Grants

Changes to the US-Ireland grants for which the Northern Ireland component will be funded by the HSC Public Health Agency – R&D Division.Changes to the US-Ireland grants for which the Northern Ireland component will be funded by the HSC Public Health Agency – R&D Division.

The R&D division now require the completion of an intention to submit form, TEN WEEKS prior to the NIH closing date in the United States, and this intention to submit form must be submitted by the Ulster University Research Grants and Contracts office, who are required now to confirm eligibility requirements before submitting.

Eligibility Criteria for Northern Ireland Applicants

The eligibility requirements are as follows: -

Applicant Contract Status
A member of the clinical or academic staff of an eligible research institution (permanent or with a contract that covers the period of the award), or
A contract researcher with a contract that covers the period of the award, who is recognised by the research institution as an independent investigator and will have an independent office and research space at the host research institutions for which he/she will be fully responsible for at least the duration of the US-Ireland R&D partnership programme award.
Applicant Track Record
Applicants and any co‐applicant/s must have held a PhD for at least five years by the proposal deadline. The official date of a PhD is defined as the year that the degree was conferred (i.e. the year printed on the official PhD certificate). The number of years is determined by calendar year. Therefore, only individuals with an official date of 2012 or earlier are eligible to apply in 2017 for example.
Applicants must have a track record of substantial research funding which demonstrates research independence. It is expected that they will have secured at least one independent research grant of at least £200k as lead investigator (Chief Investigator). The grant must have been competitively awarded and internationally peer reviewed from a major research funder, e.g. UK Research Council or Health Department (including HSC R&D itself), NIH, prestigious national or international charity, e.g. Wellcome Trust, Cancer Research‐UK, Diabetes UK. Eligible research grants would be expected to support at least one full‐time equivalent, excluding the applicant/s, and include research team costs (e.g. materials and consumables). This excludes smaller awards such as travel grants, equipment grants, post‐graduate fellowships, postdoctoral fellowships, and awards of short duration (12 months or less). Laboratory fit‐out/setup funding, awards from the applicant’s institution, and awards that have not been subject to external international peer review are also excluded.
US‐Ireland partner agencies will not accept a second application whilst the first application is under review.
If an applicant/co-applicant has been successful in securing a US-Ireland R&D Partnership award, they will not be entitled to apply for a second award until the last 18 months of their active award.