Creating a supportive environment for successful funding applications

1. Funding Sources & Successful Grant Writing’ SSM ECR Workshop 13th September 2016, University of York Creating a supportive environment for successful funding applications Aileen Clarke Professor of Public Health, Chair of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Warwick, President of the Society for Social Medicine

2. A supportive environment – me • Fortunate - very good, nice team • 5 major personal fellowships • >5 minor personal fellowships • Plenty of funding in the past 10 years • Lots of publications • Some big successes, some not so successful ventures…

3. Creating the ingredients for success Understanding the environment Developing your ‘team’ Developing a project…(lemon) Person, place and project Help with the practicalities Plan B

4. Understanding the environment The government and tax payer Funding bodies’ remits & priorities Universities Senior managers, HoDs Value for money, kudos Publications, impact

5. Understanding the environment Talk to people Take Opportunities • Make time /demand time / double badge time (Hermione) • Attend conferences and courses • Practise managing – people and budgets • Practise writing grant applications and papers (being parsimonious)

6. Developing your ‘team’ Line manager Supervisors Different advisors Mentors PPI ECR/MCR groups/SSM Help from other people who’ve done it

7. Developing your ‘team’ A trusty advisor Critical friend/mentor Qualities • Supportive, enables you to be flexible and creative. • Trusts you, allows you to feel confident • Is a listener • Without vested interests, takes your needs to heart • Someone who can say when things aren’t quite good enough (in a nice enough way so that you can take the feedback and use it )

8. Developing a project Find a topic and question that really interests you Read widely and think Collect ideas – positive and negative Define and refine your idea – make it your own Takes time – up to a year…. Make a table of potential funding sources

9. Grants plan

10. Developing a project Have I got the commitment/dedication? Is my research question meaningful? Who will benefit from my research? Does my planned research and training tell a story • where I’ve come from, where I’m at and where I’m going? • How convincing is the story? Become at one with the guidance. Make sure you have the key literature Ask people for advice Don’t be afraid of people being critical of your work, or of being critical of your own work – learn how to use critical input to make your work better

11. Project 1 To provide GPs with information on faecal calprotectin on: when to test, what test threshold to use to refer patients and what to expect for patients in terms of final diagnosis following testing IBD versus IBS.

12. To reduce breast cancer mortality by improving screening RCT of changing mammogram reading order Within-subjects controlled experiment of effect of interruptions (pop-up prompts) on screening performance Modelling of outcomes will inform policy, practice, and research. Project 2 lemon

13. Person: You - why should they invest in you Place: Your University, department, research group Project: how the three Ps fit together Complex interactions - evolutionary Needs taking a step back and thinking through Person, place and project

14. Get your ‘team’ supervisors and mentors to read the application Arrange internal review/peer review mock interviews Be sure about the finances Ensure all the elements of the forms are covered Think hard about ethics and sponsorship Bribery and flattery (and cake) work on almost everyone Help with the practicalities

15. Environment Team and trusty advisor Time, dedication, preparation, courage Project - good question and water tight methods Person, place and project Help with the practicalities Plan B – sanity Summary

16. And thank you to: Sian Taylor Phillips, Karoline Freeman, Rebecca Johnson, GJ Melendez-Torres, Amy Grove, Paul Sutcliffe, Debbie Greer, John Burden and lots of others Thank you