Our Objectives
The Kennedy Trust’s mission is to provide support for basic and translational research into musculoskeletal and related inflammatory diseases, where we can make a clear difference and where other funding is not easily available.
Our investment in research is not purely financial; we want our funding relationships to be built on open, ongoing dialogue with potential recipients around their ideas and scientific approach.
Our Funding Priorities
The Trust has, for many years, focused its funding on the work of the Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology at the University of Oxford.
In meeting its charitable objectives, the Trust supports both basic and translational research at the Institute in the form of Fellowships, doctoral studentships, Senior Investigator Awards and core funding to underpin central services and facilities.
Whilst we continue to support the Kennedy Institute, the Trust has expanded the scope of its funding beyond the Institute in recent years. Our priority is to focus on the funding of strong individuals, particularly early-stage researchers, working in the fields of musculoskeletal and related inflammatory diseases.
Our Application Process and Reviews
The Trust’s funding strategy is guided by its Research Committee, which comprises the following Trustee and non-Trustee members:
Professor Andy Cope (Chair)
Professor Philip Conaghan
Professor Dirk Elewaut
Professor Carl Goodyear
Professor Tracy Hussell
Professor Paul Lehner
Professor Carola Vinuesa
Professor of Rheumatology at King’s College London
Professor of Musculoskeletal Medicine at the University of Leeds
Professor of Medicine at Ghent University
Professor of Translational Immunology at the University of Glasgow
Professor of Inflammatory Disease at the University of Manchester
Professor of Immunology and Medicine at the University of Cambridge
Professor of Immunology at the Francis Crick Institute
Non-voting members:
Professor Sir Stephen Holgate
Mr Richard Punt
MRC Professor of Immunopharmacology at the University of Southampton
Professional services management consultant
Funding is provided through two distinct channels:
1) Long-term funding of the Kennedy Institute
An 8-year research funding strategy is agreed between the Director of the Institute and the Board of Trustees, with advice from the Research Committee. The Trust provides strategic funding for facilities, key posts (such as Senior Research Fellowships) and studentships.
The Institute is reviewed every four years by an External Advisory Board of independent scientists.
The most recent external review was carried out in November 2022 by Professors Tim Hardingham, Gitta Stockinger, Dylan Owen, Cornelia Weyand, and Ramnik Xavier.
The Institute is also assessed biennially by its own Scientific Advisory Board (SAB), which includes a Kennedy Trust representative who provides an independent report to our Board of Trustees.
2) Independent initiatives
We primarily establish our funding initiatives by identifying areas of need and issuing targeted calls for proposals.
The Trust appoints an independent Review Panel of expert scientists to assess applications for each initiative. Recommendations for funding are provided to the Board through the Research Committee.
We also respond to informal approaches from institutions and other funders for new funding initiatives. We do not consider personal applications.
Our Funding Initiatives
Our major funding initiatives now include a biennial Senior Research Fellowship award and an MB PhD scheme for aspiring clinician scientists.
We also support an arthritis therapy acceleration programme (A-TAP) between the Universities of Birmingham and Oxford, a scleroderma research programme at the University of Leeds and a three-year Daphne Jackson Trust fellowship designed to enable talented scientists and researchers to retrain and return to research after a career break.
Further information on all of our funding initiatives can be found below.
Global Talent Visa
The Kennedy Trust has been accepted by the UKRI to join the Government’s list of Endorsed Funders under the Global Talent Visa scheme. This endorsement enables all international researchers funded by Kennedy Trust grants to apply for a fast-tracked, Tier 1 Global Talent Visa. Further information can be found here.
National Institute for Health Research
The Kennedy Trust is a National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) non-commercial Partner. This means the studies that we fund may be eligible to access the NIHR Study Support Service which is provided by the NIHR Clinical Research Network. The NIHR Clinical Research Network can now support health and social care research taking place in non-NHS settings, such as studies running in care homes or hospices, or public health research taking place in schools and other community settings.
Read the full policy here.
