Gordon Aikman Scholarship

Projects must identify a current need experienced by people affected by MND (including carers), and the solution you propose should enhance quality of life or care for them. The scope is intentionally broad, and we welcome proposals from any specialism that can achieve this aim.

We recognise that the problem may already have a solution, which perhaps needs to be made more broadly available within Scotland. So, projects that are aimed at delivering existing solutions Scotland-wide are also welcomed.

MND Scotland and the Scottish Government are making available up to £50,000 to fund one or more scholarships to start in 2025.

Funding can be used for salary (including appointment of a replacement) or pay for other costs necessary to deliver the project (such as research consumables, associated travel, specialist services), for the lead applicant and/or members of their supporting team.

All funding should be used to directly deliver the project – we do not cover the cost of organisational overheads.

Projects can vary in duration from 6 months to 2 years. You should start your project within 6 months of the award letter date. You will be asked to indicate likely start and end dates on the application.

Clinical researchers, healthcare workers and allied health professionals in Scotland can apply. This would include, but is not limited to, doctors, specialist MND nurses, speech and language therapists, respiratory physiotherapists, palliative care therapists, occupational therapists, physiotherapists, dieticians and pharmacists.

Applications should be submitted by the lead applicant, who must be working in Scotland, but we expect them to be supported by a small team of professionals focused on delivering the project.

Team members can be from other areas (specialisms or geographic) and we encourage a multi-disciplinary and/or geographically broad approach. We encourage you to contact your health board research and innovation (R&I) department as they may be able to provide help or support, particularly if your project will need Ethics Approval.

The application process will take place in two stages.

Stage 1 – You will need to provide a short outline of your idea. It should identify the issue you wish to address and outline what you wish to do (e.g. undertake research to understand the issue better; create a solution; take an existing solution and make it widely available etc). You will also need to provide an estimate of the time your project will take and an estimate of how much money it will require.

Stage 2 – If your project is selected for a full proposal, we will require a more detailed application which will cover your proposed project in more depth, including a delivery timeline and detailed costings. We also expect to see details of the team that will support you and how they will contribute to the project and/or help enable you to deliver the work.

If, at stage 1, we identify more than one project that is focused on a similar issue, we may invite you to work with the other applicant to create a joint proposal that you will deliver together.

You may contact us prior to either your stage 1 or stage 2 application to discuss your idea or if you need assistance identifying supporting team members and we will try to suggest people and, if needed, make introductions. The email address to use is research@mndscotland.org.uk.

Once our review panel has assessed the applications, they will make recommendations to the MND Scotland Board of Trustees and the Scottish Government representatives, who will jointly make the final decision.