A translational grant is a type of funding designed to develop academic research projects through innovation milestones towards practical interventions, treatments or technologies that can benefit people and society.

The Translational Research Office’s (TRO) main purpose is to help King’s researchers explore new applications for their research in real-world settings, by securing translational grants.

Before you apply for translational grants, you will create a development plan with your TRO manager that covers:

• Long term goals
• Target product profile
• Clinical needs and where in the clinical pathway your innovation fits
• The market and competitor technologies
• Regulatory requirements
• Patient and other stakeholder perspectives
• A roadmap of the steps you’re going to take to reach your long-term goals.

In general, translational grants can be grouped by development stages equivalent to Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs):

Basic Research (TRLs 1-2)

You start to identify possible therapeutic interventions in your academic research that have a potential for translation to real-world situations.

Proof of concept (TRLs 3-4)

Next you need to gather proof-of-concept evidence to show that a treatment or technology works in the laboratory, in vitro and in vivo.

Pre-Clinical Studies (TRL 5)

Pre-clinical studies investigate therapies before human testing, there are a wide range of funds that we can help you apply to.

Clinical Trials (TRLs 6-8)

Like the previous stage, there are multiple translational grants to fund clinical trials that progressively test safety and efficiency on people. Our managers may also refer you to a colleague working in industry research partnerships to explore industry-backed support as well.

If you’re a researcher based at King’s, we recommend that you follow these steps to find a translational grant (links internal only):

1. Check for upcoming training events by the Translational Academy, our training series introduces you to the fundamentals of translational research and commercialisation at King’s
2. Contact innovation@kcl.ac.uk to set up a 1:1 meeting with a Translational Research Manager to and create development plan identify the best grants for your research
3. Define your development plan with your Translational Research Manager, who can also signpost you to useful resources and potential collaborators.
4. Apply for a translational grant based on the development plan co-created with your Translational Research Manager.

There are a wide range of translational grants available, with new grants being launched all the time. Our Translational Research Managers can help identify the best grant for you and support your application.

Here are some examples of external grants, with a rough guide to their TRL:

Medical Research Council’s Impact Acceleration Account (IAA) (TRL 2-3)

This funding ensures that fundamental science is translated into new therapies, diagnostics and medical devices. It supports the transition from discovery science to the early stages of therapeutic and biomarker development and rapidly de-risk projects. This award is available as internal funding managed by Research Development within Research Management & Innovation Directorate. The Translational Research Office can help you with writing your application.

National Institute for Health and Care Research’s Invention for Innovation (i4i) (TRL 3+)

The NIHR Invention for Innovation (i4i) Programme is a translational research funding scheme aimed at medical devices, in vitro diagnostic devices and digital health technologies addressing an existing or emerging health or social care need. They fund innovations that have demonstrated proof-of-concept and have a clear pathway towards adoption and

The LifeArc Philanthropic Fund (TRL 3-5)

LifeArc is an independent, self-funded charity that provides grants and funding to academic researchers working to advance new treatments and diagnostics for rare diseases. Their funding goes to discoveries and technologies that have, or will have, intellectual property to secure the route to patient.

Medical Research Council’s Development Pathway Gap Fund (DPGF) (TRL 3-5)

This fund helps to generate critical preliminary data to build confidence in the development strategy for a new medicine, repurposed medicine, medical device, diagnostic test, or other medical intervention development. You should have your product idea and be ready to produce the critical preliminary data for continued product development.

Medical Research Council’s Development Pathway Funding Scheme (DPFS) (TRL 3-6)

This is the Medical Research Council’s core translational research scheme that supports individual projects at any point along the translational pathway from initial development, through pre-clinical and clinical refinement to early phase clinical trials. All disease areas are eligible for this scheme. Any innovative solution that aims to improve the prevention, diagnosis, prognosis or treatment of significant health needs can apply.