Overview
Action Medical Research is a leading UK-wide charity dedicated to saving and changing children’s lives through medical research. Action funds a wide range of cutting-edge medical research most likely to deliver real benefit to babies, children and young people.
Applications are invited across the breadth of Action’s remit to prevent and treat disease and disability by funding vital medical research in hospitals or research institutions across the UK. The support focuses on child health to include problems affecting pregnancy, childbirth, babies, children and young people.
This call includes the opportunity to apply for co-funded awards for translational research with
- Borne into the causes of preterm birth with particular focus on spontaneous preterm birth.
- Cystic Fibrosis Trust into Cystic Fibrosis in children
- The Waterloo Foundation into developmental coordination disorder (DCD) in children.
The fund aims to support high-quality projects for a minimum of one year and up to three years duration, providing a maximum of £200,000 per project (£250,000 for the co-funded award with Borne).
It is anticipated that around 10 projects will be funded through this call.
Applicants should complete an outline form by 17 February 2026 at 5pm. The form is available on Action’s grant management system by using the link Portal homepage - Action Medical Research and following the instructions on how to login (existing users)/register (new users).
Background
Action Medical Research is a UK-wide charity funding vital research to help babies, children and young people. For 70 years we’ve helped pioneer ways to prevent disease and develop treatments benefiting millions of people. Our research has helped to beat polio in the UK, develop ultrasound in pregnancy, fight meningitis and prevent stillbirths. Action funds medical research in hospitals or research institutions across the UK aimed at preventing and treating disease and disability in children.
Who can apply
Projects must be led by research-active professionals based at UK universities, hospitals or research institutes.
- Applicants and co-applicants must be employed in UK based hospitals, universities or research institutes. Those involved in the project outside the UK can be named as collaborators.
- The principal investigator (PI) is normally employed in a permanent position.
- Fixed term employees on a long term contracts may be eligible to be a PI, providing the term of employment extends at least six months beyond the duration of the proposed research project and the host research institution is prepared to give all the necessary support to the individual and the project.
- Applications from early career, independent investigators (e.g. University Lecturer within 5-years of first appointment) are encouraged.
- Research workers who require personal support from a project grant, and who have made a substantial intellectual contribution to the grant proposal, may be named as co-applicants with an established member of staff as the PI.
Collaborations are encouraged where relevant to the project. Where appropriate, there must be plans to put in place suitable collaboration agreements.
A research team can only apply for one grant per grant round. Applicants can be a PI on one application and co-applicant on no more than one other application.
Scope
Applications are invited across the breadth of Action’s remit, to prevent and treat disease and disability by funding vital medical research in hospitals or research institutions across the UK. The remit focuses on child health to include problems affecting pregnancy, childbirth, babies, children and young people.
Within child health, the emphasis is on clinical research or research at the interface between clinical and basic science that can be translated into clinical solutions in the short to medium term. Action supports a broad spectrum of biomedical research to develop treatments, vaccinations and cures. including medical engineering to develop of equipment and techniques to improve diagnosis, therapy and assistive technology (including orthoses, prostheses and aids to daily living). Basic research where clinical impact is only expected in the long term and service delivery research are not within the scope of this scheme.
Co-Funded Awards
The call includes the opportunity to apply for the following co-funded awards. Applications for co-funded awards will be judged in open competition with other applications in this grant round on both potential clinical impact and scientific quality. Applications for co-funded applications must meet the remit of both organisations.
Action and Borne invite applications for a project grant for translational research into the causes of preterm birth in order to develop diagnostic, treatment and prevention strategies to reduce the rates of prematurity.
We encourage high quality research that can be translated into clinical solutions in the short to medium term. This joint award is focused on the pregnancy period (including preconception as it affects baby/child health) and the factors and conditions in pregnancy that may lead to preterm birth, with a particular focus on spontaneous preterm birth.
Scientific and clinical applications are welcome, with inter-disciplinary collaboration particularly welcome including novel collaborations that could bring new insight into the problems of spontaneous preterm birth.
Exclusions for the joint award include assisted conception, maternal health not linked to pregnancy or birth and neonatal and perinatal interventions to address the consequences of prematurity; service delivery research also falls outside the remit.
Visit www.borne.org.uk
Action and Cystic Fibrosis Trust invite applications for a project grant for translational research into Cystic Fibrosis in children.
Applications must clearly address the CF community priorities and research goals of the Cystic Fibrosis Trust that are relevant to children and young people.
Action and The Waterloo Foundation invite applications for a project grant for translational research into developmental coordination disorder (DCD) in children. Also known as dyspraxia, DCD is a condition affecting physical co-ordination, that impacts both fine and gross motor skills.
Applications
Research should be both innovative and of a high standard as judged by rigorous peer review.
Applications should:
- Address a significant, unmet need for babies (including unborn babies) or children and/or young people (CYP) in the UK
- Have a clearly articulated plan as to how clinical impact could be achieved within the short to medium term
- Have a strong scientific rationale
- Describe a discrete medical research project
- Start after December 2026
Smaller applications to help researchers develop original and innovative ideas are also welcome. Applications may include pilot studies that will generate data enabling larger scale applications to funding bodies or practical application, the minimum request for these awards is £75,000.
Limitations and exclusions
This scheme is not suitable for basic research and studies where there is not a clear and specific paediatric need.
We do not provide:
- grants for very basic research with little likelihood of clinical impact within the short to medium term.
- grants on social research, family relationships or socioeconomic research.
- grants towards service provision or audit studies.
- grants for research into complementary / alternative medicines.
- grants purely for higher education courses.
- grants on how best to train clinical staff.
- grants for medical or dental electives.
- 'top up' funding for work already supported by other funding bodies.
- grants for work undertaken outside the UK (either whole or in-part).
- general appeals from other charities. Applications would normally come directly from research teams and projects need to be passed through our scientific peer review system.
- applicants based in core funded units can apply but need to demonstrate added value.
We will not normally consider:
- Projects that are similar to projects already under consideration by Action through another grant scheme.
- Resubmissions of applications that have previously been considered by Action within one year unless a resubmission was specifically invited.
- More than one application from the same group of researchers.
Funding and resources available
Projects may be up to 36 months in duration.
The minimum budget request for these awards is £75,000. The upper limit for funding is £200,000 (£250,000 for the co-funded award with Borne). It is anticipated that around 10 projects will be funded through this call. Please note that competition for these awards is intense.
Action will support the direct cost of research undertaken in the UK. Indirect or directly allocated costs such as shared equipment and resources based on estimates, administrative or other overheads (including any depreciation or maintenance costs) should not be included.
Salary costs:
Research worker salaries can be included.
- Use salary scales known at the time of application and include an additional sum to cover estimates of future nationally agreed pay awards to cover cost of living increases only.
- Include employer’s costs, pension and national insurance and London weighting where appropriate.
- Do not include apprenticeship levy, visa costs, costs associated with advertising and recruitment of staff or course fees for degrees.
Salary of a PI or salaries (or percentage of salaries) for those already employed in salaried long-term positions should not be included.
Consumable and Equipment costs:
- Research expenses consumables and items of dedicated equipment essential for carrying out the work can be included and must be fully justified.
- The university or research institute should provide standard laboratory equipment and office computers.
- Do not include VAT on consumables and equipment.
- Do not include costs for ethical approval or Home Office licence fees or training costs associated with licences.
Travel, patient and public involvement and publication costs:
- Costs of travel for researchers (excluding subsistence) may be included in an application provided they are a necessary and integral part of the research proposed
- Do not include an allowance for attendance at meetings and conferences. (Action Medical Research grantholders may apply separately as the need arises during the grant).
- Patient and public involvement (PPI) costs can be applied for up to a maximum of £1,000 per grant. This is in addition to any patient costs (e.g. patient recruitment costs) required to deliver the project.
- Publication costs are limited to £3,000 per grant.
How to apply
Stage 1: Outline application
- The outlne application form and detailed guidance is available on Action’s grant management system via the link Portal homepage - Action Medical Research and following the instructions on how to login (existing users)/register (new users). Please ensure you select the correct form.
- Complete the online outline form by the deadline17 February 2026 5pm.
- Applications must meet the guidelines as outlined in this call. Ensure that you have thoroughly read the scope and exclusions.
- Ensure you are aware of and comply with any internal institutional deadlines that may be in place.
- Late applications will not be considered.
- Your organisation will also be able to provide advice and support on completing your application.
- A research team can only apply for one grant per grant round. Applicants can be a PI on one application and co-applicant on no more than one other application.
Stage 2: Full proposal
- Applicants selected to submit a full proposal will be informed in April and sent links to the full application form and application instructions.
- There will be a limit to the number of full applications that we can invite. Where the work is considered peripheral to our aims or in cases where demand on our funds is high, we will inform you of our decision not to request a full application.
How we will assess your application
- Outline proposals will be subject to internal checks at Action to ensure fit to remit of the call. Applicants will be notified if their proposal has been rejected at this stage.
- Outlines will be reviewed by our Scientific Advisory Panel and those that best match the call aims and Action’s remit and those of any co-funder will be invited to submit a full application.
- Successful applicants from the outline stage will be invited to complete a full application.
- Full applications will be externally peer reviewed with a subsequent Scientific Advisory Panel review.
- Project grants recommended by the Scientific Advisory Panel are subjected to final approval for funding through Council.
In the event of this funding opportunity being substantially oversubscribed, Action reserves the right to modify or extend this assessment process.
Assessment criteria
Proposals submitted to this funding opportunity will be considered using the following criteria.
Remit, Importance and Impact of the work
- The importance and clinical relevance of the problem which the work seeks to overcome including the unmet need and scale of the problem.
- The scientific and/or medical advance in the short and long term that the project could produce with a clear and realistic route to clinical impact within the short to medium term.
- Whether the work will further the Charity’s and co-funder objectives including addressing a clear and specific paediatric need.
Scientific merit of the proposal
- The proposal summarises the previous work and describes how this will be built upon and progressed.
- Level of innovation and whether this is likely to lead to significant new understanding.
- Are others attempting to answer the same questions and if so is this work that needs repeating or do the proposals offer anything new?
- The aims and objectives are understandable and unambiguous, hypotheses are clearly defined.
Feasibility of the project
Has a clearly written and transparent methodology/study design been provided?
- Are the experimental models appropriate?
- Do the experiments address the question asked?
- Are there any problems or flaws in the proposed work?
- Is the cohort appropriately selected and powered to prove or disprove the hypothesis?
- Has preliminary data been included in the proposal?
Has the applicant clearly set out and justified the following:
- Measures for avoidance of bias (e.g. blinding, randomisation)
- Number of experimental and control groups and sample size per group
- How the sample size was calculated, showing power calculations and including justification of effect size
- Overview of the planned statistical analyses in relation to the primary outcomes to be assessed
- Frequency of measurements/interventions to be used
- Circumstances in which power calculations are not appropriate to determine sample size
Have diversity and inclusion been considered in the study population? If not, is there a clear justification?
Have any risks or difficulties been anticipated and a risk mitigation plan provided?
Resources and costs justification
Is the support fully justified or any modifications to the support recommended?
PPI
Is the plan to involve patients or members of the public appropriate to the planned research (more involvement being expected where the research is nearer to clinical application)?
Are there any ethical issues that need specific consideration?
Use of animals justification
If the application involves the use of animals or animal tissue, is this (and the species proposed) justified in terms of the likely outcomes of the research and conforms to guidelines? Is there potential for improvement in the research approach which could replace animals, reduce the numbers used and/or reduce animal suffering such as more modern methods that are less invasive.
Research team suitability
The research team should have the following:
- the relevant experience to deliver the proposed work
- the track record of the applicant(s) and their departments in the research area
- the right balance of skills and expertise to cover the proposed work
- the appropriate leadership and management experience to deliver the work
Success rates for this scheme
2025
96 outline applications received. 41 applicants were invited to submit a full application. Following external review and panel assessment 12 awards were made with a 32% success rate for full applications received.
2024
116 outline applications received. 41 applicants were invited to submit a full application. Following external review and panel assessment 13 awards were made with a 35% success rate for full applications received.
2022
81 outline applications received. 42 applicants were invited to submit a full application. Following external review and panel assessment 13 awards were made with a 33% success rate for full applications received.
Award conditions and Reporting Requirements
Grants are awarded under the terms of Action’s grant agreement.
Projects must be started within 6 months of the award.
If you are successful in securing funding, you will need to provide at least six monthly reports. Grantholders are expected to speak on their work at fundraising events or scientific meetings if required.
Key Dates
Applications open: December 2025
Outline application deadline: 17 February 2026, 5pm
Full applications invited: April 2026
Full application deadline: 9 June 2026
Decision: Late November 2026
Awards: December 2026/January 2027
Supporting documents
Outline application guidance (PDF)
Example outline application form (PDF)
Contact details
For help and advice on costings and writing your proposal please contact your research office in the first instance, allowing sufficient time for your organisation’s submission process.
Questions regarding the grant round should be directed to Action Medical Research by contacting applications@action.org.uk.