Project grants

• Principal Applicants must be based at a university, postgraduate institute, medical school, NHS trust or Health Board in the UK or other British Islands. However, co-applicants and collaborators may be based at institutions outside the UK.
• Principal Applicants must hold an employment contract at the institution that they are applying from, which covers the proposed duration of the grant.
• Applications for any one grant round will be restricted to one per principal applicant.
• If the project requires ethical approval, the award is dependent upon the requisite approvals being granted.

Applications are encouraged from researchers at every career stage. Early Career Researchers (i.e. normally no more than five years post PhD or have not previously led a grant before) will have the opportunity during the application process to highlight the impact the grant could have on their career development.

Apply for up to £100,000 over a maximum of three years

• A proposal can cover one or both: Research - a process of investigation with the aim of identifying generalisable new knowledge that could lead to changes to treatments, policies or care. Innovation - activity leading to the development and delivery of something new (e.g. processes, products, services or methods of delivery) for patient benefit with potential for impact on a national scale.
• As well as mainstream research, the charity will consider smaller scale grants towards securing further larger scale funding. Including proposal development, pilot or pump priming studies.
• The charity will only fund direct costs in line with the Association of Medical Research Charities (AMRC) This may include: salaries (applicants, scientific/technical assistant but excluding PhD students), material and consumables, collaborative travel and essential equipment. All costs must be fully justified within the application.
• The charity will consider “top up” funding, when a grant is awarded to supplement funds that have already been secured by another funder in order to support ambitious projects.
• This scheme is not designed to cover phase II/III clinical trials and drug discovery or development.
• The charity does not fund animal research.

The application process consists of two stages.  In the first stage an expression of interest is submitted, in the form of a short outline application. Successful applicants at this stage will be invited to Stage 2 and asked to complete a more detailed application.

Please read the following information before completing a full Stage 1 application:

• ROS 2024 research and innovation grants round summary
• ROS research and innovation grants application overview
• ROS research code of conduct
• ROS animals in research policy
• ROS research and innovation grant terms and conditions
• All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) 2022 inquiry report
• UK NSC appraisal criteria for a targeted screening programme

Considerations for applicants:

• Public and patient involvement: All our grants are reviewed by people affected by osteoporosis, so we recommend involving the perspective of people affected by the condition in developing the application. A proposal should also have a clear plan for public and patient involvement and engagement, for the best chance of success.
• Pathway to impact: We encourage development of clear plans demonstrating the pathway to patient benefit/impact and knowledge mobilisation.
• Support and advice for researchers: The UK NSC research and methodology group (RMG) provides advice to people or research bodies that are conducting or proposing screening studies. This covers a range of methodology and impact issues aimed at supporting good quality research that has the best change of impacting screening policy. The next submission deadline is 13 January 2025, with the UK NSC RMG aiming to provide feedback by 24 March 2025. We would encourage all applicants to approach the UK NSC RMG to help develop their proposal. To find out more on how to request advice, please see here.
• Costings: The indicative costs section is intended to be an approximation and does not require institutional approval at this stage. However, please ensure that the costs are realistic as large differences between Stage 1 and 2 applications may reduce the likelihood of the Stage 2 application being funded.
• Alignment to aim of the call essential: Pre-submission we invite applicants to contact the charity on 01761 473125 or e-mail research@theros.org.uk if they have any questions relating to whether their research proposal is within scope.

Project grant Stage 1 application form*

Applications must be made on the official Stage 1 application form* and must be submitted electronically to research@theros.org.uk prior to the submission deadline.

* If any formatting issues with the application form occur, please e-mail research@theros.org.uk to request an alternative version.