Investigator Award statistics

Here you can find general information about the applications and awards made during the first three rounds of our biomedical science Investigator Awards. This includes application and award numbers and success rates for New Investigator Awards and Senior Investigator Awards, as well as data on the age, gender and location of applicants and recipients.

Some high-level findings for these first three rounds are:

• We received 287 applications for Investigator Awards from 305 applicants; this included 18 joint applications.
• 50 awards have been made: 12 New Investigator Awards and 38 Senior Investigator Awards.
• The Expert Review Groups shortlisted 32 per cent of applicants; of these, 51 per cent were successful following interview by the Selection Panel (figure 1).
• The overall success rate from application to award is similar for New (14 per cent) and Senior (17 per cent) Investigator Awards.

Figure 1: Investigator Award application and award numbers

• 19 per cent of applicants were female; 14 per cent of award holders are female.
• The average age of a New Investigator at the time of award was 39 years, and that of a Senior Investigator was 52. For comparison, the average age of a project grant awardee over the previous five years has been 47.
• The value of awards made ranges from £0.5 million to £3.5m, with durations ranging from three to seven years.

Figure 2: Investigator Awards by challenge area

• Awards have been made addressing each of our five major challenges. The distribution of awards reflects the number of applications received in each challenge area (figure 2).
• Around 60 per cent of applicants have been from institutions in London, Oxford and Cambridge. Awards have been made to researchers in 19 different institutions (figure 3), with 78 per cent so far made to those based in London, Oxford and Cambridge institutions.

Figure 3: Location of current Investigator Award holders