Applying for a research grant from Meningitis Research Foundation

Meningitis Research Foundation is a registered charity that fights death and disability from meningitis and associated infections by funding vital scientific research. There are currently 22 research projects in the programme. Since it was founded in 1989, the charity has awarded 122 research grants, leading to many advances in the prevention, detection and treatment of meningitis and septicaemia. The total value of the Foundation's investment in vital scientific research is over £13.5 million.

On the basis of research and consultation the Foundation also develops and distributes information about meningitis and septicaemia for the public and health professionals, runs medical and scientific conferences, and provides help and support to people affected by meningitis and septicaemia. The charity relies on public donations to fund its work.

Research Investment Strategy

Meningitis Research Foundation aims to defeat meningitis and septicaemia through research. Research funded must be of the highest scientific merit, in terms of the importance of the investigation, excellence of the study, ability of the research team, and probability of success. Research proposals must demonstrate clear relevance to the disease area and have potential for prevention of these diseases or other clinical or public health benefit.

The trustees place particular emphasis on research into prevention of Group B meningococcal infection, due to its prevalence in the UK and Republic of Ireland.

Until all forms of meningitis and septicaemia are eradicated, priority will be given to research that produces results in immediate problem areas, including:

Prevention of all forms of meningitis and associated infections
Improving treatment and outlook for patients
Improving the speed and accuracy of diagnosis

Research may be clinical, laboratory based, or epidemiological. The Foundation will consider funding basic science, but this must increase understanding of the disease area and have a clearly defined potential for early translation into alleviation of the diseases.

Research applications are assessed through a stringent, highly competitive peer review process. The Foundation is an active member of the Association of Medical Research Charities in the UK and of the Medical Research Charities Group in Ireland. The charity has been awarded the AMRC Certificate of Best Practice in Peer Review, and supports their policies on good research practice, the use of animals in research and university indirect costs.

Meningitis Research Foundation seeks to fund research that is most likely to defeat meningitis and septicaemia. Research grants may be held in any country but must meet UK standards of research ethics, scientific integrity and animal welfare, and research institutions must be able to accept the charity's Terms and Conditions of Grant Aid including the policy on protection of intellectual property rights described therein. Employees of commercial companies are not eligible to apply.

The charity awards project grants only, up to a maximum of £150,000 per year for up to 5 years. As a guideline, the majority of grants awarded are in the region of £70,000 - £100,000 per year for up to three years, with a number of small grants of up to £30,000 per year also meeting success.

The Foundation recognises that clinical trials are of crucial importance in bringing out new therapies and vaccines. We are keen to support pilot studies, and to work in partnership with other research funders, professional associations and the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries to support clinical trials, but providing sole funding for large-scale clinical trials, particularly phase 3 trials, is usually beyond our means.

The Foundation is favourably disposed towards partnership funding generally within the requirements of a rigorous peer review process. The charity also encourages co-operative and collaborative research as a means of accelerating progress towards new vaccines and treatments.

All applications for funding undergo a rigorous peer review selection procedure, by a minimum of two external referees and the Foundation's Scientific Advisory Panel. Final decisions are made by the trustees on recommendation by the Panel.

Timetable

There is one research grant round per year. Preliminary proposals are invited at the end of September, and full applications are due in December. The Scientific Advisory Panel meets in March, and final decisions are communicated to applicants in April.

In the current round, preliminary proposals will be considered from 15 September to 28 November. We will normally be able to advise applicants on whether to proceed to full application within approximately a week of receiving a preliminary proposal. Full applications take considerable time to prepare, as they require detailed information on the research plan, budget, and institutional policies, as well as the signatures of all concerned. For this reason we will not consider preliminary proposals after 28 November 2008. The deadline for full applications is 12 December 2008.

Application Procedure

1. Preliminary Proposal. Using the preliminary proposal form, submit a 2 or 3 page preliminary proposal (by e-mail to lindag@meningitis.org if possible) summarising the work you plan to do, the approximate amount of funding required and the duration of the project. This must include approximately ten lines explaining:

how the work described falls within the Foundation’s research strategy
potential for clinical / public health benefit arising from this study
why you have chosen to apply to the Foundation for funding for this particular project.

The Foundation will decide whether to request a full application based on this submission according to whether it conforms to the charity’s objectives and research strategy, its feasibility and whether there is overlap with work already in progress. At this stage there is no scientific assessment of the proposed research.

Preliminary Proposal Form

2. Full Application. If your preliminary proposal is acceptable, we will send (by e-mail):

A Grant Application Form
Guidance for Applicants
Terms and Conditions of Grant Aid (for information)
Policy on the Use of Animals in Research (if appropriate)
Code of Conduct

The application form should be completed with reference to the other documents. The Foundation’s willingness to consider an application does not imply that support will be forthcoming.

Evaluation

Full applications are assessed by structured peer review, according to the Association of Medical Research Charities' principles of accountability, balance, independence, rotation of advisers, and impartiality. At least two independent external referees provide detailed written comments and an overall score on the application. External referees are drawn from a list of several hundred experts around the world, and new names are regularly added to the list. Due to the potential for conflict of interest, applicants may request that a particular person (or persons) should not be approached to referee their application, and such requests will be honoured. With the help of referees' reports, the Scientific Advisory Panel then meets to decide which proposals to recommend to the trustees for final approval. Panel members, external referees, Foundation staff and applicants all agree to abide by a Code of Conduct .

Meningitis Research Foundation grants are highly competitive and are awarded primarily on the basis of clear relevance to the Charity's aims and scientific merit. Even a scientifically sound application is likely to fail if the objectives are poorly described, it lacks experimental detail and necessary power calculations, or it does not address apparent overlap with other projects. Inexperienced applicants are encouraged to seek advice from senior members of their department on how best to prepare a grant application.

Assessment Criteria

Relevance
Clinical benefit
Design
Originality
Methodology
Ability of proposers to achieve objectives
Probability of completion within time frame
Ethical aspects
Realism of costings

Scientific Advisory Panel

Professor Peter Andrew PhD
Professor of Microbial Pathogenesis, University of Leicester

Dr Raymond Borrow PhD MRCPath
Head of Vaccine Evaluation Department, Health Protection Agency, Manchester

Dr Michael J. Corbel BSc PhD DSc(Med) FIBiol MRCPath
Head, Bacteriology Division, National Institute for Biological Standards and Control

Professor Adam Finn MA PhD FRCP FRCPCH
Professor of Paediatrics, Head, Unit of Child Health
Dept Clinical Sciences at South Bristol, University of Bristol

Professor George Griffin BSc PhD FRCP(Lon,E) FRCPath FMedSci (Chair)
Professor of Infectious Diseases and Clinical Medicine
St George’s University of London

Professor Nigel Klein BSc MB.BS PhD MRCP FRCPCH
Head of Department of Infection
Institute of Child Health, University College London

Dr David Lalloo MB BS MD FRCP FTTM RCPS(Glasg).
Reader in infectious Diseases
Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine

Dr Simon Nadel MBBS MRCP(UK) FRCP MRCPH
Consultant in Paediatric Intensive Care
St Mary's Hospital and Imperial College, London

Dr Mary Ramsay BSc MB BS MRCP MSc MFPHM
Consultant Epidemiologist
HPA Centre for Infections, London

Professor Christoph Tang MBChB MRCP DTM&H PhD (Vice-Chair)
Professor of Infectious Diseases/Honorary Consultant Physician
Centre for Molecular Microbiology and Infection, Imperial College, London

Professor Neil Williams BSc PhD
Head, Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine
University of Bristol

Feedback

When we write to applicants to let them know the outcome of their applications, we provide anonymous versions of referees’ comments, and may also summarise the conclusion reached by the Panel. The identity of referees is never revealed to applicants. Please note that applicants should not, under any circumstances, directly approach members of the Foundation’s Scientific Advisory Panel in connection with their (or another’s) research application. The Foundation’s decisions are final and no subsequent correspondence will be entered into. Applications that are rejected will not be reconsidered unless resubmission is specifically invited or permitted.

If you have any queries regarding the application process, please email to either kater@meningitis.org or lindag@meningitis.org