The Rosetrees Seedcorn Awards provide up to £20,000 in flexible funding for early-stage, innovative biomedical research projects that can generate preliminary data to support future larger grant applications. The programme exists to pump-prime high-risk, high-reward ideas with the potential to transform the prevention, diagnosis, or treatment of human disease, with a current emphasis on sepsis and human-specific research.

- Novel and innovative hypothesis with 'out-of-the-box' potential - Some preliminary data already generated that can be developed further - Potential to secure further funding and grants (continuation funding may be available) - Relevance to prevention, diagnosis, and/or treatment of human disease - Pre-clinical (12 months) or clinical (18 months) studies considered - Eligibility: Principal applicant must be employed at a UK host institution for the duration of the project; foreign researchers eligible if they can conduct research at a UK institution with correct documentation - Junior applicants encouraged to include a more experienced co-applicant (can be at any institution worldwide) - Funding cannot be used for PhD stipends/consumables; all applicants must be fully funded for the project duration - Costs: salaries (directly incurred), consumables, small equipment, patient travel; not overheads, PI time, large equipment, conference travel, tuition fees - Maximum £20k requires thorough justification of all costs

The page does not list specific past winners, but typical Seedcorn awardees are early-career researchers (postdocs, junior faculty) at UK institutions who have a promising idea and some preliminary data. They often work in translational biomedical fields, with projects that bridge basic science and clinical application. The programme values interdisciplinary approaches and projects that can leverage the funding to secure larger grants from bodies like the MRC or Wellcome.

The ideal applicant is a researcher employed at a UK institution (or able to work there) with a novel, potentially transformative hypothesis in human disease research, backed by some preliminary data. They are likely early-career but have a senior co-applicant for mentorship, and their project is designed to generate robust preliminary data that will strengthen a future major grant application. The project should be cost-effective and clearly aligned with the programme's focus on prevention, diagnosis, or treatment.