Research project grants application form - Barts Charity
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Research project grants application form

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This form has either already been submitted OR is currently unavailable for submission. For assistance, please contact funding@bartscharity.org.uk 


Please not that if you completing an Advancing Healthcare Grant application, pages 9 and 10 of this form are not required

Before starting your application, please familiarise yourself with:

You must complete this online application along with a completed version of the detailed cost breakdown template.


You can download a sample version of the form here.  


Fields marked with a red asterisk (*) are must be completed in order to submit the form.


You are recommended to save this web form before progressing to final submission of the application.


If you have any questions, please contact funding@bartscharity.org.uk.

Do get in touch if we can support you in the application process by applying reasonable adjustments.

Checks

In ticking the below, you as the Lead Applicant confirm that:



Section 1: Application Summary




Guidance: You may request up to 3 years of support, or 4 years when the project includes a PhD studentship (Research Project Grants only).

Guidance: This date should be as realistic as possible, taking into account the application assessment process as well as appropriate estimates for the time required to recruit staff, receive ethical approval etc. You may adjust your start date if your application is successful.

Guidance: If your application is successful, this is the organisation that will be responsible for administering the financial aspects of the award.



Your application must be reviewed and electronically approved by a Finance Manager at your organisation with appropriate delegated authority. Please confirm their name and email address here. 

When you submit your application, they will be sent a copy of the application form and asked to approve it before the application is submitted to Barts Charity. The application needs to be submitted to us by 5pm on the day of the deadline.

We will confirm receipt of the application after the Finance Manager has approved it. 




Please complete for all applications for grants that will be managed by Barts Health NHS Trust

Your application will need to be reviewed and electronically approved by the Legally Responsible Contact at the Joint Research Management Office (JRMO) - Coleen Colechin (c.g.colechin@qmul.ac.uk).

When you submit this application, they will be sent a copy of the application form and asked to approve it before the application is submitted to Barts Charity. The application needs to be submitted to us by 5pm on the day of the deadline.

We will confirm receipt of the application after the Legally Responsible Contact  has approved it. 



Section 2: Project Summary


Guidance: Succinctly outline the project, including key aim(s) and objective(s), the background to the problem, your methodology/plans for delivery and anticipated outputs/benefits.

Guidance: We may use this to describe your project through our communication channels (such as our website) and to describe your project to the public, supporters, donors and our Trustees. You should avoid unnecessary jargon, abbreviations and technical terms wherever possible. If you have to use them provide a clear explanation. Further guidance on writing a lay summary and other useful resources can be found through the INVOLVE 'Make it Clear' campaign.

Related Applications


Guidance: If this or a similar application has been considered by another organisation recently (decision within 6 months of this application deadline), please select Yes. This might include, for example, the NHS or an external funding body.


Guidance: If this is a resubmission please contact the Funding and Impact Team

Section 3a: Applicants

Guidance: The project team consists of a Lead Applicant and up to three Co-Applicants.


The Lead Applicant will be the main contact throughout the application and review process, and if successful, the lifetime of the award. They will be responsible for grant administration and reporting. 

See the scheme page for Research Project Grants on our website for details of eligibility criteria for the applicant team.














You should include any qualifications relevant to this application here (e.g., PhD, MD).



Guidance: We encourage applications from individuals who have taken career breaks. We want to ensure that any such breaks are taken into account when we consider your track record. We are not asking for the reasons for this break so please do not provide these here or share any sensitive personal health information.


Any disruption to your usual work caused by the coronavirus pandemic should be included here.









Guidance: Research outputs may include (but are not limited to):

  • Peer-reviewed publications and preprints

  • Datasets, software and research materials

  • Inventions, patents and commercial activity.






Guidance. You may include details of individuals who you did not directly line manage. In this case you should indicate the group within which the individual was based and state your role in their training.

Outline your track record in training and supporting PhD students, including: 
  • the number of PhD students you have supervised to completion in total
  • details of any PhD training and support activities in which you are or have been involved.



Guidance: 'Outputs in this context refers to knowledge and materials generated. This may include (but is not limited to) -

  • Changes/improvements to clinical service pathways or delivery
  • Training materials
  • Peer-reviewed publications and preprints
  • Datasets or software
  • Inventions, patents and commercial activities

Section 3b: Co-Applicants


Guidance: The project team consists of a Lead Applicant and up to three Co-Applicants.


The Lead Applicant will be the main contact throughout the application and review process, and if successful, the lifetime of the award. They will be responsible for grant administration and reporting. 

See the scheme page for Research Project Grants on our website for details of eligibility criteria for the applicant team.
Co-Applicant details













You should include any qualifications relevant to this application here (e.g., PhD/MD)








Guidance: We encourage applications from individuals who have taken career breaks. We want to ensure that any such breaks are taken into account when we consider your track record. We are not asking for the reasons for this break so please do not provide these here or share any sensitive personal health information.


Any disruption to your usual work caused by the coronavirus pandemic should be included here.




Guidance: 'Outputs in this context refers to knowledge and materials generated. This may include (but is not limited to) -

  • Changes/improvements to clinical service pathways or delivery
  • Training materials
  • Peer-reviewed publications and preprints
  • Datasets or software
  • Inventions, patents and commercial activities



Guidance: Research outputs may include (but are not limited to):

  • Peer-reviewed publications and preprints.

  • Datasets, software and research materials

  • Inventions, patents and commercial activity.





Guidance. You may include details of individuals who you did not directly line manage. In this case you should indicate the group within which the individual was based and state your role in their training.
Outline your track record in training and supporting PhD students, including: 
  • the number of PhD students you have supervised to completion in total
  • details of any PhD training and support activities in which you are or have been involved. 

Use the 'Add another response' button below to add details for another co-applicant.

Section 4a: Project Details

Guidance:
This section forms the main body of the proposal and must contain all the key information about the planned research project. It consists of the following subsections: 
  • Project description 
  • Projects involving human participants 
  • Research involving animals. 
You should use these subsections to describe your project plans, while avoiding repetition. 

Provide a detailed description of: 

  1. the background, rationale, context or need for this project 
  2. the key aims and objectives
  3. the project plan, including the approach and methodology
  4. the expected outcomes/outputs/benefits.

Guidance:

Please structure this section following the headings above.


Successful applications to the Research Project Grants scheme clearly articulate how the expected research outcomes aim to enhance our understanding of health and illness and/or have the potential to lead to improved lives in East London.


Your application will be read by a range of people including experts in the field, including peer reviewers, as well as individuals who may not know the context of your proposal in detail. Please write your application with this in mind.


References, Gantt charts, figures and any other supporting information referred to here must be uploaded as attachments (on page 12 of the form).


1. Background, rationale, context or need 

In this section please describe the evidence base/justification for the proposal, including the current state of the field/area. It is important to include details of any preliminary work (published or unpublished) that has led up to this proposal. Include citations, where appropriate, to the literature as well as your own work (including to figures/data uploaded as additional information).


2. Key aims and objectives

(Research Project Grants ) Describe the key research questions/hypothesis that you will address through this work. If your project does not have an underlying research question/hypothesis, describe how this work will lead to progress in the field.


(Advancing Healthcare Grants ) Clearly state what the project aims to achieve. 


3. Project plan 

Clearly explain how you will address your project’s aims/objectives. Provide enough information to demonstrate why you consider your approach is likely to be successful, including details of any relevant contingency plans. Include, as appropriate:

  • details of any validation already undertaken or rationale for using the selected protocols
  • the proposed sample size (including power calculations) and/or details of (statistical) analysis plans. Where you have received input from an expert statistician, please include their details.
  • method(s) for sample selection
  • potential risks and associated mitigation plans
  • details of any milestones.

If you are requesting support for a clinical trial, you must provide full details, including study design, in the 'Details of studies involving human participants' section of the form.


If you are requesting support for research involving animals protected by the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act, 1986 (ASPA), you must provide full details in the ‘Research involving animals’ section of the form.


4. Expected outcomes/outputs/benefits

Outline the key outcomes/outputs/benefits that are expected to arise from this project.


(Advancing Healthcare Grants only) 

Describe the key outcomes that are expected to arise from this work and how this will positively impact on the care and/or experience of Barts Health patients and/or communities served by Barts Health.


Outline the measurements you will use to evaluate the success of the project, including plans to collect baseline data, and the time required for the benefit or improvement to be realised.

Section 4b: Projects involving human participants



Guidance: The World Health Organization defines a clinical trial as: “any research study that prospectively assigns human participants or groups of humans to one or more health-related interventions to evaluate the effects on health outcomes. Interventions include, but are not restricted to, drugs, cells and other biological products, surgical procedures, devices, behavioural treatments, process-of-care changes, preventive care, etc.” If your proposal involves a clinical trial (including a feasibility study), you should provide details of it below.
Expectations for clinical trials

Guidance: We expect clinical trials to be designed to ensure that the results are applicable to the population group(s) (including under-served groups) for whom the intervention is intended. 


We encourage applicants to use the NIHR INCLUDE Framework in the trial design stage to identify which groups should be included in the research, potential challenges to their inclusion and ways to address the identified challenges. Additional costs related to addressing identified challenges may be included in this application.

 

Additional guidance, including worksheets and examples, can be found at

https://www.trialforge.org/trial-forge-centre/include/


You should include details of how you have integrated elements of this framework in your trial design in your answers below.



Guidance: Types of interventions can include but are not restricted to: screening procedures; collection of biological samples; biometric and clinical data; experimental challenges; pharmacological or behavioural treatments; process-of-care-changes.


Guidance: Provide evidence to support your recruitment plan. A letter of support from each centre confirming their willingness to participate should be added as an attachment in the Collaborators section. If you have identified any potential challenges to the inclusion of appropriate patient groups, you can include appropriate costs to overcome these challenges within this application.





Guidance: The sponsor is the organisation that takes responsibility for the design, conduct and management of the research. The sponsor provides the indemnity and insurance for the study, protecting the research team and study participants from negligent and non-negligent harm. Barts Charity cannot fulfil this role.


Guidance: When considered necessary by an AcoRD specialist, a completed Schedule of Events Cost Attribution Template (SoECAT) must be submitted as a part of the application. When a completed SoECAT is not considered necessary by an AcoRD specialist, only submit the front page (study information tab). This must be signed off by an AcoRD specialist. You can submit your SoECAT whilst we are reviewing your application, but we cannot make a funding decision without it.


You must upload as an appendix to this application the full form or just the front page (study information tab) as per your instructions from an AcoRD specialist.

Section 4c: Research involving animals

Guidance: We support the AMRC principles on the use of animals in research as outlined in this statement.

 

Applicants are expected to be familiar with the relevant NC3R guidelines and have applied them to this project. More information is available on the NC3Rs website. 

 

If your project involves primates, cats, dogs, equidae, pigs or their data, please contact the Funding and Impact Team for advice before applying. 


Use CTRL + Click to select multiple options.

Provide a justification for the use of animals in this project. This should include:

  • why animal use is necessary for this work

  • why the species to be used is most appropriate for the planned work

  • how the principles and guidelines set out by the NC3Rs have been incorporated into the project design.

  • research projects involving animals should include both sexes unless there is a strong rationale for not doing so, this information should be detailed within this section.

(max 500 words)





Section 4d: Additional questions 

Patient and public involvement and engagement
Guidance: As a local funder, effective involvement and engagement of patients and the public in the work we fund is very important to us.

The UK Standards for Public Involvement has produced detailed guidance and best practise case studies related to involving and engaging patients and the public in research. This includes processes, procedures and values necessary to support suitable public and patient involvement. We recommend that you review this guidance before planning any involvement activities. 

Patients and the public ideally should be involved and/or engaged in every stage of a project, from developing a proposal through project delivery to evaluation and dissemination. 

Costs related to involvement and engagement within your project can be requested in this application and must be detailed in the finance section of this application form. 

Specific guidance for patient and public involvement in lab-based projects can be found here.

Guidance: Outline your approach to the involvement and engagement of patients and public in all stages of the project, including: 
  • Who will be/has been involved and why? 
  • Why your approach to patient and public involvement is appropriate for this project? 
  • Details of how you will support and enable patient and public involvement and engagement in your project (e.g., payments, training). 
Where you have decided not to include patients and/or the public in the development, delivery and/or dissemination of the project, you must explain why in this answer. 
Outputs management plan

Guidance: As a charity, we want to ensure that the outputs (knowledge and materials) generated by the projects we fund have the largest possible impact. We expect applicants to consider whether the outputs of a project might be of value as a resource to others and, if so, to consider their approach to managing and sharing anticipated outputs to maximise their potential benefit.

 

We are interested in all possible outputs from your project. For example, outputs could include:

  • data/datasets

  • software

  • materials

  • policy documents

  • patents

  • manuscripts/papers

  • training materials

  • (frameworks for) new clinical pathways.



Patient Benefit

Approximately how many patients will benefit from this project? Please provide:

  • evidence of how this figure has been derived 
  • details of the population who will benefit (e.g. age, demographic profile, location or disease/staff profile)
  • details of patients/staff who may benefit within Barts Health NHS Trust specifically, if applicable.

Guidance: If possible, provide the number of patients that would benefit per year in the UK. Where this is not possible, please state the units that you have used.
Future plans/Sustainability

Guidance: 

(Research Project Grants) What are your plans for follow-on funding? 

Please be specific where possible. For example, which funder/scheme could you approach. 

Provide details of how the outcomes of this project will be used in the funding application, including key considerations for translation into clinical practice (if applicable).
  • For early-phase studies, what follow-on study/ies will be required?
  • For late-phase studies, what steps will need to be taken to support translation?

We understand that projects will be at different stages along the translation pathway and that the next steps of implementation might be completed by another team. Please provide realistic next steps and outline the anticipated pathway, given the stage of your project.


(Advancing Healthcare Large Grants) Provide details of how the outcomes of this project will be used, including (if applicable) key considerations for implementation into the NHS. We understand that the next steps of implementation might be completed by another team. Please provide realistic next steps and outline the anticipated pathway, given the stage of your project:

  • For early-stage projects, what follow-on activities will/may be required? 
  • For late-stage projects, what steps will/may need to be taken to support swift implementation into use within the NHS or other areas?

Explain whether your project may lead to ongoing costs (revenue/non-revenue) after the period of the grant. If so, outline the potential sources for these ongoing costs (either Trust or non-Trust).

Staff/student training and development

Guidance: 

Guidance: These plans and activities should reflect the career stage of the individual(s), and could include: 

a) plans to monitor and support their progress and career development; 

b) how the individual will be trained in specific and general skills relevant to the project; 

c) training in transferable skills (for example leadership and management, good research practices, professional development and data analysis); 

d) the resources and infrastructure that will be available to the individual (e.g. access to local networks (e.g. doctoral training networks), local support for welfare etc).


Section 4e: Attachments 

The upload fields below will only accept Office (e.g. Word) or PDF files.

Upload a list of the sources cited in the Project Description. Include all authors, the full title of each publication, journal title, year, volume and pages. For citations to preprints, state Preprint, the repository name and the article persistent identifier (for example DOI).

Include details of major milestones and dependencies

Preliminary data, figures, schema and other supporting information. This document is not included in the word counts of the Project Description. This document must not exceed four A4 pages (or 6 A4 pages if your project involves human participants (Research Project Grants only). If you exceed these limits, we will return the application to you so that you can reduce its length.

Section 5: Collaboration and team




Guidance: Collaborators may contribute additional expertise, access to resources, materials, access to technology or similar to support the project. The named collaborators may be replaced with suitable alternatives, should it be necessary or appropriate to do so.

Guidance: Each letter should contain: 1) confirmation that they have agreed to be involved in this project, 2) an outline of their role in the project and 3) confirmation of their support for the work planned.


Guidance: Applicants must work with their local Technology Transfer office to ensure that any commercial partnerships are managed appropriately.



Guidance: Your answer must include details of the practical arrangements for how the project will be led and managed. Include details of any oversight structures, if relevant.

Section 6: Project Finances

Guidance:

  • We will fund only the direct costs of the project. 

  •  All requested costs must be justified in the context of the proposal. 
  •  You must obtain accurate costs from the Joint Research Management Office (JRMO,   Queen Mary University of London/Barts Health) or the Research Support Services at   City, University of London. 
  •  All costs requested must be in line with Barts Charity's Cost Policy.
  •  We expect that the majority of the project’s costs would be incurred in Barts Health  NHS Trust, the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, QMUL or the School of Health  and Psychological Sciences, City, University of London. We will consider providing funds to other collaborating organisations on a case-by-case basis. Where agreed by the Charity, this collaboration will need to be managed by the Administering Organisation as a sub- contract.
  • All amounts below must be shown as whole numbers and provided in pound sterling. Please note the boxes will not accept spaces or any other symbols. 


Guidance: If your Administering Organisation has calculated the full economic cost (FEC) of this proposal, please include the total calculated here. Barts Charity will only pay Directly Incurred costs as per FEC calculations. You should also include the value of contributions from other sources (e.g. other funders or industry partners). Please enter a whole number value without decimal places or symbols. 

Guidance: If your Administering Organisation has calculated the FEC for this proposal, please state the sum of Indirect and Directly Allocated costs calculated for this project and state that these will be covered by the Host Organisation. For all other contributions, please provide a list of the value and source of funding as well as what this will cover. 

Provide a breakdown of costs requested from Barts Charity using the following cost categories.

Please ensure the breakdown below matches the Amount Requested from Barts Charity. You must upload a detailed breakdown of your full project budget based using the template provided on the online form. This document should also include any relevant quotes.


Years 1 to 3

Year 1 Year 2 Year 3
Staff
Materials and Consumables
Equipment
Public and Patient  Involvement & Engagement
Estates
Publications/ Dissemination
Animals
Other

Year 4 Year 5 - for TTF funding only 
Staff
Materials and Consumables
Equipment
Public and Patient  Involvement & Engagement
Estates
Publications/ Dissemination
Animals
Other


This figure is the sum of the figures provided in the cost breakdown table above. You must ensure that this field matches the amount entered into "Amount requested from Barts Charity" field.




Guidance: Provide a description and project-specific justification of the costs requested from Barts Charity, using the budget headings above to structure your answer.


Further details regarding allowed/disallowed costs is available in Barts Charity’s Cost Policy.


The following information should be included for specific budget headings:

 

Staff/students

  • Outline the role each staff member/PhD student will play in the project, including a justification for the level of salary support requested.

  • Where the requested staff member/PhD student has already been identified, please provide their name and a justification for their involvement in the project.

  • Barts Charity rates for PhD student stipends must be used. See the Cost Policy for details.

Equipment

  • A company quote is required for any piece of equipment over £5000.

  • You must ensure that any freight/shipping/delivery, installation, or capital/estates costs related to equipment have been fully accounted for. We will not provide additional funds at a later date that are not requested in this application. 

  • The Lead Applicant is responsible for ensuring that a suitable location to house/store the equipment has been identified. 

Public and Patient Involvement

We encourage the involvement of patients and the public in the design and delivery of your project. You may request funds to support these activities.


Section 7a: Ethics and Approvals



Guidance: We expect applicants to seek these approvals from any internal governance groups before your application is considered by the Charity. We will require their support/approval before we make a decision on your application. Contact the Funding and Impact team if you need advice regarding which groups to approach.




Guidance: You must include details of: 1) the Committee or regulator, 2) the date of (actual/planned) application(s) and 3) the outcome or date of expected outcome.  
We reserve the right to request copies of relevant approval documents at any point during the lifetime of the grant.





Is there potential for the outcomes of this project to be misused for harmful purposes?

Section 7b: Conflicts of Interest and Peer Review



Guidance: Applicants and organisations must identify and effectively manage any actual or potential conflicts of interest. A conflict of interest exists when an individual’s personal interests, those of their family, or their loyalties to another person or organisation, may (or may reasonably appear to) unduly influence or affect a decision. Examples include, but are not limited to, secondary employment, consultancy, financial or commercial gain (pensions, shareholdings, directorships, voting rights), honoraria, etc. You should confirm that each case has been disclosed to your organisation. If you are satisfied that there are no issues, enter N/A.


Guidance: We will not contact anyone with a potential conflict of interest. This includes, but is not limited to, a current or recent (within the last 3 years) working relationship with the applicant(s), recent (within the last 3 years) shared publication(s) with the applicant(s); a close personal relationship with the applicant(s), or financial interests (such as shares) relevant to the application.

Diversity Monitoring 


Barts Charity is committed to ensuring that our decision-making processes are fair and free from bias. We ask that all applicants complete a short diversity questionnaire to allow us to monitor our progress against these aims.

Data collected will be held separately to your application and cannot be accessed by anyone involved with processing or assessing your application.

Each applicant will receive an email with further details and instructions on completing this survey shortly after the application is submitted. If an applicant has provided this data in the last two years, we will not ask them again. They may however request a form to update or remove this data but contacting funding@bartscharity.org.uk.

Submission and next steps


When you submit, your application will be sent to your Legally Responsible Contact (LRC, see page 3 of this form for more information) for approval. The LRC will then review your application and submit it to the Charity.

Your application must be received by 5pm on the day of the deadline.

The Lead Applicant will be sent a PDF copy of the data entered into this form.
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