Pump priming funds fourth call (associated with the BLAST Summer School 2023) now open!
Deadline: 13th August 2023 midnight (i.e. 11:59pm)
Please access the application form here
Note: The deadline has been extended (Aug 6 –> 13th) to allow for administrative delays due to the Summer period
BLAST provides pump priming financial support, through funding from the BBSRC and MRC, for scientific projects and personnel exchanges that fall within the scope of the BLAST network (see here). Activities that link to themes of the Summer School (i.e. Tools & Technologies in Ageing Research) and collaborative projects are particularly welcome.
We welcome applications for laboratory-based work, empirical, clinical, theoretical and feasibility studies, analysis of secondary data sets and/or other work (eg development of teaching or other training materials) relevant to the goals of the BLAST network.
The maximum amount of funding available per call is £8000 (at 80% FEC). This means that BLAST will provide 80% of the total amount (e.g. For a £10k costed proposal, BLAST can provide £8k; for a £5k costed proposal, BLAST can provide £4k; etc.). We anticipate that we may make several awards following each call and therefore value of money may need to be taken into account when assessing applications.
All applications to a specific call will be ranked in a transparent review process (based on scientific excellence, capacity building, timeliness and promise and match to BLAST aims), following scoring on a numerical scale of 1-10 by two members of the BLAST leadership team and a member of our External Advisory Group. A score of ≥7 in each category indicates a potentially fundable proposal. Please note that we reserve the right, where necessary, to offer smaller amounts than requested in order to maximise the number of awards that can be made.
Funded work must be completed on or before 31st December 2023.
It is anticipated that activities undertaken by successful applicants using the BLAST pump priming funds will place recipients in a stronger position to apply for full research funding under responsive mode and future ageing-specific calls.
Applications that are not funded but well rated are an important source of data for the research councils in gauging the types of support most needed by UK ageing researchers and we expect these will data be factored in the design of further strategic calls in ageing research.
A brief outcome report will be required within 1 month of the end of the funding period.
Please see the BLAST data protection and privacy (GDPR) statement for how we deal with your data here