Rosetrees Trust grants: what they fund and how to apply

Funder Last checked 11 July 2026

Rosetrees Trust is a medical-research funder. It backs early-stage and translational research at UK universities, hospitals and research institutions, from Seedcorn awards up to £20,000 to Major Project grants up to £210,000; its invitation-only NEXT and Race Against Dementia team awards can reach £750,000. You apply through your host institution via Flexigrant, not as a general charity.

What Rosetrees Trust funds

Rosetrees funds medical and health research with the potential to improve the prevention, diagnosis or treatment of human disease. It has supported research since 1990 and is a member of the Association of Medical Research Charities. The Trust describes running around 300 projects at any time, across the full span of medical research, from early “out of the box” ideas through to more advanced translational work.

Its schemes include Seedcorn awards (early preliminary data), Major Project grants (translational research with proof of concept), the NEXT Award, Continuation awards, PhD Plus, and partnership rounds such as the Race Against Dementia Teams Award. This is not a fund for community projects, service delivery or general charitable running costs.

How much you can apply for

Amounts depend on the scheme. Seedcorn awards are up to £20,000, over 12 months for preclinical studies or 18 months for clinical studies. Major Project grants are up to £210,000 over three years, capped at £70,000 a year, and must include matched funding alongside the amount requested from Rosetrees. Funding covers salaries for non-tenured researchers, consumables, small equipment, animal costs and patient travel. It does not cover overheads, tenured staff salaries, large capital equipment, conference costs, tuition fees or technology-transfer fees. Two further schemes offer larger sums but are not general open calls: the NEXT Award and the Race Against Dementia Teams Award (run in partnership with Race Against Dementia) can each provide up to £750,000 over three to five years, with NEXT limited to one nominated application per host institution.

Who can apply

Applications come from researchers at UK institutions. For Seedcorn and Major Project grants, the principal applicant must confirm they will be employed at the host institution for the life of the project. Seedcorn welcomes first-time or more junior principal applicants, though an experienced co-applicant is recommended. Major Project applicants usually hold a tenured post or a salary for the grant’s duration, a PhD or equivalent, and a track record of managing grants. International researchers can apply if they will work at a UK institution for the project, and collaborators can be based anywhere in the world.

Deadlines and rounds

Rosetrees runs fixed rounds rather than accepting applications all year. Dates change annually. Re-checked on 11 July 2026, the Grant Schemes page still showed no open rounds for Seedcorn or Major Project. For reference, the recent Seedcorn round opened on 2 March 2026 and closed on 20 April 2026, and the Major Project round ran a preliminary stage to 19 January 2026 and a full-application stage to 5 May 2026. The NEXT Award and Race Against Dementia Teams Award run separate, invitation/institution-nominated rounds with their own dates and are not open to unsolicited applications. Always confirm current dates on the official Grant Schemes page before you plan a bid.

How to apply

All applications are made online through Flexigrant. If you do not have a Rosetrees Flexigrant account, register first; otherwise log in to your existing account. The principal investigator should be the lead applicant and invites co-applicants and collaborators onto the form. Read the scheme page and the general FAQs first, and contact the Trust only if you still need to check that your idea fits the remit.

Tips

  • Apply only if you have an eligible UK research host and a named principal investigator employed there for the project. This is a research funder, not a community grant.
  • For Major Project grants, line up your matched funding early — the application must include it, and any award is contingent on it being confirmed.
  • Justify every cost. Rosetrees asks applicants to request the minimum needed and warns that maximum requests need thorough justification.
  • Submit well before the deadline. The system will not accept late submissions, and the submit button only appears once all co-applicants have completed their sections.

Official source and last updated

Last updated: July 2026. Source: Rosetrees Trust — Grant Schemes. Always verify current schemes, amounts and deadlines on the Trust’s own site before applying.

Recent grants

[Recent grants render automatically from 360Giving data — do not hand-write.]

Similar funders

If you carry out medical or health research, you might also look at other Association of Medical Research Charities members such as the Wellcome Trust and the Academy of Medical Sciences (neither currently has a CharityIQ funder profile, so no internal link is given). If you are a small charity delivering services rather than research, these are unlikely to fit — try our Grant Finder instead.

Check if your charity is eligible for funders like this — CharityIQ’s free Grant Finder matches your charity to real, published UK funders and cites the source for each. → /grant-finder/

Frequently asked questions

Researchers based at UK universities, hospitals and research institutions. The principal applicant must be employed at the host institution for the duration of the project. Rosetrees funds medical research, so it is not open to general charities, community groups or individuals outside a research setting.

Usually not. Rosetrees funds medical and health research delivered through an academic or clinical host. A small charity would only be eligible if it were running qualifying medical research with an eligible research institution. If you deliver frontline services rather than research, this funder is not a match.

It depends on the scheme. Seedcorn awards are up to £20,000, for 12 months (preclinical) or 18 months (clinical). Major Project grants are up to £210,000 over three years, capped at £70,000 a year, and require matched funding. Two further schemes are larger but invitation-based rather than open applications: the NEXT Award and the Race Against Dementia Teams Award both offer up to £750,000 over three to five years.

It funds researcher salaries, consumables, small benchtop equipment, animal costs and patient travel. It does not fund institutional overheads, tenured staff salaries, large or capital equipment, conference travel, tuition fees or technology-transfer fees. Major Project grants also need an element of matched funding.

Rosetrees runs fixed rounds rather than rolling applications. Dates change each year, so check the Grant Schemes page. Re-checked on 11 July 2026, no general rounds were open; the recent Seedcorn round closed on 20 April 2026 and the Major Project full-application round closed on 5 May 2026. The NEXT Award and Race Against Dementia Teams Award run their own invitation-based rounds and are not open to unsolicited applications.