Neurosciences and mental health programme

Apply for funding for a programme of research focused on neurosciences and mental health.

You must be based at a UK research organisation eligible for MRC funding. This includes MRC units and centres.

You must have:

• at least a postgraduate degree
• a record of securing funding and delivering research.

There is no limit to the funding you can apply for. Applicants typically apply for £1 million or more. We will usually fund up to 80% of your project’s full economic cost.

Your programme can last up to five years.

This is an ongoing scheme. Application rounds open every February, June and October.

What we're looking for:

The MRC’s Neurosciences and Mental Health Board funds research in neurosciences, mental health and disorders of the human nervous system. We aim to transform our understanding of the physiology and behaviour of the human nervous system throughout the life course in health and in illness, as well as how to treat and prevent disorders of the brain.

The research we support includes the interactions between the nervous system and other parts of the body, the brain, mental health and physical health. We are also interested in how episodes throughout life impact on lifelong mental and neurological health.

Research we fund includes, but is not limited to, the following areas:

• neurodegeneration
• clinical neurology and neuroinflammation
• mental health
• addictions and substance misuse
• behavioural and learning disorders including autism
• cognitive and behavioural neuroscience and cognitive systems
• sensory neuroscience including vision and hearing
• neurobiology and neurophysiology
• underpinning support, such as neuroimaging technology, brain banking and -neuroinformatics.

Find out more about the science areas MRC supports and our current board opportunity areas.

We encourage you to contact us first to discuss your application, especially if you believe your research may cross MRC research board or research council interests. If your application fits another research board remit better we may decide to transfer it there to be assessed.

We define a programme as a coordinated and coherent group of related projects. You may develop these projects to address an interrelated set of questions across a broad scientific area.

We do not expect you to find answers to all these questions within the duration of the grant. Parts of the programme may be a continuation of current activity, but we expect other elements to be innovative and ambitious.

Programmes are a large investment for the MRC, so we expect you to show how your application fits within MRC strategy.

You can request funding for costs such as:

• a contribution to the salary of the principal investigator and co-investigators
• support for other posts such as research and technical
• research consumables
• equipment
• travel costs
• data preservation, data sharing and dissemination costs
• estates and indirect costs.

We won’t fund:

• research involving randomised trials of clinical treatments
• funding to use as a ‘bridge’ between grants
• costs for PhD studentships
• publication costs.

Who can apply:

Any UK-based researcher with an employment contract at an eligible research organisation can apply for a programme grant. You will need to show that you will direct the proposed research yourself and be actively involved in the work.

You must have:

• a postgraduate degree, although we expect most applicants to have a PhD or medical degree
• a substantial record of securing research funding and delivering high-quality research.

You can include one or more industry partners as project partners in your application.

You can also include international co-investigators if they provide expertise that is not available in the UK.

You are not eligible to apply for a programme grant if you are:

• from a MRC institute
• a core-supported programme or group leader from MRC units and the Francis Crick Institute.

A principal investigator can usually hold only one programme grant at a time.

The focus of this funding opportunity is neurosciences and mental health research.

There are similar opportunities across other areas of medical research within the MRC remit, including:

• population and systems medicine
• infections and immunity
• molecular and cellular medicine.

There are also other types of awards, including:

• research
• partnerships
• new investigator.

You should contact us if you are not sure which opportunity to apply to.