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Scottish Seedcorn Fund for Neurological Research – open for applications

Scottish Seedcorn Fund for Neurological Research – open for applications

25th March 2019

The Chief Scientist Office (CSO) is pleased to announce that the Scottish Seedcorn Fund for Neurological Research is open for applications.

The Chief Scientist Office and the RS Macdonald Charitable Trust have provided funds for ‘seedcorn grants’, administered by the University of St Andrews, to enable researchers to test innovative ideas related to neurodegenerative or neurodevelopmental conditions.

The group are keen to award funding across three general themes: fundamental science; diagnosis; and practice based research and caring sciences. They also hope to enable researchers to develop ideas that may otherwise be difficult to fund and grants are expected to be up to £15,000. The fund welcomes opportunities to be part of a co-funded arrangement.

Aims

• Facilitate the development of new collaborative partnerships
• Develop existing partnerships
• Support new and early career researchers
• Generate initial findings that could form the basis of grant applications to other funders

Funds cannot be used as a travel grant to attend conferences, nor to purchase laptops. Most other aspects can be covered.

Decision process

Proposals will be considered – and awarding decisions made – by a panel of senior academics active in the relevant research areas, drawn from Scotland. The panel will assess the strength of the proposal, its potential for future research, and any ethical considerations.  A decision for the first round of funding will be available no later than July 2019.

Eligibility Criteria

 To be eligible for an award:
• Applications must be from at least two academic centres (Scottish HEI or NHS)
• The principal investigator must be PhD/PDRA/ECR
• The application must be for research into the causation, prevention, treatment and/or management of neurodegenerative or neurodevelopmental disorders
The following would be desirable, but not essential:
• The proposal relates to the underlying aetiology, diagnostic approach and/or care pathway common to more than one condition
• Proposals that leverage additional funding are particulary welcomed

Application form

Download the application form.

Completed applications should be returned to Carleen Smith no later than 12pm, 20 May 2019.

Please to not submit directly to CSO.

Enquiries can be made to Dr Alan McNair.

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