Published: 2 April 2023

The government has today announced a further £50m to support charity-funded early career researchers on top of the £20m announced in 2022.

This funding will provide support for over 1200 PhD students, post-doctoral fellows and those starting out on a career in research, to help them become the innovators of the future. Medical research charities play a vital role in igniting research careers, sparking interest in a particular health or disease area, building capacity and sustaining the talent pipeline. Their work drives research which accelerates impact providing benefits for patients and society.

Nicola Perrin MBE, Chief Executive of the Association of Medical Research Charities said:

“This £50m brings the total the Government has provided for early career researchers in the last two difficult years to £70m. It is heartening that the Government recognises that charities continue to face unprecedented challenges, responding to the significant impact that both the pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis have had on fundraising. Today’s announcement will help ensure that charities can recover and continue to play their part in delivering the UK’s ambition for life sciences. 

“Nurturing and supporting researchers is key to delivering the Government’s vision to have a large, skilled and agile scientific workforce.”

This funding is an extension of a scheme started last year to support early career researchers in UK institutions funded by medical research charities in recognition of the impact of COVID on fundraising charities. Last year, the Government provided £20 million for charity-funded early career researchers. In that 1st round the scheme supported: 

• 443 researchers
• at 64 institutions in all regions of the UK,
• across 80 AMRC member charities.

Read our infographic for more stats on the impact of the scheme so far.

This year’s funding will provide additional support to charities funding early career researchers in UK institutions. Find out more about the impact this funding has had for three AMRC charities (Wellbeing of Women, Autistica and Epilepsy Research UK) in the video below.