Eric Reid Fund for Methodology

This fund is available to provide modest financial support for benchwork. The emphasis is on methodology, with a preference for cellular or bioanalytical work.

The Fund was endowed by a Trust (Guildford Academic Associates) co-founded by Dr Eric Reid, an Emeritus Member. Dr Eric Reid (1922-2010) was well known in the bioanalytical community as the founder of Reid Bioanalytical Forum.

Examples of awards

Developing and applying a new technique
Checking the application of a known technique in new circumstances
Feasibility studies by new staff before they apply to a major award-granting body

How much funding is available?

£4,000 (for consumables only)
£6,000 (to cover a £2,000 stipend to a summer vacation student).

Any additional funding sought for the proposed work from other sources should be mentioned in the application.

Eligibility

To be eligible to apply:

Applicants must be a current Early Career, Full, or Emeritus member of the Biochemical Society at the application closing date. 
Funding will not be awarded in two consecutive years.
The purpose of the grant must be to set up or improve methodology, with appropriate validation. This allows trying out new ideas.
Where a short-term stipend is sought, the person must be engaged in benchwork rather than writing-up; this must be an Undergraduate student or someone that has just completed their undergraduate degree. The fund is not intended to provide or supplement students enrolled on MPhil/MRes/MSc/PhD programmes.
If the applicant is an Early Career member, a letter of support from a senior colleague or Head of Department should be provided.

Application guidelines

1. The application should include the following:

A short title to indicate what is planned.
A concise introduction to indicate existing knowledge and past work. This may usefully contain a few references.
The experimental approach planned. (This should be concise, but detailed enough so that reviewers can judge the approach. It may include remedies for difficulties that are already known.)
The sum of money requested and how it is to be spent.

2. The submission must cite any existing funding. The bid limit is £4,000 (for consumables only) or £6,000 (to cover a stipend to a summer vacation student). An applicant must cite any previous award from the Fund.

3. A short career sketch of the applicant is needed, with an indication of familiarity with the work area (a few citations for example).

4. Please include the reason for a career break (a career break is considered as any period of time where the nominee is out of work, for reasons including, but not limited to, redundancy, maternity/paternity or adoption leave, extended leave to perform a carer role, and/or as a consequence of relocation). The length of the career break is required.

5. The application should include a lay abstract of maximum 100 words outlining why the project is important and giving a brief background on their project. It is important applications are easy to understand and give the reader an understanding of what the applicant is trying to achieve.

Application deadlines

Applications for 2024 are now closed and will reopen in January 2025.

Successful Applicants

Please note that successful applicants are required to:

Guarantee clearances (e.g. ethical / animal experimentation / Genetic Modification / NHTA / radioisotope use / vacation assistance insurance if applicable), preferably from the Head of Department
Submit a report and photo to accompany the report (maximum 400 words) of how the award was spent and what has been achieved. This report and photo may be used on the Biochemical Society website, blog or Biochemist Magazine.
Acknowledge support from the Biochemical Society in any publication that results.

Hear from a Committee member

Members of our Reviewing Panels took part in a Biochemistry Focus webinar titled 'How to apply for Biochemical Society grants: Education, Research and Outreach'.

Hear from Dr Simon Moore, who discusses what to include in an Eric Reid Fund for Methodology application.

“

We proposed to develop and implement a new approach for labelling Fab fragments covalently and with a defined stoichiometry. We successfully generated indole-based probes and showed proof of principle super-resolution imaging experiments of b-tubulin, paving the way for validating the use of this labelling strategy in visualizing key cellular components with enhanced resolution. This fund also served as a great training platform for junior scientists as our summer student secured admission to a PhD program!
“

Daniel Nieves

Eric Reid Fund for Methodology recipient