As British Science Week shines a spotlight on curiosity-driven research, the Academy of Medical Sciences is marking 10 years of its Springboard programme - the flagship funding scheme that has backed over 400 early-career researchers across 64 Higher Education Institutes (HEIs) with a total investment of £44 million.
Launched in 2015 to fill a gap in support for newly appointed lecturers, Springboard has become one of the UK’s key drivers of discovery science at the start of independent research careers. Its mix of flexible funding, tailored development and experienced mentoring has helped awardees build real momentum, with those in rounds five to nine going on to secure further grants at a high rate and generating £5.30 in additional research income for every £1 invested.
When Prof Dennis Wang set out to understand why some patients develop multiple long-term conditions while others do not, he faced a familiar challenge for early career researchers as he tried to move beyond tightly defined projects and explore more ambitious questions.
With Round 4 Springboard support, he recruited a postdoctoral researcher to explore how artificial intelligence can predict patient outcomes and uncover treatments that may work across several conditions at once. The award provided both the funding and the independence to broaden his research direction at a pivotal career stage.
Since then, Prof Wang has led computational research internationally, including at the A*STAR Singapore Institute for Clinical Sciences and the Bioinformatics Institute, before returning to the UK to establish a biomedical data science programme at Imperial College London with further funding from UKRI and AMS. There, he integrates genomic and clinical data across multiple disease and population cohorts, advancing new approaches to predicting and treating multiple long-term conditions.
Prof Wang said: "The Springboard was a true catalyst. The funding and validation of my preliminary research provided the essential confidence to pursue innovative directions. Crucially, it enabled me to pivot my focus toward an emerging and highly impactful healthcare application. Being an awardee facilitated access to invaluable mentorship and a robust professional network. This support system has been instrumental in elevating my research to a global stage and significantly accelerating my professional development. I remain deeply appreciative of this vital investment in both my science and my career."
The Springboard programme has supported a range of biomedical research – from infectious disease and metabolic science to imaging technologies and translational medicine – championing scientists as they establish independence and build platforms that extend far beyond their first award. Evaluation data indicate that more than four in ten awardees reported a promotion following their award, compared with around a third of unsuccessful applicants, underscoring Springboard’s contribution to strengthening the UK’s future research leadership.
This year’s British Science Week theme, ‘Curiosity: What’s your question?’, speaks directly to the ethos behind Springboard. Over the past decade, the programme has placed curiosity, creativity and discovery-led science at its heart. At a time when early-career researchers face growing pressures, Springboard gives them the freedom to explore ambitious new questions and lay the foundations of their future research groups.
In 2022, Springboard funding enabled Dr Laura Rivino at the University of Bristol to investigate immune responses to dengue virus, focusing on why overweight and obese individuals may be at greater risk of severe disease.
The award allowed her to generate integrated immunological data in well-characterised patient cohorts, positioning her research at the forefront of efforts to understand protective immunity in dengue and other inflammatory viral diseases.
She has since secured funding from Wellcome to lead multi-country analyses of dengue and Zika virus burden, immunogenicity and population-level risk – expanding her work onto the global stage.
Dr Rivino said: “I am very grateful for the Springboard award which enabled me to establish our dengue research in the UK and build momentum to secure further research funding in this area. I am very excited about the findings that have emerged from our Springboard-funded work as it opens avenues to exploring immunological markers as potential predictors for progression to severe dengue. It also identifies immune responses that are dysregulated in severe disease, which may targetable therapeutically. We currently lack therapeutics for dengue and we are unable to predict early in infection which patients have high risk of progressing to severe disease.”
Springboard has also catalysed innovation in medical technology. At King’s College London, Dr Wenfeng Xia used his award to develop new imaging tools to support minimally invasive surgery. The project improved highresolution imaging techniques, helping researchers and clinicians see more clearly through complex biological tissue, with the potential to make surgical procedures more precise and less invasive.
Building on this work, Dr Xia has since secured a patent for the new imaging technique. This highlights how early discovery research can lead to protected innovations with real potential for use in healthcare, strengthening the pathway from academic research to clinical and commercial application.
Dr Xia said: “The Springboard award came at a pivotal moment in my career as a Lecturer, providing not only vital early-stage funding but also the flexibility to pursue bold, high-risk ideas and adapt the research direction as new opportunities emerged. This freedom enabled me to lay the foundations for a multimodal endoscopic imaging platform with clear clinical and translational potential. The momentum generated by this support led to protected intellectual property and a strengthened pathway towards commercialisation, and played a significant role in my progression to Reader, shaping both my research vision and academic leadership.”