Research funding opportunities
Help us to Save Sight. Change Lives.
The awards we make are guided by our research strategy, which focuses on four key areas:
- Understanding
- Preventing
- Diagnosing
- Treating eye disease
We’ll work with you from your application through to publishing your research and then communicating it widely.
Let's unlock the future of vision research, today.
All grants are assessed by our Research Grant Assessment Panel, who make recommendations to the Social Impact and Scientific Research (SISR) Committee.
Successful applications are awarded in line with our terms and conditions.
Download our terms and conditions as a PDF
Download our terms and conditions as a word document
Ready to apply?
Applications must be submitted via our online grant application system.
Research funding schemes
Follow the links below to find the grants that best suit your needs:
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Project Grants
Who? For those proposing hypothesis driven clinical or non-clinical stand-alone research projects that aim to address sight loss caused by any eye condition.
How much? Up to £250,000 for up to three years.
When? The scheme is now closed.
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PhD Studentships
Who? For supervisors proposing a PhD programme with the aim to encourage the development of talented, highly motivated graduates in ophthalmic and vision research.
How much? Up to £135,000 (outside London) and £143,000 (in London) for up to four years.
When? The scheme is now closed.
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Zakarian Awards
Who? For members of The Royal College of Ophthalmologists to gain experience and undertake ophthalmic and vision research, which could lead onto further research opportunities.
Zakarian Award applications can align with any of our research strategy themes (understanding, prevention, diagnosis or treatment), or the additional two themes:
- Habilitation: Enabling people with established eye disease to live well with vision loss
- Health services or policy research: Improving or innovating services and policies
How much? Up to £25,000 for up to one year.
When? The scheme is now closed.
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Small Grants
Who? For applicants to collect preliminary/pilot data to make research ideas more competitive when developing larger, follow-on funding applications in vision research.
How much? Up to £15,000 for up to one year.
When? The scheme is now closed.
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MRC / F4S Clinical Research Training Fellowship
Who? Open to clinically qualified professionals, active in the field of ophthalmology requiring registration for a research degree, usually a PhD.
How much? Funding for 100% justified costs for three years.
When? This Medical Research Council-run funding competition is held three times a year with applications invited from February, July and October.
Medical Research Council / Fight for Sight Clinical Research Training Fellowship
Any questions?
You can contact our scientific research team with your questions or for support by email.
Additional information
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Animals in researchAnimals in research
As a member of the Association of Medical Research Charities (AMRC) Fight for Sight supports the principle of using animals in research. We believe it is an important part of the research process to advance our understanding of eye conditions and to develop treatments but should only be used where there is no alternative.
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Conflict of interest policyConflict of interest policy
Fight for Sight makes every effort to ensure that its decisions are fair, impartial and transparent. It has a conflict of interest policy affecting external reviewers and the Research Grants Assessment Panel (RGAP).
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National Institute for Health Research SupportNational Institute for Health Research Support
Fight for Sight is a National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) non-commercial Partner. This means the studies that we fund may be eligible to access NIHR Clinical Research Network (CRN) support.