There are millions of pounds to be won in competitive R&D funding competitions.

Describing your project, team, and potential market in the clearest, most concise way is vital to securing R&D funding. Knowing your funder and understanding more about the way assessors score you throughout this process is also vital to your success.

This Masterclass, delivered as part of the FWD Project, covers the intricacies of bid writing and applications and shares general hints, tips, and hacks to guarantee funding success.

Drawing on his 30 years of experience of successful national and international bid writer, Kevin Brooks will be leading this session, offering also an opportunity for a 1-to-1 session with him afterwards .With limited space available, this will be on a first come, first serve basis.

How will this masterclass be delivered?

• Short bursts of lecture content.

• Q&A pitstops to consolidate learning.

• Potential for a 1-to-1 with Kevin Brooks afterwards.

What content will be covered?

• Know your funder – we will explore the background and motivations of Innovate UK, SBRI (Healthcare and DASA), and the NHS Innovation Accelerator. This includes who these funders are (what makes them tick), exploring their grant offers and what they are looking for in a fundable project (true innovation, a great team to deliver it, a complete understanding of the market/competitors, understanding of the project delivery risks and mitigations, a clear demonstration of potential impact and value for money, etc)

• Explore the Innovate UK Smart Grants.

• NIHR as part of a range of grant responses

• Know your assessor – explore the profile of an assessor taking into consideration key factors impacting their decision-making/scoring

• Hints tips and hacks for writing a bid including identifying key requirements, drafting a framework, and readability test via a second pair of eyes review

Who should attend:

Organisations from the Health and Well-being Sector – SME start-ups and scale-ups / Directors, Founders, and company grant writers/anyone wanting to explore the R&D grant landscape and wanting to develop their grant writing skills.

The benefits of attending include clarity around the subject / an understanding of some key R&D funding opportunities/ individual exploration of the pathway forward.

To join this free session, you must be a FWD Project Member or a member of the Innovation Centre.

Please email innovation-centre@bath.ac.uk to submit an expression of interest if you are a member of the Innovation Centre.