2025 Early Career Grants Applications
The RSTMH Early Career Grants Programme provides awards of up to £5,000 for those who have not had equivalent research funding in their own name before. Applicants can be of any nationality and based anywhere in the world.
Purpose of Early Career Grants
To enable early career researchers and global health professionals in the field of tropical medicine or global health to undertake clinical or scientific research and/or fieldwork, either as stand-alone projects or distinct elements within a larger project.
Thematic scope
Applications can be on any area of tropical medicine or global health including infectious diseases, non-communicable diseases, neglected tropical diseases and external factors that affect global health.
The programme funds projects across the research spectrum, including lab-based, clinical, translation, implementation, and policy-related research, either as stand-alone projects or distinct elements within a larger project. The Early Career Grants also fund research projects linked to PhDs, but do not fund tuition fees for PhD or MSc degrees.
The Early Career Grants will not fund projects that use only secondary data.
Early Career Grant value and timeline
The maximum RSTMH Early Career Grant award is GBP £5,000 including any relevant tax on purchases.
One or more awardees may be funded or part-funded by The Denis Burkitt Fellowship Fund. If this is the case, RSTMH may ask the awardee to participate in separate award activities.
The project should start between September and December 2025 after the planned payment phase. Please note this may change if RSTMH receives a very high number of applications. If an applicant’s project has a strict timeframe, they should let RSTMH know that when they submit their application. The project should be completed within a year of it being started. Please note that Early Career Grants cannot be used for retrospective projects (projects which have already started or been completed). The applicant should indicate on the application form if they expect the project to finish after this time.
The key dates for the programme are below. If an applicant is not able to deliver their project or report to these timings, then they should consider whether they should apply this year. If an applicant is awarded but unable to complete their project within the timeframe, RSTMH may ask for a refund of the grant money.
These timings may vary depending on the number of applications received. Adequate notice of any changes shall be advertised on the RSTMH website.
| Deadline for applications | 14th May 2025, Midday (12pm BST) |
| Funding payments made | September-November 2025 |
| Projects start | December 2025 |
| Projects finish | December 2026 |
| Reports due | By March 2027 |
Eligibility for Early Career Grants
Early Career Grants are for those who have not received a research grant of £5,000 or more in their own name before. They can be based in any country and can be working in any organisation.
RSTMH anticipate that most applicants will be at the start of their careers, though it recognises that some more experienced professionals may be new to research and will still be eligible to apply for a grant.
Both members and non-members of RSTMH can apply for an RSTMH Early Career Grant funded by RSTMH partners. However, if awarded, membership will be provided to awardees (until the awardee’s research report delivery deadline) to ensure they can benefit from the full benefits of membership of RSTMH.
Applicants who are existing RSTMH members are also eligible for RSTMH funded grants as part of the Early Career Grants Programme. Find out more about RSTMH membership and its other benefits here.
Application criteria
Applicants for an Early Career Grant can be based anywhere in the world and can be of any nationality.
Applicants must meet the following criteria:
- Not received any research funding of £5,000 or more in their own name before.
- Have a clear research plan for which they are seeking support.
- If applicants apply whilst affiliated with, or employed by, a particular organisation, and then they seek to transfer to another organisation during an award, written permission to move the grant activity is required from RSTMH and this will be granted only in exceptional circumstances.
- Have access to adequate supervision from the same supervisor for the duration of the project.
- Have the appropriate insurance to carry out the research.
- Be able to submit all Programme related-documents and forms to RSTMH in English.
- The project must comply with ethical standards relevant to the field of study (e.g. human subjects, animal welfare, environmental impact), and the applicant must have the necessary ethics approval to conduct research in the study area.
- Hold a registered bank account which accepts GBP. Please note that a condition of an award is that grant funds are paid into the awardee’s personal bank account and not an institutional account. If this presents an issue, the applicant should let RSTMH know.
- Have not received an RSTMH Early Career Grant before.
- Have submitted only one application for an RSTMH grant in any one year.
- Not be an RSTMH global assessor in the same year.
- Not be seeking funds for a project already started or completed.
- Not be a named referee on an RSTMH grant application in the same year.
Applicants are encouraged to include costs which would enable their projects to maximise diversity and inclusion, and community participation.
Application form
Applications to the 2025 Grants Programme must be entered on RSTMH’s grants platform Benefactor. Applications submitted outside of this platform will not be considered.
Guidance on how to use Benefactor can be found here.
TO APPLY, CLICK HERE
Applications can be started and then saved, so that the applicant can complete it over a period of time. Once an application is submitted on Benefactor, it cannot be amended.
If the applicant needs to amend something on their application after submission, they will need to withdraw their application and submit a new one before the deadline.
Applications must be submitted in English, and must be complete, with all mandatory questions answered, in order to be considered.
Guidance on ‘Early Career’ eligibility
RSTMH would like to ensure as many early career researchers and professionals can apply for an Early Career Grant as possible and encourage people from a range of disciplines and sectors to apply.
To ensure equity and fairness of opportunity, RSTMH does not use a definition focused on specific roles, qualifications held, or age – instead, it chooses to supply guidance around the profile of an applicant that may be suitable for an Early Career Grant.
Applicants should not have received research funding of £5,000 or more in their own name before. The applicant’s supervisor must verify this as part of the reference and the application process.
Applicants should be able to:
- Carry out research under supervision.
- Have the ambition and discipline to develop knowledge of research methodologies.
- Have demonstrated a good understanding of a field of study.
- Demonstrate the ability to produce data under supervision.
- Use critical analysis, evaluation and be able to synthesise new and complex ideas.
- Competently explain the outcome of their research and value thereof to colleagues.
Criteria used to assess applications for Early Career Grants
- Early career status.
- Validity of the research question.
- Quality of the project design and methodology.
- Feasibility of delivering the project outcomes.
- Accuracy and reasonableness of the budget.
- Impact of research project.
- Value for money.
For more information on how to apply, check:
https://www.rstmh.org/2025-early-career-grants-programme-terms-and-conditions
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