.dobbs@bioquarter.com) by Wednesday the 20th of June.