MedTechONE/Convergence Centre Joint Call

Medical Technologies addressing an unmet clinical need in cancer therapy monitoring and new interventions in cancer treatment.

The Cancer Research UK Convergence Science Centre and MedTechONE are pleased to announce a joint Proof of Concept (PoC) Call for translational Cancer Research, to offer up to £20k to support selected small-scale collaborative PoC studies.

Eligibility & Scope

PhD students, research assistants and Postdoctoral Researchers, clinical Research Fellows and Clinical Lecturers, supported by an Academic Staff member at Imperial College/Institute of Cancer Research or by Clinical Academic member of staff with an Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust/Royal Marsden Hospital contract may apply. The proposed supervisor must hold a contract of employment which extends to at least the end of the proposed projects.

This Joint PoC call aims to encourage disruptive & innovative medical technologies geared towards answering an unmet clinical need, relating to:

Cancer therapy monitoring: This includes technologies & devices that can be used directly during therapy to assess the precision of the intervention and/or the immediate response to the treatment as well as devices monitoring the medium to long term response to therapy, particularly technologies usable at home, preventing therapy failure, re-hospitalisation and relapses or improving the patient wellbeing and quality of life. Examples: Wearables, Intra-operative monitors, biosensors, imaging technologies…

Novel interventions in cancer treatment (excl. Medicinal Products): Surgery and radiotherapy remain the most important curative option for most solid malignancies. Additionally, we will also be assessing novel therapies and image-guided interventions. Examples: Robotics, therapeutic implantable, injection device, guiding technologies…

You must be at Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 2 or above (follow the link to TRL level definition). It is important that the proposed PoC work advances the technology towards clinical adoption. This Proof-of-Concept call particularly encourages collaborations between engineers/technologists and clinical experts. Commercially attractive work that contributes substantial evidence in answering a clinical need, customer/industrial engagement and projects with high potential for societal benefit will be considered. The PoC work must be designed so that it will make a significant contribution to larger translation funding applications (typically Impact Acceleration Account, NIHR i4i, MRC DPFS).

Funding

MedTechONE Executive Management Board and the Convergence Science Centre Research Subcommittee jointly expects to grant 5 Proof of Concept awards, with direct project costs of up to £20k per project.

How to Apply

Click here to read the application guidance

Click here to download and complete the application form and follow the guidance to apply.

Click here to download and complete the Project Cost summary

Deadline for receipt of applications: 30 Aug 2023 at 5pm

The completed application form and attachments should be emailed to MT1-applications@imperial.ac.uk

For any queries contact: MT1acc-queries@imperial.ac.uk or icr-imperial-convergence.centre@imperial.ac.uk