The University has a fund which provides support for large bids. You can find further information on the Large Bid Fund and guidance how to apply here:
https://www.research-strategy.admin.cam.ac.uk/research-funding/support-large-bid-preparation
The team in the Research Strategy Ofiice can assist you, as we are aware the application process can be time consuming. The RSO can offer support with facilitation, coordination and input into large complex bids, particularly to promote cross-disciplinary grant applications.
Please get in touch if you are interested and we can help.
Restricted Call: British Heart Foundation Cardiovascular Grand Challenge 2026 (internal deadline: 14 May, 2026)
This communication is to bring the scheme to your attention to allow candidates and departments sufficient time to prepare strong applications. The call is expected to open on 1 April, 2026 and more information will be available from the funder at that time. The University’s internal selection process is outlined below for this round. If there are any further changes that emerge once the expression of interest stage opens, we will communicate these.
In April 2026, the British Heart Foundation (BHF) will announce the first of their challenge-based research programmes, the Cardiovascular Grand Challenge.
BHF will make at least one award of £10M over 5 years. Research proposals must address significant unmet needs or opportunities in one or more areas under this year's theme of "AI-powered transformation in cardiovascular health: from discovery to clinical practice". These areas include: understanding disease mechanisms; determining disease risk and implementing preventive measures; early and accurate diagnosis of evolving disease (when medical intervention is likely to be more effective); discovery and development of new drugs and other innovative treatments; and delivery of improved clinical care and information to patients. This call will be a two-stage competition, requiring first an outline application followed by a full application from shortlisted teams.
Teams entering the competition need to mobilise knowledge, talent and resources from multiple fields and sectors, working on a scale that goes above and beyond conventional research programmes. As dictated by the specific area(s) that they address, proposals should aim to integrate a range of complementary research approaches (e.g. discovery, translation, clinical validation, epidemiology), disciplines (e.g. biomedical/non-biomedical researchers and clinicians), technologies (in particular, AI and complementary data science approaches) and sectors (e.g. academia, biotechnology, pharma). BHF also expects applicants to leverage matched funding and in-kind contributions, such as people/skills and facilities, from partnering academic institutions, commercial/industrial organisations and/or other sources, which in totality are comparable in scale to the requested award.
For more information, please consult the call web page (including a recent webinar for the scheme near the bottom of the webpage) and the outline application guidance. There will be a Q&A session on 12 May, 2026 at 2 pm, for which you can sign up here.
University Internal selection:
Institutions can only lead on 3 applications in distinct areas with distinct teams. Therefore, this call will be managed according to the University’s restricted calls procedure. Your Department’s Research Grants Team and/or Departmental Administrator (or equivalent) must be made aware of your internal application, and a support letter signed by the Head of Department is required.
To take part in the internal selection, please complete our online form by 14 May, 2026 (NB: if asked to log-in, please use your CRSID/Raven details; note that a Form cannot be saved and returned to).
You will need the following documents and information to complete the Form:
- a list of team members and partners including, where relevant, department and organisation.
- project summary (max. 1000 words) addressing the following points:
- Challenge: summarise the problem, describe the unmet needs or opportunities that you wish to address, what your solution is, and why your proposal needs funding of this scale. NB: proposals based primarily around implementation without a substantial research component are not within the remit of the Cardiovascular Grand Challenge.
- Team and partnerships: describe the expertise and/or resource contribution(s) of team members to the research programme. BHF expects engagement from multiple disciplines and institutions/organisations and encourage partnership with small or medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and industry. In brief, demonstrate that you have assembled an outstanding multi-disciplinary and cross sector team that is equipped to successfully undertake the proposed programme.
- Impact and meaningful patient/public involvement: describe why your proposal is of patient/public relevance, how it involves or will involve patients throughout and how it will have a significant impact. Describe the milestones and associated workstreams of the proposed programme, providing estimates of the time and investment required to deliver each milestone. A separate Gantt chart of 1 page max can be included.
- a support letter from the Head of the Department that will host the award confirming their support for the project and agreement to host the award (max 3 pages).
Internal Assessment Criteria:
Please note that the assessment of internal applications will focus on the following core funder criteria:
- Timely and ambitious: innovative proposals that are primed to deliver a big leap forward, that cannot be addressed through conventional funding and that utilise state-of-the-art expertise and technologies.
- Clear path to impact that meaningfully involves patients and the public: this should include integrated workstreams and milestones and meaningful involvement of those with lived experience throughout
- Outstanding team and partnerships: outstanding, multi-disciplinary, cross-sector, "best in field" team
Overview of process (for ease of reference, internal deadlines are marked in red):
- 14 May 2026: internal deadline for internal selection
- 5 August 2026: funder deadline for submitting outline applications
- December 2026: funder invites full applications
- March 2027: funder deadline for full applications
- June 2027: funder invites shortlisted applicants for interview
If you have any queries, please don’t hesitate to contact us at researchstrategy@admin.cam.ac.uk.
Restricted Call: NIHR Global Health Research Professorships (internal deadline: 18 May, 2026)
NIHR have announced the Global Health Research Professorships Cohort 9.
NIHR will provide £2,000,000 over 5 years to undertake research that focusses on addressing global health challenges. NIHR welcome applications from different professional backgrounds, clinical and non-clinical. This is a professorial-level award that funds outstanding academics who are on track to become future Global Health research leaders. Applicants should not already be established leaders in their field but should instead be close to professorial level or recently have been appointed as a full professor. It is expected that applicants would not have been employed at the professor level for more than 5 years as of September 2025. The award promotes effective translation of research with direct primary relevance to health challenges of ODA eligible low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Thus, you must have at least 1 partner organisation in an ODA eligible LMIC in sub-Saharan Africa or South Asia.
For more information, please see the call webpage, the scheme webpage and full eligibility information.
Eligibility
To be eligible, applicants must:
- be an individual with an outstanding record of public health, health or care research including clinical and non-clinical researchers
- be on track to become a future Global Health Research (GHR) leader
- be employed by a Higher Education Institution (HEI) or research institute in the UK, or a HEI or research institute in official development assistance (ODA) eligible low and middle income countries (LMICs) in sub-Saharan Africa or South Asia
- propose research that aligns with NIHR's remit for GHR personal career development awards and that directly and primarily benefits patients and the public in ODA eligible LMICs in sub-Saharan Africa or South Asia
Key expectations:
Salary recycling:
The basic salary of the Global Health Research Professor is funded by NIHR. Host institutions are required to recycle the salary costs released from the Professor’s previous role. This means the institution must reinvest those funds to build research capacity, such as hiring new academic or research staff, supporting early career researchers, or enhancing research infrastructure. This plan must be clearly documented and is assessed as part of the application.
Institutional support and future employment:
Institutions must demonstrate a strong and sustained commitment to the nominee. This includes ensuring that the individual has access to appropriate administrative and research support and guaranteeing the availability of necessary infrastructure and facilities. In addition, institutions are expected to support the nominee’s leadership development, including their participation in the NIHR Leadership Programme.
University Internal selection:
NIHR restricts the number of nominations Higher Education Institutions (HEI) can put forward to this funding call as a host or contracting organisation. There are no limits to the number of applications on which the University is listed as partner (i.e. if not leading the application).
- For the Global Health Research Professorship, NIHR allow a maximum of 2 nominations. If the University puts forward 2 nominees, at least one applicant must be female. If the University puts forward 1 individual, they can be male or female.
Therefore, this call will be managed according to the University’s restricted calls procedure.
Schools have been asked to submit individual(s) they recommend to apply to this round of funding. Departments should therefore await communication from their School office to understand the selection process and timetable. Please note that applicants that haven’t been through the School ranking stage of the internal selection process will not be accepted or included in the University of Cambridge submission for this funding call.
Internal deadline for Schools to submit ranked candidates: 18 May 2026
Funder deadline: 30 June 2026
If you have any queries, please don’t hesitate to contact us at researchstrategy@admin.cam.ac.uk.
Restricted call: NIHR Tackling Bacterial and Fungal Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia (internal deadline: 19 May 2026)
As part of their Global Health Research theme, NIHR has announced the Tackling Bacterial and Fungal Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia call for research to tackle the growing burden of bacterial and fungal antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in ODA-eligible countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. The purpose of this call is to fund high-quality applied health research that addresses the specific AMR challenges faced by these regions. Projects should focus on evidence-based interventions to prevent, monitor, or manage resistant infections. This is a large-scale global health opportunity requiring strong partnerships with researchers and institutions in the target regions. It is a 2-stage, researcher-led funding opportunity and award values can range from £500k to £5m.
Band 1 is for experienced teams with established collaborations proposing ambitious, multi-country programmes.
It is for more established research partnerships and experienced teams proposing ambitious programmes of research and capacity strengthening. The research will be delivered through linked work packages typically across multiple country contexts. Funded programmes are expected to lead to significant impact on health outcomes, policy and practice, and strengthen research capacity.
Band 2 is for less mature partnerships proposing substantial new or expanded programmes.
It is for developing less mature research partnerships with varying levels of experience proposing to undertake a significant programme of research and extend existing research and capacity strengthening, and/or include additional settings. The scope and complexity of these programmes can include multiple linked components or may comprehensively address a single research area. Funded programmes will lead to lasting impact on health outcomes, policy and practice, and strengthen research capacity.
Band 3 is for new or early-career-led teams undertaking smaller or earlier-stage projects, often in a single setting. Or innovative, higher risk projects from more experienced teams. It is suitable for teams proposing a research project which may be at an early or developmental stage. It may be delivered in a single country context. Band 3 projects will have a narrower focus than band 1 and 2 programmes. Proportionate to the amount of funds requested, the project can range from a single study to a combination of studies. Projects should offer opportunities for early to mid-career researchers to develop leadership skills and progress their own research ideas. Smaller higher-risk, innovative projects may be considered from more experienced teams where this is well justified. Funded projects will have clear outcomes and defined pathways to impact on health outcomes, policy and practice and will strengthen research capacity.
NIHR Global Health Research funding is available to researchers in LMICs and in the UK. Leadership models can be:
- one Sole Lead employed by an eligible LMIC institution. Sole Leads from UK institutions are not eligible to apply
or
- two Joint Leads - one must be employed by an eligible LMIC institution. The other Joint Lead can be employed by a different eligible LMIC institution, or an eligible UK institution.
University selection:
UK HEIs may submit more than 1 application as joint lead applicant, provided each application is distinct in its aims and objectives. In addition, NIHR’s expectation is that if there are multiple applications from a single institution, at least 50% of the lead applicants should be women. (For more details see the scope and eligibility guidance for the GHR Themed Programme funding: https://www.nihr.ac.uk/global-health/funding-programmes/ghr-themed/scope-eligibility)
Therefore, this call is managed under the University’s restricted calls procedure. Your Department’s Research Grants Team and/or Departmental Administrator (or equivalent) must be made aware of your internal application, and a support letter signed by the Head of Department is required.
To take part in the internal selection, please complete our online form: NIHR Tackling bacterial and fungal AMR in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia – Fill in form by 19 May 2026. (NB: if asked to log-in, please use your crsid/Raven details; note that a Form cannot be saved and returned to)
Requirements for the internal form:
- A summary of the proposed research (800 words)
- A signed Head of Department support letter
Internal Assessment Criteria:
Please note that the assessment of internal applications will focus on the following core funder criteria:
- Relevance to Region: How well the research addresses specific AMR needs in Sub-Saharan Africa or South Asia.
- Impact Potential: The likelihood of the research leading to tangible improvements in health policy or clinical practice.
- Partnership Strength: The quality of the collaboration between Cambridge and LMIC partners.
- Inclusive approach: How well the project will consider existing and potential health inequalities throughout the whole research lifecycle.
Funder deadline: 8 July 2026.
If you have any queries, please don’t hesitate to contact us at researchstrategy@admin.cam.ac.uk
Restricted call: EPSRC Strategic Infrastructure (internal deadline: 28 May 2026)
EPSRC’s Strategic Infrastructure scheme offers funding to purchase strategic infrastructure, including equipment, resources, or a combination of both. The funding aims to improve UK scientific capability and enable cutting-edge research of high priority to EPSRC. The minimum funding threshold is £400,000 at full economic cost (FEC). More information on EPSRC’s definition of strategic infrastructure can be found here.
University Internal selection:
The scheme operates as a rolling, open-ended opportunity with no set submission deadlines – however, EPSRC expects no more than six applications from each institution in their annual cycle, which begins each June. Due to increasing interest in this call at Cambridge, it is now being managed according to the University’s restricted calls procedure. Your Department’s Research Grants Team and/or Departmental Administrator (or equivalent) must be made aware of your internal application, and a support letter signed by the Head of Department is required.
To take part in this new annual internal selection, please complete our online form (NB: if asked to log-in, please use your crsid/Raven details; note that a Form cannot be saved and returned to) by 28 May 2026.
EPSRC Strategic Infrastructure 2026-27 – Fill in form
You will need the following documents and information to complete the form:
- A summary document (max. 800 words) covering the following:
- Purpose & vision: Why is this infrastructure needed and what transformative research will it enable that cannot be achieved elsewhere? How will it enhance and complement the existing regional or national research capability and what is the evidence of user demand? (approx. 250 words)
- Approach, accessibility and sustainability: Summarise what professional/technical support will be in place, and outline the proposed approach to financial, technical and environmental sustainability. How will users be identified, prioritised and supported? (approx. 300 words)
- Applicant and host institution capability to deliver: What experience does the team have in managing strategic infrastructure and why is the University of Cambridge the best place to host the proposed infrastructure? (approx. 250 words)
- Letter of Support from the Head of Department, indicating that the department is aware of and supportive of the application.
- Provide an indication of institutional support agreed or in discussion and how the department will use its existing capacity to best complement the proposed infrastructure. Contributions can come in many forms e.g. direct contribution towards the infrastructure; in-kind investigator time; funding a research technical professional; contributing refurbishment costs.
- Approximate value of the infrastructure required (quotes not required for this internal EoI).
- Target submission date for the application to EPSRC.
We encourage applicants to speak to relevant teams in advance of their EoI, for help with initial planning. These include the West Cambridge equipment sharing team (wcsp@admin.cam.ac.uk), the Research Relations team (cdb29@cam.ac.uk), and for applicants from the School of the Biological Sciences the Scientific Research Facilities Strategic Lead (stc46@cam.ac.uk), as well as any local research facility leads in their department.
Review and Selection:
- If more than six applications are received by the stated deadline, a full internal selection process will be undertaken. The six selected applicants will receive advice on next steps for developing the application for submission to the funder. Proposals deemed suitable but not selected for submission in the current year (June 2026-June 2027) will be carried forward to the next annual selection cycle.
- If fewer than six applications are received by the internal deadline, they will be reviewed at that point and applicants will be offered feedback and guidance on how to proceed. The internal deadline will then be extended, and additional applications will continue to be considered on a rolling, case-by-case basis.
Internal Assessment Criteria:
Please note that the assessment of internal applications will focus on the following core funder criteria:
- Purpose and vision
- Approach, accessibility and sustainability
- Applicant and host institution capability to deliver
If you have any queries, please don’t hesitate to contact us at researchstrategy@admin.cam.ac.uk
Apply for funding to support the development of new online courses (or the adaptation of current courses) that will be delivered to young people and professionals on the African continent.
Africa contributes just 2-3% of global emissions yet suffers the greatest impacts of climate change of any continent. The Africa Climate Collaborative is strengthening the continent’s response to the crisis by empowering the next generation of climate leaders.
The Collaborative is a partnership between the University of Cambridge, the University of Ghana, Makerere University, University of Cape Town and the Mastercard Foundation, leveraging the unique strengths and expertise of each partner.
A core objective of the collaboration between the University of Cambridge and the Mastercard Foundation is to create educational opportunities for African scholars, with a focus on climate resilience and sustainability. This includes two specific sub-elements of support for individual scholars:
- The enrolment of 500 young scholars from Africa to undertake master’s degrees at the University of Cambridge (from 2022 to 2030); and
- The enrolment of 500 learners on online certificate and diploma programs, focused on the skills needs of early and mid-career professionals, to help develop the knowledge and capabilities which will enable them to pursue careers that drive climate resilience and sustainability on the continent.
While there are some existing online certificate and diploma courses that might respond to this need, the Mastercard Foundation programme at Cambridge provides opportunities for colleagues in Departments and Faculties to develop new courses. These are expected to respond to evidence-based assessments of demand for such programmes and would ideally be developed in collaboration with partners on the African continent. Funding from the Mastercard Foundation will provide scholarships to cover the enrolment costs (and stipends, if needed) for candidates from Africa. There are also funds to support course development.
This is a call for proposals from those who may wish to develop new courses to apply for funds to support this activity; up to £10,000 are available for each proposal.
Full details are in the document below:
