Institutional Strategic Support Fund Phase2 FY2014/16 (360G-Wellcome-105625_Z_14_Z)

The Wellcome Trust has recently awarded the University of Aberdeen £600,000 in funding to support a range of strategic research activities that fall within the Wellcome Trust's remit. Projects must fall within the remit of the Wellcome Trust and be within the strategic remit of the Aberdeen ISSF including; Infection, Immunity and Inflammation, particularly Medical Mycology Understanding the molecular basis of obesity for the development of interventions Applied Health Sciences, particularly through our Chief Scientist Office-funded Health Economics Research Unit and Health Services Research Unit. The support strategy for the fund is to: Facilitate more interdisciplinary research across the schools and institutes Enhance research impact through its translation into practice and dissemination through public engagement Enhance our Career Development Support in biomedical research The ISSF Seed Corn Fund will invite proposals from researchers working in a priority area with the aim of supporting new interdisciplinary collaborations by: Providing access to core facilities for proof of concept, feasibility or other pilot work needed to strengthen full scale applications to the Wellcome Trust or other similarly prestigious funders; Applications are particularly encouraged utilising the Centre for Genome Enabled Genomics and Medicine to strengthen pilot data and informatics; Developing new commercialisation or knowledge exchange opportunities, especially for Wellcome Trust funded projects (e.g. through support to develop and implement drug development roadmaps, appointment of external consultants, access to clinical trial design/expertise/health economic advice). As part of our commitment to recruiting and retaining the highest calibre ECRs, we want to enhance our support for the preparation of fellowship applications within the Wellcome Trust’s remit within the context of our highly successful fellowship management scheme. The ISSF will provide up to 6 months of salary support for around 5-6 recipients who meet our criteria and who participate in the College of Life Sciences and Medicine (CLSM) fellowship traffic light scheme. We are launching a programme aimed at female academic staff returning from maternity leave or a career break, which enables them to apply for a period of protected research time. This support will position individuals for subsequent success in attainment of research grant or fellowship funding, or the publication of findings which support career development. You may apply for teaching and administrative replacement costs, but in addition you may also request costs for an RA for a limited period, and/ or some consumables. We wish to expand clinical scientist numbers through the Aberdeen Clinical Academic Training (ACAT) scheme. This is intended to allow clinical applicants to develop a research interest within one of our priority areas. As well as increasing the number of clinical scientists this approach creates new opportunities for translational and interdisciplinary research.