Grants and prizes
The British Geriatrics Society administers a number of grants, prizes and awards with a view to encouraging high quality research and furthering the professional development of professionals with an interest in older people’s healthcare.
The BGS has made grants available to encourage medics and healthcare professionals with limited study budgets to have access to educational opportunities for many years.
Having reviewed our grants, we are in the process of consolidating our grants and prizes, with the aim of communicating and awarding them to more people. We have therefore simplified the number of grants, with the current grants outlined below.
Grants for members in Category B, C and D are now available to apply for, covering the registration cost at a BGS conference. Applications are made via the event registration page, and should be made before registering for the meeting.
Our grants and prizes
Click below to learn more about the various grants, prizes and awards on offer from the BGS, along with eligibility criteria and current deadlines.
The BGS has made grants available to encourage medics and healthcare professionals with limited study budgets to have access to educational opportunities for many years.
Having reviewed our grants, we are in the process of consolidating our grants and prizes, with the aim of communicating and awarding them to more people. We have therefore simplified the number of grants, with the current grants outlined below.
Grants for members in Category B, C and D are now available to apply for, covering the registration cost at a BGS conference. Applications are made via the event registration page, and should be made before registering for the meeting.
Who is eligible to apply for a grant?
- Category B – Medics in training roles (Foundation year, IMT, registrars, clinical fellows0 and SAS grade doctors without study budget
- Category C- Nurses and AHPs, as well as Pharmacists and Physician Associates
- Category D – Undergraduate students – medics, nurse and AHPS
Applicants must
- Have been a continuous member for at least 1 year,
- Be in the appropriate membership category (B,C or D)
- Have approval from their educational or clinical supervisor and declare that there are no sources of funding available from their employer.
- Apply as early as possible ahead of the conference to ensure sufficient time for your application to be considered and (if successful) your registration to be confirmed
- Apply when there are available grant places
Applicants must NOT
- Have had a BGS grant in the past two years
- Register (and pay) in advance of the grant application being responded to (this can be 5 days)
- Provide inaccurate information in their application. Grants can be rejected or rescinded if any of the information supplied is found to be erroneous.
How often can I receive a grant?
When can I apply for a grant?
Are there restrictions on the number of grants available?
We invite entries from medical and dental students for the 44th award of the Amulree Prize, to be submitted by 5pm on 31 July 2021.
The essay should be between 4,000 and 8,000 words in length and should be on a subject pertinent to ageing or old age, from a medical, biological or sociological point of view. It should include a review of relevant literature, but particular credit will be given for original thought and accounts of personal experience. Reports on ‘special study modes’ would be welcome. Marks are awarded for overall presentation, structure, strength of argument, completeness of supporting literature, conclusions and relevance to geriatric medicine. The prize commemorates the late Lord Amulree, a founder member and former President of the British Geriatrics Society, and was instituted in 1975.
The current value of the prize is: first prize £450; second prize £350; third prize £250.
Eligibility
To enter, you must be medical or dental student on a full-time course or on secondment to a Medical or Dental School in the UK or Republic of Ireland.
Essays should be submitted by email, in MS Word format (please put your name and the name of your school in the header of each page), to the scientificofficer [at] bgs [dot] org [dot] uk (Scientific Officer) of the BGS. The closing date for submission of essays is 30 June 2020. No correspondence can be entered into concerning the judges' decision.
The winning essay will be published on the British Geriatrics Society website.
Past winners
2020
- 1st: Katherine Bowden-Brown
- 2nd: Melina Li How Cheong
- 3rd: Roxanna Abhari
2018/2019
- 1st: Robyn Barber, University of Newcastle Medical School: Feasibility of using an application based tool to screen for dementia in the Hai district of Tanzania
- 2nd: Gautham Kumar, University of Cambridge: Does the maturation of optogenetics enable new approaches to the treatment of Parkinson's Disease?
- 3rd: Dane Wanniarachige, Trinity College Dublin: Understanding and Combatting Ageism in Healthcare
2018
Title: 'The Parkinson's you can't see'
- 1st: Kevin Teo, University of Cambridge
- 2nd: Hunaynah Patel, Leicester Medical School
- 3rd: Owen Duffey, University of Oxford
2017
- 1st: Keiron Jankowski, University of Sheffield: What factors affect survival in critically ill older people?
- 2nd: Avinash Harinarayanan, Manchester University: Vascular Parkinsonism and the ageing brain.
- Joint 3rd place: Sarah Alexis Gritis, University of St Andrews Medical School: The pain of Parkinson's Disease and Natasha Povey, Lancaster Medical School: Immunosenescence - can it be reversed?
Bullpitt Undergraduate Scholarship 2023
The Cardiovascular SIG of the British Geriatrics Society invites applications for the 10th Bulpitt Undergraduate Scholarship, to be submitted by 30 June 2023. Two awards of £400 will be made.
Candidates should write a 150 word statement as to why they should be given the scholarship and how the elective will help to further their interest in geriatric medicine.
Scholarship holders will be expected to write a report following the elective.
Entries to be submitted by email to: j [dot] gough [at] bgs [dot] org [dot] uk (subject: 2022%20Bulpitt%20Scholarship%20Entry) (please include '2023 Bulpitt Scholarship Entry' in the subject line).
Closing date: 30 June 2023
Past awards
- 2018: Alisha Chauhan
- 2019: Claudia Mitrofan
- 2020: [Suspended due to COVID-19]
The Dhole-Eddlestone Memorial Prize is funded by a legacy from Dr Manindra Kumar Dhole, a BGS member who died in 1977. The prize is so named to commemorate the anniversary of his marriage with Dr Eddlestone. One cash prize of £1,000 is made each year and announced on 14 January, the anniversary of the date of their marriage. Applications are not accepted. The prize goes to ‘the most deserving published work of medical research appertaining to the needs of aged people’, in practice, the paper published in Age and Ageing each calendar year which most impressed the judging panel.
- 1980 Prof A N Davison
- 1982 Prof F I Caird
- 1984 Dr A N G Clarke
- 1986 Prof A N Exton-Smith
- 1988 Prof H M Hodkinson
- 1990 Prof J C Brocklehurst
- 1992 Prof M S J Pathy
- 1994 Prof Sir John Grimley Evans
- 1996 Prof T H D Arie
- 1998 Prof W J MacLennan
- 2000 Prof T B L Kirkwood
- 2002 Prof R Tallis
- 2004 Prof G Mulley
- 2006 Prof G Wilcock
- 2008 Prof Christopher Bulpitt
- 2014 Prof Roger Francis
- 2019: Prof Carol Jagger, author of Age and Ageing paper: Projections of multi-morbidity in the older population in England to 2035 Press release here.
- 2020: Dr Margriet Pol, author of Age and Ageing paper: Everyday life after a hip fracture: what community-living older adults perceive as most beneficial for their recovery. Press release here.
- 2021: Dr Claire Steves, authors of Age and Ageing paper: Probable delirium is a presenting symptom of COVID-19 in frail, older adults: a cohort study of 322 hospitalised and 535 community-based older adults’. Press release here.
- 2022: Recurrent delirium over 12 months predicts dementia: results of the Delirium and Cognitive Impact in Dementia (DECIDE) study. Sarah Richardson, Daniel Davis, Blossom Stephan, Louise Robinson, Carol Brayne, Linda Barnes, John-Paul Taylor, Stuart Parker, Louise M Allan. Press release.
This grant is currently suspended pending a review of the Society’s grants policy.
We offer a limited number of grants of up to £500 to medical students to enable them to make use of their elective period for a project concerned with health or health care in old age either in the UK or abroad. The primary purpose is to give undergraduates an opportunity to broaden their perception and experience of this growing field by undertaking, under supervision, a study of a relevant initiative in age research or the provision of health care which will be complementary to their taught curriculum.
There are no fixed categories of grant, but examples of the kind of provision considered include:
- Partial or full support for travel and subsistence expenses incurred in the process of information gathering or data collection;
- Materials, including small items of equipment; and
- Honoraria to host departments/organisation for supervision provided.
Eligibility
You must be a medical undergraduate at a UK registered university entering your penultimate or final year of study in the next academic year. The minimum duration of the project is six weeks, consisting of three to four weeks, preceded or followed by a similar period supervised within your home Academic Department.
Grants are administered by the Society's Education and Training Committee.
Responsibilities
You must establish in advance with your prospective host institution / organisation that your visit will be welcome and that appropriate facilities will be provided there. You are responsible for making your own travel and accommodation arrangements.
A condition of the award will be providing a report to the Society when the attachment is completed, consisting of a personal assessment of the experience obtained (about 250 words), and a description of the work in which you were involved, and your contribution to it (750-1000 words).
How to apply
Applications, accompanied by the relevant documentation, are considered at any time of year, provided there are funds available. Decisions are usually made within 5-6 weeks, therefore please allow sufficient time before the study experience/visit to submit applications. For further information email committees [at] bgs [dot] org [dot] uk (Committees) or call 020 7608 8575.
Please note: if your grant application relates to a BGS scientific meeting please register for the meeting but do not pay the registration fee online. If approved your grant will cover the cost of registration.
Applications invited for the BGS Movement Disorders Section Essay Prize 2023
The BGS Movement Disorders Section is inviting submissions for its Essay Prize Competition 2023
Eligibility: Open to medical, nursing and therapy students
Title of the essay: "Parkinson’s: disease, frailty syndrome or accelerator ageing?"
Closing date for entries: 31 May 2023
Submissions by email to: j [dot] gough [at] bgs [dot] org [dot] uk
Prizes for top three essays: £500, £300 and £200
Word limit: 1,500 (limit for references: 20)
We are pleased to offer grants in support of small research, quality improvement and innovation projects in the field of older people with movement disorders.
The Movement Disorder SIGresearch grants are eligible for National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) non-commercial partner status. Being an NIHR non-commercial partner brings several benefits such as local Clinical Research Network (CRN) support. Partner status also enables decisions about eligibility for Network support/ adoption to be reached more quickly for the studies the BGS funds. Once confirmed eligible for CRN support, these funded studies will be included in the NIHR Clinical Research Network (CRN) Portfolio. Such studies have access to NHS infrastructure for research, training and ISRCTN (a simple numeric system for the unique identification of randomised controlled trials worldwide) registration as well as NHS Service Support and Research Management and Governance.
Support via the Clinical Research Network provides:
- Access to a local network of dedicated skilled research support staff including research nurses and other allied health professionals, who can help identify eligible patients, arrange consent to participate in the study, monitor and follow up patients as they progress through the study.
- Support to ensure that a study can be successfully delivered in NHS settings, including pharmacy, imaging and pathology services and the possibility of securing protected time for NHS staff to conduct research.
- Access to experienced Research Management and Governance staff who can advise on governance aspects of undertaking clinical research in the NHS and facilitate the rapid approval of a study through the NIHR Coordinated System for gaining NHS Permission (NIHR CSP).
The value of the grant awarded shall generally be in the region of £100-£2000.
Conditions of the award:
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The grant will be awarded twice yearly at the discretion of the BGS Movement Disorder SIG committee.
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The application deadlines shall be 31 July and 31 December annually.
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The value of the grant shall be at the discretion of the BGS Movement Disorder SIG and the adjudication process is final.
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The grant shall be used solely for the purpose set out in the application process.
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Publication costs should not be included in your application as they will not be funded.
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The applicant must be a member of the British Geriatrics Society Movement Disorder Special Interest Group
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The applicant must agree to dissemination of their work by presenting their project at a BGS MDS conference following completion of the project.
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Acknowledgement of the BGS Movement Disorder SIG Research Grant must be made in any publication and/or presentation.
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The applicant agrees to submit a short blog article (250 – 300 words) outlining the benefits gained from the grant.
Full details and the application form are available from Joanna Gough, BGS Scientific Officer at j [dot] gough [at] bgs [dot] org [dot] uk
- Access to a local network of dedicated skilled research support staff including research nurses and other allied health professionals, who can help identify eligible patients, arrange consent to participate in the study, monitor and follow up patients as they progress through the study.
- Support to ensure that a study can be successfully delivered in NHS settings, including pharmacy, imaging and pathology services and the possibility of securing protected time for NHS staff to conduct research.
- Access to experienced Research Management and Governance staff who can advise on governance aspects of undertaking clinical research in the NHS and facilitate the rapid approval of a study through the NIHR Coordinated System for gaining NHS Permission (NIHR CSP).
- Name of principal investigator and other members of research team
- Background to the research
- Methodology and analysis
- Power calculations (as appropriate)
- Timeframe for research
- Potential problems which may be encountered and how these will be overcome
- Who will be supporting this research locally and who will be acting as mentor/ supervisor.
- Confirmation that the proposed research has approval from the Local Ethics Research Committee (if required). Where ethical approval is yet to be obtained a clear timeline is mandatory.
- Budget with detailed breakdown of costs. Costs should be as accurate as possible at the time of application and should include everything that you think you have assessed that the project will need.