Avon Primary Care Research Collaborative, NIHR Research Capability Funding (RCF) Responsive Call

Avon Primary Care Research Collaborative,
NIHR Research Capability Funding (RCF)
Responsive Call
November 2014
GUIDANCE NOTES
Eligibility, conditions of award and timelines
NIHR Research Capability Funding (RCF) is a research funding stream made available by the
National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) to help research-active NHS organisations attract,
develop and retain high-quality research, clinical and support staff.
The Avon Primary Care Research Collaborative (APCRC) has launched a competition for funds to
free up time to prepare an NIHR Grant Application, or for Pump Priming / Pilot work to generate
preliminary data to support an NIHR Grant Application.
This scheme can be used to:
a) Fund time to prepare one or more NIHR research grant applications in the area of Primary
Care; and/or
b) Fund the generation of preliminary or underpinning data to support an NIHR application in the
area of Primary Care
The Scheme will not fund studies which will not directly generate data for NIHR grant applications,
and applications should clearly illustrate the need for the research and its potential impact for the
NHS.
The NIHR RCF is intended to be used within the financial year in which it is issued. Therefore, we can
only consider applications for funding to support work which will start within the 2014/15 financial year
(i.e. starting prior to 31st March 2015).
Eligibility
Applications will be welcomed from NHS Primary Care staff or HEI staff working in the Primary Care
area or in public health or community healthcare, to develop research ideas into grant applications
that will be appropriate for submission through NHS Bristol CCG, to NIHR funding streams.
Collaborative applications are welcomed and in particular, those that include university partners and
NHS partners, and the wider health community including public health.
Assessment Criteria
Applications will be assessed on the following criteria:
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Fit with NIHR priorities and evidence that proposed work will lead to a viable NIHR application
Feasibility of proposed work
Potential benefit/impact of the proposed work particularly to the NHS
Appropriateness, and where relevant the track record, of the team identified to take forward
the plans.
Fit of the ideas and plans for development with the research activity of your team and wider
division
Support of your Head of Department
Value for money
Project Reporting and Performance Management
All projects funded through this call will be performance managed via the R&D staff at APCRC and if
progress is not satisfactory, then the funding maybe curtailed or withdrawn.
At the time of the award each successful applicant will agree with R&D staff, the key performance
indicators for their work. At the end of all studies a final report will be required.
All NIHR grant applications or applications using the results of data generated from work funded by
this scheme must be submitted via NHS Bristol CCG. Projects should start within 3 months of
notification, and if the project has not started within 6 months, funding will be withdrawn.
Applicants must seek input from the Research Design Service, or from SMART to support their
research design (post award, not at this stage). It is recommended that applicants engage with this
service at an early stage – if you are successful in securing an RCF award, you will be expected to
work with the RDS/SMART and APCRC will facilitate your initial contact.
Decision Making Process and Timescales
Deadline for the emailed application form: 5 pm 17th November 2014
Deadline for the hard copy of the signature page: 5 pm 26th November 2014
All applications will be reviewed by the APCRC awards panel, and applicants will be notified within a
month of the submission deadline (17th December).
If you wish to discuss your application, please contact: Paul Roy, Research Innovation and Contracts
Manager at APCRC – email paul.roy@nhs.net or call on 0117 984 1673 (Tuesday – Friday)
Form Guidance
Section One
Please provide your personal details as requested.
Please provide details of up to ten of your best publications since January 2011. Please include the
full reference including all authors, the title, the journal, and the page and publication date. Details of
any papers in press or in preparation should also be provided.
We acknowledge that those of you at the beginning of your research careers may not have this many
publications.
It is expected that applicants will fit into one of two categories;
i)
require protected time to prepare one or more NIHR research grant applications that will be
submitted via NHS Bristol CCG
ii)
require both protected time to prepare one or more NIHR research grant applications that will
be submitted via NHS Bristol CCG and a small budget for the salary of a research assistant
(or similar) and/or consumables to generate suitable preliminary data to form the basis of the
NIHR research grant application.
As applicable, details of research time and salary (including on-costs) and consumable budgets
should be provided and a brief explanation of each item required should be provided. Grants will not
fund course fees, software or hardware. In addition, applications purely for dissemination activities will
not be supported (e.g. time to write up publications or expenses to attend conferences).
We anticipate that individuals may need 10 – 20% of their time funded for six months to complete a
NIHR Research for Patient Benefit grant application and that a larger NIHR programme or HTA grant
may need up to 20% of time for 12 months.
No application should request funds for more than 12 months.
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For funded time, it is important that you discuss ‘backfill’ of your time with your line manager. The
proposed start date also be discussed and should be within 3 months of notification of your award (i.e.
by March 2015).
Projects that have not started 6 months after notification will have funding withdrawn.
If you plan to start your project after 31st March 2015, please delay your application and instead apply
for the APCRC Spring call (which will launch in Spring 2015).
Section two and three
Applicants should only complete Section 2 if they are applying for pump-prime / pilot project funding.
If you need pump-priming time, complete sections two, three and four.
If you are applying for grant application writing time only, complete sections three and four.
All applicants must complete sections three and four.
Please complete the form with the information required for each section as detailed on the application
form. The need for the research should be clearly highlighted, and you should have performed a
preliminary literature review giving references (references should not be included in the word count).
Please explain how this funding will enable the applicant to make a viable NIHR research grant
application. Details of the specific calls you are aiming to submit to should also be provided.
Note that progress of successful applicants towards meeting these deadlines will be monitored by the
R&D Programme Manager
Please keep the word count to an absolute minimal for the “executive summary” two examples are
provided below:
Question
What is the health condition/health
Service?
What is the population?
What is the specific problem this
research will investigate?
What methodology will be used in
the research?
Why is this the best approach at this
point?
What is the potential
impact/outcome
RCF application A
Eczema
RCF application B
GP appointments
Children aged 4 – 11 years
Most effective treatment of
eczema in primary school aged
children
Feasibility RCT
GPs
Communicating health
messages effectively
To inform a full RCT, we need
to know recruitment rates,
adherence and follow up rates
Knowledge to inform a full RCT
Need to explore evidence, and
no sys review yet performed
Systematic review
Knowledge to inform further
programme of work
Information on the NIHR funding streams can be found on the website www.nihr.ac.uk
Section four
Your application for RCF funding will not be accepted without explicit agreement from your line
manager. The R&D manager may also contact your manager for an independent assessment of your
application for RCF funding.
PR 3rd October 2014
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