Huo Early-Career Fellowships – Grant Application Information

Effects of the Usage of Digital Technology on Brain Development, Social Behaviours and Mental Health in Children and Young People

Background and motivation 

A long-standing interest of HFF has been the effect and impact of usage of digital technology on young people. The rapid rise and use of this technology has permeated much of society and transformed the way many humans interact.  

There has been a broad array of research efforts that mostly have involved relatively crude measures of the amount of usage of digital technology (e.g. total screen time) and the observed effects and impact on health. Despite these efforts, the full implications – both positive and negative – on human physiology, psychology, behaviour, well-being and mental health remain unclear.   

We believe there is an opportunity to help advance the research and the field of knowledge in this area, both by strengthening existing as well as creating new methods and approaches to better model and unpick the complexities of this topic.

HFF is establishing a research portfolio on the Effects of the Usage of Digital Technology on Brain Development, Social Behaviours and Mental Health in Children and Young People. This is our second annual call.

Funding opportunity

The Huo Family Foundation invites applications for early-career fellowships to support talented and promising postdoctoral researchers on the path to independence. These fellowships are to allow early-career researchers to design, plan and deliver their own innovative research project, and to make the transition to independent researcher.

Proposals should be tackling key questions within the broad topic of the effects of usage of and exposure to digital technologies on brain development and function (including physiological responses), social behaviour and interactions, and the well-being and mental health of children and young people.

Awarded research grants in this area can be held at degree-awarding colleges and universities in the UK and in the US. We are keen to support multi-disciplinary work. We also want to train the next generation of exceptional scientists in this rapidly evolving field.  Information on the awardees from the inaugural call in 2025 can be found here. 

Scientific Remit, Definitions, Expectations and Examples of Research We Want to Support

Please see the extended guidance here. We highly recommend following these guidelines.

Work that is out scope

• We will not support the establishment of new population (epidemiological) cohorts.
• We will not consider applications that look at the development and/or deployment of digital technology (to include, but not limited to, web-based programmes, mobile applications, applications of generative AI, chatbots, extended reality, wearable devices or video games) to deliver treatment for mental health problems.
• We will not consider applications that look at the development and/or deployment of digital technology to deliver educational learning.
• Proposals including randomised controlled trials or similar methodologies should not include the testing of drugs, medical treatments, medical/healthcare/well-being devices, diagnostic procedures, or apps for a mental health intervention.
• We will not consider applications on clinical service provision/reorganisation.
• Studies should not include work involving animals.
• We will not support systematic reviews.

Eligibility

Applicants must hold a PhD or equivalent degree in a relevant field, which may include but is not limited to neuroscience, psychology, psychiatry, epidemiology, public health, computer science, social science, economics.

Applicants must have completed their PhD in January 2023 or later i.e. at the time of award be within four years of completing PhD. Allowances will be made for part-time work, career breaks (for example, parental leave or long-term sickness) and other significant amounts of time spent outside research (for example, clinical training); if you completed your PhD before January 2023 and would like to discuss an allowance, please contact science@huofamilyfoundation.org.

Applicants must not have their first permanent/ tenure-track position. If your institution has both academic and research fellow tracks, they are considered equivalent.

The applicants must be based or propose to be based at degree-awarding colleges and universities in the UK or the US. The college or university should have an appropriate charitable or tax-exempt status. Researchers based at hospitals or research institutes must apply via their affiliated university.

Applicants must identify a sponsor at your host institution. The sponsor must hold an established post (or an honorary academic appointment) at the organisation for the duration of the award. The sponsor has a dual role. The sponsor will be expected to help provide the space, facilities and resources you’ll need from the start date to the end date of your award and ensure the research environment will support you to complete your project. This same individual should be involved in the research by providing academic guidance and oversight. The sponsor should provide a letter of support. [Please note the details of this role were updated on 19 March for clarity.]

Applicants must also identify a mentor for the period of your award. The mentor should have a track record in training and mentorship, and support and guide you on how to manage your application and grant, develop your research career and progress with your personal development. The mentor should provide a letter of support. The sponsor and mentor should be different people. It may be useful to have a mentor from a different discipline or related field.

Co-applicants are NOT possible on this application.

Collaborators can be included in this application and award (please see the next section for details on collaborators).

Resubmissions are possible. If you have previously applied for a Huo Early-Career Fellowship, you can submit another application if you still meet all the eligibility criteria. In the new application, you will need to provide details on how the new submission is significantly different to and/or addresses reviewers’ concerns on your previous application.

Summary of key terms for the awards

Fellowships are for up to a three-year term.

The fellowship amount is up to £130,000 / US$175,500 per year.

The fellowship should begin between January and February 2027.

Fellowships will be paid in instalments annually in advance.

The fellowship is intended to support (or contribute) to the fellow’s salary (including on-costs/fringe) and to provide research costs for them to develop their own research project.

The on-cost or fringe rate would be determined by the employing organisation.

It is not possible to include any salary support costs for the sponsor or for the mentor.

Fellowship funds may be used by the fellow for any expense judged supportive of the fellow’s research including staffing, lab expenses, equipment and access charges, and professional travel.

Regarding other staff costs that can be included in the costs section, these would be for students and staff carrying out the research project with the fellow. For example, it is acceptable to include a PhD studentship (and fees), a graduate research assistant, etc. The on-cost or fringe rate (where appropriate) would be determined by the employing organisation.

Collaborators (or consultants) are possible. They do not need to be based in the US or UK.  A collaborator is an individual that may assist with specific or concise elements of the research and/or provide access to resources, reagents, samples or a research service. A collaborator would not normally be involved in the day-to-day running of the work. For collaborations, there are no budget constraints per se and any costs should fully justified and be led by the scientific need. Given collaborators are helping with concise activities, collaborators should not be receiving the vast majority of the grant funds. Grant funds cannot be used to provide a fee or salary contribution to the collaborator/consultant when this individual already has a full-time salaried position at, for example, a university or company. 

Please note that other than concise and defined collaborative work described in the previous paragraph, the grant can NOT be used to conduct research outside of the US and UK.  

On overhead/indirect/facilities and administration costs: For UK-based work, the total grant envelope of up to £130,000 per year can be used for direct costs only; HFF funding (awarded on basis of open competition with external expert peer-review) expended in the UK will be eligible for UK government charity research (QR) support. For US-based work, up to 12.5% of the total grant budget can be indirect costs. For the avoidance of doubt, the annual grant total is the total envelope and includes both directs and (up to 12.5%) indirects. For Huo Early-Career Fellowships, the total envelope is up to $175,500 per year, so indirects of up to 12.5% totalling a maximum of $19,500 per year could be included, and this would then leave $156,000 available for direct costs in that grant year.

During the award, once per year, the fellow and their host institution must submit both a substantive report (detailing what is being done) and a financial report (detailing expenditure and an explanatory narrative).

Award timeline

2 February 2026 – call announced with grant information | HFF grant system opens for applications grants.huofamilyfoundation.org

1 May 2026 by 23.59 (UK time), 18.59 (Eastern), 15.59 (Pacific) – deadline for submission of applications

Summer 2026 – applications considered by external peer-review

18 September 2026 – applications short-listed for the funding committee

21 September – 28 September 2026 – if shortlisted for the funding committee, applicants respond to peer-review comments

22 – 23 October 2026 – shortlisted applications considered by funding committee

w/c 23 November 2026 – funding decisions released

December 2026 – award agreements issued and first annual payment made

January 2027 – start of award grants

Programme contact

HFF Science Team science@huofamilyfoundation.org  

How to apply

Applications must be submitted via our grants management system grants.huofamilyfoundation.org

The deadline for proposal submission is 1 May 2026 by 23.59 (UK time), 18.59 (Eastern time US), 15.59 (Pacific time US). Please note a senior colleague with relevant authority at your host institution will have to sign off/endorse your application before submission. Please plan carefully with your relevant colleague to meet the deadline.

Assessing the application

We will review your research proposal, skills and experience, and research environment.

• The research proposal – to be competitive, your research proposal should be bold, innovative, novel, feasible, appropriately powered and high quality.
• Your skills and experience – we will consider your previous research outputs and contributions to the research community, and how you will develop these during the award.
• Your research environment – how your selected host institution will support you to deliver your research programme and develop as a researcher.
• Other key components of the proposal, such as: Data management and sharing; Public and Community Involvement, Engagement and Participation (PCIEP); and, Ethics and responsible research and innovation
• Value for money – all costs must be justified and commensurate with the work being undertaken.

Your application will be sent to external peer-reviewers.

If shortlisted for the funding committee, you will have the opportunity to respond to these comments. The comments will be emailed to you by 21 September 2026. Your response must be returned to science@huofamilyfoundation.org by 28 September 2026 by 23.59 UK time, 18.59 Eastern time US, 15.59 Pacific time US.

If shortlisted, your application, the peer-review reports, and your responses to the peer-review comments will be considered by a funding committee on 22 and 23 October 2026.

Final funding decisions will be released w/c 23 November 2026.

FAQs