Background to the award scheme

1. Supporting public involvement in the design of health research: An overview of the RDSYH’s Public Involvement in Grant Applications Funding AwardDr Jonathan Boote, Research Fellow and Strategic PPI Lead, NIHR Research Design Service for Yorkshire and the Humber

2. Background to the award scheme • Public involvement in research refers to the active involvement of the public in one or more stages of the research process • The NIHR and other major funders expect researchers to involve patients and the public in the design and conduct of research that it funds • The PPI Section in the NIHR Standard Application Form asks applicants: • “Were patients and the public actively involved in either identifying the research topic/prioritising the research question and/or preparing this application?” • The RDSYH Public Involvement in Grant Applications Funding Award is open to all researchers within the Yorkshire and Humber region who require funding to support patient and public involvement at the research design (i.e. pre-grant submission stage). • The award scheme is operated on a call basis, with 4 calls held per year • Only one application is allowed per researcher and per individual grant in development per call • Applicants can apply for up to £500

3. What can the award be used for? The award can be used in different ways, depending on the approach to public involvement being proposed. It could be used to fund: • a one-off consultation event(s) with patients, service users and carers with a particular illness or health condition to inform the design of a study • the attendance, at a series research design meetings, of a smaller number of patients, service users and carers • the establishment of an on-going panel for a research group • Such panels exist to provide advice to researchers who are developing research ideas and grant applications, and also to provide advice to on-going studies. • You would need to demonstrate that the panel will be financially viable once the start-up funding has been used up

4. What can and cannot be funded? The award can be used to: • Reimburse the time spent by members of the public in developing a grant, or contributing to the work of the panel • Reimburse any out-of-pocket expenses incurred by members of the public such as travel, subsistence and carer costs • Hire a venue external to your organisation for a grant application activity involving members of the public. The award cannot be used to: • Pay for the time spent by health professionals in developing grant applications with members of the public, or for work connected with the establishment of a panel • Undertake preliminary pilot work • Hire a venue within your organisation, unless this is fully justified in your application.

5. How do you apply for funding? • An application form and accompanying guidance notes can be downloaded from the RDSYH website: http://www.rds-yh.nihr.ac.uk/rdsyh-public-involvement-in-grant-applications-funding-award.aspx • Applicants are advised to review the following documents on the RDSYH website: • Reports of previous calls setting out the characteristics of successful and unsuccessful applications • Reports of how the funding has been used by successful applicants • An example of a successful application

7. What is the turnaround time?

8. Can you apply between calls? • The RDSYH recognises that the use of 4 calls per year doesn’t fit that well with the short deadlines of commissioned funding calls from the NIHR • In exceptional circumstances therefore you can apply for an RDSYH Public Involvement in Grant Applications Funding Award when a call for the award is currently closed. • The exceptional circumstances are: (1) if you are applying for a commissioned call; or (2) if you have been successful at outline • Use the current application form on the RDSYH website to apply between calls. • In these circumstances, your application is reviewed by the RDSYH Director, the RDSYH PPI Lead and one member of the RDSYH PPI Forum on a fast-track basis.

9. What do reviewers look for? Successful applications are those with: • A clear description of the grant application being planned, with the likely impact on patients and the NHS well justified • A good mix of clinical and methodological co-applicants involved in the development of the grant • Full details of the specific contributions that patients and the public will be asked to make during the development of the grant (e.g. commenting on the choice of outcomes and outcome measures, data collection tools, method and timing of participant recruitment etc.) • Detailed and fully justified costings • Consideration given to issues of burden and fatigue – i.e. the method and length of involvement activities were appropriate to the type(s) of patients and members of the public that the applicant intends to involve in the development of the grant • Good level of experience (or supervisory experience) in working with the public

10. How is the award being used? An impact analysis carried out in 2012 to inform the renewal of the RDSYH contract revealed that: • Between 2009-2012, the RDSYH received 80 applications for a Public Involvement in Grant Applications Funding Award, and we approved 45 (totalling nearly £19,000). • These awards contributed to 35 submitted applications at the time of the evaluation, of which 6 were successful (totalling £5.3million). • Researchers from Sheffield University (n=14) and Leeds University (n=15) made the most applications • The award scheme was used most to support grant submissions to NIHR Research for Patient Benefit (n=17) • Successful applicants sought the advice of the public on a range of issues including: the feasibility of the proposed data collection process and procedures; trial design and views on randomisation; the planned recruitment and consent process; the intervention to be researched; data collection material; choice of outcomes and outcome measures; options for how the public could be involved in the conduct of the research

11. Examples of how the award was used Example 1: A trial to lessen seasonal exacerbations in childhood asthma (PLEASANT) (Chief Investigator, Prof Steven Julious) • The award funded a consultation event during the development of an HTA grant to carry out a cluster, randomised trial of an intervention to lessen seasonal exacerbations in childhood asthma. • The consultation event ascertained the views of children and their parents/ guardians about the wording of the intervention (a GP letter to remind the parent/guardian to stock up with the child’s asthma medication in preparation for the start of the new school year). • Consultees were also asked their views about to whom the letter should be sent (the parent/guardian or the child). • The consultation was written up as a University of Sheffield report, which was referenced in the section of the grant application form which asked for details of public involvement. • This study has been funded by the NIHR Health Technology Assessment Clinical Evaluation and Trials.

13. Examples of how the award was used Example 2: Novel devices to predict pre-term birth (Chief Investigator, Prof Dilly Anumba, University of Sheffield) • The award was used to establish a panel of mothers with experience of pre-term birth, to advise on the development of research studies to produce novel devices to predict the risk of pre-term birth. • At the first meeting of the panel, panel members discussed the planned research grants, and their planned qualitative components, where pregnant women would be interviewed about their experiences of these novel devices. • Panel members gave feedback to the qualitative researcher who attended the meeting on the wording of the questions in the draft interview schedule, and also gave their views on the timing and location of the interviews. • All these suggestions were included in subsequent drafts of the grant applications. Funding to develop these devices has been awarded from the MRC Developmental Pathway Funding Scheme and from NIHR Invention for Innovation Stage 2.

15. Any questions? Dr Jonathan Boote Research Fellow and Strategic PPI Lead NIHR Research Design Service for Yorkshire and the Humber Design Trials and Statistics School of Health and Related Research University of Sheffield Regent Court 30 Regent Street Sheffield S1 4DA Tel: 0114 222 0892 Email: j.boote@sheffield.ac.uk