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Research Design Service
Research Design Service North West (RDS NW)
e-Newsletter
In this issue
Upcoming RDS NW events
RDS NW public involvement team update 2015
Contact detailsCoordinating CentreLancaster University01524 [email protected]
Cumbria and Lancashire Local TeamLancaster University01524 [email protected]
Greater Manchester Local TeamManchester University0161 306 [email protected]
Mersey and Cheshire Local TeamLiverpool University0151 795 [email protected]
Number 10 - December 2015
NIHR themed calls
News in brief
The NIHR Research Design Service can help you
RDS NW case study
RDS NW clinical trials essential links self-help resource
Adviser spotlight
More news in brief
Research Design Service
NewsProfessor Chris Whitty CB FMedSci Appointed as Chief Scientific Adviser with the Research and Development Portfolio for the Department of Health
Upcoming RDS NW events - Developing proposals for the renewed NIHR Research for Patient Benefit (RfPB) programmeRfPB support afternoon11 February 2016, 1.30 pm to 4.00 pm
For those planning to submit an RfPB proposal in competition 29, we are providing a facilitated half-day support session for applicants involving one-to-one advice with a range of experts from different methodological backgrounds. More about the afternoon here.
RfPB seminar11 February 2016, 9.30 am to 12.30 pm
The aim of this seminar is to give researchers a better understanding of funding priorities, application processes and future plans and an opportunity for dialogue with panel members and successful grant
holders. Public involvement will be highlighted as well as how the RDS NW can support you through the application process.At this seminar Professor David Armstrong, RfPB Programme Director, will also be presenting an overview of the RfPB programme. More about the seminar here.
The NIHR Research Design Service can help you*Whether you are based in the NHS, an academic institution, local authority or any other type of organisation, the Research Design Service (RDS) can help you develop your research idea in applied health and social care and apply for relevant funding no matter what level of experience you have.
If you have experience writing funding
applications and/or have a fully worked up application, the RDS can help you for example by providing an impartial critical read.
If you are an early career researcher or have little or no research experience but have a research idea, the RDS can help you in areas including but not limited to:
• formulating the research question• structuring and writing a research
funding application• advising on appropriate
methodologies• building a research team with the
relevant skills need for the research• identifying appropriate funding.
To find out more and apply for free research design advice visit the RDS NW website here.* Eligibility criteria apply.
RDS NW public involvement update 2015
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New NIHR Dissemination CentreThe new centre has been set up to make health research evidence easier to reach for those who need it. Each week they publish three or four new ‘Signals’ – short summaries of health research that has appeared recently in peer-reviewed journals.
NHS England guidance on funding Excess Treatment Costs
NHS England's new guidance to help clarify the rules and expectations on funding of Excess Treatment Costs incurred during a non-commercial research study.
Arthritis Research UK announce plans to release a Health Services Research call
Arthritis Research UK are developing a joint initiative with partner funders which aims to produce evidence on the quality, accessibility and organisation of health and care services relevant to people with arthritis and other musculoskeletal conditions.
News in brief
The RDS NW has been continuing with its RfPB proposal development series. As part of this series a specialist RDS NW public involvement adviser works with a member of the public to jointly review ideas and draft applications from potential applicants who have applied to take part. The RDS NW public involvement team continually evaluate how they provide input into the series to ensure the best possible public involvement support is provided.
The public involvement team took part in a public involvement Catalyst event organised by NHS Research and Development North West and the North West People in Research Forum at Aintree back in January. The focus of the day was on how we can demonstrate the benefits of involving the public in research. The event report is available here.
Prior to the Catalyst event, a useful event was held in Manchester in December 2014 which brought many public involvement leads from across Greater Manchester together to look at each other’s approach. This was organised by the Greater Manchester Clinical Research Network. Many NIHR structures in Manchester are carrying out and developing public and patient engagement and involvement in clinical research. Several of these structures had expressed the need for these structures to interact to make sure that effective collaboration is taking place, we are learning from each other and not duplicating efforts.
Our Patient and Public Involvement Bursaries are now called Public Involvement Funds. We continue to award these funds to successful applicants. Between April 2014 and the end of March 2015, we awarded a total of 41 funds averaging just over £300 per award.
RDS NW has a new public involvement adviser
Sarah Knowles from Manchester University who has taken over from Tracey Williamson, providing support within the Greater Manchester team. Tracey has taken over the role of public involvement strategic lead from Prof Soo Downe. Soo is warmly thanked for the leadership and vision she has contributed over the last three years.
Lastly, the public involvement team has been reviewing all its paper and online resources. Recently the team developed a work plan for the next three years. More details of which will be made available shortly. However any suggestions about how the RDS NW can work with members of the public, researchers and relevant organisations are welcome. Please send any ideas/comments to [email protected] or telephone 01524 593209.
If you require public involvement advice during the development your research funding application then please visit the request advice page of the RDS NW website here.
Themed calls are issued by the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) to meet an identified health challenge or government priority. Calls for funding will be promoted in advance whenever possible and clearly advertised on NIHR websites. All research programmes, including NIHR fellowships, will participate in the themed call as far as their remit allows.
The most recent NIHR themed calls are:
• Antimicrobial Resistance• Multimorbidities in Older People• Mesothelioma• Long-term conditions in children and young
people
Full details of NIHR themed calls and the participating NIHR funding programmes and their associated funding deadlines can be found on the NIHR themed call website here.
On the 9 December 2015 the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) issued a further themed call for research into the evaluation of interventions or services for the prevention and treatment of obesity in adults and children. Preventing obesity and type 2 diabetes is a priority for the UK Government. With over 60 percent of the adult population either overweight or obese and more than 2.7 million people diagnosed with type 2
NIHR themed calls
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diabetes, the health burden and economic impact of obesity in the UK are increasing.
This call is an initiative by the NIHR in recognition of the need for further research-based evidence to underpin the prevention and management of overweight and obesity in adults and children. Issues of particular importance for this call include the prevention of type 2 diabetes and increasing levels of physical activity.
The following seven NIHR managed research programmes will be participating:
• Efficacy and Mechanism Evaluation (EME)• Health Services and Delivery Research
(HS&DR)• Health Technology Assessment (HTA)• Invention for Innovation (i4i)• Programme Grants for Applied Research
(PGfAR)• Public Health Research programme (PHR)• Research for Patient Benefit (RfPB)
In addition the following three NIHR research training programmes will be participating:
• Fellowships• Research Professorships• Clinician Scientist
The NIHR is holding a workshop concerning the call in January 2016. Registration for this workshop has now closed but presentations and supporting information will be posted online following the workshop.
The RDS NW advice service can provide methodological advice to anyone developing themed call funding applications. As well as methodological advice the RDS NW can advise on public involvement, structuring and writing the proposal, potential collaborators and also offer an independent critical read. To receive free advice from the RDS NW please visiting the advice request page of the RDS NW website here.
Renewed NIHR Research for Patient Benefit Programme
The application process for RfPB funding has changed. In summary, the changes are:
• a preliminary stage one application form hasbeen introduced
• stage one applications will be assessed bya Regional Advisory Committee (RAC) andapplicants will then be notified as to whether astage two application has been invited
• applicants will be provided with feedbackfollowing assessment of a stage one application
• applicants invited to stage two will also have the
option to defer their stage two application to the following competition
• four RACs will be merging to form two, NorthEast and Yorkshire and The Humber regions(Yorkshire and the North East) and the SouthCentral and South East Coast regions (SouthEast and Central), reducing the number of RACsto eight.
More detail about these changes can be found on the RfPB website here.
IMPlementation of A Relatives’ Toolkit: Examining the critical success factors, barriers and facilitators to implementation of an online supported self-management intervention in the NHS (IMPART study)
The IMPART study, funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Health Services and Delivery Research (HS&DR) Programme (project number 14/04/16), successfully received funding following expert advice from the NIHR Research Design Service North West (RDS NW).
The study uses an iterative case series design in six NHS Trusts and examines the implementation process of an online support self-management intervention for relatives of people with psychosis / bipolar disorder in Early Intervention Services. This is an important study that aims to help reduce the evidence-practice gap and will have broad implications for digital development across healthcare settings.
See www.nets.nihr.ac.uk/projects/hsdr/140416 for more information on the study.
Led by Professor Fiona Lobban, Spectrum Centre for Mental Health Research, Lancaster University, the study was developed and is delivered in collaboration with a range of clinical academics, clinical health professionals, methodological experts and service users across UK Universities and NHS Trusts.
During the development of the funding application an RDS NW case manager led an advising team of three RDS NW advisers, including the case manager, in providing advice on the development of the funding application.
When the RDS NW was first approached, it was not clear which funding programme this project would be best suited to. The RDS NW
RDS NW case study
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enabled the identification of the appropriate funding programme, HS&DR, but also facilitated communication with other successful HS&DR applicants, enabling the application to fit the requirement of the programme. Through the RDS NW case manager, expert RDS NW methodologists were identified in key areas. These advisers enabled the project team to think through the most appropriate design. Advisers also provided support on the funding submission process including detailed feedback on draft submissions. The RDS NW also provided advice on user involvement in developing the application. Service users and relatives were involved in developing the study and are also involved in the delivery of the study.
The views and opinions expressed therein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the HS&DR Programme, NIHR, NHS or the Department of Health.
Prof Fiona Lobban
Service users
The RDS NW has developed a resource which aims to help you ensure an application for funding for a trial includes key considerations at each stage e.g. trial design, costs, conduct, reporting and analysis.
This resource brings together a number of externally hosted resources.
The focus is to support clinical trials but many aspects of the guidance are common to other research studies.
Access the clinical trials essential links resource here.Clinical trials essential links resources
RDS NW clinical trials essential links self-help resource
Service users
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Dr Rachael Powell has been an RDS NW adviser since January 2013. She specialises in health psychology and behaviour change while also offering general support to applicants in the frontline adviser role.
Rachael completed her PhD in psychology in 2003, looking at factors predicting activity limitations. This was followed by research fellowships at the Universities of Auckland and Aberdeen investigating the relationships between psychological variables and post-surgery outcomes. While her background is primarily in quantitative methods, this research highlighted the value of using qualitative methods alongside a quantitative approach, and she has since been an advocate of mixed methods approaches.
Within her fellowship at the University of Aberdeen she carried out an MSc in Health Services and Public Health Research which allowed her to develop qualitative research skills and also provided a good understanding of the various disciplines that collaborate in high quality, multi-disciplinary research. This has proved useful in Rachael’s own research and invaluable in her role as an RDS NW adviser.
Alongside her RDS NW role, Rachael is a lecturer in Health Psychology at the University of Manchester where she is also co-director of a new MSc in Health Psychology. She is a registered Health Psychologist and a member of the Manchester Centre for Health Psychology. Her main research interests are in psychological aspects of undergoing medical procedures, for example surgery and diagnostic procedures such as MRI scanning. She is currently leading a Cochrane systematic review ‘Psychological preparation
and postoperative outcomes for adults undergoing surgery under general anaesthesia'. She is also interested in how people use self-testing technology, particularly the use of kits to self-test for sexually transmitted infections.
Rachael enjoys the RDS NW adviser role because it allows her to meet people who work in a wide variety of settings, carrying out research in many different areas. The role is never dull as every client brings new ideas and new research challenges. It is also extremely rewarding when we help clients to submit a high quality application – especially if that application is then successful in attracting funding! She is keen to help both clients and adviser colleagues to identify research that involves behaviour change to make sure that clients have behaviour change expertise on their research teams, leading to interventions that are strongly grounded in theory and evidence.
Adviser spotlight: Frontline adviser, Greater Manchester
Dr Rachael Powell
HEE/NIHR Integrated Clinical Academic Programme highlighted in Health Services Journal supplement
The Health Services Journal (HSJ) Supplement co-sponsored by the NIHR Trainees Coordinating Centre (TCC) alongside Health Education England (HEE) has been launched. It focuses on the HEE/NIHR Integrated Clinical Academic (ICA) Programme which is specifically for non-medical healthcare professionals and features interviews with Prof Dave Jones, Dean for NIHR Trainees and Nicki Latham (HEE) as well as case studies with some current ICA trainees.
Arthritis Research UK health services research call announcement
Arthritis Research UK are developing a joint initiative with partner funders aiming to produce evidence on the quality, accessibility and organisation of health and care services relevant to people with arthritis and other musculoskeletal conditions.A cross-disciplinary workshop will be held in London on 14 January 2016, to inform prospective applicants of the details of the initiative and provide the opportunity to seek clarity as well as enabling them to develop new linkages, discuss research in fields relevant to this initiative, and ensure that prospective applicants can submit robust and relevant applications.
More news in briefNIHR Public Health Research Programme - Local interventions to reduce intake and harm from alcohol
The NIHR Public Health Research (PHR) Programme is commissioning research on the effectiveness of locally delivered interventions for reducing intake and harm caused by alcohol.Evidence is needed to inform decision makers and local partnerships in order to create an enabling context to tackle harm from alcohol.Proposals must evaluate interventions and the primary outcome measure must be a health outcome. Studies evaluating multi-component interventions, population level interventions, or natural experiments are of particular interest.
Research Design ServiceVersion 1.0 - 2015-11-23, © NIHR Research Design Service North West
Research Design Service North West (RDS NW)
Funding deadlines Useful links and resources
NHS England - guidance on excess treatment costs
Public involvement in research: values and principles framework
Trials Managers’ Network: A Guide to Efficient Trial Management
Health Research Authority guidance on trial design
PROSPERO - an international database of prospectively registered systematic reviews in health and social care
NIHR Invention for Innovation
Closing date 13 January 2016
NIHR Health Services and Delivery ResearchResearcher-led
Closing date 14 January 2016
NIHR Health Technology AssessmentCommissioned
Closing date 21 January 2016
NIHR Efficacy and Mechanism Evaluation Researcher-led
Closing date 15 March 2016
NIHR Efficacy and Mechanism EvaluationCommissioned
Closing date 15 March 2016
NIHR Public Health ResearchResearcher-led
Closing date 4 April 2016
NIHR Public Health ResearchCommissioned
Closing date 26 April 2016
Events
Being successful as an NHS based researcher
Webinar 8 February 2016
Annual R&D Forum Conference 2016
Stratford Upon Avon 23 May 2016
RDS Residential Grant Writing RetreatBath 13 to 17 June 2016
For further events in the North West and nationally please visit the RDS NW website at: www.rds-nw.nihr.ac.uk.
Please always check the event or funder website for the latest information and dates.
More news in briefThis seminar organised by RDS NW aims to give researchers a better understanding of funding priorities, application processes and future plans and an opportunity for dialogue with panel members and successful grant holders.
Developing proposals for the NIHR Research for Patient Benefit (RfPB) programme seminar11 February 2016 - Liverpool
We welcome your feedback
Please send any feedback [email protected].
We are always striving to improve the service we offer you. We welcome feedback on any aspect of our service including our website and this newsletter.
RfPB support afternoon for applicants11 February 2016 - Liverpool
A facilitated half-day support session, organised by the RDS NW for applicants, involving one-to-one advice from a range of experts from different methodological backgrounds.