Key information
- To support: High-quality, hypothesis-driven diabetes research project
- Career level: A tenured research position
- Funding period: Up to five years
- Funding amount: Up to £500,000
- Deadline: 19 February 2025
- Funding decision: September 2025
Open research highlight notices
Addressing health inequalities in diabetes
Research shows that diabetes does not affect everyone equally. Health inequalities have been widely reported in diabetes care for those from ethnic minority groups, for those who are socioeconomically disadvantaged, and for those with other protected characteristics.
Diabetes UK welcomes all applications for research which address the issue of inequality in diabetes.
We strongly encourage applications which are co-led by people with diabetes/community organisations/researchers from underserved groups.
Read the highlight notice (PDF, 262KB) and plain English summary (PDF, 103KB).
Eligibility
- The Principle Investigator will usually have a tenured post or be able to demonstrate that they will have a salary for the lifetime of the grant.
- The research must take place at an established research institution in the UK.
If your project grant is in the area of the Type 1 Diabetes Grand Challenge focused replacing and regenerating beta cells, we ask that you contact Research@diabetes.org.uk to discuss your application in the first instance.
Financial support
- Staff salaries. For example: technician, research assistant, postdoctoral researcher. This excludes support for PhD students, who are not eligible to work on a project grant.
- Research consumables directly attributable to the project.
- Research equipment essential for the project. While there is no upper limit on this amount, host institutions are encouraged to contribute towards the cost of requested equipment. A contribution will be expected when applicants plan to use the equipment across multiple projects and departments at their institute, rather than solely on this project. We would expect the contribution to be proportionate to the total amount requested.
- Clinical and secretarial assistance may be provided in some cases, if essential, but this must be fully justified within the application.
- International co-Investigators can be included on a grant application, however all funds will be transferred to the UK host institute if awarded. It is the responsibility of the UK institute to transfer the funds to the international institute.
- Please review our disallowed costs before submitting a grant application.
Applicants applying for £500,000 or more must contact Diabetes UK in the first instance and should already hold substantial funding from Diabetes UK or another funding body.
Please contact us at research@diabetes.org.uk to discuss further.
How to apply
- Read our guidelines on applying for funding
- Log on to the Diabetes UK online grants management system
- Complete all sections of the online application form, using the grants management system user guide
- We will not be offering any extensions to the deadline. If you are unable to submit your application in the current open round, you are advised to submit your application in the next round.
Administrative process
All applications will be sent out for external peer review.
Applicants will be given the opportunity to rebut peer reviewer comments. The anonymised peer reviews will be sent out via the Diabetes UK online grant management system, which allows applicants to submit their response (1,500-word limit). Applicant will be contacted for rebuttal in June/July.
Pre-selection process
Due to the high number of applications received by Diabetes UK, it is not possible to take forward all applications to the Research Committee for discussion. Therefore, following external peer review and rebuttal, applications undergo a pre-selection process, ratified by the Chair of the Research Committee and Committee members designated to speak to that application.
Applications that have not progressed through the pre-selection stage will be informed of the outcome before the Research Committee Meeting. Individual feedback is not provided for these applications.
Grants Advisory Panel and Research Committee
Prior to the Research Committee meeting, the Diabetes UK Grants Advisory Panel (GAP) will discuss all grant applications. GAP is comprised of people living with and affected by diabetes, who use the plain English summary of each grant application to establish how relevant the research is to people living with diabetes. Several GAP members attend the Research Committee to provide feedback.
The GAP perspective can directly influence the funding decision made. We recommend applicants take this into consideration, making sure the plain English summary section of your application is accessible and understandable to people from a non-scientific background.
Assessment criteria
Applications are assessed on the following criteria:
- Potential difference the research will make to the lives of people with diabetes
- Scientific excellence
- Track record of the applicants
- Value for money.
Funding decision
Feedback letters will be sent to all lead applicants within one month of the Research Committee meeting.
Funded applicants will have two weeks to respond to comments raised by the Committee.
Funded applicants should expect to receive an award letter within two months of the Research Committee meeting.
Resubmissions
Diabetes UK policy is to only accept resubmissions which have been invited by the Research Committee. You will be informed in your feedback letter if you have been invited for a resubmission. When resubmitting an application, please include a cover letter indicating how the application has addressed the Research Committee's comments.
