Delivered by Social Finance in partnership with the Wellcome Trust, this opportunity provides funding for teams developing new data tools for mental health science with a view to improving early intervention for anxiety, depression, and psychosis.
ELIGIBILITY
Applications are encouraged from multidisciplinary teams that bring together the range of skills and experience needed to deliver their proposal. This is likely to include a combination of expertise such as:
- mental health research
- data science
- digital tool development
- lived experience
- mental health policy
- mental health practitioners
- specialists in areas such as data ethics, open science, and expertise relevant to sustaining and scaling data tools
Teams can include early career researchers and practitioners, and/or people with relevant skills and experience but who are not working in mental health.
Lead applicants should be based at either a higher education institution, a research institute, a non-academic healthcare organisation, or a not-for-profit organisation.
Co-applicants (can be based anywhere in the world apart from mainland China) should be based at either a higher education institution, a research institute, a non-academic healthcare organisation, a not-for-profit organisation, a commercial organisation, or self-employed (for example a freelance data scientist).
VALUE AND DURATION
Six teams will be selected from shortlisted applications and will each receive up to £100,000 to develop and test their prototypes.
After nine months, three teams will be chosen to receive up to an additional £300,000 each to continue developing their tool or application for a further nine months.
KEY DATES
Virtual matchmaking session: 5 March 2026
Application masterclass and networking session: 19 March 2026
Deadline: 8 May 2026
Full details including an applicant information pack and other supporting documents can be found on the opportunity webpage, where you will also find more information about previous winning teams. One of the videos below explains how one of last year’s winners — Harmony (Ulster University) — assembled their team; the other is a recording of the opportunity launch webinar.