Acting as a pre-cursor to the Programme Grants for Applied Research (PGfAR) scheme, the sole purpose of the Programme Development Grant scheme is to increase the rate and number of successful applications by supporting applicants in the preparatory work required for a full PGfAR.

As a mechanism to address and rectify areas of perceived limitation in applying for a full PGfAR, this scheme aims to position and equip a research team in submitting a competitive application in the future (see study example), including but not limited to:

• selection or development of interventions or outcome measures
• pilot/feasibility studies, for example to determine recruitment and participation retention rates, inform sample size calculations, or optimise delivery of the intervention
• strengthening existing collaborations with methodological experts as necessary to deliver the proposed full programme.

Applicants must:

• Identify the fundamental limitations that need to be addressed before a full programme of research could be undertaken
• detail the necessary preparatory work, indicating how completion of this would eliminate any limitations and enable the research team to develop a credible PGfAR application
• describe the research to be undertaken should a PGfAR be awarded.

This scheme does not fund:

• basic science work underpinning a future programme of exploratory research
• stand alone projects of any type: all constituent projects must be solely designed to inform and strengthen a future full PGfAR application
• work to enhance future programmes at highly formative stages of development
• endeavours to formulate teams from initial conception.

Individual awards are for a maximum of £100k over a period of six to eighteen months. The amount of funding awarded, however, is determined by the scale and nature of the research activity to be conducted.