Most COVID-19 related research is now being rolled out into normal funding schemes.

Contact The Team to find the most appropriate scheme for your project

UKRI open call for research and innovation ideas

UKRI has put in place the following process to allow researchers to repurpose existing UKRI standard grant to address COVID-19 research priorities.
For queries about switching your existing funding contact: CV19researchinnovation@ukri.org

National prioritisation of funded studies, irrespective of whether they are funded by the public sector, industry or charities. Also, in partnership with UKRI, prioritisation of studies that require funding. This aims to prevent duplication of effort and to ensure that the capacity of the health and care system to support research is not exceeded.

• For information on NIHR response to COVID-19
• For queries about research funding contact: ccf-nCoV@nihr.ac.uk

Rolling submission

If you are a scientist at an academic institution currently working on a COVID-19 related project and in need of funding, you are invited to apply for a Fast Grant. Science funding mechanisms are too slow in normal times and may be much too slow during the COVID-19 pandemic. Fast Grants are an effort to correct this.  

Deadline date: Rolling submission - decisions are made in under 14 days

• External call (re-opened)
• Funding level: $10K to $500K

Provides 'pump priming' for pilot projects that aim to strengthen applications for external funding.  Research should be relevant to strategic priorities within CUH. Currently identifying funds and donors to support COVID-19 research

Deadline Date:  COVID research proposals are being accepted on a rolling basis. The next main research advisory committee meeting is scheduled for 7 Oct 2020. COVID research proposals may be reviewed outside these scheduled meetings.

• Internal/local call
• Funding level for scheduled calls:  Less than £25K (typically ~£10K)

CEPI issues calls for proposals and requests for information inviting applicants to submit proposals for projects to develop vaccine candidates and support clinical trials involving vaccine candidates.

Deadline Date:  Rolling submission

• External call
• For further information contact: cfp@cepi.net
• Funding level: Not specified

Supporting activities and actions that deploy open science methods and resources and make use of the EOSC communities in order to address COVID-19 related issues. Selected topics of interest include: Opening up virus-related research and data; Sharing of infrastructures and services; Developing open design equipment for fighting COVID-19; Sharing sampling test methodologies and data; Developing open science methodologies for monitoring the spread of COVID-19.

Deadline Date: Rolling submission

• External call
• Funding level: Up to €45K

Funding for exploratory, basic and clinical research grants to collect data and expand knowledge about the effects of SARS-CoV-2 on reproduction, pregnancy, and foetal/neonatal health.

Deadline Date: Rolling submission until 31st October 2020 (response within 14 days of receipt)

• External call
• Funding level: Up to €25K

The European Research Area corona platform is a one-stop shop providing comprehensive information about funding opportunities in relation to Coronavirus at European Union and national level.  (please visit the link)

Deadline Date:  Rolling submission

• External call
• Funding level: Not specified

Funding for reasonably mature open source technology projects which are responding to the COVID-19 pandemic in some way such as hardware, software and software which provides solutions for secondary effects of COVID-19.

Deadline Date:  Rolling submission

• External call
• Funding level:  Up to $50K

The NIHR-BHF Cardiovascular Partnership supports the development and delivery of COVID-19 research projects across the UK. Key questions of interest: Understanding the nature and importance of cardiovascular complications in COVID-19 infection; Understanding why patients with heart and circulatory dieases are at greater risk of adverse outcomes; Understanding the short and longer-term impact of the COVID-19 pandemic for people with heart and circulatory diseases; Gaining mechanistic insights into individual responses to the COVID-19 infection, its effect on the function of the heart and the circulatory system. Existing resources can be repurposed and deployed nationally plus there may be opportunities for sourcing additional resources and funding if projects put forward in this process are deemed to be high quality and of national priority.

Deadline Date: Rolling submission

• External call
• Funding level: Not specified

The research scope of this call is Virology, Immunity and Pathophysiology; Diagnostics; Epidemiology; IPC and PPE; Public Health, Media and Communication; Clinical Management; Primary, Adjunctive and Supportive Therapies; Vaccines; Health and Care Delivery; and/or Underpinning. All proposals will need to be able to show how progress within the period of award could make a valuable contribution to the understanding, diagnosis, prevention and/or management of the COVID-19 outbreak, with data and tools/reagents generated under this call to be made widely available.

Deadline date: Rolling submission until 1st April 2021

• External call
• Funding level: Not specified - 'value-for-money'

With emerging evidence of an association between ethnicity and COVID-19 incidence and adverse health outcomes, proposals are welcomed in two areas: 1. Impact of COVID-19 and association between ethnicity and COVID-19 in the general population; 2. Impact of COVID-19 specifically on people working in health and social care from BAME backgrounds.

Deadline Date: rolling submission

• External call
• Funding level: Not specified - 'value-for-money'

This highlight notice identifies the need for further rapid research using epidemiological methods to determine risk factors for transmission, which groups are most likely to become infected (i.e. who is transmitting infection to whom?), and in what environments transmissions occur. Research applications are invited to investigate the routes of transmission in different environments and groups.

Deadline Date:  Rolling submission

• External call
• Funding level: Not specified - 'value-for-money'

This highlight notice identifies a policy need for further research with children, health and social care workers, and residents in nursing and residential care homes.  Research applications are invited to investigate transmission, exposure, risk factors for disease acquisition and seroprevalence in priority groups. Research applications are invited to investigate the role of children in transmission. Research in other groups and settings is also welcomed in the NIHR-UKRI call.

Deadline Date:  Rolling submission

• External call
• Funding level: Not specified - 'value-for-money'

Travel and subsistence funding for appropriately qualified public health professionals, clinicians and academics who wish to offer science and technical advice to support the immediate response to COVID-19 in low and middle-income countries

Deadline Date:  Rolling submission (apply for approval prior to travel)

• External fund
• Funding level: Not specified

Short-term projects addressing and mitigating the health, social, economic, cultural and environmental impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak - new research or innovation with a clear impact pathway that has the potential (within the period of the grant) to deliver a significant contribution to the understanding of, and response to, the COVID-19 pandemic and its impacts AND/OR supports the manufacture and/or wide scale adoption of an intervention with significant potential AND/OR
gathers critical data and resources quickly for future research use

Deadline date:  Currently open - response within 10 days of submission

• External call
• Funding level:  Not specified

The application process for UK Research and Innovation’s (UKRI) COVID-19 open call will change on 31st July 2020. After this date, instead of submitting a proposal via email, researchers must apply via UKRI’s online submission system the “Joint Electronic Submission” (JeS). Further details are available on the UKRI website.

Proposals are invited for short-term projects addressing and mitigating the health, social, economic, cultural and environmental impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak in countries identified on the OECD DAC list of ODA recipients1.
This call is funded through the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) and the Newton Fund.

Deadline date:  Apply at any time

• External call
• Funding level:  80% of the fEC for Research Council funding

July 2020

Call for Proposals is to establish an African cohort of epidemiologists by supporting institutions in sub-Saharan Africa and Europe that provide master’s training in epidemiology and biostatistics, as part of the Africa CDC’s framework for public health workforce development. Due to the extraordinary global crisis of COVID-19 that is also affecting African countries, this topic should also be considered by applicants.

Deadline Date:  30 July 2020, 17:00 CEST Evaluation results  expected to be made available by 30 November 2020

• External call
• Funding level: €5 million

BSAC is delighted to announce an open call for funding to support grant applications in response to the current coronavirus (COVID-19) public health emergency.  This is a worldwide open call for research grant applications on all aspects of COVID-19 from all countries. 

Deadline Date: Submissions of  interest 15 July 2020
Invite to submit full application: 31 July 2020
Deadline:  submit full applications: 31 August 2020

• External Call
• Funding level: Max up USD$100k

For the 2020 call, applications are welcomed that concern primary care and the COVID-19 pandemic. This could cover any aspect of the pandemic, including, but not exclusively:
    The response of primary care to the pandemic
    New models of primary care as a result of the pandemic
    Consequences of the pandemic on other diseases
    Impact of the pandemic on primary care staff
    Implications for future pandemic provision
    Primary care data and COVID-19 recording
Any GP, primary healthcare professional, or university-based health services researcher may apply for a grant for scientific research to be undertaken in the UK.

Deadline Date:  31st July 2020

• External call
• Funding level: up to £30K

Call for Code asks innovators to create practical, effective, and high-quality applications based on one or more IBM Cloud™ services (for example, web, mobile, data, analytics, AI, IoT, or weather) that can have an immediate and lasting impact on humanitarian issues. Teams of developers, data scientists, designers, business analysts, subject matter experts and more are challenged to build solutions to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 and climate change. Winning solutions are deployed in communities that need the most help.

Deadline Date:  27th April for early COVID-19 solutions then 31st July final submission deadline

• External call
• Funding level: winner receives $200K plus networking, mentoring and implementation support

August 2020

Global Effort on COVID-19 (GECO) Health Research is a new cross UK government funding call aiming to support applied health research that will address COVID-19 knowledge gaps. The focus is on understanding the pandemic and mitigating its health impacts in low and middle-income countries (LMIC). The call prioritises epidemiology, clinical management, infection control and health system responses.

Deadline Date:  22nd June 2020, 10th August 2020, 28th September 2020.  Applications due by 12 noon UK time. 

• External Call
• Funding level: £1,000,000

The purpose of this call is to fund a number of small- to medium-scale clinical trials and/or clinical research studies that can deliver proof-of-concept or validation of smart, highly innovative technologies or concepts to prevent, treat or diagnose poverty-related diseases in sub-Saharan Africa. The call is strictly aimed at supporting novel innovations, and therefore excludes concepts and technologies that have previously been commercialised, rolled out, tested in large trials, or are already in routine use in healthcare settings. Due to the global COVID-19 crisis that is also affecting African countries, this topic should also be considered by applicants.

Deadline Date:  13th August 2020 (5pm)

• External call
• Funding level:  Budget €23.4 million (expect to award 5-15 grants)

GOSH Charity and Sparks are inviting project grant applications for paediatric health research studies focusing on complex or rare diseases. The call will support research across the spectrum of medical conditions affecting the foetus, neonates and children directly, as well as pregnancy disorders that affect the child. We will also consider applications seeking to understand how COVID-19 affects children, particularly in the context of pre-existing diseases or conditions.

Deadline Date: 19th August 2020. (4pm)

• External call
• Funding level:  £250K

This initiative is issuing an extraordinary funding call for a number of collaborative projects between academic groups at the two universities that are seeking to address urgent challenges in relation to the Covid-19 global health emergency. Projects can address any aspect of the Covid-19 emergency, though priority will be given to projects with potential impact on a short to medium-term timescale and that demonstrate strong collaboration between the two institutions.

Deadline Date:  31st August (5pm local time)

• Internal call
• Funding level:  Up to £12.5K

Call for collaboration with colleagues in China for development of AI support for COVID-19 diagnosis and prognosis from imaging and clinical data.

Deadline Date:  Not specified - open call

• Internal/local call
• Funding level:  Not applicable

September 2020

The effects of the current SARS-CoV-2 outbreak have shown that epidemics and pandemics cannot be managed on a solely national level; instead, the global framework needs to be taken into account. To be better prepared for the diverse aspects of global waves of infection, it is essential to support wide-ranging research across different disciplines. In addition to investigating the current pandemic, it is important to identify fundamental research questions that produce generalizable scientific findings.

Deadline Date:  1st September 2020.

• External call
• Funding level:  Not specified

NIHR PRP invites applications for research to inform the policy response to challenges posed by COVID-19; and to capture learning arising from the pandemic. The research specification document sets out the need for research in specific topic areas to inform medium- to longer-term policy decisions for health and social care resulting from COVID-19.

Deadline Date:  Applications due by 1pm on: 16 July 2020,  10 September 2020, 22 October 2020.

• External Call
• Funding level: amount max £500,000

• How health and social care service delivery has changed in light of COVID-19.
• The impact of COVID-19 on health inequalities and the wider determinants of health. 

Deadline Date:  30th September 2020

• External call
• Funding level:  between £100-£200K

EPSRC through the UK-RAS Network and in collaboration with Imperial College London, Wellcome, KUKA and Intuitive Surgical, invites calls seeking innovative ideas that could aid in the response to COVID-19 offering a unique opportunity to galvanize medical robot technologies, as they play an increasingly major role in combating contagious diseases.

Deadline Date:  30th September 2020

• External call
• Funding level:  £15,000

Currently Closed

Supporting sub-Saharan African countries in establishing and developing robust national medicines regulatory systems and capacities for ethical review of clinical research and use of medicinal products and technologies for use in humans. Within this, applicants should also consider the global COVID-19 crisis.

Deadline Date:  16th July 2020 (5pm CEST)

• External call
• Funding level: Budget €2.5 million (expect to award 6-8 grants each worth up to €500K)

This funding call sits alongside the NIHR/UKRI rolling call for urgent research into COVID-19. Researchers who have previously submitted through the portal for Urgent Public Health Research and whose research does not meet the 12 month urgency criteria may wish to submit under this new call where outcomes are usually expected within 24 months.

First closing date: Tuesday 23 June 2020 by 1pm
Second closing date: Tuesday 14 July 2020 by 1pm

• External Call
• Funding level: Not specified

This call is an important part of NIHR’s response to provide high-quality and timely evidence to support system recovery and learning, specifically on health outcomes, public health, social care and health service delivery across the UK and to mitigate the impact of subsequent phases and aftermath. Given that this opportunity is for timely proposals, grants are expected to start within four weeks of award notification.

Deadline Date:

1st closing date: Tuesday 23 June 2020 (1 pm)
2nd closing date: Tuesday 14 July 2020 (1 pm)

• External Call
• Funding level: Not specified

British Council, in partnership with UK Research and Innovation, on behalf of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, invites calls for the Newton Fund impact scheme with Peru.  Providing  funding for current and previously funded Newton Fund grantees who worked in collaboration with individuals in Peru.  Aim is to stimulate new pathways to broaden impact into other areas or significantly extend impact from previous projects.
• Health – public health, vaccines, diagnostic tests and Covid-19;
• Science, innovation and technology in socioeconomic development – sustainable management of natural resources, industrial processing, biochemistry and genetic improvement.

Deadline Date:  30 Jun 20 - Applications due 12 noon UK time.

• External Call
• Funding level: amount max £65,000

The AWS Diagnostic Development Initiative supports AWS customers who are working to bring better, more accurate diagnostic solutions to market faster. Given the need, the emphasis initially will be on COVID-19, but we will also consider other infectious disease diagnostic projects. The program will be open to accredited research institutions, research consortia, and private entities, that are using AWS to support research-oriented workloads for the development of point-of-care diagnostic (testing that can be done at home or at a clinic with same-day results) and other diagnostic techniques. We will not support administrative workloads to run routine IT operations through this program.

Deadline Date:  30 Jun 20 - Applications due 12 noon UK time.

• External Call
• Funding level: AWS committing $20 million over the next year

This grant aims to provide financial support for a specific scientific project that engages in research in the context of COVID-19 infection and endocrinology or metabolism.

Deadline date: 30th June 2020

• External call
• Funding level: €20,000

The British Council runs Institutional Links in partnership with research and higher education institutions globally.

It also delivers Institutional Links under the Newton Fund. Newton Fund Institutional Links grants facilitate research that tackles local development challenges such as extreme weather conditions, access to affordable health care, food and energy security.

The Fund aims to promote the economic development and welfare of either the partner countries or, through working with the partner country, to address the problems of low-income and vulnerable populations.

Deadline Date:  26th June (4pm)

• External Call
• Funding level: Up to £150,000

Pump-priming grants that will lead to further and more substantial support from other grant awarding bodies. All applications must be focused on COVID 19 treatment and scientific discovery. One of the awards will be specifically for a basic science COVID 19-focused research project.

Deadline Date:  26th June (5pm)

• External Call
• Funding level: Up to £15K each (total budget £45K)

Proposals are invited that have a high likelihood of advancing the understanding of the pathophysiology and clinical implications of COVID-19. Applications should address pre-determined areas of clinical, basic, translational and population health questions.

Deadline date: 23rd June 2020 (11.59pm Eastern time)

• External call
• Funding level: $50,000

Mental health research is critical to better understand the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on psychological, psychiatric and social functioning.  This highlight notice invites research proposals focused on the rapid identification and mitigation of the acute mental health effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Deadline Date:  9am 22nd June 2020

• External Call
• Funding level: not specified

The intent of this Request for Proposal (RFP) is to support research to increase knowledge of COVID-19 epidemiology, infection, pathophysiology, and potential prevention measures. We are particularly interested in supporting research in the following areas: • Understand impact of COVID on communities, spectrum of disease in communities, and level of herd immunity • Postmortem Analysis of deceased persons with known or suspected COVID-19.

Deadline Date:  17th June

• External Call
• Funding level: Max up to $250,000 USD

The program provides Azure cloud and High-Performance Computing capabilities for collaborations with COVID-19 researchers while tackling this critical challenge. Focusing in the following areas: Data and insights (safety and economic impact); Treatment and diagnostics; Allocation of resources (hospital space and supply chain); Dissemination of accurate information; Scientific research to further understanding of COVID-19.

Deadline Date:  15th June

• External Call
• Funding level: Not specified

British Council scheme enabling partners in the UK, Indonesia, Thailand and Turkey to collaborate internationally and gain access to new research environments, facilities, knowledge and expertise in order to enhance the quality of their research and translate research and innovation into economic and societal benefit. Priority areas are identified in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Deadline Date:  12th June 2020 (4pm UK time)

• External Call
• Funding level: £50K - £150K

This fellowship opportunity will help deliver much-needed research to support the response to the COVID-19 crisis. Applications are invited from experienced qualitative researchers to lead a project to capture the experiences of people who have been critically ill with COVID-19 and been cared for in an ICU, and those of family members of survivors and non-survivors.
The fellow will explore and evaluate how the perspectives and priorities of patients themselves can provide a basis for co-design of care and service models for care on ICU and for support/follow-up. This will generate learning from the response to COVID-19 and help enhance planning for future pandemics.

Deadline Date: 9 June 2020  - Application deadline (Midday)

• External call
• Funding level: maximum of £120K

This scheme will focus solely on projects related to COVID-19. This can include any aspect of the national or global response, including (but not limited to) high throughput screening (HTS), assay development, drug repurposing, diagnostic development, pre-clinical and clinical trial support, analytical validation and pilot scale production.

Deadline Date: 15th May (Round 1) 5th June (Round 2)

• External call
• Up to AUD 50K

The goals of the Emergency Medicine Foundation COVID-19 Grant are to conduct research that will provide high-impact new knowledge to advance emergency patient care, improve response of hospitals/healthcare and EMS systems, and protect emergency medicine healthcare professionals during pandemics.

Deadline Date: 5th June (6pm EST)

• External call
• Funding level: Up to $100K

It is critical to rapidly identify molecules/peptides/proteins that can block the development and/or spreading of the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) and stop Covid-19 related disease. Computational methods (in silico) can quickly screen interactions of existing compounds with Covid-19 targets[1], but novel methods[2] are needed to get high success rates in the (pre-)clinical phases. In addition, experimental validation of lead compounds is needed to benchmark the in silico hits.

Deadline Date: 6th June (noon CET)

• External call
• Funding level: Not Specified

FOREUM seeks to support projects in the following areas:
Investigations that provide insights into the clinical course of COVID-19 in patients with RMD compared to non-RMD patients (international registers, cohorts, clinical studies)
Projects that address diagnostic and therapeutic challenges of SARS-CoV-2 infection in RMD patients
Research on pathogenic mechanisms (e.g. cytokine release syndrome) in the context of COVID-19.

Deadline Date: 7th June

• External call
• Funding level: Individual mono-centric proposal max. of  €100.000. Multi-centric proposal max.  of €300.000