Completed Public Health & Healthcare Economics & Business

Institutional Strategic Support Fund 2011/12.

Funder Wellcome Charity-funded
Recipient organisation University of Edinburgh
Funding £3.0M
Period Oct 2011 — Dec 2015

In plain English

AI plain-English summary

The University of Edinburgh is using Wellcome Trust funding to back eight strategic research areas, from early-career scientists to regenerative medicine pilots. This grant does not fund a single experiment or discovery. Instead, it provides flexible, targeted support for people and projects that might otherwise fall through the cracks of conventional funding. The eight areas include bridging money to retain promising researchers between grants, seed funding for high-risk regenerative medicine pilot studies, and support for translating lab discoveries into therapeutics, devices, or diagnostics. It also establishes biomedical informatics for new investigators and interdisciplinary teams, and fosters scientific links between existing Wellcome investments—such as placing veterinary fellows in medical labs. If successful, this institutional strategy could accelerate the pipeline from fundamental science to practical applications. It might help a promising early-career researcher secure their first major grant, or turn a risky regenerative medicine idea into a clinical trial. The public engagement projects could also improve how research findings reach patients and communities. Because this is primarily a funding mechanism rather than a research project itself, its impact is indirect but potentially broad: it strengthens the infrastructure that keeps biomedical discovery moving.

View original technical description
Eight Strategic Areas The Wellcome Trust and the University have agreed that ISSF2 awards in 2014/15 and 2015/16 should be in the following eight strategic areas, and accordingly, applications for an award should fit within one or more of these. 1) Early Career Researchers/Chancellor's Fellows Support for early career researchers/Chancellor's Fellows of the highest promise. 2) Senior Investigator Award/SRF/PRF Applications Support for strong senior investigator award/srf/prf applications with a high likelihood of success. 3) Establishment of Biomedical Informatics Focussed support for the establishment of biomedical informatics, targeted to new investigators and interdisciplinary projects. 4) Regenerative Medicine Projects Dedicated regenerative medicine support for high risk, high gain pilot projects. 5) Translational Projects Support for translational projects (therapeutics, devices, diagnostics, medical informatics products, etc). 6) Public Engagement Projects Support for investigator-initiated public engagement projects. 7)VIP-Like Bridging Funding Wellcome Value-in-People-like bridging funding to maintain scientists and support staff of high promise until defined follow-on funding can be attained. 8) Scientific Linkages Between Wellcome Trust Investment Scientific linkages between Wellcome Trust investments such as successful medical PhDs in basic science labs, veterinary fellows in medical and basic science labs, discipline hopping success, etc.

View the original record at the funder ↗

Researchers

Peter Mathieson (EPMC Awardee)

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Original classification

Institutional Strategic Support Fund

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