Medical Research Council
MRC
Funds biomedical research from molecular mechanism through to clinical application, and supports its own institutes and units. Strong in experimental medicine, population health and translational schemes such as the Developmental Pathway Funding Scheme.
- Kind of funder
- Research council
- Where it funds
- UK-wide
- Indicative award size
- £100k – £5m
- Approx. annual research spend
- £900m
- Who can apply
- Universities, Research institutes, NHS & healthcare providers
- Career stages
- PhD / doctoral, Postdoctoral, Early career, Established researcher
Research grants commonly £300k–£2m; unit and partnership funding is larger.
Research areas
Named schemes (6)
Expression of interest: Chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) medical countermeasures R&D ↗
Apply for funding for early-stage research into medical countermeasures, including vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics, for chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) threats You must be employed at a research organisation eligible for MRC funding.
Open20 Oct 2026£20m total fundpulled from UKRI 2026-09-11Invite only: Precision prevention: biological mechanisms of response variation ↗
Apply for funding to study why people respond differently to biomedical prevention interventions. Projects must generate mechanistic evidence in humans to provide insight into precision prevention through better targeting. You must be based at a UK research organisation eligible for MRC funding.
Open5 Nov 2026£15m total fundpulled from UKRI 2026-09-11Small molecule high throughput screen using AstraZeneca facilities ↗
Apply for funding to run a high throughput screen (HTS) using AstraZeneca’s compound library and screening robots. There are two funding opportunities per year that are open to all targets.
Open28 Jan 2027up to £270k per award£1m total fundpulled from UKRI 2026-09-11MRC Centre of Research Excellence: round five: outline application ↗
Apply for MRC Centre of Research Excellence (MRC CoRE) funding to tackle complex and interdisciplinary health challenges. You must be based at a UK research organisation eligible for MRC funding.
Upcoming3 Feb 2027up to £26m per award£50m total fundpulled from UKRI 2026-09-11Developmental Pathway Funding Scheme ↗
Translational funding to move a therapeutic, device or diagnostic towards first-in-human testing. Milestone-driven, with a required development plan.
Rolling / recurringCheck funder site for current round£300k – £4m per awardchecked 2026-05-01MRC Research Grant ↗
Core response-mode scheme for hypothesis-driven biomedical research, typically three to five years. Board deadlines recur through the year by research board.
Rolling / recurringCheck funder site for current round£200k – £3m per awardchecked 2026-05-01