Institutional Strategic Support Fund 2011/12.

A university is using Wellcome Trust funding to build a flexible support system for its best biomedical researchers, rather than funding a single specific project. This matters because early-career scientists often lose momentum between grants, and interdisciplinary work—such as a biologist spending time in an engineering lab—rarely has a natural funding home. The scheme addresses these gaps directly. It provides transition funding for post-doctoral fellows whose previous grants have ended, allowing them to keep working while they apply for new positions or funding. It also pays for "discipline-hopping" secondments that move researchers between universities and industry or medical technology partners, creating collaborations that would not otherwise happen. If this succeeds, the university will retain talented scientists who might otherwise leave research, and generate new cross-sector partnerships that could accelerate the development of medical devices or treatments. The funding also supports patient and public engagement activities, embedding public input into biomedical research and the medical humanities. This is primarily an infrastructure and capacity-building grant—it does not target a single scientific question, but instead strengthens the conditions under which good science can happen.