Springboard Awards
Springboard Awards provide small grants to support basic biomedical scientists as they develop their independent research careers. The scheme is a collaboration between the Academy of Medical Sciences (AMS) and the Wellcome Trust.
We’re changing our funding schemes
The way we fund research is changing to support our new strategy. A simplified set of funding schemes will be open for applications in summer 2021.
Although our current schemes are closing in 2021, this partnership scheme will remain open.
Scheme at a glance
Career stage:
-
For researchers with a PhD or equivalent.
-
For researchers with a PhD or the equivalent, and significant postdoctoral research experience.
Where your host organisation is based:
- UK
Type of researcher:
-
You're not a clinically qualified researcher.
- Public health
Level of funding:
Up to £100,000, with research assistance and expenses
Duration of funding:
Two years
Who can apply
You can apply for a Springboard Award if:
- you’re within three years of being appointed to your first independent post (such as a lecturer position)
- your current post provides you with a salary
- you don’t currently hold significant research funding
- you have the support of your host organisation.
You can find out more about eligibility for the Springboard Award on the Academy of Medical Sciences website.
Who can't apply
If you’re a practising clinician, you can’t apply to this scheme. You may be able to apply for a Starter Grant for Clinical Lecturers instead.
A Springboard Award from the Academy of Medical Sciences (AMS) offers up to £100,000 over two years. This amount can be used to cover:
- research expenses
- equipment
- research assistance
- travel costs for meetings and collaborations.
If successful, AMS will also offer you mentoring and career support.
The Academy of Medical Sciences website has more information about costs.
What we don’t offer
Funding cannot be used to cover personal salary costs.
Please apply to the Academy of Medical Sciences (AMS) for a Springboard Award.
Dates
AMS considers applications once a year.
Develop your research career
See our other schemes for researchers who are interested in postdoctoral research or leading a research programme.
Key dates
The Academy of Medical Sciences considers applications once a year.
Contact us
If you have a question, contact the Academy of Medical Sciences:
Researcher stories
Read about the career journeys of some of our researchers.
Albert's story: a search for the ideal research environment
Albert always knew the type of research he wanted to do. But to find the right research environment he had to move from industry to academia, and to a new country.