Apply for a Medical Research Grant

Sparks funds high quality medical research related to the prenatal, perinatal and early childhood years aimed at providing a therapeutic intervention that will make a significant contribution to reducing mortality or relieving the condition, disease or disability in question.

Sparks Research

The Charity will only support research which is likely to have a clear clinical application in the near future. Therefore grant applications for basic research which is unlikely to have clinical application within ten years will not be considered. 

Sparks funded research takes the form of:

• project grants of up to three years in length with a clearly definable subject area and outcome
• equipment grants for use within a specific research proposal as previously defined
• pilot projects of short duration to test a concept in preparation for a full application will also be considered.

Grants are only made to projects where the principal applicant is in a tenured position at an university or research institution.

Researchers who are making a substantial intellectual contribution to the project and require personal support from the grant may apply as co-applicants with a tenured member of staff as the principal applicant. 

Funding Guidelines

Our normal support provides for 1-3 year salary costs to cover a research post, consumables and essential equipment. Each item must be fully justified and currently a three year grant covering all of these components rarely exceeds £200,000.

For researchers who have a sustained track record of successful grant awards from Sparks, the Charity may consider supporting a more comprehensive programme of research. These programme grants will be subject to the same rigorous peer-review process as all Sparks project grant applications.

Please note that Sparks are unable to consider applications which are concurrently submitted to other funding bodies, and do not fund:

• Grants for further education, e.g. MSc/PhD course fees
• Grants towards service provision or audit studies
• Grants for work undertaken outside the UK
• Grants towards 'top up' funding for work supported by other funding bodies 
• Grants to other charities

Application Process

Prior to submitting a full application, all applicants are required to complete an outline application form which can be downloaded using the link below:

Download Sparks guidelines

Download Outline application form

Completed outlines and any queries should be sent to:

Dr Kirti Patel
Medical Research Manager
Email: kirti@sparks.org.uk
Tel: 020 7799 2111
Fax: 020 7222 2701

Sparks process for accepting outline application forms for review has changed and the following now applies:

Sparks is no longer accepting outlines for review for our October 2010 grant round.  Applicants with suitable research projects will be sent a full application form (by email in Word format) and a copy of the relating terms and conditions w/c 6 September 2010. Full applications will be required to be submitted by the deadline date: 4pm Friday 15 October 2010.  

Closing dates for full applications

For 2010: The deadline date for receipt of full applications is 4pm Friday 15 October 2010.

Peer review

All complete applications are assessed by full peer review, firstly by independent external referees and then by Sparks Medical Advisory Committee.

Sparks © 2007, 2008 All Rights Reserved Heron House, 10 Dean Farrar Street, London, SW1H 0DX Tel: 020 7799 2111, Fax: 020 7222 2701 Sparks is registered in England No. 2634037 Company limited by Guarantee. Registered Charity No. 1003825 (England and Wales) and SC039482 (Scotland)