Kidney Research UK Data Science Grants

Funding available for data science and AI-enabled research to advance understanding, prevention, diagnosis and treatment of kidney disease.

Kidney Research UK’s research strategy to 2030 sets out four strategic research objectives:

• To increase the understanding of kidney health and kidney disease.
• To find new ways to protect kidney health and preserve kidney function.
• To discover better ways to detect, diagnose and treat kidney disease.
• To utilise research evidence for improvements in kidney healthcare.

For this inaugural Data Science funding call, Kidney Research UK seeks proposals that address kidney-related research questions using the full range of data science methodologies, from bioinformatics and omics to health data science.

Data science and artificial intelligence are central to the next phase of kidney research and will be essential in delivering the ambitions set out in the 2020-2030 strategy. Their importance is expected to extend well beyond 2030.

Through this funding call, Kidney Research UK aims to accelerate its strategic objectives by supporting high-quality data science and AI-enabled research that has the potential to improve outcomes for people with kidney disease. Applications are invited that apply data science approaches across the full spectrum of kidney research, including bioinformatics, omics, and health data science.

Particular interest is given to proposals that:

• Examine the interactions between cardiovascular, renal, and metabolic diseases.
• Use data science methods to investigate and address systemic health inequalities in kidney health.
• Enhance understanding of kidney disease through the use of publicly available multi-omic and biological datasets, including (but not limited to) NURTuRE data.

Applications are strongly encouraged from collaborative teams with shared leadership, including a researcher with expertise in kidney research and a co-principal investigator with expertise in data science, bioinformatics, or artificial intelligence.

The following types of grants are available:

• Research project grants – support substantive research projects addressing kidney-related research questions using data science and AI approaches.
• Start-up grants – funds standalone research studies to investigate new hypothesis that lack any significant research evidence or preliminary data.