Frequently asked questions

Petsavers grants are currently available for the following types of projects:

Masters Degree by Research (MDR)
PetSavers will fund, for a period of one year the following costs up to a maximum in aggregate of £35,000 (but subject to the individual limitations set out below.
a. Postgraduate student stipend (currently £15,000 - £18,000)
b. Payment of University fees
c. Equipment and consumables (up to £10,000 including VAT) depending on the nature of the project.

Clinical Research Project (CRP)
Costs £1,000-£8,000

Student Research Projects (SRP)
£1,000 for each veterinary school in the UK (and one for veterinary nurses) to fund up to 2 projects.

All applications must meet the Petsavers criteria:

• The study involves only naturally occurring disease in small animals; there must be no experimental or artificial induction of disease.
• The anticipated results of the study will result in a change in diagnosis or management of small animal disease.
• The study is supervised by people with veterinary clinical skills and knowledge.
  Any interventions on animals (including obtaining samples) would be considered part of Recognised Veterinary Practice.
• All applications should indicate whether ethical approval has been obtained and if not what steps will be taken to ensure that the project achieves ethical approval.
• Applicant must state how the results will directly benefit cats, dogs or other companion animals. If the benefit is not direct, they must suggest how many further steps (and at what cost) they believe it will take before a benefit becomes apparent.

After that applications for MDR and CRP applications are also considered in terms of: 

• Study design
• Scientific merit
• Feasibility
• Applicability to practice

In addition, MDR applications are assessed for the standard of student training that will be provided.
It is therefore helpful if you make sure you have provided information on these

In most cases the answer to this question will be yes as most clinical research will involve either procedures on animals or on samples taken from animals. Work carried out on tissues derived from pet animals during a normal post-mortem examination is allowed, provided that the owners’ written informed consent has first been obtained.

We recommend that you read the report of the RCVS/BVA working party on Ethical Review for Practice-based Research

For those without access to ethical approval through a recognised research institution, the RCVS Ethics Review Panel can provide ethical approval for practice-based clinical research.

Every year we receive questions regarding the use of PetSavers funds, therefore we have provided a separate document “What does PetSavers pay for” to help with interpretation. In order to give your application the maximum chance of success please provide  detailed information on how the money will be spent and include sufficient detail in the application for the grant awarding committee to be able to assess whether this will be an appropriate use of PetSavers funds.

PetSavers do not fund salaries as part of the Student Research Project and Clinical Research Prpject grant streams.  However, they do fund a stipend for a student undertaking a Masters Degree by Research.

Peer reviewers need to be independent of the research project.

Veterinary nurses are eligible to apply for the Student Research Project and Masters Degree by Research grants, but the application must be supported by a vet.

No, you do not have to be a BSAVA member to apply for any PetSavers grant, our grants are open to all veterinary professionals.

PetSavers will cover reasonable travel costs associated with data collection, but do not fund travel, accommodation or attendance at conferences as a delegate. A separate fund (capped at £500 per applicant) can be applied for once the research has been completed.  This allowance is to enable the applicant to present PetSavers funded research at a suitable conferences.