GrantRadar

The Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation

Butterfield Awards in Medicine and Health

Annual awards of up to £10,000 from the Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation for exchanges and collaborations between health and medical professionals in the UK and Japan. Continuing projects can run up to three years, at up to £10,000 a year (£30,000 in total). Researchers, practitioners, policy makers, managers and voluntary sector workers can apply; early-career applicants and those new to UK-Japan collaboration are particularly welcome.

Apply on the funder’s site
You could get
Up to £10,000
Deadline
39 days left
1 December
Effort
Heavy
budgets, references, often several stages

Who can apply

  • Health and medical researchers, practitioners, policy makers, managers, carers and voluntary sector workers
  • Applicants should normally have an existing research record, but practitioners and others in health-related fields who intend to establish working links between organisations or produce a publishable comparative study are also considered
  • The project must involve partners in both the UK and Japan, in a field of mutual and beneficial interest with medicine and health central
  • All applications go to the UK (London) office wherever the applicant is based
  • Preference goes to those not previously involved in UK-Japan collaboration, and early-career applicants are particularly welcome; previous recipients can apply for new projects

What it funds

Exchanges and collaborations between health and medical professionals in Japan and the UK, including the study of scientific, clinical, social and economic issues in healthcare:

  • Travel expenses
  • Contributions to other costs, including conference and publication costs

multi-year projects (up to three years) receive up to £10,000 a year, with later instalments paid after an approved annual progress report.

What it will not fund

  • Laboratory consumables
  • Salary subsidy for participation in the project
  • Purchase of materials
  • Capital projects such as the purchase, construction or maintenance of buildings
  • Retrospective activity (all project activity must take place after the Foundation's decision date)

How to apply

  1. Download the Butterfield application form from the Foundation's website
  2. Complete it with the project outline (lay executive summary of up to 150 words, schedule, participants, facilities, significance and innovation, outcomes and impact, budget plan)
  3. Gather the supporting materials, including two professional references
  4. Submit to the London office (grants@gbsf.org.uk) by 1 December
  5. Trustees decide in March and all applicants are told in writing shortly after

the deadline moved from 15 December to 1 December from 2026. Awards are acknowledged in publications, and Butterfield projects are eligible for NIHR Clinical Research Network support.

Have ready

  • Completed Butterfield application form with project outline and budget plan
  • Letter of confirmation or invitation from the project partner in the UK/Japan
  • CVs of the project partners
  • Confirmation of ethical approval (where appropriate)
  • References from two professional referees, both from institutions different from the project partners' and neither directly involved in the project
  • Evidence of the facilities to be provided by host institutions or partner organisations

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