The University of Manchester has been awarded Wellcome Trust (WT) funding in the form of an Institutional Translational Partnership award (iTPA).

The funds are intended to accelerate the transition from discovery research to translational development by unblocking specific translational research bottlenecks. We have identified that accessing appropriate expertise in a timely manner can be a barrier to translation, hence we have initiated a pilot scheme in an attempt to address this problem.

The Access to Expertise award (£125,000 per year) will enable researchers to access appropriate expertise to help unblock specific bottlenecks associated with translational research. Projects of 6-12 month duration will be awarded up to £25,000. The call for applications opens on 4 March 2019.

The scheme is not intended to fund an entire project, but to support expert engagement with ongoing projects, to overcome a particular barrier to translation which needs addressing.

Application process and timeline

• Application form (2 page) will be available to download from the website from Monday 4th March 2019.
• Applications must be submitted to Research Support Managers by Friday 29th March 2019.
• Deadline to submit applications: Tuesday 30th April, 12 noon.
• Applicants will be notified of outcome on 27th May.
• Projects will be expected to start in early June.