MRC Partnership Grants for Research Teams: How to Secure Long-Term Funding for Collaborative Medical Research

MRC Partnership Grants for Research Teams: How to Secure Long-Term Funding for Collaborative Medical Research

The Medical Research Council (MRC) Partnership Grant (Applicant-Led) is an open, rolling opportunity for researchers who need to build a durable collaboration, shared capability, or research platform around an important medical or health challenge. It is not a standard project grant in a different wrapper. The partnership itself, and the new capability it creates, must be central to the proposal.

The current UKRI opportunity has no closing date. Applications are accepted and processed continuously, so an applicant should submit when the proposal is ready rather than work backward from a fixed annual deadline. UKRI says the opportunity opened on 7 April 2026 and that applications should be submitted through the UKRI Funding Service.

MRC Partnership Grant at a glance

The absence of a maximum award does not make this unrestricted money. MRC expects the requested resources to match the ambition and activities of the partnership. The budget may include a contribution to the project lead and a small number of co-leads who provide academic leadership, technical staff, consumables, essential equipment or infrastructure, travel, data preservation and sharing, dissemination, estates, indirect costs, and public partnership activity. International project co-leads can request eligible costs under the rules on the official page; costs for international applicants from high-income countries, India, and China are subject to a 30% cap, while the page says there is no cap for applicants from countries on the OECD DAC list.

What this grant is designed to create

MRC describes partnerships as novel collaborative activities between researchers that add value to high-quality scientific programmes already supported by MRC or other funders, or that underpin future funding. The work should sit within MRC’s remit: improving understanding of human health and the causes and mechanisms of disease, accelerating diagnosis, advancing treatment, or preventing illness.

Strong proposals make the missing capability concrete. That might be a specialist data or software platform, a shared resource that several groups can use, a coordinated infrastructure programme, a training and career-development structure in a strategically important area, or a multidisciplinary consortium with defined outputs beyond meetings. The opportunity can also include small pump-priming projects, but those projects should demonstrate the novel capability of the partnership. A specific hypothesis-driven research programme should not become the centre of the application.

Examples of a credible partnership case include:

• A group of clinical, laboratory, computational, and public-health teams creating a shared resource with common protocols, access rules, data stewardship, and a plan for wider use.
• A consortium building a specialist software or data platform, with technical staff, user engagement, training, and a clear route to adoption by the wider research community.
• A capacity-building programme that brings together researchers and technicians across institutions to develop methods, shared standards, and future research capability in an area of unmet need.
• A coordinated set of outreach, networking, and knowledge-sharing activities that has a defined scientific or capability output rather than networking as the sole deliverable.

MRC says that applications primarily supporting research should be considered for an MRC research grant instead. Applications that only establish contacts or request networking without a related activity are out of scope. Activities that remain inward-looking, with insufficient openness or engagement with the wider community, are also out of scope. This distinction should shape the proposal from its first paragraph: explain what the collaboration will make possible, who will use the resulting capability, and how the partnership will be mature by the end of the award.

Who can apply

The project lead must be employed by an eligible research organisation. The lead must show that they will direct the project and be actively engaged in the work, or contribute to the academic leadership of the partnership. The team must collectively have the expertise and experience needed to deliver the proposed activities, using interdisciplinary approaches where appropriate.

If a named applicant does not have an employment contract covering the proposed project, the host research organisation must confirm through submission that it will extend the contract beyond the project end if the application succeeds. It must also provide the necessary support for the project and applicants, including mentorship and career development for early-career researchers. Check your organisation’s status and hosting arrangements with its research office before investing in a full application.

There is an important demand-management rule. A person can be project lead on only one application at a time across MRC’s applicant-led responsive opportunities covering research, partnership, and new investigator grants. Wait for a decision on an existing application before submitting another as project lead. MRC also says it will not accept an uninvited resubmission of an unsuccessful application submitted after 1 April 2026 to MRC, UKRI, or another funder. If a proposed submission could be a resubmission, ask MRC before proceeding.

An international researcher may be able to participate as an international project co-lead because MRC is a lead funder for this opportunity, provided the person makes a major intellectual contribution and the application explains that contribution and its added value. Other international collaborators, and UK partners who are not based at approved organisations, should generally be included as project partners. The official eligibility rules contain exceptions and special arrangements, so international teams should check them directly with MRC.

Project partners may contribute cash or in kind, including staff time, equipment, facilities, data, software, materials, participant recruitment, or samples. A project partner cannot also be a member of the application core team, and an organisation employing a core-team member cannot be listed as a project partner. Each project partner needs a statement of support; industry partners may also require information under the Industry Collaboration Framework.

What to budget and what not to budget

Start with the activities, then cost the people, systems, facilities, and coordination needed to deliver them. MRC’s eligible examples include academic leadership time for the project lead and a small number of essential co-leads, technical staff, consumables, equipment or infrastructure that is key to the partnership, collaboration travel, data preservation and sharing, dissemination, estates and indirect costs, and public partnership activity. The request should explain why MRC funding is needed and why each applicant, staff member, facility, and major cost is necessary.

The official opportunity says MRC will not fund co-lead salary contributions unless they are critical to academic leadership, costs primarily for research, PhD studentships, infrastructure only, publication costs, or funding used as a bridge between grants. A proposal that is mainly an equipment request or a way to keep an existing project running will therefore be a poor fit. Include governance, technical maintenance, access arrangements, training, and wider-community use where those elements are essential to the partnership’s purpose.

The award can last up to five years, but the partnership is expected to reach maturity by the end of the initial award. The proposal should explain what will be operational, shared, adopted, or sustained by then. MRC expects applicants to consider sustainability beyond its funding, while noting that renewals or follow-on activities will be exceptional. The plan can point to alternative future funding for research that grows from the partnership, but it should not treat this grant as an indefinite operating budget.

How to prepare the application

1. Test the fit with MRC before writing the full case

MRC strongly encourages applicants to contact the relevant programme manager before applying. Send a short summary of the proposed partnership that covers its aims and activities, why it is timely, how it fits the partnership-grant scope, the project title, leads and collaborators, an estimated cost to MRC, and a brief track record showing that the team can deliver it. Use the MRC research-area contacts for scientific questions. If you are unsure who to contact, use the Research Funding Policy and Delivery team at rfpd@mrc.ukri.org. For other questions about this specific opportunity, the official page lists applicantleddiscovery@mrc.ukri.org.

This conversation is a scope check, not a substitute for the application. Make the proposed output clear enough that MRC can distinguish a partnership capability from a conventional research project. If the activity is out of scope, change the scheme or redesign the work before committing the team to the Funding Service form.

2. Confirm the host and choose the correct grant type

The opportunity runs on the UKRI Funding Service, and the host organisation must be registered there. Je-S cannot be used. Before selecting “Start application,” confirm that you are applying for the partnership grant rather than the related research or new investigator grant type. UKRI warns that applications submitted to the incorrect type will be rejected. If the lead organisation is an NHS organisation, check early that it is available in the Funding Service because additional setup steps may be required.

3. Build a proposal around the partnership activity

The Funding Service asks for a clear vision and approach. Explain the health or disease problem, the capability gap, why this team is necessary, and who will benefit. Then show how the partnership will operate: leadership, workstreams, decision-making, data and access rules, risk management, milestones, and a project plan in an embedded Gantt chart or similar format. Describe how researchers will work together, how the wider research community will access outputs or infrastructure where relevant, and how the partnership will be sustained.

Prepare the team section in the required R4RI format. Evidence the balance of skills, leadership and management experience, contributions to a positive research environment, and plans to develop researchers and technicians at every career stage. The application should show not only that the named people are accomplished, but also that their roles fit the proposed activities.

Add a data management and sharing plan where data will be collected or acquired. Include project partner details, contribution types, monetary values, and statements of support where applicable. Industry collaboration requires the relevant Industry Collaboration Framework information. The resources and costs section should justify significant staff, travel, equipment, facilities, data, international, public-partnership, or exceptional costs rather than leaving the budget to speak for itself.

4. Submit through the research office

The project lead completes the application in the Funding Service, but all team members and project partners should contribute. The lead should check the completed application in read-only view, send it to the research office for review, resolve any requested edits, and allow the research office to submit it to UKRI. Only the lead research organisation can submit. Research-office and finance teams check hosting arrangements and financial eligibility, but the applicant remains responsible for meeting the opportunity requirements.

Because the opportunity is rolling, set an internal deadline based on the quality of the partnership plan, approvals, and budget rather than a public closing date. UKRI says projects should start nine to 18 months after submission. The opportunity page lists shortlisting and funding-decision meetings twice a year, or more frequently for shortlisting, with applicants informed within 10 working days of a funding decision meeting. These are planning expectations, not a reason to submit an unfinished application.

A practical readiness checklist

Before submitting, confirm that:

• The project lead and host organisation meet the current eligibility rules.
• The proposal creates a defined collaborative activity or capability within MRC’s medical and health remit.
• The partnership adds value to existing high-quality work or creates a credible platform for future work.
• The application is not primarily a standalone research project, a networking-only request, an infrastructure-only request, or a bridge budget.
• Every core-team member and project partner has one clear role, with no prohibited overlap.
• The budget has no invented ceiling and is fully tied to the partnership plan, with MRC’s 80% FEC contribution and permitted exceptions handled through the host’s costing process.
• Data, governance, access, public involvement, international collaboration, and trusted-research considerations are addressed where relevant.
• Partner statements of support and any Industry Collaboration Framework material are ready.
• The application is being completed in the UKRI Funding Service and will be submitted by the lead research organisation.

The official opportunity page is the controlling source for eligibility, costs, form questions, and any later changes. This page should be read as a current guide to the rolling opportunity: it does not replace MRC’s eligibility decision or the research office’s review of the final application.

Start here: MRC: partnership grant: applicant-led.