For tailored advice before applying, please contact the Translational Research Office.
UK Research & Innovation (UKRI) is streamlining research translation and commercialisation funding by adopting four harmonised titles to make opportunities clearer and more consistent.
What Oxford researchers need to know about the new UKRI naming and the MRC translational funding routes
What remains the same?
- Researchers should still choose schemes based on project stage, product type and maturity for best fit.
- Researchers still need to read each live opportunity carefully.
- Early engagement with the Translational Research Office is recommended before shaping an application.
What has changed?
- The changes are naming changes only.
- The purpose is to improve consistency across UKRI.
- This is not a completely new translational ecosystem.
Comparison of MRC translational funding routes
The following table compares the two MRC routes. The first row contains the scheme names, and the first column contains the comparison category.
| Comparison category | MRC Impact Acceleration Award | MRC Proof of Concept |
| Previously known as | MRC Gap Funding | MRC Developmental Pathway Funding Scheme (DPFS) |
| Corresponding harmonised UKRI nomenclature | UKRI Translation: Impact Acceleration | UKRI Translation: Proof of Concept |
| More information | MRC Gap Fund: single-step support for medical product development | MRC Developmental Pathway Funding Scheme |
| Next call opening date | 16 July 2026 | 2 July 2026 |
| Next deadline | 11 November 2026 | 18 November 2026 |
| Timescale to outcome | Within 12 weeks of the application closing date | Stage one submission to stage two decision in approximately 24 weeks |
| Frequency | 2 to 3 times per year | 2 to 3 times per year |
| Award duration | 6 to 18 months | No limit, but the timescale of the project should be justified in the context of the proposed work |
| Full economic cost | £50,000 to £300,000 | No limit on the amount of funding, but it should be appropriate to the project |
| Application process | Single-step application | Two stage application process: Stage 1 is open to all; Stage 2 is by invitation only |
| Decision making | Application will be assessed by members of the MRC Proof of Concept panel, previously MRC DPFS, with additional expertise sourced as necessary. No external expert review comments will be obtained as part of the assessment process. | Your application will be assessed in a two-stage process. Your stage one application will be considered by an independent panel of experts. If successful, you will be invited to submit a stage two application, which will undergo further assessment. |
| Scope and key points |
Single-step support in developing a new or repurposed medicine, medical device, diagnostic or other medical product. Projects with no clear and plausible development plan for their route to market or patient benefit after this award are unlikely to be supportable. Projects with multiple goals and work packages that do not address a single high-risk evidence gap are unlikely to be supportable. Target a high-risk development step backed by prior funding, generating critical data to de-risk onward progression or determine failure. Requests for change relating to unforeseen scientific changes will not be considered. A 12-month moratorium applies if unsuccessful. |
Funding to develop and test novel therapeutics, medical devices, diagnostics and other interventions. Academically led translational projects that aim to improve prevention, diagnosis, prognosis or treatment of significant health needs, or develop research tools that increase the efficiency of developing interventions. Project can start and finish at any stage on the developmental pathway from prototype development, through pre-clinical refinement and testing, to early-phase clinical studies and trials up to phase 2a. The decisions of the panel are not open to appeal. A 12-month moratorium applies if unsuccessful. |