UKAgeNet Discipline Hopping Awards 2025

Are you a PhD student who works in the field of ageing or age related diseases?
Would you like to enhance your PhD with an interdisciplinary research project in a new discipline and at a new Institution?

If you are, we would be very interested in hearing from you. This funding call could be for you!

We are delighted to announce the availability of 4 bursaries for 2025 of up to £5000 each to support PhD students in the field of ageing and age-related diseases to train in a new discipline and promote interdisciplinarity across researchers based in institutions who are part of UKAgeNet (see list of Institutions here) or are members of the Dunhill Medical Trust Academy (you can become an academy member of the Dunhill Medical Trust, by registering here). 

The proposed project can be an extension of the PhD program of work, a new interdisciplinary angle or a new project. Involvement of the supervisors is an advantage, but not essential, provided there is a letter of support. 
Discipline hopping is defined as traversing the Biological/Biomedical to the Social Sciences, or vice versa, or hopping from academia to policy making institutions (see eligibility criteria below). 

The scheme, funded by a Dunhill Medical Trust Academy Excellence Award for Senior Leadership conferred to Professor Ilaria Bellantuono (of the University of Sheffield Healthy Lifespan Institute), aims to:  

Allow PhD students  to work directly with stakeholders to accelerate impact (i.e. with policymakers and non-governmental organisations.
Promote equality, diversity and inclusion in ageing research

Facilitate the development of interdisciplinary skills of the next generation of ageing researchers by immersing them in environments which challenge traditional academic silos;

Develop vital new research collaborations across disciplines in the main challenge areas related to the field of ageing;

Facilitate the sharing of insight and learning and establish synergies and connections needed for the integration of the biomedical- and the social- based sciences needed to tackle challenges holistically.

Eligibility Criteria

This is open exclusively to: 

PhD members of the Dunhill Academy Trust Academy. You can easily apply to become an academy member of the Dunhill Trust  (see here for details on applying). If you need some help with your application to the Dunhill Medical Trust, please contact ukagenet@sheffield.ac.uk and we will help you.

OR 

A PhD student based in a founding member institution  of UKAgeNet. We have approx 70 Institutions across the country that are members of UKAgeNet. To check if your institute is a member of UkAgeNet and to see which other institutes are UKAgeNet members (and therefore you could potentially ‘hop’ to!) have a look at this list.

  • The project/activity must clearly align with one of the broad areas covered by remits of the UKAgeNet network and the Dunhill Medical Trust Academy, which loosely correspond to:
    • Understanding of ageing
    • Understanding of treatment of age-related disease
    • Delivering and developing evidence-led services, products and interventions that improve our experience of later life
  • The project/activity must be of clear benefit to the future career development of the PhD student discipline hopper.
  • The project must demonstrate engagement from members of the teams at more senior levels from the home and host institutions and needs to be signed off by the student’s supervisor 
  • Discipline hopping is defined for this call as a hop from either;
    • a) the biological/biomedical to the social sciences, and vice versa
    • c) sector to sector (i.e. academia to policy making) 

Placements must be completed by 1st April 2026.

Here are some examples of the type of projects that could be considered. If after reading through the examples you are still unsure if your project meets the criteria or have any questions, Professor Ilaria Bellantuono, is offering ‘Open Door’ sessions. This is an opportunity to discuss your Discipline Hopping project and asses if it meets the criteria for the Discipline Hopping Awards.

These are all virtual sessions via Google Meet with pre-bookable 10 minute slots. Please book your slot here.

Eligible Costs & Activities

Funding covers only directly incurred costs and may be requested to support the following types of activities:

Extension to PhD student salary for the specific purpose of completing the project output (expected to be 2-3 months);

Travel and subsistence costs for the ECR discipline hopper

Consumables

UkAgeNet will help you access the funding

To apply

To apply please complete this application form and submit by 5pm on 30th April 2025 to ukagenet@sheffield.ac.uk

All members of the application team, including the current PhD supervisor (if the PhD student is the applicant) and the host of the discipline hop, as well as the Head of the Institution/Organisation hosting the researcher must approve the application.

A disciplinarily diverse panel consisting of unconflicted members from the UKAgeNet network and Dunhill Medical Trust will rank all applications. 

Applications will be assessed on the criteria above, namely: 

  1. The feasibility and quality of the project proposal
  2. The alignment to the challenge areas
  3. The proposed benefit to the future development of the PhD student
  4. The sustainability and potential impact of the new partnership 

For further information, please contact ukagenet@sheffield.ac.uk

Timeline

15 January 2025 – Call opens

30 April 2025 – Call closes 

15th May 2025 – Outcome to applicants 

1st June 2025   – Exchanges can begin

1st April 2026  – Exchanges must end

15th April 2026 – Report to share outcomes

Successful Candidates

Successful applicants will be informed by 15th May 2025 of the outcome of the applications. Exchanges can begin from 1st June 2025, and so early conversations with the institution regarding the placement and potential contract extensions are essential. All funds must be spent by 1st April 2026  – there are no opportunities for extensions. All successful applicants agree to participate in a concluding workshop and complete a case study report about their experiences.