Thank you for your interest in applying to our grant funding round.
The application form contains guidance for each section. Here we have created additional guidance for specific sections to help ensure your proposal meet our evaluation criteria. Our goal is to make the process clear and accessible.
You can also download a PDF version of this guidance.
Communication plan
We have a responsibility to ensure that all of our funded research findings are appropriately shared with those able to use and benefit from it. Your communication plan therefore needs to include details of how the research findings will be communicated to:
- The scientific community.
- The general public, including people affected by meningitis.
- If applicable, study participants during and after the study is completed.
- Stakeholders who may use the data and evidence from your research to inform practice and policy.
The final report required at the end of your grant will ask for specific details of communication activities, so please track these throughout your grant according to your communication plan.
What to include in your communication plan
Why
- Simple and measurable communication objectives.
Who
- Your key audiences within the stakeholder groups outlined above.
How
- Suggested ways to reach your target audiences, such as specific conferences or meetings, and channels to reach the public.
- A brief description of intended outputs beyond scientific publications.
- Inclusion of a budget for this in your overall study budget.
When
- A timeline, including the key moments during your study for raising awareness of the need for the research and/or sharing preliminary results, and how you will communicate the findings when the study has finished.
Reaching the public
We actively encourage applicants to propose novel ways of sharing research findings with the public (such as through social media, video and blog posts). Our Communications and Engagement team can offer advice on how best to achieve this. To help us amplify your research, please let us know specific timelines for your dissemination plans as soon as possible – for example, when a paper has been accepted at a journal, or when you contribute to a new piece.
Open Access publishing
Grant holders are expected to publish their protocols and findings in Open Access peer-reviewed journals as soon as possible, even where results do not support the initial hypothesis. We can support the costs of Open Access publishing for one publication per grant. These costs should not be included in your grant application. Please apply to us separately at the time you submit to a journal.
Acknowledgements
Meningitis Research Foundation must be acknowledged in all publications, presentations, posters and public communication that includes any element of the research we have funded.
Involving people with lived experience
We define people with lived experience as:
- Anyone who has had meningitis (due to any cause), or
- Anyone who provides or has provided close personal support to someone with meningitis. For example, parents, siblings, close family and friends, and unpaid carers.
We don’t include health and social care professionals under “providing close personal support” where this is delivered as part of their job. Engaging with health and social care professionals at any level is still strongly encouraged in the design, delivery and dissemination of the research and should be outlined in your proposal.
The inclusion of lived experience in the design of research studies has been shown to improve the relevance, reach and impact of research. So we encourage all applicants to consider how individuals with lived experience of meningitis can be involved in shaping the research study from beginning to end, beyond being involved as participants.
What to include in this section
- How you will ensure that different stages of your research study (conception, design, delivery, dissemination, impact) are influenced by the relevant lived experience and needs of diverse people and communities who will be affected by or benefit from your research.
- Who will be involved and why. Please specify whether at the application stage this is a goal or whether you already have lived experience collaborators (individuals or community representatives).
- Whether people and/or communities have shaped this proposal so far.
- How your approach is appropriate and proportionate for this specific research study.
If lived experience involvement is not currently part of your project, we encourage you to use this space in the application form to outline potential future opportunities or explain any limitations.
Writing in plain English
The plain English summary of your research will be reviewed by our Lived Experience Advisors, who may not have a scientific background. Their scores will contribute to the overall funding recommendation made by our Scientific Advisory Panel.
If your application is successful, we may use your plain English summary, or quotes from your plain English summary, in our communications about the research we fund. This includes (but is not limited to):
- Our website.
- Social media.
- Newsletters.
- Internal and expert reports on our funding.
- Information packs.
Relevant sections in your application:
- Title in plain language.
- Summary of the research in plain English.
- Social media summary.
All your content should:
- Be written in plain English with simple sentences that are short and to the point.
- Be understandable to someone without a scientific background.
- Avoid jargon and not use any acronyms.
- Clearly describe the need for the proposed research and its expected benefits for those affected by meningitis.
For further support, see the NIHR’s guide to plain English summaries.
We also recommend pasting your lay summary into Hemingway Editor and aiming for grade 9 or lower.
Artificial intelligence (AI) can also be used to write and improve lay summaries. Please refer to our position statement on the use of AI in grant applications. If you use AI, please include a brief description of how it was used in the AI section of your application.
Funding requested
Please ensure that accurate costings are requested when applying for funding. No-cost/time-only extensions to awarded grants may be agreed in some circumstances, but we’re unable to offer supplementary funding.
Grants are intended to cover all the direct costs attributed to a research project apart from premises costs and the costs of established academic staff. Please note that amounts should be indicated in pounds sterling and rounded to the nearest pound.
Alongside the costs requested, you must provide a detailed justification for support. The particular type of support requested – such as equipment, travel or staff – should be justified in relation to the demands of the work. Sufficient detail is essential so that the Scientific Advisory Panel can assess the suitability of the financial support requested.
Costs you can request funding for
Salaries for research, technical and/or other staff to work full time or part time on the research.
Eligible costs include:
- Basic salary.
- Expected salary increments.
- Employer contributions, including any statutory obligations (for example, National Insurance contributions if you’re based in the UK) and pension scheme costs.
We won’t fund:
- Recruitment costs.
For each paid staff member, please state their role in the project and justify the level of funding requested.
List any consumables required to carry out the research, including laboratory materials.
Including computers and software.
Eligible costs include:
- Purchase, delivery and installation.
- Import duties.
We won’t fund:
- Insurance, which is the responsibility of the host institution. If the institution is a registered charity, it should be possible to obtain exemption from the payment of VAT within the UK for equipment donated for medical research.
- VAT, but we may reimburse for delivery costs if specified in the approved application.
Equipment requested should be essential to the research outlined in the application. We reserve the right to require a full or partial repayment of this request should the equipment cease to be used for research into meningitis and associated infections.
For working visits for scientific collaboration on a specific project or the learning of special techniques are acceptable.
In this section, include a breakdown of travel and subsistence costs for working visits – including the destination, purpose and duration of the travel.
Applicants should prioritise low-carbon travel options (for example, train over air travel where feasible). If air travel is essential, economy class only.
Eligible costs include:
- Essential travel by the most carbon-efficient mode and class of transport, even if cheaper, less sustainable options are available.
- Carbon offsetting for unavoidable travel related to this grant.
Please note we won’t fund business class flights.
You must provide a full breakdown and justification for these costs.
We wont fund:
- Costs associated with travel to conferences.
List any animal costs required to carry out the research.
Please do not include these within your support requested. If you’re at an organisation that doesn’t receive Open Access block funding, we will supplement your grant when your paper (only one per grant) has been accepted for publication.
These are costs which don’t fall under any of the above headings and are outside the scope of the project. We won’t meet costs associated with:
- The employment of established academic staff.
- General premises costs including:
- Construction and maintenance of a building.
- Animal houses and glass houses.
- Land purchase/lease
- Refurbishment/renovation/adaptation.
- Basic services and utilities.
- Office furnishings.
- Lease/rent/rates.
- Insurance.
- Cleaning/portering/security/safety.
- The cost of unspecified research work.
- The cost of work already done, or the cost of writing up such work.
- Remuneration of undergraduates (other than payment for vacation work under an existing award, if such earnings are allowed by the host institution).
- The cost of host facilities to which the investigator normally has free access.
- Removal costs incurred in filling posts.
- Overseas PhD or higher degree tuition fees (although home/ EU fees may be eligible if justified).
Please include details of funding leveraged or in-kind contributions from other sources to support this project (in GBP).
Sustainability-related contributions (such as institutional carbon reduction initiatives) can be listed as in-kind support. All supervision time for the lead and each co-applicant should be recorded in this section as matched funding.
Eligible organisations may include overhead costs as part of their funding request.
The total cost for overheads should not be more than 15% of the direct research costs. These costs must directly support the activity funded by the grant.
Have a question?
If you have a query about the grant's remit or your eligibility, email us at researchteam@meningitis.org. Please note we're unable to advise on the competitiveness of proposals.