Fund research that gets used
Companies, trusts and individuals fund the Society's studentships, applied research and innovation awards. We ask one thing that most funders do not: that the work is put into practice, not published and left there.
Registered charity 1187432. Gift Aid and corporate relief both apply; the office will send the paperwork.
Three things your money can do
Pick a strand, or give unrestricted and let the panel put it where the need is.
Doctoral fees and stipends, master’s bursaries, and the unglamorous costs that stop good candidates finishing — childcare, travel, transcription, a working laptop.
Projects that name, at the outset, the service that will change if the finding holds. Funding is released in two parts: one to do the work, one to implement it.
Tools, protocols and services built out of research — a triage instrument, a peer-support model, a way of running a waiting list. Prototypes welcome; papers optional.
Publication is not the finish line
A great deal of mental health research ends at the point of publication. The finding is sound, the paper is cited, and nothing in any clinic changes. We think that is a failure of funding design rather than of researchers.
So every award the Society administers carries the same three requirements, set before any money moves:
- 1Name what changesWhich service, protocol or practice will be different, and who has the authority to change it. "Further research is needed" is not an answer.
- 2Bring the person who would act on itA named clinician, service lead or person with lived experience, involved from the design stage rather than consulted at the end.
- 3Report at twelve monthsWhat was implemented, what was not, and why. Published on the Society’s register whether it went well or badly.
Half of each award is released on the plan, half on the twelve-month report. Applicants know this before they apply, and it changes what they propose.
A seat on the panel. Sight of the shortlist before recipients are told. Approval over findings, or any right to delay or soften them. Logo placement on published research. First refusal on anything commercial that follows.
The office is funded from membership subscriptions, which is why none of your gift is spent on running it.
How giving works
A conversation, not a form
You tell us what you care about and roughly what you can commit. The honorary treasurer replies within five working days. Nothing is published until you say so.
We agree the eligibility, you step back
You set who the money is for — career stage, discipline, geography, a named service. You do not sit on the panel or see it deliberate; that separation is what makes the award worth having.
The implementation condition applies
Every funded project states at the outset what it will change in practice and who will act on it. Half the award is released on that plan, half on evidence it happened.
You get the record, in full
Every application, every score, every decision in your strand — and an implementation report from each recipient at twelve months, whatever it says.
Who supports the Society
Listed with permission. Several donors choose not to be named.
| Year | Supporter | Strand | What it funded |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Marlow Diagnostics | Applied research | Two awards on triage in acute services |
| 2025 | The Halloway Trust | Studentships | One full doctoral studentship, renewed |
| 2025 | Kessler Health Group | Innovation | Peer-support model, now in four trusts |
| 2025 | Anonymous | Unrestricted | Fee waivers and travel bursaries |