MED-7024F: Transferrable Skills Grant Application Project Work UEA MRes 2025

Transferable Skills Module: MED 7024F

This assignment is intended to approximate a real-life grant application to one of the major funding bodies. Students will be asked to identify a suitable potential funder and scheme, but will be required to use the following proforma, regardless of which application form would be used in a real application. The proforma here is therefore specific to the UEA MRes, but closely follows the application forms currently used by the NIHR and MRC for doctoral and research fellowships.

It is suggested that students select a scheme for the first grant they are likely to apply for, i.e. a clinical fellowship (PhD) for clinicians and a fellowship (post-doctoral project) for scientists. It is suggested that students choose the relevant NIHR or MRC scheme. It is expected that the student will follow the rules/eligibility criteria of the chosen scheme as far as possible. This is an exercise, so feel free to ‘make up’ an optimal situation and imagine what skills and experience you will have when you are likely to apply for your first grant.

The assignment will be marked according to fulfilment of the following objectives:

1. The student should be able to research funding bodies and identify a suitable one for the proposed research project.
2. The student should be aware of the research environment for the study and the expertise available for the successful completion of the project.
3. The student should demonstrate their own existing expertise in the relevant field and identify those areas where additional learning is required and how this is expected to be achieved.
4. The proposed research project should be justified in the context of ongoing research in the field.
5. The student should formulate a coherent research plan that is achievable with the resources available and within the timescale outlined in the proposal.
6. The student should be aware of the potential impact of the research and how/where this information should be disseminated to achieve maximum impact.
7. The proposal should be concise and written in English to a standard suitable for publication (as protocols are increasingly made widely available).  Word limits should be respected for each section.  There is no penalty for brevity if the relevant information is provided.
8. It is expected that ALL sections of the application will be completed as they would be in a real application.

Assignments should be submitted online. The usual rules about professional behaviour and avoidance of plagiarism apply, of course, and all assignments will be submitted for electronic plagiarism detection.  Evidence of plagiarism may result in a straight fail. The deadline given (22/07/2025) for completion of the assignment is absolute and students submitting their work after this date will incur a mark penalty. It is normal for the assignment to be marked with additional moderation to ensure comparability with other UEA courses and in the event of conflicts between marks