Wellcome Trust : how do we fund ?

1. Wellcome Trust: how do we fund ? John WilliamsHead of Clinical Activities

2. The talk • Research environment: • a time for optimism • Who we are • Funding philosophy • Funding tools • basics

3. Research environment:a time for optimism?

4. OSCHR: what? HM Treasury DH DIUS OSCHR DAs NIHR MRC Single HealthResearch Strategy

5. Indicative funding for health research in the UK 2007-08

6. "Some say that now is not the time to invest, but the bottom line is that the downturn is no time to slow down our investment in science. We will not allow science to become a victim of the recession,"Gordon Brown

7. A new environment… • Collaboration & organisation • UK Clinical Research Collaboration • Office for Strategic Co-ordination of Health Research • NIHR • a ring-fenced fund for R&D • Tooke Report • Darzi – Next Stage Review • Infrastructure • Clinical Research Facilities • Clinical Research Networks • biomedical research centres • flexible academic career pathways • Science • genetics • medical imaging – physiology • Medical engineering • genomic and proteomic analysis • e-health and informatics

8. Who we are

9. The Wellcome Trust • an independent research-funding charity • established 1936 • funded from private endowment • managed for long-term stability and growth • interests range from science to history of medicine

10. Wellcome Trust mission ‘To foster and promote research with the aim of improving human and animal health.’

11. Financial Expenditure 2007/08

12. An update on our funding plans for 2009 – 1http://www.wellcome.ac.uk/News/2009/News/WTX053144.htm Over the past year the financial markets and prevailing economic conditions have presented an extremely challenging operating environment for research funding charities. The diversity of our asset base and the decisive actions of our investment team have protected us from the worst falls in the markets. However, our asset base at the close of our last financial year was £13.1 billion as compared with £15.1 billion for the previous year. We spend only a small proportion of our endowment each year and therefore, despite the change in value of our investment portfolio, we are not planning major changes to our spending commitments.

13. An update on our funding plans for 2009 - 2 We will commit around £590 million to support biomedical research in the UK and internationally, as compared to £620 million in 2007/08. Our response-mode funding will remain the single largest element of our annual expenditure. The unprecedented economic conditions affect all funders, we do expect increased pressure on our budgets and we are already seeing increasing numbers of applications, which will inevitably raise the level of competition for grants. We will therefore continue to prioritise funding the brightest people and the best ideas.

14. Science funding

15. Strategic Plan: 2005-2010 ‘Making a Difference’

16. Strategic aims We work to further our mission through six strategic aims: advancing knowledge using knowledge engaging society developing people facilitating research developing our organisation

17. How we fund People: • focus on the individual Places: • fund where Trust funding will make a difference Programmes: • make big and brave grants to the best people Partnership: • leveraging support from others in strategic areas

18. Science Funding Vision:the research we support will lead to discoveries that will have major health impacts

19. Grant Making Divisions Grants Management Department Science Funding Responsible for: Grants Management including grant application processing Customer Services: Helpdesk, training liaison with research offices, communications updates, governance reviews Data & Systems Management: Systems development and interfaces, provision of management information Medicine, Society & History Technology Transfer Responsible for: Grant making: identifying funding opportunities, developing strategic initiatives Committee Management: Funding & Strategy Committee Secretariat Portfolio Management: Ongoing oversight of major projects and initiatives Evaluation: Project, scheme & initiative review Grant Making and Giving – Roles & Activities

20. Immunology and Infectious Disease Pathogens, Immunology & Population Health (HoD - Pat Goodwin) Populations and Public Health Neurosciences & Mental Health (HoD - Richard Morris) Neuroscience and Mental Health Clinical Basic Careers International Physiological Sciences Molecular and Physiological Sciences (HoD - Alan Schafer) Molecules, Genes and Cells Candy John Jimmy Hassall Williams Whitworth Funding Committee Strategy Committee Interview Committee Department Science Funding Structure

21. Response - Mode Funding

22. Response Mode Funding: Flexible Tools Clinician: Medical, Dental or Veterinary Qualification • Equipment and Resource Grants • Biomedical Resources • To set up or maintain a resource (data or samples) for the scientific community. Data Management and Sharing issues important & must be addressed • Technology Development • Awards • To develop new technologies or refine existing techniques. Outputs should facilitate research &/or benefit wider scientific community • Equipment Grants • Strategic Awards • Flexible forms of support to facilitate research and/or training that has not been possible under pre-existing schemes. • ‘adding value’ to excellent research groups, • interdisciplinary and/or thematic research collaborations biggest Programme Grants (5 years) up to ~£1.3-5 million bigger Project grants (up to 3 years) approx. £350k Salary support ,Named research assistant (& technician), Co-applicant, Principal applicant big

23. Support for People

25. The Application Process – Background & Tips

26. Good idea Choose a funding agency & scheme Preliminary application stage? Write application University admin office Submit application External review Funding Committee Interview Committee Fund Reject The Process

27. A ‘Good’ Application • A strong and original central hypothesis. • Evident knowledge of the area. • Consider what’s already known, address conflicting opinions, use appropriate citations and references. • Clear research plan. • Is the technical approach feasible? Is the timescale realistic? What are the potential pitfalls and your fall-back plans? Are the requested resources appropriate? • Convincing preliminary data. • Not over- or under- ambitious. • Appropriate expertise. • Sponsors, co-applicants, collaborators and research team.

28. A ‘Good’ Application • Easy to understand and read. • Consider all readers, avoid jargon / abbreviations, check grammar and spelling. • All staff, equipment and materials & consumables should be fully justified • Animal use should be carefully justified and power calculations provided, where appropriate • Should offer the very best value for money

29. General points “...it involves techniques with which the applicant appears to have no prior experience and for which no preliminary data are proposed.”

30. General points “...this does not appear to be hypothesis driven…there are no specific aims or objectives....”

31. General points “...one weakness in the proposal is that there is no alternative plan should the proposed approach not yield information relevant to the hypothesis proposed.”

32. General points “...an intriguing hypothesis, however the experiments proposed for testing will not provide unequivocal evidence for or against it.” ?

33. General points “...the work described in this application is over-ambitious, it could not be achieved in the life time of the Principal Investigator.”

34. General points “...is a persuasive writer and has done a commendable job of marshalling evidence to support their hypothesis, however, the applicant has put aside facts that do not support their point of view.”

35. General points “The poor writing, referencing and proofreading of this application significantly detract from its overall quality.”

36. General points “...I had only one problem with this application, I had no idea what they were trying to do!”

37. Concluding Remarks

38. Issues to consider • Building a competitive CV • Finding the right sponsor/supervisor • Mentorship

39. Mentorship • Origins • The roots of the practice are lost in antiquity. The word itself was inspired by the character of Mentor in Homer's Odyssey. Though the actual Mentor in the story is a somewhat ineffective old man, the goddess Athena takes on his appearance in order to guide young Telemachus in his time of difficulty. • Definitions • Mentoring, particularly in its traditional sense, enables an individual to follow in the path of an older and wiser colleague who can pass on knowledge, experience and open doors to otherwise out-of-reach opportunities. • Mentoring is an established way of helping academic and clinical researchers to establish their careers. The purpose is to provide informed advice and counsel to enable individual researchers to realise their full potential and thus to make a valuable contribution to quality research in the UK. A mentor is not a supervisor/sponsor, but a “wise and trusted professional friend” - typically a senior figure from outside the host department with whom to discuss career aims, problems and development. http://www.academicmedicine.ac.uk/resources/mentoring.aspx

40. Bliss lab – PhD/Postdoc NIMR

41. Further Issues to consider • What is the the ‘right’ project for me • When is the best time to do research ? • Am I being realistic ? • Can I have fun ?

42. Finally… Check scheme details well in advance Refer to our website or contact Trust staff www.wellcome.ac.uk j.williams@wellcome.ac.uk Good luck!