Strategic Funding Applications

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A PDF copy of this information is also available to download from http://bit.ly/StrategicFundingApplication.

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NIHR CRN Yorkshire and Humber:

Strategic Funding Applications

Background Information

Targeting our research support and growth according to the needs of the population that we serve continues to be a strategic priority for CRN Yorkshire and Humber (CRN YH). Currently CRN YH has 2% of the 2021/22 budget assigned for strategic initiatives and quality improvement incentives amounting to £517k, agreed in December 2020. There is already a pre-commitment to spend £115.4k on specific strategic projects outwith Targeting Health Needs, leaving £401.6k strategic monies remaining.

The framework below is intended to steer proposals for funding however a flexible approach is in place to meet any specific national priorities, as they may change.

Strategic Funding Framework - key priority areas

The CRN YH Leadership team has taken a number of steps to identify the health needs and priority areas for our region. These are as follows:

(a) Reviewed spending across Yorkshire and Humber

(b) Identified wider partners local health needs priorities

Further work to better understand existing health inequalities data to explore potential areas of joint investment and interest is still needed but as a result of the above CRN Y&H have identified the following areas where we invite applications for funding.

2a. COVID 19 Research (Vaccines and non-Vaccines)

Investment may be focussed on common areas of work that have already emerged through the COVID crisis:

(a) Vaccine Program (delivery at pace and scale and with social equity)

(b) BAME Program (equity of access to participation in research)

2b. Targeting Health Needs

There are eight priority disease areas but five where CRN YH are under-recruiting based on the prevalence in the region (see Appendix 1 for background details):

(a) COPD

(b) Dementia

(d) Cardiovascular (Heart Failure)

(e) Stroke

Applications for funding are invited against these five priority areas.

We anticipate up to £250k to support research in the agreed local priority areas, with up to £30,000 awarded to each area. Awards could be renewable for 2022/23 dependent on the receipt of a report demonstrating achievement of one or more key objectives:

(a) an increase in recruitment to NIHR CRN Portfolio studies in the specialty area

(b) an increase in research capability (as measured by the number of Principal or Chief Investigators) or Early Career Researcher development within the specialty area

2c. CRN YH investment areas

There are four programs of work that were prioritised ahead of the pandemic but have new relevance in its aftermath.

(a) Deprivation & Social Inequality e.g. Alcohol Addiction Program (life-course impact, management and mitigation)

(b) Multimorbidity Program (holistic multi-speciality research)

(d) Integrated Care Systems Program (facilitating communication and engagement)

Funding Conditions

For planning purposes:

(a) funding is non-recurrent and

(b) must be spent in the stated financial year

NB - In some exceptional cases we may be able to consider projects that run into 2022/23 against next year's Targeting Population Research Needs funding.

You should discuss your requirements with your CRN YH link prior to making any application.

Impact statements will be defined against each allocation and monitored on at least a quarterly basis.

Submission of bids

Bids must be submitted via relevant Research Delivery Managers with support from the relevant Specialty Group Leads, in collaboration with relevant Partner Organisations, other Specialty Groups and/or Primary Care, to support research in the priority areas.

Bids will be judged by an Executive panel, including representatives on behalf of the Clinical Specialty Groups against the likelihood of achieving these objectives. If agreed, it is proposed to award funding no later than the end of April 2021.

We will welcome requests for funding from a single organisation and funding requests involving multiple Partners are particularly welcomed. Rather than multiple competing business cases for localised projects, we would encourage and would welcome Partners working together to develop ideas around larger strategic priorities and programmes of work. This enables consistent ways of working and could have multiple benefits across the region

Please do engage with Local Research Specialty Leads for clinical input on project ideas.

Please ensure all bids are submitted by the date and time advertised on the Strategic Bids Web page.

If you are struggling to complete the business case to submit your proposals using this form, please contact pm.crnyorkshumber@nihr.ac.uk for help and advice.

Should you wish to discuss your ideas or have any queries then please contact pm.crnyorkshumber@nihr.ac.uk

Appendix 1 - Targeting Health Needs

1. Background

1.1 In 2017, Professor Chris Witty identified the need for research to be conducted with and in the populations most affected. He stated ‘Research activity should go to populations who most need it, and we would like to encourage the best researchers ..to undertake clinical and public health research in the areas of England with the greatest health needs’.

1.2 To this end, a LCRN Contract Support Document was released in January 2019 enunciating a ‘Programme for Change’ with two linked strands of work to change the pattern of research:

Providing tools and support for NIHR to undertake research in the populations with the most need (identified as a CRN Coordinating Centre [CC] responsibility).

Encouraging and monitoring changes in the placement of research (identified as both a CC and LCRN responsibility). Initially LCRNs were asked to allocate and account for 2% of their funding to be used to address areas of unmet need in the 2019-20 budget.

CRN Yorkshire and Humber have continued this spending in 2020-21 and 2021-22, supported by the Partnership Group and in response to the significantly high health needs within the Yorkshire and Humber region.

1.3 A summary of health need priorities supported to date are set out at Appendix 1, with details of the total funding awarded.

1.4 The CRNCC has developed a metric that compares the disease prevalence and research activity for the nine ‘priority’ health conditions (compressing Type I and II Diabetes into a single area) against which LCRN and CCG level ODP data is available.

The metric has been applied to these health conditions and provides a score for each LCRN for each health condition. The score is derived by calculating the following steps:

LCRN disease recruitment activity as a percentage of national disease recruitment activity (recruitment %)

LCRN prevalence of disease as a percentage of national prevalence of disease (prevalence %)

Recruitment % minus prevalence %.

This new component addresses the request to encourage research to take place in areas with the greatest health needs and aims to incentivise:

LCRNs to develop or maintain local Portfolios that are relevant to local populations

Local Investigators and Chief Investigators to conduct research in regions with above-average concentrations of specific health conditions in the population.

In developing this metric, the CRNCC has been mindful that recruitment activity is recorded in the LCRN where the participant is consented which may not be the same as the LCRN where the participant lives; that over-recruitment to a ‘priority’ health condition could be considered to be as unfavourable as under-recruitment; and that LCRNs can only recruit to open studies on the CRN Portfolio and cannot influence the wider NIHR infrastructure.

Table 1 shows the final scores received by each LCRN by priority disease area and the overall LCRN scores below for 2017-18 and 2018-19 combined. For each health condition, green cells indicate a ‘perfect score’ of 0%. Red cells indicate the furthest score.

Table 1