Discover our New Consortia Funding Calls

We are now seeking applicants for our two new consortia: the first Osteoarthritis Research Consortium and the second Inflammatory Arthritis Research Consortium.

First launched in 2024, we plan to invest up to £18m to establish six research consortia. By applying a team science approach, the consortia will be looking at an area from different disciplinary perspectives, sharing expertise and knowledge, and aligning efforts and outputs to deliver greater scientific impact and innovation.

This investment will bring together researchers, health and social care professionals, people with lived experience and other stakeholders to tackle some of the biggest challenges faced by people living with arthritis.

The latest two consortia open to new applications are the Osteoarthritis and the Inflammatory Arthritis Research Consortium (Round 2) schemes with a total of £3 million invested in each initiative.

Osteoarthritis Research

An estimated 10 million people in the UK are currently living with osteoarthritis, and research shows that different people experience osteoarthritis differently. We want to support teams of scientists to make strides to improve our understanding and stratification of osteoarthritis disease and its sub-types.

Inflammatory Arthritis Research

Inflammatory Arthritis covers a range of disease including rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, axial spondylarthritis, and juvenile idiopathic arthritis. We are looking for teams of scientists to unlock areas of problematic understanding in these conditions. This call focuses on improving the delivery of precision medicine approaches in one or more inflammatory arthritis conditions, especially amongst vulnerable populations.

What are research consortia?

Our research consortia will tackle some of the biggest challenges in arthritis research.

By creating a community of shared expertise and knowledge, they aim to deliver a cohesive series of work.

With £3 million invested in each, the ambition of these consortia should be beyond single streams of expertise.

They should include partners beyond researchers and should bring together different areas of thought to drive innovation and impact across the UK.

This funding hopes to promote connections and bring a broad spectrum of people together, which could extend to:

• Policy individuals.
• Local authorities.
• Commissioners.
• GPs.
• Other health practitioners. 

What are we looking for?

Read more on specific applicant eligibility in our call documents:

Osteoarthritis Funding Call Page

Inflammatory Arthritis Funding Call Page

How to Apply

Submissions of Notice of intention to apply are sought via email by 16:00 on Wednesday 30th April 2025.

Applications are made through the Versus Arthritis Grant Tracker. The deadline for the receipt of applications is 16:00 on Wednesday 25th June 2025.

If you think you and your team hold the key to unlocking research problems in inflammatory arthritis or osteoarthritis, then click here.