Latest awards
Find out the results of our latest grants rounds and what we're funding.
Visit our research grants page to find out about our current funding calls.
We are delighted to announce the results of our first hybrid research grants round of 2022. We invited predominantly fellowship and studentship applications to give as many new researchers as possible the opportunity to start or take the next step in their kidney research career. We also welcomed applications for research project and start-up awards to support researchers who required support to take their research idea forward.
In this round we secured additional funding in the form of an extremely generous gift of £500,000 from the Thompson family, a partnership with Kidney Wales to support two PhD Studentships, and a partnership with Kidney Research Yorkshire to support two research projects.
The themes were in line with the charity’s research strategy, and the allocation of funding continued our improved governance, through a two-stage application process, followed by scientific and lay peer review of full applications.
We received 59 expressions of interest and following strategic panel assessment 53 were invited for full applications. Of those, thirteen research projects were discussed, and three Start-up projects were scored at the first panel meeting on 27 September. At the second panel meeting on 13 October, ten interviews were held, and thirteen PhD Studentships were scored.
Following discussion, the recommendation was to make 14 awards:
- 1 Intermediate fellowship
- 2 Senior fellowships
- 1 Training fellowship
- 5 PhD studentships
- 4 Research project grants
- 1 Start-up grant
This recommendation was subsequently endorsed by our board of trustees. These awards were made in November 2022.
- Total awarded: £2.504M
- Overall success rate: 26%
Details of the awards made:
Fellowships:
Dr Killian Donovan, University of Oxford
£252k over 36 months
Title: Genetic influences on the progression of chronic kidney disease
Dr Katie Mylonas, University of Edinburgh
£316k over 36 months
Title: Targeting senescent cells in kidney disease, heart disease and diabetes
Dr Abigail Lay, University of Manchester
£253k over 36 months
Title: Defining the causal, mechanistic, role of altered DNA methylation in diabetic kidney disease
Dr Barbara Tanos, Imperial College London
£336k over 36 months
Title: Investigating the role of cilia in the regulation of cellular metabolism in polycystic kidney disease
PhD Studentships
Dr Stephen McAdoo, Imperial College London
£87k over 36 months
Title: Peptide immunotherapy for immune-mediated kidney disease
Professor Kourosh Saeb-Parsy, University of Cambridge
£94k over 42 months
Title: Human renal tubular organoids for polycystic kidney disease modelling and drug screening
Dr Claudio Capelli, University College London
£81k over 36 months
Title: Innovating central venous lines to improve haemodialysis in children: a multidisciplinary, data-driven approach to understand current problems, design and test novel solutions
Dr Soma Meran, Cardiff University
£75k over 36 months
Title: Investigating novel mechanisms that drive cardiovascular disease in kidney patients: the relationship between systemic inflammation, alterations in Hyaluronan matrix and vascular calcification in arteries.
Professor Ian Humphreys, Cardiff University
£75k over 36 months
Title: Investigating nutritional amino acid regulation of antiviral immunity in kidney transplant patients
Research projects
Dr Donald Ward, University of Manchester
£245k over 36 months
Title: Calcium-sensing receptor as the phosphate sensor in secondary hyperparathyroidism
Professor Andrew MacDonald, University of Leeds
£233k over 36 months
Title: Why is CFTR required for the multiplication of BK polyomavirus in kidney cells?
Professor Colin A Johnson, University of Leeds
£246k over 36 months
Title: Developing splice-switching oligonucleotides as therapeutics for CEP290-related renal ciliopathies in organoid models
Professor Steven Sacks, Kings College London
£190k over 24 months
Title: A novel approach to protecting transplanted kidneys
Start-ups
Dr Jessica Kepple, University of Oxford
£39k over 24 months
Title: Investigating the role of TMEM260 in renal development and disease
In partnership with the PKD Charity we delighted to hold our first dedicated Polycystic Kidney Disease grants round this year, and to now announce the results of our joint competition.
The allocation of this funding followed our normal two-stage governance process and included representatives from the PKD Charity.
We received 14 expressions of interest (9 project, 3 innovation and 2 PhD studentships) and following strategic panel assessment 10 invitations were made for full applications (8 project, 1 innovation and 1 PhD Studentship) and of those, 5 applications (4 project and 1 PhD Studentship), were discussed at the panel meeting on Thursday 10th February 2022.
The theme for this round sought applications that would address one of the top priorities form the James Lind Alliance Priority Setting Partnership for Autosomal Dominant Polycystic Kidney Disease (ADPKD) and applications that addressed similar priorities in Auto Recessive PKD (ARPKD).
Following discussion, the recommendation was to make 3 awards (2 project and 1 PhD Studentship). This recommendation was subsequently endorsed by both our Board of Trustees and the Trustees of the PKD Charity. These awards were made in March 2022.
- Total awarded: £537,376
- Overall success rate: 30%
Details of the awards made:
Research project awards:
Professor Colin Anfimov Johnson, University of Leeds
£223,237.49 over 36 months
Title: Pre-clinical testing of ROCK2 inhibition as a new therapeutic treatment for cystic kidney diseases
Lay title: Pre-clinical testing of ROCK2 inhibition as a new therapeutic treatment for cystic kidney diseases
Professor Albert Ong, University of Sheffield
£230,164.00 over 36 months
Title: Cytoskeletal dysregulation as a key driver of cyst initiation in ADPKD: identifying novel therapeutic targets and pathways
Lay title: Do changes in the actin skeleton lead to cyst formation in ADPKD?
PhD Studentship award
Dr Joe Cockburn, University of Leeds
£83,974.05 over 42 months
Title: Developing small molecule treatments and improved genetic counselling for ARPKD by understanding the molecular pathogenesis of PKHD1 mutations
Lay title: Developing treatments and improved genetic counselling for ARPKD
We are delighted to announce the results of the 2021/2022 Paediatric grants round competition.
The allocation of this funding continued our improved governance through a two-stage process, followed by scientific and lay peer review of full applications.
We were delighted that this round was made possible in this year by the generous support of The Stoneygate Trust and therefore any risk of being delayed whilst charity income recovered from the impact of the pandemic was averted.
We received 15 expressions of interest (10 project and 5 innovation) and following strategic panel assessment all were invited to full application. Nine applications (5 project and 4 innovation) were discussed at the panel meeting on Thursday 10 March 2022.
Following discussion, the recommendation was to make 5 awards (4 project and 1 innovation). This recommendation was subsequently endorsed by our Board of Trustees. These awards were made in March 2022.
- Total awarded: £631,183
- Overall success rate: 33.33%
Details of the awards made:
Research project awards:
Professor David Long, UCL Institute of Child Health
£233,141.96 over 24 months
Title: Profiling and reversing the cellular and molecular changes to the childhood urinary tract caused by posterior urethral valves
Lay title: Studying and reversing bladder blockage in children to protect their kidneys
Professor Moin Saleem, University of Bristol
£109,894.19 over 24 months
Title: Applying Machine Learning To Nephrotic Syndrome Datasets From UK And Internationally, For Discovery Of Mechanistic Drivers Of Disease
Lay title: The use of computer aided learning programs on big datasets derived from blood and DNA of patients with Nephrotic Syndrome, to discover causes and predict response to treatments
Dr Pelagia Koufaki, Queen Margaret University
£121,602.89 over 24 months
Title: Co-design, development and evaluation of the KIDNEY BEAM-KIDS platform for paediatric kidney transplant recipients: a feasibility study
Lay title: The development and testing of the KIDNEY BEAM-KIDS digital platform for children after kidney transplantation
Professor Rukshana Shroff, Great Ormond Street Hospital NHS Trust
£129,592.81 over 24 months
Title: Development of effective resources for dietary phosphate education for children and young people with chronic kidney disease: hearing the patient voice
Lay title: Understanding the knowledge, challenges, and priorities of children with chronic kidney disease and their families in relation to dietary phosphate control in order to create improved educational material
Innovation awards
Dr Carl May, University of Bristol
£36,950.99 over 6 months
Title: Investigating PZ-128 as a novel treatment for nephrotic syndrome and diabetic nephropathy
Lay title: Investigating a new treatment for nephrotic syndrome and diabetic nephropathy using a novel drug already in clinical trials for the treatment of coronary artery disease.
We are delighted to announce the results of our fifth grants round in partnership with the Stoneygate Trust.
The allocation of this funding continued our improved governance through a two-stage process, followed by scientific and lay peer review of full applications.
We received 22 expressions of interest (17 project and 5 innovation) and following strategic panel assessment 12 invitations were made for full applications (7 project and 5 innovation) and of those 8 applications (5 project and 3 innovation) were discussed at the panel meeting on Friday 25th March 2022.
The theme for this round was focused on transforming treatments.
Following discussion, the recommendation was to make 3 awards (1 project and 2 innovation). This recommendation was subsequently endorsed by our Board of Trustees. These awards were made in March 2022.
- Total awarded: £333,100
- Overall success rate: 25%
Details of the awards made:
Research project awards:
Professor Alan Salama, University College London (UCL)
£233,361.31 over 36 months
Title: Investigating the impact of kidney failure on B cell responses and manipulating them to improve vaccination efficacy and attenuate infections
Lay title: Understanding the impact of kidney failure on protective antibody responses after vaccination
Innovation awards
Dr Rhys Evans, University College London (UCL)
£49,984.69 over 24 months
Title: Investigating the impact of sodium on alloimmune responses in kidney transplant recipients
Lay title: Investigating how salt affects the immune system of kidney transplant recipients
Dr Bettina Wilm, University of Liverpool
£49,753.67 over 24 months
Title: Utilising point-of-care technology for the identification of haemolysis-induced Acute Kidney Injury following open surgery on the thoracoabdominal aorta.
Lay title: How well can a medical device measure levels of red blood cell damage after major blood vessel surgery, and how do these levels relate to kidney injury?
We are delighted to announce the results of the 2021/2022 competition.
The allocation of this funding continued our improved governance through a two-stage process, followed by scientific and lay peer review of full applications.
We received 58 expressions of interest (forty project and eighteen innovation) and following strategic panel assessment 48 invitations were made for full applications (thirty-five project and thirteen innovation) and of those 29 applications (twenty-one project and eight innovation) were discussed at the panel meeting on 15 October 2021.
The themes for this round were in line with the charity’s research strategy.
Following discussion, the recommendation was to make five awards (three project and two innovation). This recommendation was subsequently endorsed by our Board of Trustees. These awards were made in November 2021.
Fortunately, through securing additional funding from the Government’s COVID Medical Research Charity Support Fund (BEIS), we were able to make an additional two research project awards. This recommendation was subsequently endorsed by our Board of Trustees. These awards were made in January 2022.
- Total awarded: £1,024,903.19
- Overall success rate: 14.58%
Details of the awards made:
Research project awards:
Professor Giovanna Lombardi, Kings College London
£186,808.19 over 24 months
Title: Engineering regulatory T cells (Tregs) to modulate kidney injury and prevent renal fibrosis
Lay title: Designing and manufacturing regulatory immune cells to reduce kidney injury and prevent kidney scarring
Dr Eddie Chung Yern Wang, Cardiff University
£209,986.00 over 30 months
Title: Identifying risk factors in kidney transplant patients for disease caused by human cytomegalovirus infection
Lay title: Identifying genetic combinations of Human Cytomegalovirus (HCMV) and Natural Killer cells in transplant patients that lead to uncontrolled HCMV disease
Prof. John Sayer, University of Newcastle
£224,759.25 over 36 months
Title: Small molecule drug treatments for the inherited kidney disease nephronophthisis: disease mechanisms and potential therapeutics
Lay title: Investigating potential treatments for childhood cystic kidney disease
Innovation awards:
Dr Jessica Ivy, Edinburgh University
£39,492.95 over 12 months
Title: Defining the effect of glucocorticoids on the renal artery circadian transcriptome
Lay title: How stress hormones change the daily rhythms of genes in the kidney arteries
Dr Stephen McAdoo, Imperial College London
£40,000.00 over 24 months
Title: Targeted Nanomedicines for the treatment of Glomerulonephritis
Lay title: Nanomedicines for the Treatment of Kidney Disease
Additional funding
Research project awards:
Dr Simon Fraser, University of Southampton
£123,856.80 over 36 months
Title: Determinants, trajectory and impact of health-related quality of life in adults with CKD; The NURTuRE (National Unified Renal Translational Research Enterprise)-CKD HRQoL Study
Lay title: Understanding health-related quality of life and its impact among people with chronic kidney disease
Professor David Kavanagh, University of Newcastle
£200,000.00 over 24 months
Title: A pathological classification of thrombotic microangiopathies and atypical haemolytic uraemic syndrome (aHUS) for the Complement Therapeutic Era
Lay title: Using the kidney biopsy to personalise management of atypical haemolytic uraemic syndrome
Following our disappointing but necessary decision to cancel our March 2020 interviews due to the impact of the pandemic on the charity, we were delighted to reinstate fellowship interviews in March 2021 for shortlisted candidates who still wished to be considered for a fellowship. Six mid-level fellowship applicants were interviewed.
The panel recommended three fellowship awards: two training fellowships and one intermediate fellowship. This decision was subsequently endorsed by our Board of Trustees. One training fellowship was awarded as a Stoneygate Fellowship and received partnership funding with Health Education Improvement Wales, Wales Clinical Academic Track (WCAF) scheme.
- Total awarded: £520,678
- Success rate (Fellowships): 8.6%
Details of the awards made:
Dr Elizabeth Wan, University college London
£281,424.20 over 36 months
Title: Genetic and Phenomic Aspects of SLC12A3 Biology in Health and Disease
Lay title: The Kidney Salt Transporter SLC12A3 in health and disease
Dr Richard Naylor, University of Manchester
£209,254.80 over 36 months
Title: Elucidating the mechanisms by which extracellular matrix contributes to kidney cystogenesis
Lay title: How do kidney cysts form?
Dr Farah Latif, Cardiff University
Farah’s work is funded by a Fellowship award in partnership with The Stoneygate Trust for £30,000 and supported by a £172,836 contribution from the Wales Clinical Academic Track programme from Health Education and Improvement Wales over 36 months
Title: Cytokine immune regulation in cytomegalovirus-infected kidney transplant patients
Lay title: Understanding how the coordination of immune responses to cytomegalovirus influences the health of kidney transplant recipients
How to apply for a research grant
Applying for a grant can sometimes be confusing and difficult. We have tried to make our application process as easy as possible.
Follow our simple instructions on how to make your application, use our online grants management system and how to make your application as successful as possible.