GOSH Charity Lift-Off Grants

The Discovery Research arm of the Lift Off funding scheme is currently open for applications and the submission deadline is 3pm on Thursday 11th of April.

To start your application, please follow the instructions on our Grants Management System website.

Lift Off Grants: Discovery Research provide early-stage research funding, intended to give early support for new research projects. These projects should be based in a laboratory setting and at an early stage in the translational pathway. This also includes data-based projects, such as genomics studies. Projects may include basic research into disease mechanisms; development of new techniques or models; early-stage therapy development or repurposing studies; and development of new techniques or models. Funding could be used for:

• Collecting pilot data
• Proof of principle studies
• Feasibility studies
• Methodology/technique development
• New applications of existing concepts
• Animal model development

For the Discovery Research call, we invite applications for lab- or data-based research projects. Applications for projects where the hospital and its patient population are the focus for data generation or collection, will not be eligible for the Discovery Research arm and should instead be submitted to the Patient Focussed Research arm, to be launched in July 2024.

For the 2024 round, Lift Off Grants will be open to anybody who works at Great Ormond Street Hospital or UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, or who has honorary research contracts at these organisations. Applications from Early Career Researchers, Allied Health Professionals, Research Nurses, Pharmacists and other non-medical clinical healthcare professionals are welcomed. Applicants who do not have a PhD or substantive research experience must apply with a research mentor as a co-applicant.

The salary of the Principal Investigator is not eligible for funding through this scheme. These grants cannot be used for bridge funding, add-on funding or PhD project extensions.

GOSH Charity has made a total of £600k available for Lift Off Grants in 2024, with a view to dedicate £300k to each arm: Discovery Research and Patient Focussed Research. From this, we expect to award around 4 grants per round, with an expected value of up to £75,000. Applicants wishing to apply for more than £75,000 should contact the Grant Funding Team to discuss their application costs. Projects should have a duration of up to 18 months.

Funding will cover direct research costs associated with the project e.g., salaries for research staff and consumables costs.

Applications will be received and managed by GOSH Charity and considered by dedicated Lift Off Grants Scientific Assessment Panels. A lay panel will also assess the lay summary and PPIE sections, and their feedback will be fed into the scientific assessments.

Final funding decisions for the Discovery arm are expected to be announced in June 2024, and the Patient Focussed arm in October 2024.

As funders, we have signed a cross-funder statement coordinated by the Academy of Medical Sciences, on the COVID-19 institutional memory: how we as funders will look to fairly remember and recognise the impacts of COVID-19 on grant applicants' work in the future.

As part of this statement, we would like to reassure our research community that we are aware of the immediate and long-term impacts of COVID-19 on research activities. Any disruptions to research activities due to the COVID-19 pandemic will be taken into consideration by our panels and committees when assessing an individual applicant’s record of outputs, research achievements, and career progression in future grant rounds. Read the Covid-19 Statement here.

If you would like to know more about the funding call or have any questions, please do not hesitate to email the GOSH Charity Grants team.