The Medical Research Council (MRC) is changing the way they fund long-term research through units and centres, to adopt a new challenge-led, time-limited approach through MRC Centres of Research Excellence (CoREs). MRC CoREs will be funded for up to 14 years (initial 7 years plus a further 7 based on successful review in year 6). You can request up to £21.2 million at 80% FEC for the first 7 years.
CoREs Round 3: two-stage internal selection
The MRC has pre-announced round 3 of the MRC CoREs funding call. The University of Oxford may only lead on one application which can be in any research theme. The Medical Sciences Division has received a lot of interest in this call and so is running a two-stage internal selection process to identify Oxford’s single submission.
If you are interested in leading Oxford’s single CoRE bid in round 3, or if you are exploring a collaboration where another institution is likely to lead the CoRE with Oxford as a major partner (defined as Oxford receiving at least one third of the CoRE’s budget), you must submit a Stage 1 internal expression of interest (EOI) in IRAMS by 12 noon on Wednesday 18th September 2024.
Stage 1 EOIs will be reviewed by the Medical Sciences Division senior leadership team, with appropriate input for any cross-divisional bids. The outcomes of stage 1 will be communicated by 2nd October 2024 and successful bids will be invited to submit a more detailed stage 2 application by mid-November 2024. The single successful CoRE bid will be selected by the end of November and will develop their outline application to the MRC by their deadline, expected to be in February 2025.
A costing is not required for the internal stage 1, however an outline costing will be required for stage 2. Applicants do not need to have sign-off from their Department for a stage 1 application; however all potential Oxford applicants must have discussed a possible bid with their Head of Department and confirm this on the stage 1 EOI form.
Please attach to your IRAMS submission as a single collated PDF document
- The internal stage 1 EOI form, which can be downloaded from IRAMS
- A short CV of the lead applicant(s)
Applicants should be aware that MSD is expecting this call to be extremely competitive both locally and nationally. Each institution can only lead on one bid, and the MRC is intending to fund only one or two CoREs nationwide in each round.
