SINAPSE (Scottish Imaging Network: A Platform for Scientific Excellence) and SULSA (Scottish Universities Life Sciences Alliance) wish to support access to Scottish facilities and support research projects within the RS Macdonald scope of neurological conditions, disease of the visual system, spinal cord injury and stroke.

Applicants are invited to apply for up to £10,000 for research projects within the scope, we will fund between 8-10 applications.

Applications must be led by a SULSA/SINAPSE member university/institute but can include co-applicants from across the UK and internationally. We encourage technical staff to be considered as co-applicants for SULSA relevant projects.

On application you have the option to indicate which Research Pool (SINAPSE or SULSA) is best placed to review your application. SULSA covers life and health sciences and SINAPSE medical imaging and clinical research. If you are unsure, you can select that option or get in touch. The eligibility differs slightly depending on the Research Pool you are aligned to, please read carefully below.

SULSA Applications:

• The lead applicant can be:
  • Postgraduate student
  • Postdoctoral researcher/fellow
  • Research assistants or teaching fellows if they are actively pursuing an independent academic career trajectory
  • Early-stage PIs/research fellows (categorised as those who have received less than £100,000 in research grant funding (fellowships that only cover salary costs are not included in our definition of a research grant)
  • See SULSA’s Eligibility Key for more information

• The lead applicant must be employed by a SULSA university or institute.
• Applicants can be from any discipline. Multidisciplinary collaborations are encouraged.
• Applicants will ideally have a minimum of 12 months remaining on their contract (applicants with less than 12 months will be considered but must provide a letter from their PI/manager that evidences how you will complete the project in a shorter time period).
• Applicants must have at least one collaborator on their project as co-applicant, these can include:
  • Facility technical staff (Strongly recommended).
  • Scotland, rUK or international-based researchers.
  • Industry (an in-kind or cash match contribution will be encouraged).

SINAPSE Applications:

• The lead applicant can be:
  • Postgraduate student
  • Postdoctoral researcher
  • Research assistant
  • NHS employee
  • Healthcare scientist
  • Junior clinical academic
  • Teaching fellow actively pursuing an independent academic career trajectory
• The lead applicant must be employed by a SINAPSE university or an associated NHS health board in Scotland.
• Applicants can be from any discipline. Multidisciplinary collaborations are encouraged.
• Applicants will ideally have a minimum of 12 months remaining on their contract (applicants with less than 12 months will be considered but must provide a letter from their PI/manager that evidences how you will complete the project in a shorter time period)
• Applicants must have at least one collaborator on their project as co-applicant, these can include:
  • Scotland, rUK or international-based researchers.
  • Healthcare professionals.
  • Facility technical staff.
  • Industry (an in-kind or cash match contribution will be encouraged).

SULSA Members:

SINAPSE Members:

• A Scotland-based research facility must be listed on the application.
• The project must be in the areas of neurological conditions, disease of the visual system, spinal cord injury and stroke.
• Funding can be used for the following:
  • Facilities access including use of hardware and software and technical support and expertise.
  • Consumables.
  • Travel costs to the facility.
  • Shipment costs for samples if experiments being carried out remotely.
• Funding cannot be used for the following
  • Salaries
  • Purchasing of equipment.
  • Attendance at events or conferences.
• Projects must have defined milestones.
• Projects must be completed within 12 months of being awarded, or (if less) the duration of the applicant’s contract at their host institution.
• Where appropriate applicants must have their application signed by their PI or professional mentor to demonstrate their support.
• Successful applicants will acknowledge RS Macdonald and SULSA or SINAPSE in any dissemination of outcomes.
• Successful applicants will present their work and findings to the SULSA AGM and/or the SINAPSE Annual Scientific Meeting.
• Applicants will submit reports to SULSA, SINAPSE and RS Macdonald and agree to their work being highlighted on our communications channels.

Assessment Criteria
Projects will be judged by the following criteria:

• Scientific merit.
• The impact of the research outputs.
• The feasibility of the project, including relevant use of facilities expertise.
• The benefit to Scottish research in the field of neurological conditions, disease of the visual system, spinal cord injury and stroke.
• Potential to leverage further funding.
• Career development impact for applicants.

Key Dates

• Call Opens: 23rd September 2024
• Information Session: 1st October 2024
• Application Deadline: 16th December 2024

Notification of Outcome
Applicants will be notified of the outcome by email by 3rd February 2025.

Payment of Funds
If successful, funds will be transferred to the institution of the lead applicant. Funds must be spent by 28th February 2026.

Awardee Reporting
You must provide our administration team with project updates and outcomes when requested for reporting purposes. You will receive a survey to complete 3-months post-project completion and 1-year post-project completion. If this project leads to a published article, or leverages grant funding, please contact our administration team to make them aware.

After awarding we will circulate a demographic survey to all applicants of this funding call. The information is collected anonymously and is used internally by us to understand the diversity of our applicants and identify areas for improvement. This information will not be shared with reviewers and will be held in accordance with our privacy policy.

Download a copy of the RS Macdonald Guidelines 2024

Download the Information Session Slides for this session. 

Q – Can the collaborator be a part of the same university, but within another lab? And can people apply for funds to access facilities at their own institute?

Yes but we encourage you to have collaborators from different universities/research institutes in Scotland, if relevant to your proposal.

Q – Can the project be on fundamental science at the cellular level i.e., involve imaging on murine models using2 photon microscopy, imaging neuronal cells instead of whole brain imaging or using iPSCs?

Yes, SULSA projects will likely be bench-based projects which study the diseases within the RS MacDonald scope but at the fundamental, understanding disease level using cell lines, animal models etc.

Q – Can I apply for the funding to access a polyomics or University based sequencing facility to perform RNA sequencing or other non-image based techniques?

Yes, facilities do not need to be imaging facilities and can be a facility for any (relevant) technology that supports your research project. The facility does need to be based in Scotland.

Q – Does collaboration with NHS colleague within the same city count as an ‘external collaboration’ or do you prefer collaborations between centres based in different cities in Scotland?

Collaborations with centres in different cities will be viewed preferably. However, the project’s case will be strengthened if it can be clearly argued that the project has strong scientific merit and the ‘within-city’ relationship is a new one and/or includes a collaboration with a new partner or discipline.

Application Deadline: 5pm on 16th December 2024.

How to Apply: Please submit your completed RS Macdonald Application Form 2024 via e-mail (all files merged into a single PDF) by the above deadline to:

SULSA Applications: jill.inkster@glasgow.ac.uk 
SINAPSE Applications: katerina.pappa@glasgow.ac.uk

Eligibility Enquiries: Alison.McIntosh@glasgow.ac.uk

SULSA All Other Enquiries: Jill.Inkster@glasgow.co.uk

SINAPSE All Other Enquiries: katerina.pappa@glasgow.ac.uk