UKHAIC 2025-2026 Funding Call
Appl
The 2025-2026 call for UKHAIC Flexible Talent Mobility Account (FTMA)
Call opens 31st March 2025
The FTMA is intended to support secondments and other activities that contribute to the mobility and development of researchers and technical professionals in academia and other sectors (industry, healthcare, charities etc.).
The UK Healthy Ageing Innovation Consortium will provide funding for successful projects with durations of up to six months. These projects can have a full economic cost (FEC) of up to £15,000, with the UKHAIC covering 80% of the FEC.
In a change to our 2024-2025 funding call, all BBSRC eligible grant costs can now be requested, which means that indirect and estates costs are eligible for funding in this call.
We will hold an online Q&A session session via Microsoft Teams on Thursday the 8th of May 14:00-16:00. This session will be recorded for those unable to attend live and a frequently asked questions page will also be published.
Closing date for applications is by 11.59pm, 1st June 2025.
Download the Application form below
Application process
- Download and complete the application form
- Send your application to [email protected]
- If you have any questions before, during or after you fill out the form, please email us at [email protected].
Your personal / identifiable information will be removed from your application prior to sifting and you must not make reference to this information on your application form.
We recognise the importance of supporting both early career researchers (prior to first permanent academic appointment) and technical professionals to enhance quality research and innovation. Therefore, a minimum of 25% of the overall UK Healthy Ageing Innovation Consortium FTMA funding will be dedicated to early career researchers, with an additional 25% of funding allocated to technical professionals. We therefore encourage applications led or co-led by staff in these roles.
Call Summary
The FTMA should support the exchange of personnel, perspectives and knowledge, skills, and expertise between the academic and other sectors, focusing on the exchange, development, and training of individuals.
Activities proposed must align with one or more of the UK Healthy Ageing Innovation Consortium themes: metabolic health, healthy ageing across the life course, and transformative technologies. We particularly welcome applications within the UKRI’s strategic theme: ‘Securing better health, ageing and wellbeing’.
FTMA funding can only be used for employed researchers, technicians and other staff. It cannot be used to support undergraduate, masters and PhD students, unless they have an employment contract.
Applicants for FTMA funding will be asked to present a case for support that includes clear objectives and outputs from the proposed work, as well as identifying further routes for development and leverage of awarded funding.
Applications will be reviewed by our independent reviewer pool from a range of sectors, with reviewers selected based on their experience relevant to each application. The assessment will be based on the project relevance to the UK Healthy Ageing Innovation Consortium, FTMA and UKRI Strategy objectives, potential sustainability through further funding leverage, the involvement of a research / other sector partner and consideration of EDI principles.
There is flexibility in the usage of the FTMA, but activities undertaken must support the mobility and development of academic and other sector researchers, technical professionals, and other professional staff. The activities should aim to pump-prime the establishment of new interactions and further develop existing ones. Furthermore, they can be used to support non-UK nationals to undertake short-term secondments and research collaborations that are hosted within a UK research organisation (and involve other sector partners, where appropriate). In line with the principles of the Researcher Development Concordat and the Technician Commitment applicants should consider how the FTMA might be used to support individuals in their career development.
Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion
At the UK Healthy Ageing Innovation Consortium, we believe that diverse perspectives contribute to more comprehensive and robust research and innovation outcomes we are committed to fostering an inclusive environment through an effective Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) policy that benefits our members and collaborators.
When you joined the UK Healthy Ageing Innovation Consortium, with your permission we collected your equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) data. This information will be anonymized and used by our EDI team to monitor membership, training, networking, and funding applications and awards. This is part of our reporting process to the FTMA funder; the BBSRC. Additionally, this data will help us understand the diversity within our consortium and develop and implement action plans to support our EDI policy. The UK Healthy Ageing Innovation Consortium is committed to preventing discrimination and promoting opportunities for all.
In addition to previous EDI categories, we are now collecting data on age, therefore we will request that you provide the age category of all applicants to FTMA2, this is an optional request. The information is for monitoring purposes only and will be removed prior applications being sent for review as part of our anonymisation of applications policy.
Please, see our EDI policy for more details.
More Information on the UK Healthy Ageing Innovation Consortium FTMA Funding Call
For more information you can view our recorded version below: Live Q and A Session 8th May 2025
Eligibility
Who can apply?
All researchers, technical professionals or other staff from BBSRC-eligible organisations who are members of the UK Healthy Ageing Innovation Consortium at the time of applying.
Researchers and technical professionals or staff from other sector organisations who are members of the UK Healthy Ageing Innovation Consortium at the time of applying can be named on applications as collaborators.
Outward applications can be submitted by researchers and technical professionals, or other staff currently employed, to support placement, exchange or secondment.
Inward applications can be submitted by project leads who wish to host a person undertaking a mobility activity in their group or team.
Who is eligible to benefit from FTMAs?
Any research or supporting staff (UK and overseas), working within the UK Healthy Ageing Innovation Consortium remit or pursuing an FTMA activity within a BBSRC-funding eligible healthy ageing field, including but not limited to:
- postdoctoral researchers
- research technical professionals (including technicians)
- academic research staff
- knowledge exchange and commercialisation professionals
- professional enabling staff
- staff from non-academic organisations.
Who is not eligible to benefit from FTMAs?
Students (including undergraduate, masters or PhD), unless they hold an employment contract.
What we will fund
Types of mobility
We will fund short-term placements and exchanges of up to six months duration. Funds can be used to support outgoing or incoming research professionals to undertake an exchange. The activities should aim to establish or further develop partnerships between academic, business, public sector and third sector organisations. Activities could include (but are not limited to):
- exchanges between academic institutions and businesses, public sector and third sector organisations
- interdisciplinary academia to academia exchanges
- international placements and exchanges
- placements and exchanges with policymakers
- shorter placements, for example, day releases
- longer placements, up to six months maximum
- secondments, up to six months maximum
- technology transfer and knowledge exchange development opportunities
The FTMA can be used to support existing investments or partnerships or to establish new collaborations. The funds should be used to build and further develop those collaborations to enable knowledge exchange between sectors and institutions.
Eligible costs
Funding requested can be used to cover up to 80% of the Full Economic cost (FEC) of the project and can include for example, travel, accommodation, reasonable subsistence, training, consumables, salary.
Funds can be used to support non-UK nationals to undertake short-term placements and research collaborations that are hosted within a UK research organisation, subject to UK visa requirements.
Costs for small grant specific consumables, for example, laboratory consumables are also eligible.
All applications must be fully costed and approved by your institution’s finance office. Please liaise with your departmental finance team to obtain a costing for your proposal.
Non-eligible costs
Funds cannot be used for patent costs or capital items of equipment.
Activities (placements, exchanges or training) for students are not eligible.
The Grant Application Process
Applications must be prepared on the provided application form and submitted to us by sending the application to [email protected].
Alongside your completed application form, you will be required to provide the following documents:
- Your approved institutional costing and confirmation that the application has been submitted with the agreement of the host institution who, if awarded, would administer the grant. Either documents or email communication signed-off by the appropriate institutional signatory are acceptable.
- A letter of support from the collaborative partner(s).
Please submit all documents in PDF format.
The UK Healthy Ageing Innovation Consortium will aim to review your application and provide the decision on funding within two months of the submission deadline.
Assessment criteria
Applications will be considered against the following criteria:
- Relevance to FTMA objectives.
- Relevance to objectives of UK Healthy Ageing Innovation Consortium and UKRI Strategic Themes
- Potential benefits to collaborator(s) (if applicable)
- Potential development benefits to the technical professional or early career researcher (where appropriate)
- Plan for further translational activity as a result of the placement
- EDI considerations
Award Conditions, Final Report & Funding Arrangements
Funding will be dispersed using the usual financial regulations and systems. Funds must be spent in accordance with the terms and conditions of the BBSRC.
Those receiving awards will be required to work with their institutional Research Support Office to ensure appropriate protection of intellectual property, where relevant. Where new collaboration agreements / material transfer agreements or similar are required it is the responsibility of the project team to secure these in a timely manner.
As a condition of the grant, a final report and invoice, alongside expenditure statement, must be submitted to [email protected], within one month of your project end-date. Invoices will not be paid until receipt of the final project report.
Invoices must not include items for activities that have taken place outside of your project timeframe.
We will send a reporting template to successful applicants in due course.
Potential applicants are advised to contact the UKHAIC Team at [email protected] before submitting their application if they have any questions.
Download and start your application now:
FAQ for the FTMA
Do you intend to support/fund salaries?
Yes salaries can be supported, anyone within your project, however we do not fund students. We can classify them as being funded to the end of the project.
Is it optional to cost for salary, what happens if I have already costed for salary?
It is completely optional to cost for salary. You do not have to cost for salary, if it is already covered elsewhere, that’s absolutely fine and might make your money go little bit further for other parts of your project.
For my project I would like to do at multiple facilities and might ask for consumables, is that allowed salary and consumables?
If you can fit within the £15,000 project budget then this should be ok.
Eligibility- Can I apply for a project with a PhD student?
Academics can apply, we encourage early career researchers or technical staff to also be part of the team. You can have a PhD student down as mentoring or as a co-applicant as long as they hold an employment contract. If applied as staff then it can be funded.
Can I apply as a Senior Lecturer?
Yes
Can we explore social science questions that might benefit from developing a technology?
Interdisciplinary projects are encouraged. There needs to be an element of the project that adheres to BBSRC remit and healthy ageing.
If I am internal to Nottingham Trent University, do I have submit via Worktribe?
Yes
If I am applying for an international placement will travel and accommodation be funded?
A lot of funds can go towards travel and accommodation. If you are travelling internationally and already have your salary covered, then you can put the money of the FTMA towards this.