What we don't fund

Although we fund a wide range of grants, there are some things we don't fund.

In general, we do not fund:

  • scientific research outside our discovery research remit or the remit for our funding calls
  • project or research costs you've already incurred
  • costs to top up individual grants already awarded by another funder
  • standalone travel or conference costs (although you can ask for them as part of a wider grant application)
  • small grants to support short-term projects
  • healthcare for patients
  • the building of hospitals
  • other charities if their sole intention is to redistribute the funds
  • humanitarian aid or charities who give out humanitarian aid
  • people who are applying for, hold, or are employed on a research grant from the tobacco industry.

Undergraduate courses 

We do not fund undergraduate courses. Our only scheme for undergraduates is the Biomedical Vacation Scholarship.

Master's courses 

We do not fund Master's studentships unless you're applying for a Master's Studentships in Humanities and Social Science.

We will fund Research Master's fees on these schemes:

We do not provide:

  • funding for taught Master's courses
  • additional funding to complete a Master's if you've already started your course
  • contributions towards the cost of a Research Master's that isn't funded by us, such as living costs, travel and conference fees, and research costs.

PhD courses 

We do not fund PhD studentships or fellowships directly unless you're applying for one of these schemes:

We will fund PhD fees on these schemes:

We do not provide:

  • additional funding to complete a PhD if you've already started your course
  • contributions towards the cost of a PhD that isn't funded by us, such as living costs, travel and conference fees, and research costs.

Public engagement funding 

We do not have separate funding streams for public engagement in research. Instead, we are focusing on embedding engagement activities into our funding calls.

Read about our approach to engaged research and what this might look like for your research.

Contact us 

Contact our information officers if you have a question about funding.

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