At Southampton Hospitals Charity, our vision is for Southampton to be a city of good health, enabled by outstanding medical care and innovative, world-leading research.
Research is at the heart of our mission to improve the health of our community. By funding groundbreaking research studies, we empower clinical and academic researchers to advance understanding and treatment across a wide range of conditions and specialities – all with the aim of changing and saving lives.
The research we fund doesn’t just advance knowledge and understanding, it improves care, treatment, and outcomes for patients.
Our research grants programme will re-open in the new year 2026. You can start to prepare your expression of interest using the application questions here.
Please note, we may publish priorities or specific callouts for research funding, so please check that your project aligns with our latest research priorities before submitting your application.
The maximum grant size is £100,000, but we do not anticipate funding many projects at that level. We may need to specifically fundraise for your project, which could take up to nine months. We therefore ask that you only apply if you can wait up to a year for your project to begin.
Criteria and Eligibility
We aim to fund bold & innovative funding that supports the advancement of knowledge and treatments. Our grant priorities are:
- Medical research – funding comprehensive health research that develops new treatments and cures
- Seed funding – Supporting pilot studies or smaller projects to attract larger grants from major funders
- Practice-based research – Enabling clinicians to conduct practical, evidence-based research within hospital settings to improve patient care and treatment
- Bridge Funding – Ensuring projects continue during funding gaps, with short-term, smaller grants
We encourage applications from all staff groups, departments, and services. This round of funding is to support research projects from University Hospital Southampton and University of Southampton.
Application Process
All initial applications must be submitted via Southampton Hospitals Charity’s grants portal. If you have difficulty using the system, please contact our grants team on grants@southamptonhospitalscharity.org or 023 8120 8881 to discuss alternative application methods.