Institute of Medical Ethics

Registered charity 261876 · since 1971ime-uk.org·United Kingdom·Updated 31 October 2026

At a glance

£37,154

Annual giving, year to 31 December 2024

From filed accounts

Open to applications

Rolling, no deadlines · unsolicited applications welcome

Key takeaways

The Institute funds medical ethics education, biomedical ethics research and healthcare ethics events across the United Kingdom, so a UK project with a clear medical ethics focus fits its remit, and it asks applicants to show benefit to the wider UK biomedical ethics community.
Its stated single-programme limits are up to £500 for institutional grants, up to £1,000 for elective bursaries, up to £4,000 for intercalated scholarships and up to £10,000 for research, and it says it will fund research projects in the region of £5,000, so a modest request matched to one of these bands is the realistic approach.
Research applicants must be current IME members, and research applications needing less than £500 from the Institute, events aimed at staff or students of a single institution, and applications led by or solely aimed at postgraduate students, including doctoral students, are not funded.
Applications are accepted on a rolling basis, but elective bursary applications close on 11 November, and institutional grant applications go through the Institutional Grant Submission Form.
Applicants should cost proposals carefully, show value for money, plan wide dissemination of outcomes, and acknowledge the Institute in outputs wherever it co-funds a project.

Overview

Institute of Medical Ethics is a charity registered with the Charity Commission for England and Wales (charity number 261876).

The Institute of Medical Ethics exists to advance, for the benefit of the public, the education of medical practitioners and medical students in the United Kingdom in the impartial understanding and practice of medical and healthcare ethics and law, and in integrating these disciplines into clinical practice. It runs a range of grants, including intercalated scholarships, elective bursaries, conference grants and institutional grants, as well as a special institutional grant category for sustainable educational activities. Its stated amounts run from grants of up to £500 and bursaries of up to £1,000 to scholarships of up to £4,000, and it says it will fund projects in the region of £5,000, with a ceiling of £10,000 for individual projects.

What they fund

Priority Areas

The Institute promotes and supports impartial study and understanding of medical ethics and its integration into clinical practice through education, research and publication. Its grants include intercalated scholarships, elective bursaries, conference grants and institutional grants. Institutional grants support meetings and other activities in which medical ethics is a substantial component and that promote understanding of healthcare ethics. Its research stream supports small research projects, collaborations, pump-priming, seminars, workshops and academic events across biomedical ethics. Research applicants must be current IME members; conference grants are for specified student, early-career academic and clinician groups. It encourages value for money, collaboration, innovation and wide dissemination, seeking benefit for the wider biomedical ethics community.

Themes

Medical ethics education
Biomedical ethics research
Healthcare ethics events

Geographic Focus

The United Kingdom.

What they don't fund

Research in Medical Ethics only:
- applications where the amount of support required from the IME is less than £500
- events or activities proposed are targeted at academic staff or students from a single institution
- applications led by, or solely aimed at postgraduate students (including doctoral students)
- applications from anyone other than current IME members

How to apply

Organisations seeking an Institutional Grant complete the application form and upload it using the Institutional Grant Submission Form.

Application windows:

Elective Bursaries: Applications are open; deadline is 11 November.

What to send:

Institutional Grants: Institutional Grant Application Form
Conference Grants: Conference Grant Application Form

Application success factors

What the charity says:

Applicants are strongly encouraged to consider value for money when costing proposals, and all costs must be fully justified.
For co-funded projects, the IME must be acknowledged in outputs and events, and applicants should demonstrate benefit to the wider IME community.
Applicants should show that proposals relate to the IME's aims and objectives and benefit the wider UK biomedical ethics community.
The IME encourages innovation in activity, content and design, and collaboration with clinical practitioners.
Applicants should demonstrate wide-reaching plans to disseminate project or event outcomes.

Where they fund

Where it says it funds

United Kingdom

Similar funders

Funders supporting work similar to Institute of Medical Ethics.

The Frances and Augustus Newman FoundationRollingGave £269k

Five years of accounts

Financial year	Income	Expenditure	Grants paid	Accounts document
year to 31 December 2020	£252,507	£178,453	—	Accounts for year to 31 December 2020
year to 31 December 2021	£388,432	£155,410	—	Accounts for year to 31 December 2021
year to 31 December 2022	£260,009	£281,804	—	Accounts for year to 31 December 2022
year to 31 December 2023	£325,128	£252,327	—	Accounts for year to 31 December 2023
year to 31 December 2024	£330,668	£291,521	£37,154	Accounts for year to 31 December 2024

Grants paid, year to 31 December 2024: the accounts do not say whether this is grants awarded or paid.

Figures from the charity’s filed accounts and its register entry. The document icon links to the charity’s entry on the Charity Commission register, where its filed accounts can be found.