Grant funding
Current grant portfolio and 2014/15 grant funding data Current grant portfolio We currently support 3,220 active grants with a total value of £2,902 million (Figures 1 and 2). The grants currently employ over 11,000 people. Of these, 2,329 grants with a value of £2,441m are managed by our Science division, 651 grants with a value of £128m are managed by our Culture and Society division, 172 grants with a value of £301m are managed by our Innovations division, and 68 grants with a value of £32m are managed by our Strategy division. Strategy Major Overseas Major £32m Sustaining Programmes Awards Health £168m £180m Equipment, £6m Resources & UK Open Education & Capital Neuroscience Centres £96m Access £87m Seeding Drug £4m £2m Discovery Strategic £86m Initiatives Innovations Strategic £157m Funding £301m £20m
Strategic Strategic Total grants Science Funding Awards £152m £2,902m £2,441m £311m
Engaging Science £33m Translation Awards Investigator Awards, Society £63m Other Fellowships & & Ethics Strategic £4m Seeds Studentships £24m Funding £1,259m £20m £5m Culture & ISSF Society Research £60m Projects & Resources Programmes £128m Medical £4m £114m Humanities £47m Figure 1. Current active grants by value
UK Centres 9 Major Overseas Programmes 5 Major Awards 4 Strategic Initiatives 116 Strategic Awards 78 Investigator Awards 284 Principal Research Fellowships 48 Science Senior Research Fellowships 139 Intermediate Fellowships 235 Early Postdoctoral Fellowships 135 Studentships 873 Projects & Programmes 115 Equipment, Resources & Capital 133 Seed Awards 54 Institutional Strategic Support Fund (ISSF) 29 Other 72 Major Awards 1 Strategic Awards 6 Culture & Engaging Science 241 Society Society & Ethics 123 Medical Humanities 228 Science major awards: Diamond Light Source, Francis Crick Institute, Research Resources 52 UK Biobank, Wellcome Trust/DBT India Alliance. Major Awards 1 Science themed initiatives: African Institutions & DELTAs Initiative, Strategic Initiatives 8 Academy of Medical Sciences (AMS) INSPIRE Scheme, AMS Middle-East Strategic Awards 8 Travel Fellowship, AMS Starter Grants for Clinical Lecturers, Centres for Translation Awards 33 Global Health Research, Ebola Research Support Initiative, eHealth Centres, Innovations Global Health Trials, Human Heredity and Health in Africa (H3Africa), Joint Pathfinder Awards 42 Health Systems Research, National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement Seeding Drug Discovery 24 and Reduction of Animals in Research (NC3Rs), National Prevention Research 15 Affordable Healthcare in India Initiative, Research for Health in Humanitarian Crises (R2HC). Health Innovation Challenge Fund 41 C&S major award: National Science Learning Centre. 1 Major Awards Innovations themed initiatives: Medical Engineering, Innovative Engineering Open Access 40 for Health. Strategy Sustaining Health 15 Innovations major award: Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst Education & Neuroscience 6 Other 6 Strategy major award: eLife Figure 2. Current active grants by number Grant funding
Grants awarded 2014/15 In the 2014/15 financial year we considered more than 7,400 concept notes, preliminary and full applications requesting over £7.5 billion in funding. We considered full applications worth over £2.1 billion and awarded 1,227 new grants worth £631 million and 408 supplementary and enhancement grants worth £55m (Figure 3).
Strategy Major Overseas Major Sustaining Programmes Awards £19m Equipment Health £63m £28m & Resources £4m Education & £15m Neuroscience Open £2m Seeding Drug Access UK Discovery £6m Centres £3m Strategic £16m Initiatives Innovations £87m £58m Other £7m
Strategic Total grants Science Strategic Funding Awards £31m £686m £569m £52m
Engaging Science £12m Investigator Translation Awards Awards Seeds £107m £11m Society £5m ISSF & Ethics £38m Strategic £5m Funding Fellowships Culture & £6m £129m Society Research Studentships £40m Resources £42m £2m Medical Humanities £15m Figure 3. Grant expenditure 2014/15 by value
Award rates Funding by area of strength In 2014/15 we received 3,535 full grant applications to our response- Our new strategic framework identified areas of strength where we mode schemes and made 783 awards – an award rate of 22 per cent. see exciting developments with lasting potential. In 2014/15, grant The total number of full applications received in 2014/15 has risen expenditure has been distributed across these areas as shown in Figure 5. by 49%, mainly due to the launch of our new Seed Award and Collaborative Award schemes. Public Cross-strength engagement activity Genomics, genetics £19m £60m and epigenetics 3535 £91m Cultural and societal contexts 25.0% 24.4% 25.1% of health £24m Neuroscience 22.1% and mental Innovations health 2369 £59m £71m 2064 1979 Grand Total £686m
Population, environment 783 Infectious and health 595 disease and 516 482 £115m immunobiology £166m 2011/2012 2012/2013 2013/2014 2014/2015 Development and ageing Applications Awards Award rate £81m
Figure 4. Application numbers and award rates Figure 5. Grant expenditure by area of strength 2014/15
A note on the award rate data: These grants are response-mode and are awarded following a A note on area of strength data: Our funding often addresses more than one of our areas of conventional competitive assessment process. Grants that have bespoke review processes have been strength simultaneously. The above data are based on the primary area addressed. For some excluded. For example, PhD studentship programmes are assessed competitively, but the individual of our research – classified as ‘cross-challenge’ – it is not possible to assign a primary area; studentship awards are nominated by the host programmes. Other types of grant excluded from such awards include large-value and underpinning awards for the Wellcome Trust/DBT India the award rate analysis are Vacation Scholarships, miscellaneous and small-value grants, open Alliance, AMS Springboard Awards, the Institutional Strategic Support Fund, and open access access funding awards, the Institutional Strategic Support Fund, and supplementary awards. publishing awards. Grant funding
Funding by gender and age Over the past five years 42 per cent of all applicants were female and 58 per cent were male, and 40 per cent of grants were awarded to females and 60 per cent were awarded to males. The proportion of awards made to female and male applicants differs between the funding divisions, as shown in Figure 6. The overall award rate across the three funding divisions has been 22 per cent for female applicants and 24 per cent for male applicants. The average age of award recipients across the three funding divisions is also shown in Figure 6. The average age of award recipients in Innovations is higher as career-based support schemes are not used. Science Culture & Society Innovations Strategy Total
13% 33% 35% 40% Average Average 44% Average Average Average age age age age age 41 56% 42 52 47 41 60% 67% 65% 87%
Figure 6. Grant awards by gender and age over the past five years
Funding by gender and age – Science personal support schemes
Gender & Age profile Award rates We currently support 837 researchers on our science personal support Over the past five years, the full application award rate for our Science schemes (284 Investigator Awards and 553 fellowships). The gender personal support schemes was 23% for male applicants and 20% for female and age (at date of award) for these researchers are shown by grant applicants. The award rate for these schemes at interview was 52% for type in Figure 7. male applicants and 53% for female applicants. Last year, the award rate was 22% for male applicants and 23% for female applicants. Principal Fellows Award rates from full application 9 47 39 67% Investigator Award holders 55%
53 50 231 34% 31% 23% 23% 18% 21% 17% 21% Senior Fellows Principal Investigator Senior Intermediate Early Career 38 39 101 Fellowships Awards Fellowships Fellowships Postdoctoral Fellowships Intermediate Fellows Award rates from interview 94 36 138 73% Early Postdoctoral Fellows 60% 62% 57% 52% 53% 51% 51% 54% 67 30 67 46%
Average Figure 7. Gender & age profile of researchers currently age Principal Investigator Senior Intermediate Early Career funded by our science personal support schemes Fellowships Awards Fellowships Fellowships Postdoctoral Fellowships We also support 873 PhD and Masters Students on personal Studentships. 465 of these awards are held by women and 394 are held by men. Data are Figure 8. Awards rates by gender for applicants to Science personal support not available for 14 Students. schemes over the past five years, from full application and at interview.
Funding by gender and age – Awards by gender Award rates from application Culture & Society remits Over the past five years, the award rate for our Research 54 Research 66% applications to our Culture & Society schemes Resources 38 Resources 58% was 22% for male applicants and 23% for female 357 20% applicants. Females were awarded 59% of grants Public Public in Medical Humanities, 63% of grants in Society Engagement 313 Engagement 21% & Ethics, 59% of grants for Research Resources, Medical 131 Medical 26% and 53% of grants for Public Engagement. Humanities 91 Humanities 24%
Figure 9. Number of awards and awards rates by Society & 66 Society & 18% gender for applications to Culture & Society remits Ethics 39 Ethics 17% over the past five years.
A note on the above data: These grants are response-mode and are awarded following a conventional competitive assessment process. Grants that have bespoke review processes have been excluded, for example C&S small grants, symposia and travel grants, and supplementary awards.