How to Win Funding in Medical Research

1
How to Win Funding in Medical Research

• Cecilia Lindgren
• Wellcome Trust Research Career Development Fellow

2
The three Ps

• Personyou
• CV
• Publications
• Awards
• Grants
• National/international collaborations/net-works
  (reputation)
• Place
• Is the centre known for the type of work you
  propose
• Will the applicant have the necessary support
  (practical and intellectual)
• Project
• Novelty
• Will the project generate results
• Is it a suitable framework for a career
• Value for money for the funders
• Appropriate for the funding body (i.e. fits with
  their goals)

3
Where was I when I decided to apply?

• Throne-Holst Visiting Fellowship from Sweden 2006
• DUK project grant 2006
• NDM Scientific Leadership Fellow
• 3 year Career Development Award 2007-2010
• a bridge between being a post-doctoral fellow
  and being eligible for a Career Development Award
  from one of the larger funding bodies

4
Work towards the goal

• Identify a topic that you feel strongly about and
  believe in, it will shine through
• Be active in publishing
• Network and find independent collaborators
• Be active in applying for prices and awards
• Find an area of research and become an expert
  (generalists?)
• Develop independence from your supervisor
• Collect preliminary data to build your application

5
What is a competitive research project?

• Good preliminary data to show that you are on
  track already
• Focus on a research area where you have a
  track-record
• Facilities and collaborations to ensure success
• Originality
• Will this ensure publications and frameworks for
  achieving your goals and the next round of
  funding

6
Things to consider Funding options

• The first thing that I did was that I decided to
  stay in the UK
• Grant/Award that covers the salary
• Often shorter time-spans
• Less money
• Leave Oxford and take a tenured position at
  another University
• Research environment
• Teaching
• Scientific freedom
• Career Development Fellowship (WT/MRC)
• 3-6 years post PhD experience (exceptions can be
  considered)
• Senior (WT) or Intermediate (MRC) fellowships
• level of CV required for this?
• contact the funding body to check that you are
  eligible

7
Why Oxford?

• Tradition
• Excellence
• Reputation
• Possibilities
• Resources
• Location

www.myenglandtravel.com
8
Why WTCHG OCDEM

• Hot-houses for science
• Multi-disciplinary research teams in human
  genetics, functional genomics, bioinformatics,
  statistical genetics and structural biology
• Excellence
• Ranked high in the RAE
• A number of the leading authorities in the world
  on relevant topics to my area of interest
• Opportunity
• Several relevant collaborators, clinically and
  statistically but no direct overlap with existing
  efforts

9
Why Wellcome Trust?

• A Career development fellowship constitutes a
  framework for developing my own independent
  research program and team to build up my
  portfolio to be eligible for a senior
  fellowship
• 5 years of funding, fits in my 5 year plan
  personally
• First step on WT funding track, which is an
  attractive option
• Generous fellowships
• Wonderful support team at the WT, their aim is to
  make everything for you to succeed and reach your
  goal

10
Having decided to apply for WT-RCDF-what next?

• Select which funding stream to chose
• Make a time planning scheme to ensure that you
  have planned out all deadlines
• Inform your admin team
• Check deadlines and requirements from research
  services
• Select and invite collaborators, collect letters
  of support and inform them about what they need
  to do
• Letter of support from head of department
• Choose sponsors and collect letters of support
  and inform them about what they need to do
• Check guidelines and instructions for how to
  submit and what to submit

11
My timeline for application
December 2007
Decided to apply for a WT-RCDF
March 2008
Submitted a pre-submission inquiry
June 2008
Submitted the full application
November 2008
Got invited for an interview
December 2008
interview
December 2008
Got the news that I got the fellowship and
reviewers comments
Please notice that from start to end it is 1 year
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Prepare for the interview

• Read up on every aspect of your application
• Have mock interviews, many (!!)
• Discuss your project with your peers and ask for
  comments, questions that they would ask
• Think through what will happen if you do not know
  the answer of a question, prepare for that
• Dress nicely
• Once there, enjoy

13
What does the Wellcome Trust reviewers look for

• The caliber of the candidate
• The scientific merit of the proposed project
• The significance of the research
• The suitability of the sponsor and host
  environment for the candidate's development as an
  independent researcher
• the three Ps

14
Final thoughts

• Discuss through carefully with peers and mentors
  about the appropriate funding options
• Work towards/start putting together a competitive
  CV
• Follow the instructions carefully and check,
  check again and re-check everything carefully
• Do not leave things till last minute
• Keep the effort going till you get funded

15
Acknowledgements

• Mark McCarthy -for sponsoring me and supporting
  my application
• Chris Holmes -for sponsoring me and supporting my
  application
• Peter Donnelly -for mock interview and being a
  great mentor
• Fredrik Karpe -for mock interview and valuable
  clinical input
• Krina Zondervan Andrew Morris -for support
  mock interviews
• Anna Gloyn -for mock interview and support
• Peter Ratcliffe -for mock interview and support
• Liesel Osman (The NDM Research Facilitation
  Team)- for mock interview and support
• And of course to the Wellcome Trust for funding me

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I wish YOU the best of luck!!
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Wellcome Trust(http//www.wellcome.ac.uk/)

• The Wellcome Trust is an independent charity
  funding research to improve human and animal
  health.
• Established in 1936 by Henry Wellcome
• An endowment of around 13 billion
• It is the UK's largest non-governmental source of
  funds for biomedical research

18
Mentors, Sponsors and advisors

• WTCHG OCDEM NDM mentors with experience of
  different funding streams and application
  processes
• External mentors for advice about application,
  funding agencies and research panels