Partnership Funding

The BHF works together with other national and international funders to support innovative cardiovascular research.

The BHF’s Research Strategy includes an objective of forging new partnerships in research, by strengthening scientific collaborations across borders and disciplines. We work with national and international partners where collaborative funding adds value to the BHF’s investment in cardiovascular research. Partnership funding is normally only suitable for high value awards, across the spectrum of our funding schemes. Some of the major funders we work with in partnership are listed below.

International Cardiovascular Research Partnership Awards

The BHF runs a joint funding scheme in partnership with the German Centre for Cardiovascular Research (DZHK), the Dutch Heart Foundation (DHF) and the Lefoulon-Delalande Foundation (LDF) to support innovative collaborative research projects where the cross-national dimension enables work of higher impact than can be carried out nationally.

View more information about this scheme and a list of previous awards.

Clinical Study Grants through the NIHR HTA Programme and the NIHR/MRC EME programme

The BHF funds clinical trials in partnership through the NIHR Health Technology Assessment Programme and the NIHR/EME Efficacy and Mechanism Evaluation Programme. Co-funding is on an ad hoc basis for studies that fulfil the remit of the BHF.

View examples of joint BHF-NIHR clinical study awards.

Joint funding for research involving diabetes and cardiovascular disease with Diabetes UK

Recognising the importance of diabetes to cardiovascular disease, BHF and Diabetes UK are prepared to consider joint funding for substantial research projects where there is a clear link to both diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

View more information about this scheme and examples of joint BHF-Diabetes UK awards.

Joint funding with MRC

The BHF has funded multiple joint-funded awards with the MRC to support large scale studies or strategic research infrastructure, where there is a clear benefit to the cardiovascular research community.

View examples of joint BHF-MRC awards.

Joint funding with the British Israel Research Academic Exchange

The BIRAX partnership supports ongoing research in the UK and Israel to tackle some of the world's leading health issues, including cardiovascular disease.

View more information about this scheme and examples of BHF-BIRAX awards.

Other funders

The BHF has also funded ad hoc studies with other charitable funders, where the planned research overlaps with the BHF’s remit.

View examples of awards we have joint-funded with other charitable organisations.

Consortium funding

The BHF contributes to multiple research consortiums with other funding partners where we can add value to the overall national or international research landscape. Examples of the types of partnership that we currently invest in include:

View examples of consortium awards we have made.

Other joint funding schemes supported by the BHF

In addition to these partnership funding opportunities, the BHF has a number of joint-funding schemes across various grant types and research themes. These include:

Further information and principles for considering partnership funding applications

If you consider your research to be suitable for partnership funding with another funder, please contact us in advance of submitting your application.

Please bear in mind that funders have different processes and timelines – you should approach us as early as possible in developing your research proposal so that we may consider if it is appropriate for partnership funding and explore which funders may be suitable partners. For clarity, partnership funding is only suitable for substantial awards, such as Programme level grants, Clinical Studies, Special Projects and Intermediate/Senior Fellowships.

If you are interested in any of the above opportunities to develop partnership funding, or to enquire about other opportunities, please contact us at [email protected], with the following information:

1. The type of partnership and grant you are interested in applying for
2. A short CV of the proposed Principal Investigator
3. A short summary of the proposed research (no more than 1 side of A4)
4. An approximate estimate of the resources required and overall cost of the proposal.

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