Call for Entries: FSHI Research Grant Development Awards (UK)

Funding Information 

• Grants can be used to cover the costs of a range of activities, up to a maximum of £6,000, as required in the development of a grant application to submission.

Expected Outputs

• Successful applicants are expected to produce substantive outputs in the form of a full grant application to a major national or international funding body and, where appropriate, publications in peer-reviewed journals. These outputs are expected to be completed within three months of the end of the award, unless otherwise agreed in advance.

Eligibility Criteria

• Applications will be considered from groups comprising at least four researchers, based in at least two different institutions, at least two of whom (including the lead applicant) have a track record as active researchers in the sociology of health and illness. As of the autumn 2020 round, the minimum number of institutions contributing to an application is reduced from three to two. They continue to welcome multi-institutional and multi-disciplinary applications.
• The lead applicant must be based in a UK university or research institution and be an active researcher in the sociology of health and illness. Other applicants may be based outside the UK.
• Successful applicants may reapply for funding in subsequent years. Individual researchers may participate in more than one research group applying for a research grant development award, but may not hold more than one award at any one time.

Ineligibility Criteria

• Trustees are not eligible to be lead applicants for awards (though they can act as co-applicants). Other members of their department are not excluded from applying as lead applicants or co-applicants.

Selection Criteria

• Applications will be considered by a panel of three trustees of the Foundation for the Sociology of Health and Illness. Criteria used in assessing applications are:
  • the contribution of the proposed work to the development of a research proposal/grant application that will lead to high-quality research in the sociology of health and illness, including innovative theoretical and/or methodological developments;
  • the contribution to establishing or strengthening collaboration between research centers and academic disciplines, with the main focus on the sociology of health and illness;
  • the experience and expertise of the collaborators in relation to the research topic;
  • the appropriateness and standing of the proposed funding body; and
  • the other proposed outputs from the research grant development award beyond the external grant application to a major national or international funding body.

Application Requirements

• An application should be made by the lead applicant, using the application form below, and should involve at least three other applicants. It should also be signed off by an appropriate university finance officer or similar.
• The application should outline the proposed activities to be undertaken and details of the expected outputs. Funds may be used to support travel and associated expenses (standard or economy class rail and air fares only), pre-pilot work, literature reviews, or other activities needed to produce a high-quality, innovative research grant application. Please note that if staff are employed using grant money, no estates or indirect costs (overheads) will be paid. If independent consultants or staff not already employed by one of the UK institutions involved are to be employed, this will need to be discussed and agreed in advance with the Foundation’s chair of trustees.
• If research ethics approval is required in accordance with the Department of Health and Social Care UK Policy Framework for Health and Social Care, a copy of the ethics approval letter should be forwarded to the chair of trustees before the research begins.
• A grant application to a major national or international funding body should be submitted within three months of the end of the award, unless otherwise agreed in advance. The funds awarded should also be claimed within three months of the end of the award. Unspent or unclaimed funds cannot be carried over the end of this period.

For more information, visit FSHI.