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External Funding Opportunities

The Fellowship Academy is pleased to share external funding opportunities across the calendar year. These include funded fellowships and awards from the MRC, NIHR, CRUK, and other notable funders.

Explore our external funding opportunities

For further particulars and application deadlines, please see the individual links provided for each award.

January

Medical Research Council (MRC)

National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR)

European Research Council (ERC)

February

Wellcome

Cancer Research UK (CRUK)

Royal Society

March

National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR)

Cancer Research UK (CRUK)

Royal Society

Wellcome

April

Medical Research Council (MRC)

Wellcome

May

Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC)

Wellcome

June

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)

July

Wellcome

National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR)

August

Not available this month.

September

Medical Research Council (MRC)

Wellcome

Cancer Research UK (CRUK)

Royal Society

European Research Council (ERC)

Lister Institute

October

Cancer Research UK (CRUK)

Royal Society

Diabetes UK

European Research Council (ERC)

November

Wellcome

National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR)

Royal Society

December

National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR)

*The NIHR is currently in the process of simplifying these awards, due to launch in late March 2025. Once the details of the deadlines are confirmed for these fellowships, further information will be available on this page. Please do check back for further updates.

Additional funding opportunities

There are some schemes which are open at various points throughout the year, which are listed below.

National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR)

British Heart Foundation (BHF)

Birmingham Springboard Fellowships

The Springboard Fellowship aims to support high-calibre post-doctoral researchers to develop proposals for submission to prestigious fellowships schemes such as ERC starter grants, Future Leaders Fellowship, Wellcome / MRC Career Development Awards etc.

The Fellowship is open to both internal and external candidates who are early career researchers. Applicants should have a strong research background and be looking to develop their independent research proposals

For further information on the Birmingham Springboard Fellowships, please see our Internal Funding opportunities page. 

Marie Sklodowska Curie Postdoctoral Fellowships

There are two types of Postdoctoral Fellowships available:

  1. European Postdoctoral Fellowships - open to researchers moving within Europe or coming to Europe from another part of the world to pursue their research career and can last between 1 and 2 years.
  2. Global Postdoctoral Fellowships fund the mobility of researchers outside Europe, typically lasting between 2 to 3 years, of which the first 1 to 2 years will be spent in a non-associated Third Country, followed by a mandatory return phase of 1 year to an organisation based in an EU Member State or Horizon Europe Associated Country.

For full details of eligibility and what the funding covers, please see Postdoctoral Fellowships - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions.

To help solidify networks with your host/sponsor - the University has established a new Horizon Europe Development Grant to fund visits.