GOSH Charity Lift Off Grants: Discovery Research
Our Lift Off Grants are intended to support the first step for a new research question in an area of rare or complex paediatric disease. These grants provide seed funding, allowing initial data collection which will take research into the next stage and strengthen future applications for larger project grants.
The Lift Off Grants have two streams: Discovery Research and Patient Focussed Research. The Discovery Research stream is open to applications for projects that involve lab- or data-based research. The Patient Focussed stream is open to applications for projects where the hospital and its patient population are the focus for data generation and collection. These schemes were delivered for the first time in 2024 under our new Research Strategy.
Applying for Lift Off Grants: Discovery Research
This scheme will open for applications in the week commencing 24 February.
GOSH Charity will be hosting a webinar to give candidates further information on the call from 12:00 - 13:00pm on Friday 28 February 2025.
Remit of the Lift Off Grants: Discovery Research
Lift Off Grants: Discovery Research provide early-stage research funding, to give early support for new research projects. These projects should be based in a laboratory setting and at an early stage in the translational pathway. This also includes data-based projects, such as genomics studies. Projects may include basic research into disease mechanisms; development of new techniques or models; early-stage therapy development or repurposing studies; and development of new techniques or models. Funding could be used for:
- Collecting pilot data
- Proof of principle studies
- Feasibility studies
- Methodology/technique development
- New applications of existing concepts
- Animal model development
For the Discovery Research call, we invite applications for lab- or data-based research projects. Applications for projects where the hospital and its patient population are the focus for data generation or collection, will not be eligible for the Discovery Research stream and should instead be submitted to the Patient Focussed Research stream.
Eligibility criteria
For the 2025 round, Lift Off Grants will be open to anybody who works at Great Ormond Street Hospital or UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, or who has a honorary research contract at one of these organisations.
Your salary must be covered through to the end of the grant period, or a supporting letter must be provided by your organisation guaranteeing your continued employment throughout the duration of the grant. The salary of the Principal Investigator is not eligible for funding through this scheme. However, exemptions can be applied for Early Career Researchers if the work is being undertaken by themselves to deliver the aims and objectives of the grant. Please see our scheme guidance document for more information.
Lift Off grants cannot be used for bridge funding, add-on funding or PhD project extensions. Projects must investigate a new research question.
Applications from clinical or academic researchers, doctors, pharmacists and other non-medical healthcare professionals are welcomed. Applicants who do not have a PhD or substantive research experience must apply with a research mentor as a co-applicant.
Funding available
GOSH Charity has made a total of £450k available for Lift Off Grants: Discovery Research in 2025. From this, we expect to award around 6 grants, with an expected value of up to £75,000 and expected duration up to 18 months. Applicants wishing to apply for more than £75,000 or 18 months should contact the GOSH Charity Grants Team to discuss their application costs.
Funding will cover direct research costs associated with the project e.g., salaries for research staff and consumables costs. Researchers can also request overheads costs from the Charity only if these costs are not being covered by their host institution. Please see our scheme guidance document for more information.
Funding process
Applications will be received and managed by GOSH Charity and considered by a dedicated Lift Off Grants Discovery Scientific Assessment Panel. A lay Research Patient Insight Panel will also assess the lay summary and PPIE sections, and their feedback will be fed into the scientific assessment.
Final funding decisions for the Discovery Research stream are expected to be announced in late June 2025.
COVID-19 statement
As funders, we have signed a cross-funder statement coordinated by the Academy of Medical Sciences, on the COVID-19 institutional memory: how we as funders will look to fairly remember and recognise the impacts of COVID-19 on grant applicants' work in the future.
As part of this statement, we would like to reassure our research community that we are aware of the immediate and long-term impacts of COVID-19 on research activities. Any disruptions to research activities due to the COVID-19 pandemic will be taken into consideration by our panels and committees when assessing an individual applicant’s record of outputs, research achievements, and career progression in future grant rounds. Read the Covid-19 Statement here.
Further information about the call
If you would like to know more about the funding call or have any questions, please do not hesitate to email the GOSH Charity Grants team.