BHF Oxford CRE Funding Opportunities

The BHF Oxford Centre of Research Excellence (BHF Oxford CRE) brings together the entire cardiovascular research spectrum across the University of Oxford, from discovery science through to clinical and population health research. The Oxford BHF CRE was initiated in April 2008, and the 2024 renewal award brings the total BHF investment into the Oxford Centre to over £25million.

The current Oxford BHF CRE budget of £5m, from October 2024 for 5 years, is allocated across the main categories of Career Development, Pump Priming and Enabling Technologies, with targeted funding streams within the main budget categories. 

Principal Investigators of the Oxford BHF Centre of Research Excellence lead independent programmes of research which deliver against one or more of the three key Themes of Big Data & Computational Science, Drug Discovery & Delivery and Repair & Regeneration.

Principal Investigators of the BHF Oxford CRE may apply for funding, and support members of their group and external collaborators with applications where appropriate. All applications to the BHF Oxford CRE for funding will need to identify which CRE Theme (s) the proposed activities will benefit.

Types of funding available from the Oxford BHF CRE

The Oxford BHF CRE budget is allocated across the main categories of Career Development, Pump Priming and Enabling Technologies, with targeted funding streams within the main budget categories.  Funding will not generally be awarded where external grant applications would be appropriate and investments that will yield clear added value and/or leverage will be prioritised.  Principal Investigators may apply for funding from the BHF Oxford CRE, and support members of their group and external collaborators with applications where appropriate. 

Pump Priming: These awards offer a short turn-around time between an application and the outcome to enable researchers to be responsive and innovative. We encourage applications which clearly have the purpose of generating preliminary data and strengthening future external funding proposals. Awards may include consumables/general research costs such as scan time, animal costs, data purchase / analysis, RA or tech salary if fully justified. Match funding always encouraged for larger awards. Awards are made up to a £50k maximum, with a priority on smaller focused awards for less than 12 months.  There will be calls for post-doctoral researchers to set up new collaborations and interdisciplinary projects, of up to £10k.

Priority will be given to projects that would be difficult to get funded from external peer-reviewed sources because the project is too high risk or the data is too preliminary, or where a rapid decision is needed, or where there are concerns about confidentiality that make external peer-review unattractive.  Pump priming projects may include preparation for external funding applications with collaborators at other institutions nationally and internationally.

Enabling Technologies: We will use this allocation selectively and against specific criteria: (1) cross-disciplinary need, and support (2 or more departments) for multi-user CRE access, (2) matching leverage from Departmental or other University sources (e.g. University of Oxford’s John Fell Fund), and (3) a clear plan and commitment to institutional sustainability.

 Career Development: This budget supports a range of activities as listed below.

• Interdisciplinary Graduate Studentships: This scheme will fund 2 students per year on an interdisciplinary programme in years 2 – 4 of the BHF Oxford CRE.
• Transition Research Fellowships: Two-year fellowships, to prepare applicants to compete effectively for external career development awards. The Fellowships will cover the award holder’s salary along with appropriate consumables & travel costs for conference attendance/collaboration placements.
• Entrepreneurship & Innovation Fellowships: to enable CRE researchers to develop technical and leadership skills and create new business opportunities arising from CRE research.
  The fellowships will provide proof of concept funding, business support, training and mentoring. Funding will be in the range of £25K-£100K for 3 – 12 months depending on the need.
• Undergraduate vacation placements: The CRE will support an undergraduate placement scheme, in partnership with the University of Oxford widening participation scheme ( UNIQ+)
• Collaborations and partnerships: Funding may be used to support travel to start or develop research collaborations, to visit recognised research centres to study new techniques, or to assist collaborators to spend time with an Oxford BHF CRE group.  Response mode awards for applications up to a maximum of £2000 per award.
• Conference travel (graduate students/post-docs): Funding is available to assist with expenses associated with conference travel, aimed at graduate students and post-docs attending an international conference to give a talk or present a poster, where funding is not otherwise available. Each award is limited to a maximum of £500. 
• Skills-training programmes for cardiovascular research – CRE researchers can apply to set up one-off training events or build a programme of training in cardiovascular research skills and techniques.

Theme meetings: Funding is also available for researchers planning to host theme meetings or workshops relevant to the BHF Oxford CRE research themes.

 
Applications for awards from the BHF Oxford CRE may be submitted at any time and will be discussed at the next available steering committee meeting.  Advisory application deadlines will be announced on a rolling basis.  There will be separate application deadlines announced for Transition Fellowships and Vacation Studentships.

If you are interested in applying for any of the listed funding streams or would like further information on our funding programmes please contact Philippa Major, Programme Manager of the BHF Oxford CRE.