Description of a project grant
The project grant provides support for high quality, diabetes related research. Applications should be normally for hypothesis-driven projects.
Financial support
Support may be requested for up to five years. There is no limit to research expenses that may be requested, however all requests must be fully justified.
Applicants applying for £500,000 or more must contact the Diabetes UK Research department in the first instance and should normally hold substantial funding from Diabetes UK or another funding body.
Applicants applying for £15,000 or less should consider applying for a small grant.
Salaries
Salaries may be requested for research (both post graduate and post doctoral) and technical assistants.
Research assistants may wish to register for higher degrees during the lifetime of the grant but it should be noted that in these instances Diabetes UK will not pay university and/or college fees.
PhD students should not be included as a member of staff on a project grant on application. Applicants wishing to hold a PhD Studentship should apply through the Diabetes UK PhD Studentship scheme.
Clinical and secretarial assistance may be provided in some cases if essential for the project but must be fully justified within the application.
Eligibility
Applicants must have a tenured post or be able to demonstrate that they will have a salary and position at the Institution they are applying from for the lifetime of the grant.
Deadlines
The next deadlines for this scheme are:
- 1 February 2013 (Committee meets in June 2013)
- 1 December 2013 (Committee meets in May 2014)
How to apply
Please use the Project Grant Application Form (Word, 310KB). If you need further assistance please contact the Research Department at research@diabetes.org.uk.
Clinical grant applications
Diabetes UK is committed to supporting well designed high quality clinical research. Decisions by the Research Committee on a large number of clinical grant applications have recently been negatively influenced by the lack of certain key information. To resolve this, and give clinical applications a better chance of success, we have prepared an additional form to ensure that this information is provided.
Diabetes UK asks that all applicants who intend to recruit participants as part of their study complete the Additional Clinical Information Form (Word, 66KB). The information on this form should be provided in conjunction with the full application form and is designed to assist applicants in providing the information required for the Research Committee to make a decision. It is the responsibility of the applicant to ensure that any relevant information is provided.
If you need advice on providing the information requested we suggest that you contact a colleague experienced in clinical trial design, or ask for assistance from a clinical trials unit or your local NIHR research design service if you are in England.
Administrative processes
Peer review
All applications will be sent out for peer review to researchers who have not published or worked in the same institution as any of the applicants for at least five years. Please consider this when suggesting reviewers for your application.
The Research Committee
Applications are sent to the Research Committee, which meets twice a year to recommend which applications should be funded.
Information for people living with diabetes, and GAP
Prior to the Research Committee meeting, the Diabetes UK Grants Advisory Panel (GAP) meets to discuss all project grant applications and provide feedback to the Research Committee through the three members of the Research Committee who are also members of GAP.
Applicants should take this into consideration especially when they are completing the summary for people living with diabetes. More detail on the Research Committee and GAP can be found in the Our funding process section of the website.
Assessment criteria
Applications are assessed on the following criteria:
- Potential difference the research will make to the lives of people with diabetes.
- Scientific excellence.
- Track record of the applicants.
- Value for money.