Information and FAQs
The National Brain Appeal’s Innovation Fund provides grants to the most innovative projects in Queen Square to improve diagnosis, care and treatment of neurological conditions.
We understand that securing seed-funding for new ideas can be difficult, so the aim of the Innovation Fund is to enable pioneering ideas to get off the ground and develop quickly so as to impact positively on patient care as soon as possible and change people’s lives.
The grants are available to staff at The National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery and the Institute for Neurology, and will be awarded to the most innovative projects that apply. The number of projects we will be able to fund will depend on how much funding is available. We have at least one funding round per year currently.
Project criteria
Projects can include: research, diagnostics, therapeutic, software, hardware, devices and epidemiology.
- Projects for this round must require between £50,000 and £75,000 funding.
- Above all, projects need to be innovative.
- Projects must demonstrate clear benefits to patients.
- Research projects must be translational research.
- It needs to be clear whether projects are a one-off, or the first step. If they are a first step, please indicate how you plan to secure future funding.
- Indicate if you will cover costs of equipment, maintenance, consumables, salaries.
- If salaries are included please take into account overheads required by Institute of Neurology/UCL.
- Please make it clear if your project includes other organisations or funders (this is for our information and reporting, and will not negatively affect your application).
Awareness for the charity and to help us to secure future funding:
- To enable us to further promote the Innovation Fund, you will need to be available to present at 2-3 events per year for the charity. You must be able to present the project clearly to a lay audience.
- You will need to give quarterly updates to the Innovation Fund manager and communicate any significant outcomes, milestones or breakthrough’s of your project.
Application procedure: please note this application is a 2-step process:
Stage 1: The application form is the first step. Once reviewed against the criteria it will be assessed by our Innovation Fund Panel, which is made up of the following people: Professor Mike Hanna, Director, UCL Institute of Neurology, Professor John Duncan, Professor of Neurology – UCL, Ms Joan Grieve, Consultant Neurosurgeon, Claire Wood Hill, CEO of the National Brain Appeal and Jane Ferguson, Innovation Fund Manager.
Stage 2: If your application is short-listed by the Innovation Panel, you will be invited to present your project to the panel. Applicants will be provided with a full brief for this session.
Innovation Fund
Information and FAQs
The National Brain Appeal’s Innovation Fund provides grants to the most innovative projects in Queen Square to improve diagnosis, care and treatment of neurological conditions.
We understand that securing seed-funding for new ideas can be difficult, so the aim of the Innovation Fund is to enable pioneering ideas to get off the ground and develop quickly so as to impact positively on patient care as soon as possible and change people’s lives.
The grants are available to staff at The National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery and the Institute for Neurology, and will be awarded to the most innovative projects that apply. The number of projects we will be able to fund will depend on how much funding is available. We have at least one funding round per year currently.
Project criteria
Projects can include: research, diagnostics, therapeutic, software, hardware, devices and epidemiology.
- Projects for this round must require between £50,000 and £75,000 funding.
- Above all, projects need to be innovative.
- Projects must demonstrate clear benefits to patients.
- Research projects must be translational research.
- It needs to be clear whether projects are a one-off, or the first step. If they are a first step, please indicate how you plan to secure future funding.
- Indicate if you will cover costs of equipment, maintenance, consumables, salaries.
- If salaries are included please take into account overheads required by Institute of Neurology/UCL.
- Please make it clear if your project includes other organisations or funders (this is for our information and reporting, and will not negatively affect your application).
Awareness for the charity and to help us to secure future funding:
- To enable us to further promote the Innovation Fund, you will need to be available to present at 2-3 events per year for the charity. You must be able to present the project clearly to a lay audience.
- You will need to give quarterly updates to the Innovation Fund manager and communicate any significant outcomes, milestones or breakthrough’s of your project.
Application procedure: please note this application is a 2-step process:
Stage 1: The application form is the first step. Once reviewed against the criteria it will be assessed by our Innovation Fund Panel, which is made up of the following people: Professor Mike Hanna, Director, UCL Institute of Neurology, Professor John Duncan, Professor of Neurology – UCL, Ms Joan Grieve, Consultant Neurosurgeon, Claire Wood Hill, CEO of the National Brain Appeal and Jane Ferguson, Innovation Fund Manager.
Stage 2: If your application is short-listed by the Innovation Panel, you will be invited to present your project to the panel. Applicants will be provided with a full brief for this session.