Eligibility

APPLICANT ELIGIBILITY

Researchers must apply for their own bridging salary. It is expected this will give some early career researchers the opportunity to hold their first award in their own name.

Eligible applicants must:

1. Hold a Chancellors, Masters and Scholars (CMS) contract of employment with the University of Oxford, with an affiliation with a Department within the Medical Sciences Division, where the majority of their time is spent on research, and
2. Hold a fixed term, or open-ended, externally-funded contract where funding is due to end within 9 months of the call deadline, and
3. Be no higher than Grade 08S Stage 10 (or the equivalent academic/clinical academic grade based on Total Employer Cost), and
4. Have submitted, and either be awaiting or have received the outcome of, an external funding application that will fund their salary for at least two years after the end of the bridging period.

Additional notes on eligibility

• Current DPhil students looking for bridging salary to their first post-doctoral position are not eligible to apply. The fund is only open to current employees of the University.
• It is a PI’s responsibility to manage their grants and ensure that funding is in place to support their team. The Bridging Salary Scheme is intended to bridge short gaps in funding, particularly those arising due to unforeseen circumstances. It is not a replacement for good financial management of a PI’s grants portfolio.
• Depending on the demands on the scheme’s budget, MSD may refuse to fund multiple applications received from staff under the same Unit or Group Leader

Eligible costs

In initial round(s) of the MSD Bridging Scheme, MSD will fund 100% of the salary for up to 6 months. After this time applicants will be able to apply for 75% of the Total Employer Cost of their salary for up to 6 months, with the remaining 25% to be provided by the Department as match funding. 

The requirement for match funding from departments is waived for at least the first two rounds (deadlines 13 March and 12 June 2024) due to the current exceptional circumstances of restrictions on Departments making new unbudgeted commitments. Departmental contributions will be required in the future (but will continue to be waived in exceptional circumstances) subject to ongoing review of Divisional finances.

Where the bridging period is less than 6 months, or where the applicant works less than 1 FTE, the MSD Bridging Salary Scheme will fund the amount required to cover the bridging period based on the end and start dates of the applicant’s confirmed funding and the FTE in the applicant’s current contract.

If some or all of a bridging award is not required the unspent budget will be reclaimed to the fund and recycled for another award. Budget cannot be repurposed by the applicant. Non-staff costs are not eligible.