Applying for an award

Are you thinking about applying for research funding from Versus Arthritis? Here you can find all the key information you need to help you prepare and submit your application.

Click here to sign up to our grant application system, Grant Tracker, to begin your application.

Are you eligible

Versus Arthritis research awards may only be held in universities, hospitals or recognised academic research institutes in the UK. Any academic, clinician or allied health care professional at an eligible UK institution can apply. The lead applicant must be based at an eligible UK institution. Individuals who are employed by, or whose salary derives from, a commercial organisation are not eligible to apply for a Versus Arthritis award but may be included as a co-applicant. International collaborators may also be included as co-applicants. 

All of our funding calls have an associated call and guidance document which can be found on their individual webpage. These documents have all the specific information you need to complete your application. You should carefully read these documents before you start your application. 

What conditions are eligible for research funding?

See our conditions we fund document (PDF, 72 KB)

Multiple applications

We will not accept overlapping applications of the same research proposal to more than one Versus Arthritis funding scheme. We will accept an application that has been submitted to another funding body, however, please check the eligibility criteria of the other funding body before making an application.

Previously submitted applications

Applicants must contact the research team at awards@versusarthritis.org, before submitting a similar application that has been previously submitted to Versus Arthritis or elsewhere. Please email a covering letter detailing the original proposal, its outcome and explaining how the revised application has changed from the original submission before submitting your proposal. This should be no longer than one side of A4. 

What are our key submission requirements?

It's important that before applying for funding you read the conditions for award (PFD, 735KB) and our research policies.

You must use the same email address each time you log in. Grant Tracker uses the email address as a unique identifier.  You may amend your contact details in the “My Details” section of Grant Tracker. 

The lead applicant must be the one who creates the application. Once opened it may be completed by others who are added to the application. You may delegate data entry to the application to an award administrator. 

You can read more about our application role requirements within the call document and the co-applicants, sponsors and signatories section below.  

Co-applicants and fellowship sponsors who are added to an application will need to confirm their participation and approve the application before submission. 

Signatories must be assigned as part of the application. Their approval is necessary to allow the application to be submitted. When the application has been approved by all the signatories a confirmation email is sent to the lead applicant. 

Resources for applicants 

• Application and signatory workflow (PDF, 26 KB)
• Grant Tracker account guidance (PDF 1.2MB)

Applying for a fellowship?

You can find useful information to help with your fellowship application on our Applying for a fellowship page. This fellowship specific information should be read alongside the general information here on applying for an award.

What are our involvement and engagement requirements?

All applications to Versus Arthritis should involve people with arthritis and/or musculoskeletal disorders in the development of the outlined work. As well as plans for continued collaboration with them in the oversight, delivery, and dissemination of the proposed research. This includes discovery research. More information and guidance on involving people with arthritis can be found here: Involving people with arthritis (versusarthritis.org) and in the associated call document.

We endorse the INVOLVE National Standards and expect that these will be adhered to throughout your award. For further information, please refer to the INVOLVE National Standards for Involvement and their INVOLVE top Tips. 

What are our diversity and inclusion requirements? 

Proposals must demonstrate careful consideration of appropriate representation and diversity (ethnicity, socioeconomic, gender, age) as relevant to the aims of the proposal. 

We will not fund research that does not account for genetic, sexual, immune and microbiome diversity in animal models. The NC3Rs Experimental Design Assistant is a free online tool that helps supports good experimental design.

Does your research involve animals?

Experiments using animals funded by Versus Arthritis must conducted in accordance with UK law and ethically approved by an independent review board.   We will only fund research that uses animals where this no alternative, that is legal, well designed, ethical and scientifically justified.  

We are committed to the principles of reduction, replacement and refinement (3Rs) in animal studies. These are: 

• Replace the use of animals with alternative research methods and where possible avoid the use of animals altogether. 
• Reduce the number of animals used. 
• Refine how animal-cased experiments are carried out to minimise any suffering and to improve animal welfare.  

We have a number of expectations with regard to the responsible use of animals in bioscience research. The document was produced by the NC3Rs in collaboration with a number of funding bodies. It provides guidance to researchers and associated animal care staff using vertebrates and cephalopods in research, as well as the responsibilities of ethics committees and peer reviewers assessing applications for funding. 

All applications must provide detailed information to allow appropriate review of the proposed research .To support the implementation of the 3Rs principles, as well as good experimental design and reporting of animal experiments, we ask that you use the NC3Rs Experimental Desing Assistant and ARRIVE guidelines (Animal Research: Reporting of In vivo Experiments) in writing your application.  

We are a signatory of the Concordat on Openness on Animal Research in the UK and are committed to being open and clear about the ways in which animals are used in our funded research in our external communications.   

Versus Arthritis is a member of the Association of Medical Research Charities and has signed up to their position on animal research (Position statement on the use of animals in research | Association of Medical Research Charities (amrc.org.uk)).  

Please refer to the call guidance document for more information. 

Does your research involve humans?

On 16 April 2018, Health Research Authority (HRA) Approval became HRA and Health and Care Research Wales (HCRW) Approval and now applies to all project-based research taking place in the NHS in England and Wales. HCRW approval applies where the NHS organisation has a duty of care to participants, either as patients/service users or NHS staff/volunteers. References to participants include people whose data or tissue is involved in a research project.  

If your project is led from Northern Ireland or Scotland and involves NHS/HSC sites then you will not apply to the HCRW. You should apply through the appropriate NHS/HSC permission process for that lead nation. 

If your planned project includes the recruitment of participants your application should be accompanied with the Funder Export from the SoECAT, obtainable via the NIHR Central Portfolio Management System (CPMS). We also require all recruiting studies to have a steering committee.   

Applicants should engage the NIHR Research Support Service (RSS), which supports clinical, public health and social care research design and well as signposting to other sources of advice and support.  With current clinical research challenges in the NHS, applicants are required to make transparent and realistic assessments of capacity and capability to deliver.  

Does your research involve human data and sample collection?

We require researchers to make use of established, pre-existent cohorts, collection, bioresources and registries. You can search the UKCRC tissue directory, to discover human samples available for research. Where a new collection is necessary it must be fully justified, and the collection registered in a publicly accessible directory. 

What do you need to know about intellectual property? 

Intellectual property (IP) means patents, copyright, trademarks, trade names, service marks, domain names copyrights, moral rights, rights in and to databases (including rights to prevent the extraction or reutilisation of information from a database), design rights, topography rights and all rights or forms of protection of a similar nature or having equivalent or the similar effect to any of them which may subsist anywhere in the world, whether or not any of them are registered and including applications for registration of any of them. 

Please confirm any new or existing IP and how any IP will be managed within your application. 

For enquiries on any aspect of IP, please email the Awards team at awards@versusarthritis.org in the strictest confidence. 

Do you have support from a third party?

Third party support includes in-kind costs such as salary and provision of an intervention. You will be asked to upload a letter of support from each provider. 

• Institutional support – from either the lead or collaborating institutes
• Support from another funder
• ‘Research Delivery Network (previously Clinical Research Network) Support
• Treatment Costs and excess treatment costs
• Industrial support (including collaborations and donations). Please refer to our industrial support policy below and provide contact details, details of the support/collaboration and any conflicts of interest.

Industrial support

Versus Arthritis will accept industrial support if it is directed towards our strategic goals and is based on a genuine research collaboration with the industrial partner(s) or an independent untied donation. 

Any individual seeking Versus Arthritis research funding with associated industrial support may be required to complete a disclosure form providing details of: 

• the nature of the industrial support 
• any industrial links of relevance to the project either by the applicant(s) or their department or group. 

All such material received by Versus Arthritis will be treated in strictest confidence. 

Industrial support policy

Principles of the Industrial Support Policy 

• To ensure that Versus Arthritis are aware of collaborations between the researcher and industrial partner. 
• There are no unreasonable restrictions to the proposed research. 
• The parties involved act with integrity and transparency at all times. 
• To ensure that any collaboration will support the aims and objectives of Versus Arthritis and benefit individuals with musculoskeletal conditions. 

Applicants are also encouraged to read the guidelines from AMRC (PDF, 385 KB)

What are our funding success rates at Versus Arthritis?

You can see our funding success rates for awards made between 2019 – 2024 in the  research award success rates table (XLS, 19 KB). 

What are the requirements for application roles including co-applicants, sponsors and signatories?

Mandatory roles are indicated with *.

Lead applicant*

Leads the work on the award and is responsible to Versus Arthritis for ensuring the conditions of award are met.

The lead applicant must create the application on Grant Tracker.

Co-applicant

Has intellectual input into the application and is expected to be involved in the project. There is no limit to the number of co-applicants who can be involved in the application. Co-applicants based outside the UK may be included in the application.

Collaborator

Supplies research materials, specific expertise or access to participants, but is not involved in the day-to-day execution of the project. All collaborators associated with an application who are not co-applicants may be required to provide a letter of support with the application.

Sponsor

All fellowship applications require one or more sponsors to be added as a signatory. The sponsor must hold a tenured position at the host institution, or in the case of an NHS employee, an honorary academic appointment, with tenure beyond the duration of the proposed fellowship. The sponsor should give an undertaking that if an award is made, they will negotiate with the host institution to ensure that the fellow is granted status and prerogatives of other academic staff of similar seniority. Sponsors are also encouraged to view their support and mentorship of the fellow as part of the longer-term commitment to assist the fellow to realise their future career aspirations in research.

Supervisor

Supervisor roles are only required for fellowship applications that include a PhD student.

Award administrator

Can enter data into an application on behalf of the lead applicant and is also the point of contact for administrative issues. Their details will not show on the application once it has been submitted.

Finance officer*

All full applications will require a finance officer to be added as a signatory. They will approve the finance details in the application once the applicant has pressed submit. The application will then pass to the head of department for approval.

Head of department*

All applications require a head of department to be added as a signatory. The head of department needs to guarantee facilities and resources for the tenure of an award and, where applicable, also guarantee that the award holder will be granted status and prerogatives of other academic staff of similar seniority. The head of department can also be a sponsor on a fellowship application. Only when the head has approved the application will it be submitted.

CVs and Publications

Please ensure that your CV and publication details are up to date in your Grant Tracker account profile. 

Further information is available in our Grant Tracker Account Guidance. 

All applicants and sponsors named on an application MUST complete their CVs in the Manage My Details section in their Grant Tracker account before final submission can take place. 

Publications should be entered into the Research Outputs section. Please don't attach papers that are in press, although if a reviewer asks for them we may request these at a later date. 

Recommended and excluded reviewers

You may add names of potential reviewers (not connected with you or your proposal) or any reviewers that you do not wish to be approached. Please note, these will be treated confidentially.

What if your attachments aren’t viewable in the PDF application? 

Image files (JPG, GIF, PNG, TIFF), Word (DOC, DOCX) and PDF files will be appended within the application form PDF. 

Excel (XLS, XLSX) and PowerPoint file types (PPT, PPTX) will be attached as separate files and listed in an appendix. 

Costs must show sufficient detail to enable expert reviewers and funding panels to make an informed decision. Further details on what can and cannot be requested. 

Eligible costs within an application: 

• Lead applicants and co-applicants can apply for their salaries as long as they don't hold a tenured position. Please note, applications (except Fellowships) must have a lead applicant or another co-applicant that is tenured 
• The percentage of inflation used must be the same as the most recent pay award agreed by the Institution and no more than 2% (as at February 2023 and this will be periodically reviewed) 
• London weighting applies to any applicant applying from an institution in London 
• Requests for external consultancy costs should be included in expenses for consideration by the recommending funding panel 
• The stipend for a PhD studentship can be applied for within schemes where stated 
• Training and supervision of staff within the award must be justified 
• Fully justified items of equipment of up to £30,000 can be requested, requests for items of equipment included in applications with a cost greater than £5,000 must be supported by an estimate. 
• Any requests for computers must be fully justified and an integral to the success of the research proposal 
• Access charges for use of specialist equipment may be applied for within expenses 
• Additional expenses/consumables need to be fully justified and will be assessed by the recommending funding panel 
• If costs for animal experiments are included then a detailed breakdown, including the species and models must be provided for consideration of the  funding panel 
• Animal maintenance and purchase costs should be separated and not included within the animal costings 

Ineligible costs within an application:

• Costs relating to staff recruitment and relocation 
• Apprenticeship levy 
• Student tuition fees aren't provided on awards unless it's specifically stated that these can be applied for 
• Personal license fees and home office license 
• Funding to provide maintenance of equipment 
• Office stationery costs unless required for the project and justified accordingly 
• Travel support and open access costs are not to be included within standard grant applications, these are additional awards that can be applied for by a Versus Arthritis award holder. 
• Miscellaneous costs within consumables 

How we review your application

All our funding applications are subject to expert review. This helps us assess the quality and relevance of a research funding application and help us to decide what to fund. We are a member of the Association of Medical Research Charities (AMRC) and follow their high standard and six recommended principles of peer review, which are:

• Proportionality 
• Independence 
• Diversity 
• Rotation 
• Impartiality 
• Transparency 

Expert review allows us to support the best research and researchers to maximise the impact of our funding and deliver the changes that really matter to people with arthritis and ensure that they benefit from the results of the research.

The call document for each round will specify the expert review process for that round. However, our general expert review process is as below: 

Following internal validation, all eligible applications are subject to review by external experts and people with arthritis. Some funding rounds are subject to triage ahead of peer review and this is carried out by the relevant Research Funding Panel. It will be made clear in the call document if a round will be subject to a triage process. Applicants will be informed at an early stage if their proposal has been triaged out of the process and feedback provided. 

Reviewers are asked to consider several aspects of the application: 

• Technical reviewers (typically scientists, clinicians and methodologists) 
• Relevance 
• Importance of hypothesis 
• Research design and methodology 
• Ability to deliver 
• Feasibility 
• Impact 
• Value for money 
• Strengths and weaknesses 
• Candidate track record and future potential (fellowships only) 
• Applicant’s standing within the field (fellowships only) 
• Quality of supervision (fellowships only) 

Patient reviewers (our research partners)

• Clarity of the language used for a lay audience 
• Relevance of the proposed research 
• Involvement of patients and the public 
• Quality of proposed work 
• Patient benefit and the impact of the proposed work 
• Value for money 

Expert reviewed applications are considered finally at the Research Funding Panel meeting where funding recommendations are made. Some rounds, particularly fellowships, may go through an additional interview stage.

How we deal with conflicts of interest

We ask all our reviewers, as well members of our funding panels, committees, groups and networks to declare any potential conflicts of interest before carrying out a review or undertaking other activities for us. On this page, you can find our management of interest policy. Managing interests, protects the charity and those who work for it, from any perception, real or otherwise, that the external interests and affiliations of members of the committees and supporting panels, groups and networks might interfere with their ability to work unbiasedly on behalf of the charity. 

How can you appeal a decision?

What is an appeal?

An appeal is defined as a request for a review of a decision taken by Versus Arthritis if you believe Versus Arthritis did not follow the correct procedures as set out in our approach to funding or that there was an administrative error. We cannot consider information that was not included in the original application form.

How to make an appeal

If you wish to appeal a decision made by Versus Arthritis in relation to your research funding application, you must follow the appeals procedure below. 

Appeals may be made in writing by downloading and completing the Versus Arthritis research funding decision appeals form (Word, 48 KB). Your completed form should then be emailed to awards@versusarthritis.org with subject “For the attention of the Head of Research Delivery” and the feedback letter you received attached. This should be done within 10 working days of receiving the feedback letter.

We will always give you notification of the appeals timescale when communicating a decision. We aim to acknowledge your appeal by return email within three working days.

Please ensure that you are using the correct version of the guide for the relevant call for the project under which you applied. 

We aim to reply fully to you with the appeal decision, by email, within 10 working days of the acknowledgement. Appeals that are more complex may take longer to deal with. In these cases, we will keep you updated on the progress of your appeal. 

When is an appeal actually a complaint?

If an appeal documents non-specific evidence or simply notes dissatisfaction with the outcome of an application, this will be treated as a complaint, not as an appeal, and will be processed accordingly. 
 

Not found what you were looking for? Then please contact us at awards@versusarthritis.org