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The Dr Hadwen Trust for Humane Research is a registered charity that funds and promotes the development of techniques and procedures to replace the use of living animals in biomedical research and testing. To further this aim, the Dr Hadwen Trust supports and assists scientists to discover techniques to replace animal experiments and encourages through education and publicity, the wider adoption of such techniques.
Grants Available
Grants are available for the support of postdoctoral research fellows, technicians, research assistants or PhD studentships over a period of one, two or three years. The grant usually consists of provision for salary, consumables and small items of equipment. The maximum amount awarded is £45,000 per annum. As a registered charity we do not award full economic costing and will not provide funds for indirect costs such as institutional or departmental overheads, administrative charges, costs of financial, personnel, secretarial or cleaning services or basic utilities.
Grants for larger items of equipment and support for attending meetings may be given to existing grant holders only or in exceptional circumstances. Occasionally other types of support may be considered, including organisation of workshops, conferences, or meetings, writing a book or report, or producing a film or video that fulfil the Dr Hadwen Trust’s aims.
Grant Limitations
Grants are not available simply in support of non-animal research per se. The research must be directed towards replacing the use of living animals in current procedures within the applicant’s laboratory or, preferably, in the wider field.
Research which requires or involves the use of living animals in any way, even though the ultimate aim may be to replace their use, will not be supported. We will not fund the purchase or maintenance of animals for any reason. Neither do we offer grants for research which uses (non-human) animal cells, animal tissues or animal cell lines. This reflects recent progress in the culture and availability of human cells and tissues, as well as concern about problems of species variation.
We do not fund any use of human foetal tissues or foetal cell lines, from whatever source, although human placenta or amnion may be used if obtained only from normal, full-term births, in which case details of supply must be given.
Acceptable approaches may include the use of human volunteers, epidemiology, human cell lines, ex vivo or primary human tissues or cells in vitro, micro-organisms, plants, human sub-cellular components in vitro, physicochemical techniques or computer technology.
Specific Grant Conditions
Research fellows, research assistants, technicians or students whose salary or maintenance grant is paid by the Dr Hadwen Trust must not be involved in any way with animal experiments, or studies of animal cells, animal tissues or animal cell lines; or with human foetal cells or tissues or human foetal cell lines, for the duration of the grant.
How to apply
New applications are invited in October. Past grant holders are eligible to apply only if their previous grant expired more than two years ago. Applications should be made by the Principal Investigator who is the head of the department or a tenured senior scientist who will take responsibility for directing the research and will be actively engaged in carrying it through. Grant holders must be based in a UK university, medical school or hospital.
Potential applicants are invited to submit a preliminary application for consideration, and if this is of interest, the applicant will subsequently be invited to submit a formal proposal.
Peer review of applications
Before funds are committed to a research project, a rigorous review procedure is undertaken to ensure that the research to be funded is of the highest quality and has strong potential both to replace animal experiments and advance medical understanding. Full applications, submitted on the appropriate forms and fully conform to the Dr Hadwen Trust’s policies, undergo independent peer review by external, often international experts. Applications are treated as confidential and the Dr Hadwen Trust seeks the opinions of three expert referees of its own choosing for each application. Feedback from referees may be made available to unsuccessful applicants on an entirely non-attributable basis.
For more information
For further information, or to subscribe to our e-bulletin which will announce the date of the next call for applications, please contact Brigitte Rushmer, Grants Administrator.
Email: grants@drhadwentrust.org
Telephone: 01462 436819