MCRC Springboard Award
Do you have an early stage innovation that has the potential to deliver improved patient impact?
The MCRC Springboard Award is now open and designed to support you and your innovation and accelerate your project to reach its full potential. Administrated through the Manchester Cancer Research Centre Commercialisation and Innovation Team with support from The University of Manchester Innovation Factory and Cancer Research Horizons, the funding will help you launch your exciting ideas and overcome the financial obstacles you might otherwise face.
Along with key funding, successful/selected projects will have access to a major support system of industry connections, commercial advice, and business-planning workshops.
The Award Details
The MCRC Springboard Award is a translational research fund aiming to support projects that align with the Cancer Research UK Manchester Centre themes:
- Cancer Early Detection
- Radiotherapy BioAdaptation
- Cancer Biomarkers
- Digital Cancer Centre
- Integrative Pathology
- Experimental Cancer Medicine
Project activities and costs need to fit to the themes and should be focused on translating innovative research to delivering patient benefit and demonstrate commercial potential.
Total Award: £92,500
Funding Available: Applicants can apply for up to £30,000
Deadline: 29th September 2023
Duration: Maximum project term is one year.
Eligibility: Applicants must be employees or students of one or more of the MCRC partners
To apply for the MCRC Springboard Award, please complete the Application Form, which can be downloaded through the links below, and return to Dr Nathalie Dhomen (nathalie.dhomen@cancer.org.uk) before the applications deadline. Please also consult the Application Guidance document which contains further details about how the funding can be spent and other useful information.
Please note, this is a translational research fund (we will not support fundamental research proposals) that will help unblock specific bottlenecks in projects that are preventing commercialisation and/or accessing bigger translational funds
Frequently Asked Questions
See below for commonly asked questions about the MCRC Springboard Award.
To be eligible for the award, you must be an employee or student of one or more of the MCRC partners. This would include anyone employed by or studying at The University of Manchester, any MCRC-affiliated trusts (The Christie NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust or Northern Care Alliance) or any Manchester-based CRUK-funded programmes. If you have any questions about eligibility, please contact us.
We highly encourage early career researchers to apply.
To apply, please complete the Award Application form and send it through to Dr Nathalie Dhomen: nathalie.dhomen@cancer.org.uk
No other supporting documents are required other than what is specified in the application, a detailed project plan and/or Gantt chart can be submitted if you feel this will help your proposal, but these are not necessary.
The MCRC Springboard Award can be used to cover costs such as staff time, core services and consumables. Funding can also cover external expertise and field testing – please justify why this external resource is required in your application. These costs should only constitute part of the project.
Please indicate in your application how you intend to spend any funding you would receive.
After the application deadline has passed (29th September 2023) our review panel will review all proposals and we aim to inform successful applicants as soon as possible.
Submitted proposals will be appraised by our selection panel consisting of:
- Professor Robert Bristow, Director of the Manchester Cancer Research Centre and Director of the CRUK Manchester Centre
- Dr Nathalie Dhomen, Cancer Commercialisation & Innovation Lead, MCRC, Cancer Research Horizons and The University of Manchester Innovation Factory
- Dr Duncan Henderson, Head of Innovation Discovery Team at The University of Manchester Innovation Factory
- Dr Dominic Rothwell, Deputy Director of the Cancer Research UK Manchester Institute Cancer Biomarker Centre
Page last updated: 22/08/2023
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