Fellowship Workshop Filling in the form with success

1. Fellowship WorkshopFilling in the form with success East Midlands Research Design Service

2. Overview • Introduction to the form • Experience & Expertise • CVs Activity • Writing Well – Hints & Tips • Plain English Summary • LUNCH (12.15pm) • Plain English Summary & Pico Activity • Public Involvement • Structuring your Training Plan + Activity • All those Miscellaneous Boxes • The Interview process • How the RDS can support you

3. INTRODUCTIONS

4. Getting prepared An introduction to the form Rachel Evley

5. Preparation • After today (if you haven’t already): • Look at the NIHR website: http://ow.ly/mzGS30bZYQC • Read the public minutes • Watch webinars from previous years & keep an eye out for ones this year • Talk to people who have applied before • Make contacts & seek advice: RDS, CTU, CRN & more!

6. Learn from others’ mistakes • Poor balance of background, introduction & research methods • Lack of understanding of NIHR funding epidemiological studies • Case for systematic review not made • Lack of linkage between training plan & proposal • PI looks formulaic & tokenistic

7. Know the deadline dates!

8. Planning Are you even eligible? • Before you begin, check with NIHR and the RDS This is going to take a lot of time • The form/s are lengthy & even short sections require thought • Submit a week early • Check annual leave of supervisors/mentors

9. The application form…1 • Applicant/research details • Relevant expertise • Publications & grants • Patient and Public Involvement (Stage 2) • Case for support • Plain English summary • Research plan • Dissemination and outputs, future plans

10. The application form…2 • Management and governance (Stage 2) • Ethics and CTU? • Intellectual property • Involvement with NIHR infrastructure • Training and development • Link it with project and propose the best training there is!

11. The application form…3 • Research supervision/support • Finances (Detailed version: Stage 2) • Signatures • Supervisors/mentors, head of department, finance officer, CTU representative

12. Remember… • There is no set formula for success • Read recent chairs reports: http://ow.ly/S1SF30bZYlf • This will take (a lot of time) • Sometimes success may take longer than you expect (but it’s worth it)

13. Experience and Expertise Eva Krockow

14. What do the NIHR want? Pre-Doctoral Clinical Academic Fellowship (PCAF) Assessment Criteria: • The quality of the academic training • The provision of a strong academic environment • The appropriateness of the proposed academic supervision • The appropriateness of the proposed clinical academic career mentorship • The suitability and commitment of the applicant to a career as a clinical academic • The arrangements for ensuring protected time for the applicant to undertake the academic training proposed coupled with ensuring the continuation of clinical service • Demonstrable track record of the host Academic Higher Education Institute (HEI) Department in training clinicians who have gone on to develop academic careers

15. What do the NIHR want? Pre-Doctoral General Fellowship Assessment Criteria: Still awaiting final remit from NIHR – due Feb 2019 • The suitability and commitment of the applicant to a career as a future research leader • The quality of the academic training • The provision of a strong academic environment • The appropriateness of the proposed academic supervision • Looking to develop research capacity amongst methodologists • Replacing the NIHR Research Methods Programme • medical statistics, health economics, clinical trial design, operational research and modelling

16. What do the NIHR want? Doctoral Fellowship Assessment Criteria: Person • Relevant previous research experience and/or training suitable for undertaking a PhD in applied health research • Outputs from previous research experience and training relative to career stage and background • Suitability and commitment of the applicant to a career as a researcher in applied health research • Potential to become a future leader in applied health research

17. What do the NIHR want? Advanced Fellowship Assessment Criteria: Person • Relevant previous research experience and/or training suitable for undertaking the research described within the application • High quality outputs from previous research experience and training relative to career stage and background • On a trajectory to become a future health research leader • For early career post-doctoral applicants or those transitioning into applied health research; evidence of commitment to a career as a researcher in applied health research • For more experienced post-doctoral applicants; evidence of independence or starting to establish independence as a researcher, including establishing collaborations and building research capacity.

18. How do you answer? Be creative (experience in its widest sense) • Think about yourself at work, at university, at leisure • What useful transferable skills do you have that will assist you in study i.e. being organised, self-disciplined etc Sell yourself • This is not the time to be shy….. • Awards, achievements – have you been recognised for your efforts by others? • Provide as many examples to back up your statements as possible.

19. How do you answer? (2) Show you have a handle on personal growth • What gaps in experience/expertise are you aware of? • How do you intend to fill these gaps? Show you are an aspiring researcher • Where do you see yourself in the short – medium term • Show how the Fellowship is part of a bigger master plan for a future career in research

20. Examples I’m a strong candidate because I’m confident, and career-orientated…. In the medium term, I will complete my NIHR Fellowship and establish myself as an academic clinician in a major trauma centre……such as XYZ. During my NIHR Post-Doctoral Fellowship I will develop the skills and expertise required to lead clinical trials of complex interventions in XYZ I have published four peer reviewed articles as first author capacity and three as second author. The latest publication was in XXX Journal……. If I have sufficient time, I will look into training courses that could help me in completing the fellowship…… I have written lots of reports and contributed to various articles

21. ACTIVITY

22. Writing Well – Hints & Tips Rachel Evley

23. Write precisely • A word or character limit is not a target you must achieve! • Have a clear idea of what you want to say • Explain one idea at a time • Avoid jargon • Use powerful, specific words • State facts, remove doubt • Use the shortest form of a word (utilise or use?)

24. Avoid unnecessary terms!

25. Avoid (unexplained) acronyms

26. Write Confidently* From: • “In the future I hope to achieve….” • “If time allows, I will hopefully undertaken additional training…” • “I hope to collaborate with Professor Smith…” • “I believe I have the potential to become a leading researcher…” To: • “In ten years, I will be a professor….” • “My comprehensive training will include….” • “I will collaborate with Professor Smith…” • “I will be a leading researcher…” * It helps reduce words!

27. Layout • Your application will be skim read by the majority of the panel (often on the train to the meeting) • So help them out a little! • Use bullet points • Use bold text • Use subheadings • Signpost between sections • Break up dense text • Repetition is OK but be consistent

28. Plain English Summary Freya Tyrer

29. Plain English Summary • A brief summary for members of the public and interested people – not for specialists. • It is often the first thing that people read! • We should be able to communicate our research in lay terms – otherwise the panel may question our ability to communicate our findings to wider audiences. • Quality of the plain English summary will be assessed by the fellowship panel.

30. Guidance http://www.invo.org.uk/resource-centre/

31. What the NIHR say Content of Plain English Summary When writing your summary consider including the following information where appropriate: • Aim(s) of the research; • Background to the research; • Design and methods used; • Patient and public involvement; • Dissemination. The plain English summary is not the same as a scientific abstract - please do not cut and paste this or other sections of your application form to create the plain English summary.

32. General tips (1) • Write as if you were explaining your research to a friend or family member with no scientific knowledge. • Suggested to pitch it at the same level as a broadsheet newspaper ?16–17 year old. • Talk directly to the reader - use ‘I’ (not ‘we’) and ‘you’. • Avoid multiple negatives as they can be confusing.

33. General tips (2) • Keep your sentences short - aim for an average sentence length of 15-20 words. You can use shorter sentences. • Cut out unnecessary words - avoid too many adjectives and adverbs. • Use simple words – think about how many syllables a word has. Can you replace longer words with simpler words? E.g. duration = time, initial = first.

34. Examples of lay summaries (1) https://www.bhf.org.uk/for-professionals/information-for-researchers/how-to-apply/lay-summaries

35. Examples of lay summaries (2) Lay Title: How do altered forms of newly identified patient’s genes (called IL33 and ST2) cause asthma and can we learn from this to design new treatments? They assume that the reader has prior knowledge of living with asthma and some of its characteristics, rather than explaining what asthma is Lay Summary: It has long been known that asthma runs in families and that genetic abnormality in peoples' DNA are important when we talk about risk of developing asthma. We aim to take recent genetic information forward and try to understand what is altered in the lungs of people with asthma that carry these genetic abnormalities, the first step to targeting changes for clinical benefit. This is important as there is a need for new more effective treatments in asthma, particularly for those patients that do not respond well to existing drugs. www.asthma.org.uk/globalassets/research/for-researchers/clinical-fellows/2017-senior-fellowships---faqs-on-lay-involvement.pdf The opening paragraph sets the scene – what is the issue, what has previous research shown, and why does it matter to people with asthma.

36. Examples of lay summaries (3) Aim • Whether different adiposity measures predict incident diabetes differentially in general Chinese populations is unclear. We investigated this in Chinese people aged 50+ years in the Guangzhou Biobank Cohort Study. Methods • Waist circumference and BMI were measured at baseline, and fasting glucose was measured at both baseline and follow-up examinations. Incident diabetes was defined as fasting glucose > 7.0 mmol/l, glucose after 2-h oral glucose tolerance test > 11.1 mmol/l, and/or self-reported physician-diagnosed diabetes during the follow-up period. Lam et al. (2017). Adiposity and incident diabetes within 4 years of follow-up: the Guangzhou Biobank Cohort Study. Diabetic Medicine (on-line early)

37. Examples of lay summaries (3) Background to the research About 109 million people in China have diabetes. Diabetes is more common in people who are obese. There are two main ways to test if someone is obese. The first is to calculate body mass index by measuring their height and weight. The second is to measure around their waist (their ‘waist circumference’). We do not know which test is better at predicting if someone will get diabetes later on. This is important because more than half of diabetes can be prevented or delayed by exercising regularly and eating healthily. Aims of the research We want to know whether body mass index or waist circumference is better at predicting if someone will get diabetes. Design and methods used This study will be carried out in China. We will study people who are aged 50 years or older. None of the people will have diabetes at the start of the study. We will measure their body mass index and waist circumference. We will give them a blood test (glucose) every three months to see if they have diabetes. We will also ask their doctor if they have diabetes.

38. Plain English Summary &PICO Activity

39. LUNCH (12 to 12.45pm)

40. Patient & Public Involvement Raksha Pandya-Wood

41. Today’s 30 mins on PPI • Funders expect to see it • What is PPI • PPI costs money • PPI takes time • Tips on how to do it and then show it on your application

42. Patient & Public Involvement https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xF-Lv5bv5JQ

43. Funders expect to see PPI Clinical failings have led to repeated calls to place people at the heart of healthcare (and research) Context for PPI is favourable: • WHO – international calls for countries to involve people • Health and Social Care Act 2012 – in the UK • Mandatory requirement DOH • Research policy (NIHR, RCUK, Health research charities) • INVOLVE • funded by DOH and works closely with NIHR to support PPI • works closely with RDS to help researchers like yourselves

44. What is PPI Inviting potential end users of your work to help you with your research Doing research with or by people not to about or for them (INVOLVE 2018) • NOT about informing people or asking them to participate in the research

45. Involvement Continuum • Can we work together on …xyz • There is a sharing of similar values on research and researchers and PPI work together • This is when patients and the public take the lead. PAR is a good example of when user controlled research occurs • In reality this rarely happens • What do you think? • How might we improve this? • Where can we find… • Collaboration Consultation User controlled

46. Research Cycle • Prioritising • Identifying • Commissioning • Implementing • Designing • Evaluating • Managing • Disseminating • Collecting & Analysing data

47. RDS Public Involvement Fund Adequate PPI can be achieved inexpensively but you will need to be creative and know what you are doing RDS can offer up to £150 for fellowship applications needing to pay for PPI via the PIF

48. PPI costs Typically people will not be left out of pocket and they should always be thanked http://www.invo.org.uk/resource-centre/payment-and-recognition-for-public-involvement/involvement-cost-calculator/

49. How https://www.peopleinresearch.org/view-opportunities/ Who are the people affected by your research? AKA end users Where might you find them? In a community centre, a school, a clinic How might you approach them and what will you say about needing their help….

50. Challenges