Seed award

Eligible projects must:

• Be at Translational Readiness Levels (TRL) 5, 6 or 7.

• Be based on unmet clinical need.
• Aim to generate lead candidates for therapeutic applications.
• Be relevant to and highly promising in the clinical setting (these are not early stage, exploratory or proof of concept studies, instead they have already shown that the idea might be used as therapy in man).
• Have clear pre-clinical proof of concept to be eligible. Applications without preliminary data available to support the concept will not be progressed.
• Be focused on assessing properties such as potency, efficacy, selectivity, or bioavailability of compounds identified by previous research as potentially strong candidates for therapeutic applications.
• Have a clear pathway to apply for funding such as the MRC Confidence in Concept, MRC Development Pathway Funding Scheme type funding and other similar funding schemes.
• Have a clearly defined translation to ophthalmic patient benefit. Exploratory research, even in a patient setting, will not be considered.

For an example of a project that is at an appropriate TRL for this funding scheme, and has received funding in a previous grant round, click here.

Applications can include:

• Developing candidate therapeutic entities, such as potential new drugs.
• Pre-clinical testing of novel therapeutic entities (e.g. potential new drugs and devices).
• “Repurposing” clinical studies – using existing therapies for new indications in eye diseases.
• Developing and testing novel devices.
• Developing and testing diagnostics (including biomarker validation).
• All research should strengthen confidence that a target or therapeutic approach will be applicable to vision conditions.

The grant can be used flexibly to meet several types of expenditure:

• Salary contributions on this grant are typically envisaged for staff appointed with the sole purpose of working on the proposed project (such as Research Assistants or other postdoctoral, contract staff). Please note that the grant is not intended for PhD students.
• Salary costs can be allocated to more than one staff member (e.g. Research Assistant) who may be working part time on the proposed project and other concomitant projects in the same or another host institution. This may be the case for interdisciplinary projects.
• Please note that salary contributions are not to be used to supplement or replace salary funding for core staff provided by HEFCE or the NHS. Full salary cost justifications are required in your application. Please ask us if in doubt before submitting your application.  
• Salary costs of core funded staff are only covered (pro rata) in the exceptional circumstances that their time needs to be “bought out” partially or in full from other duties such as teaching or clinical work to allow them to dedicate time to directly carrying out the proposed project (i.e. directly carrying out laboratory work, conducting field work, etc.). 
• Project consumables.
• Any other direct costs of the translational projects, such as a contribution towards equipment solely needed for the proposed research project.
• The cost of outsourcing project work to contract research organisations which provide specific input on a fee-for-service basis. Appropriate justification should be provided in your application, and contractors will have no potential claim over any arising IP.

No, it doesn’t. Our funding can only pay for the direct costs of the project. 

However, because Sight Research UK is a member of the Association of Medical Research Charities, grant holders can apply for indirect costs from other sources, depending on the nature of the research undertaken:

• Indirect costs of research in universities can be covered by the Charity Research Support Fund.
• Indirect costs of clinical research in the NHS can be covered by NIHR Clinical Research Network Support under the Attributing the costs of health and social care Research and Development agreement.

The Translational Research Award is not for:

• Fundamental or basic research into the causes of eye conditions.
• Disease modelling research.
• Exploratory research (e.g. screening libraries for biological targets)
• Projects with no clear pathway to a defined ophthalmic patient benefit.
• Projects without pre-clinical proof of concept preliminary data.
• PhD studentships.
• Salaries of staff between posts/funding (i.e. as “bridging” funds).
• General consumables.
• General support for a research group.
• The development of non-therapeutic or non-diagnostic devices.
• Innovations developed in non-ocular settings with no proof of concept for ocular application.

Applications are assessed in two stages:

• Stage 1: Applications are a brief expression of interest outlining the proposed project. These are assessed by relevant members of our independent Research Advisory Board depending on their expertise. Successful applicants are invited to submit a full Stage 2 application within five weeks of the Stage 1 deadline.
• Stage 2: Following notification of Stage 1 outcome, applicants have 6 weeks to submit their Stage 2 application.
• External peer review: Applications are assessed by up to four external peer reviewers per application. These are relevant experts drawn from the fields of translational research, clinical research, clinical practice, and industry and are selected to match their expertise to the proposed project. We will do whatever possible to avoid bias either for or against the applicant and/or the host institution. Applicants are invited to suggest names of peer reviewers from whom we should not seek a review.  External peer reviewers have 4 weeks to return their reviews.
• Rebuttal: Applicants have the opportunity for rebuttal following receipt of external peer reviews. Any rebuttal must be received within ten working days of request from the Sight Research UK Grants Team.
• Research Advisory Board meeting: All external peer reviews and applicants’ rebuttals are sent to the Research Advisory Board at least three weeks prior to their meeting. Research Advisory Board members are asked to prepare for their meeting by pre-scoring all applications to facilitate discussion on the day. All Stage 2 applications are considered at the same Research Advisory Board meeting.
• Trustees Board meeting: The Chair of the Research Advisory Board attends the Sight Research UK Board of Trustees meeting to report the advice on funding recommendations from the Research Advisory Board. The Trustees make their grant-making decisions based on the expert advice and on the financial capacity of the organisation at that time. Occasionally, the Trustees will offer to undertake proactive fundraising for projects that, although judged fundable by the Research Advisory Board, exceed the financial capacity of the organisation.
• Feedback: Following the Board of Trustees’ decision, the Grants Team provides feedback to all applicants, whether successful or unsuccessful. Wherever helpful, we share the views of the Research Advisory Board and of the external peer reviewers who reviewed the applications. Grant Award contracts are issued to all successful candidates and the Grants Team liaises with the award holders throughout the life of the award.

There was a 29% success rate at the second application stage for our Translational awards in 2025. Sight Research UK received 26 stage 1 applications, 7 (27%) of these were invited to submit a stage 2 application, and 2 applications were approved for funding.