From the archive: Finding the balance as a new investigator

Demonstrating you have hit the mid-career sweet spot is vital for success in MRC scheme

The Medical Research Council’s New Investigator Research Grants are its flagship programme to propel mid-career researchers into the status of principal investigator. All four of the MRC boards that take in new investigator proposals opened their latest calls earlier this month, with deadlines in January. There is no upper limit on funding and the council says that the full economic cost of a project (of which it will fund 80 per cent) is usually up to £1.2 million. Grants usually last for three years.

Alongside a plan for an excellent research project, applicants to the scheme need to show they are in the mid-career sweet spot, as 2018 grant-winner Tim Salomons told us. He applied to the neuroscience and mental health board, and the deadline for that call is 26 January.