Tag: funding

Our first funding call will be to fund three projects to produce content for our landscape report that will provide the roadmap of developing new digital health systems to support real-time blood monitoring, self management and timely intervention in community health and care. Each report will include a systematic review of the key literature and involve interviewing key stakeholders to establish the current picture and identify the gaps.

The report will have three main streams, and you can apply for a full stream or part of a stream.

• Future blood testing in healthcare practice: For example but not limited to: clinical needs, early adopters, challenges and opportunities, regulations, buy-in, user acceptance, existing and potential use cases for healthcare professionals and hospitals, clinical researchers, patients, laboratories etc
• Remote blood processing and monitoring: For example but not limited to: sensing, imaging, point of care blood testing, portable and affordable , non-invasive, and other promising technologies for detecting blood biomarkers outside clinical settings
• ICT, Data, Analytics and AI: For example but not limited to: challenges and opportunities in entire data lifecycle from point of testing/monitoring, to linking in with NHS Systems and other healthcare Systems including aspects of ICT infrastructure, data security, trust, ethics, data quality, provenance etc, and the AI technologies and analytics methods required to create the personalised analytics in patient pathways

The key dates are as follows:

• 3rd February 2022 – Call formally announced
• 10th March 2022 – Deadline for applications (to be emailed to s.kanza@reading.ac.uk)
• 7th April 2022 – Successful projects announced

Please read the Guidance Document carefully before filling in the Application Form (both files can be downloaded by following these links, or from the Documents Page). The Terms and Conditions can be found in our FBTN Single Letter Agreement (Coming soon).

Please note, individual projects can request up to £20,000 funding (total spend up to £25,000 as per fEC 80%). Applicants will be awarded 80% of the full cost and the institution receiving the award is responsible for the remaining 20%. If you have any questions please contact our Network+ Coordinator Dr Samantha Kanza on s.kanza@reading.ac.uk.

Here are some key points about the application requirements:

• Projects are expected to have a maximum duration of 18 months. There is no minimum length for the projects, but applicants must be available to work within our timelines and attend the review meetings for the different iterations of the report. Applications should demonstrate how these timelines can be met via the inclusion of a Gantt Chart. NB: We expect applicants to be available to attend our review workshops and speak at them about their work. Receiving the funding is conditional on meeting these milestones.
  • May 2022: All projects MUST start by 1st May 2022
  • Nov 2022: 1st iteration of landscape report due
  • Mar 2023: 2nd iteration of landscape report due
  • Nov 2023: Final version of landscape report due
• Applications should demonstrate how the overall team has the required skills to produce both the systematic review in their area of chosen expertise, but also to conduct the interviews and analyse them.
• Making sure your finance team understand what you are applying for is vital. This is an EPSRC funded Network so everything must fit within their rules. Understanding the fEC 80/20 rule can often be an issue if not made clear right at the start. This is why we ask for finance costing and sign off with every application.
• Applications should detail who the applicants are planning to interview if they are funded. The interviews are really important. We don’t just want the work to be born out of the literature, we encourage you to think about who you are going to engage with and who the key stakeholders in the area that you are going to work on. An in depth view of the field is very important for the landscape report as we want to guide not only the academic research but also the industry practice as well. We strongly encourage including interview letters or emails of intent to demonstrate who would be willing to be interviewed by them. (NB: These can be attached to the submission or emailed to s.kanza@reading.ac.uk).
• Obtaining ethics approval to conduct the interviews is a condition of receiving this funding. Applications should demonstrate how they are planning to do this. NB: Members of the Future Blood Testing Network Team will be available to provide advice on this.
• Make sure you follow the rules. PhD Students are a key area where this can be misunderstood. You cannot hire a PhD student to work for you FULL TIME unless they are seconded, and it is not work that counts towards a continuation of their PhD. However PhD students can work a certain number of hours a week (visa dependant) again as long as this does not fall into the remit of work that counts towards their PhD.
• Applications must be made on the Future Blood Testing Network Application Form, and must not exceed 7 pages, using 11pt Arial Font, with no adjustments to margins. They must be accompanied by a 1 page Gantt chart style project plan.
• We will acknowledge everyone who takes part in this project irrespective of their role, so the Final Report will acknowledge not just the authors but also the advisors, interviewees, reviewers etc.