About

Are you interested in developing your research towards improving the prevention, diagnosis, prognosis or treatment of significant health needs? Join us to hear about two key MRC funding schemes, the Developmental Pathway Funding Scheme and GAP fund, which enable translation of fundamental discoveries towards patient benefit and or commercialisation. Both schemes are currently open for applications. We are excited to have programme managers Drs Sophie Liddel and Teodora Trendafilova, explain what they are looking for, and the opportunities, support and resources available to translate your research into clinical tools and technologies that can improve outcomes.

Closing dates for the schemes are:

Developmental Pathway Funding Scheme (DPFS)

Stage one closing date: 16 July 2025 4:00pm

Developmental pathway funding scheme (DPFS) – UKRI

The Gap fund for early-stage development of new healthcare interventions

Closing date: 9 July 2025 4:00pm

Gap fund for early-stage development of new healthcare interventions – UKRI

Additional information

The Developmental Pathway Funding Scheme (DPFS) is the core MRC translational research scheme. The aim of the scheme is to drive fundamental discoveries stemming from the academic community along the developmental pathway towards patient benefit and or commercialisation. All disease areas are eligible for support from the scheme and applications made through this scheme can focus on the development of any innovative solution that aims to improve the prevention, diagnosis, prognosis or treatment of significant health needs. The scheme also supports projects that focus on developing research tools or platform technologies that increase the efficiency of developing interventions. Individual projects can start and finish at any point along the translational pathway from initial development, through pre-clinical and clinical refinement to early phase clinical trials (up to and including phase IIa).

Stage one closing date: 16 July 2025 4:00pm

See below for more details

Developmental pathway funding scheme (DPFS) – UKRI

The Gap fund for early-stage development of new healthcare interventions enables researchers to apply for funding to generate critical data that builds confidence in developing a new or repurposed medicine, medical device, diagnostic test, or other medical intervention. The concept for the product should be backed by prior funding. Projects should focus on one high-risk step, not multiple, to ensure efficient management. This step must address the crucial missing evidence needed to rapidly de-risk onward development or determine failure.

To apply, you must be based at a research organisation eligible for MRC funding.

The Gap Fund bridges the smaller Impact Acceleration Account (IAA) and the larger Developmental Pathway Funding Scheme (DPFS).

Closing date: 9 July 2025 4:00pm

See below for more details

Gap fund for early-stage development of new healthcare interventions – UKRI