Features of successful bids for funding of applied health research: a cohort study
Features of successful bids for funding of applied health research: a cohort study
Background: the literature suggests that research funding decisions may be influenced by criteria such as gender or institution of the principal investigator (PI). The aim of this study was to investigate the association between characteristics of funding applications and success when considered by a research funding board.
Methods: we selected a retrospective cohort of 296 outline applications for primary research (mainly pragmatic clinical trials) submitted to the commissioning board of the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Programme between January 1st 2006 and December 31st 2009. We selected proposals submitted to the commissioned NIHR HTA work stream as they addressed issues which the programme already deemed to be important, hence the priority of the research question was not considered as one of the selection criteria for success or failure. Main outcome measures were success or failure at short-listing and in obtaining research funding.
Results: the characteristics of applications associated with success at shortlisting and funding were multi-disciplinarity of the team (OR 19.94 [5.13, 77.50], P < 0.0001), particularly inclusion of a statistician (OR 3.76 [2.21, 6.37], P < 0.0001), and the completion of a pilot/feasibility study (OR 4.11 [1.24, 13.62], P = 0.0209). The gender of the PI was not associated with success or failure at either stage. The PI's affiliation institution was not associated with success or failure at shortlisting.
Conclusions: the gender of the PI was not associated with success or failure. The characteristics of research applications most strongly associated with success were related to the range of expertise in the team and the completion of a pilot or feasibility study.
Financing, Organized, Health, Humans, Interdisciplinary Communication, Odds Ratio, Pilot Projects, Research, Research Personnel, Sex Factors, Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Turner, Sheila
42f19397-8e9f-435d-a348-2cc1639b5eb4
Davidson, Peter
531fc501-2ab0-4481-900e-2e7c0cc6424d
Stanton, Louise
8b827763-d839-4b4b-bbf2-358a84110294
Cawdeary, Victoria
2d0592dd-d219-42ae-8b31-a245fe9dab45
22 September 2014
Turner, Sheila
42f19397-8e9f-435d-a348-2cc1639b5eb4
Davidson, Peter
531fc501-2ab0-4481-900e-2e7c0cc6424d
Stanton, Louise
8b827763-d839-4b4b-bbf2-358a84110294
Cawdeary, Victoria
2d0592dd-d219-42ae-8b31-a245fe9dab45
Turner, Sheila, Davidson, Peter, Stanton, Louise and Cawdeary, Victoria
(2014)
Features of successful bids for funding of applied health research: a cohort study.
Health Research Policy and Systems, 12, [54].
(doi:10.1186/1478-4505-12-54).
Abstract
Background: the literature suggests that research funding decisions may be influenced by criteria such as gender or institution of the principal investigator (PI). The aim of this study was to investigate the association between characteristics of funding applications and success when considered by a research funding board.
Methods: we selected a retrospective cohort of 296 outline applications for primary research (mainly pragmatic clinical trials) submitted to the commissioning board of the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Programme between January 1st 2006 and December 31st 2009. We selected proposals submitted to the commissioned NIHR HTA work stream as they addressed issues which the programme already deemed to be important, hence the priority of the research question was not considered as one of the selection criteria for success or failure. Main outcome measures were success or failure at short-listing and in obtaining research funding.
Results: the characteristics of applications associated with success at shortlisting and funding were multi-disciplinarity of the team (OR 19.94 [5.13, 77.50], P < 0.0001), particularly inclusion of a statistician (OR 3.76 [2.21, 6.37], P < 0.0001), and the completion of a pilot/feasibility study (OR 4.11 [1.24, 13.62], P = 0.0209). The gender of the PI was not associated with success or failure at either stage. The PI's affiliation institution was not associated with success or failure at shortlisting.
Conclusions: the gender of the PI was not associated with success or failure. The characteristics of research applications most strongly associated with success were related to the range of expertise in the team and the completion of a pilot or feasibility study.
Text
1478-4505-12-54
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More information
Accepted/In Press date: 8 September 2014
Published date: 22 September 2014
Keywords:
Financing, Organized, Health, Humans, Interdisciplinary Communication, Odds Ratio, Pilot Projects, Research, Research Personnel, Sex Factors, Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Organisations:
Wessex Institute, NETSCC, Clinical Informatics Research Unit, Clinical Trials Unit
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 410195
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/410195
ISSN: 1478-4505
PURE UUID: 34c1c99a-668f-433f-a1a9-7174af6c1508
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Date deposited: 06 Jun 2017 04:02
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 03:55
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Author:
Sheila Turner
Author:
Peter Davidson
Author:
Victoria Cawdeary
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