Apply for funding
Each year we provide a range of research funding opportunities. Find out more about our grants making process and current funding available.
United Kingdom & Eire Glaucoma Society (UKEGS) Research Award 2023
- Up to £50,000.
- Open to any glaucoma-related research.
The UKEGS Research Award is open to UKEGS members and supports innovative glaucoma research that will ultimately lead to improving outcomes for patients.
Funded by Glaucoma UK and UKEGS, an award of up to £50,000 is available with for projects where the impact of the work will be on patient care, scientific advance or understanding of glaucoma. Consideration is given to the scientific content, presentation, ethical considerations and value for money. Previous recent grants have been awarded to look at microglial cells in work on retinal cell damage, and promoting trabeculectomy survival after cataract surgery.
Applications have now closed. The winner of this award will be publicly announced at the annual UKEGS symposium which is in London on 22 and 23 November 2023.
Glaucoma UK and The Royal College of Ophthalmologists Research Award 2023
Applications for this award have now closed. An announcement of the winning application will be made shortly.
- Up to £50,000.
- Open to any glaucoma-related research.
The Glaucoma UK Open Call Research Award aims to support innovative research in the field of glaucoma by providing funding to individual researchers or collaborative research partnerships. The award is open to both clinical and non-clinical researchers who wish to contribute to our understanding of glaucoma, with the ultimate goal of improving outcomes for glaucoma patients. We welcome applications from both established researchers and new investigators, including those from fields outside of vision research.
The award seeks to fund research projects that demonstrate the potential to advance our knowledge of glaucoma and contribute to our charitable goal of ending preventable glaucoma sight loss. All proposals should clearly articulate how the study aligns with this vision and outline the expected outcomes and impact of the research.
The Glaucoma UK Open Call Research Award is an excellent opportunity for researchers to pursue novel glaucoma research and contribute to the prevention of glaucoma-related sight loss.
Glaucoma UK Health and Social Care Professionals Research Award 2023
Applications for this award have now closed. An announcement of the winning application will be made shortly.
- Up to £50,000.
- Available to health and social care professionals (excluding ophthalmologists) to further glaucoma research.
We have up to £50,000 available to fund research by health and social care professionals, such as nurses, optometrists, orthoptists, vision scientists, psychologists, and others, into glaucoma and related conditions. This award is unique in our grants portfolio as it is not open to ophthalmologists. If you’re not sure if you can apply, please email Richenda Kew at r.kew@glaucoma.uk who will be happy to assist you and advise on this.
The research can be laboratory or clinic based and should aim to further our knowledge about glaucoma or related conditions. Glaucoma UK encourages patient orientated research and research directly concerned with the improvement of the management of glaucoma.
This award previously funded Dr Jonathan Denniss’ study measuring pupil reactions to flashes of light driven by intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells to investigate if this might be a useful test for glaucoma. Dr Denniss said, “We are grateful to Glaucoma UK for providing the funding for this study, and for continuing to be willing to take a chance on early-stage research such as this. After all, every major breakthrough started out as an early-stage idea needing funding for investigation”.
Glaucoma UK and The Royal College of Ophthalmologists Research Award 2023
The deadline for applications for the 2023 award has now passed. The details below are for information purposes only.
- Up to £100,000.
- A postgraduate research award to facilitate research into glaucoma.
Glaucoma UK and The Royal College of Ophthalmologists are working in partnership to run this prestigious award which has previously funded a range of research topics from prospective stem cell treatments to the use of big data in patient risk stratification.
This is a postgraduate research award up to the value of £100,000 to facilitate research into glaucoma. Glaucoma UK encourages patient orientated research and research directly concerned with the improvement of the management of glaucoma.
Applicants may be trainees seeking support for a fellowship or senior researchers seeking a grant for a project. Applications are invited from departments and individuals based in the UK and Ireland, but the research studies may be carried out elsewhere.
This award is funded by Glaucoma UK. The application process is administered by The Royal College of Ophthalmologists.
National Institute for Health Research support
Glaucoma UK is a National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) non-commercial partner. This means the studies we fund may be eligible to access the Study Support Service provided by the NIHR Clinical Research Network. See our research grants FAQs below for further details.
FAQs about our grants
Budgets are agreed annually in July and are announced here on our website, on social media and through partner organisations. The annual grants budget is typically between £200,000 and £400,000.
Grants are awarded in open competition by an awards panel chaired by a Glaucoma UK trustee. Other panel members are drawn from our Clinical Advisory Panel.
Grants will be awarded on the basis of:
- scientific content.
- likelihood of a conclusive outcome of the proposed study.
- likely impact of the research on patient care or appropriate scientific advance or understanding of glaucoma.
- location in a suitable institution.
- presentation.
- value for money.
- ethical considerations.
- whether they address our current strategic research priorities.
All awards are subject to a peer review process.