1. BRITISH HEART FOUNDATION PERSONAL AWARDS BASIC SCIENTISTS
Dr Shannon Amoils
Senior Research Advisor
British Heart Foundation

2. British Heart Foundation
An introduction to the British Heart Foundation
Overview of our current research funding
Personal Awards for basic scientists
How we award
What makes a successful fellowship application

3. British Heart Foundation
Founded in 1961
Charitable organisation – all our income comes from public donation
Single largest funder of cardiovascular research in the UK
We spend £80-£100m on cardiovascular research every year
Aim is to fund pioneering research into the causes, prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular disease
Fund basic and clinical research focusing on the heart and circulatory system

4. Epidemiology/ Clinical trials
Current funding - overview
Epidemiology/ Clinical trials
15%
Laboratory science
70%
Other
clinical studies
Research portfolio
~£400m

5. Infra- structure and Centres
Current funding - overview
Studentships
Fellowships
Professors
People
30%
Infra- structure and Centres
10%
£ million per yr
Projects
25%
3y Project Grants
Programmes
35%
5y Programme Grants

6. Current funding - overview
Funding is response mode – with the exception of a few calls for applications for substantial funding on a specific theme
Research Excellence Awards
6 centres awarded 2013
emphasis on training and multidisciplinary research
Centres of Regenerative Medicine
3 centres awarded 2013
Mending Broken Hearts Appeal
programme of investment in cardiovascular regenerative medicine research

7. Current funding - overview
Spending controlled by 3 committees, each meeting 4x per yr:
Project Grants Committee (22 members)
Fellowships Committee (7 members)
Chairs & Programme Grants Committee (11 members)

8. Personal awards – non-clinical
PhD studentship (3 or 4y)
Postdoctoral RA on project grant (1-2 x 3y)
Intermediate Basic Science Fellowship (4-5y)
Includes research costs and technician/RA
Senior Basic Science Fellowship (5y: renewable)
Includes research costs and technician/RA; renewable at 50% salary
BHF Professor (10y: reviewed at 5y)
Immediate Postdoctoral Fellowship
(3-4y)
Advanced Training Award (2-3y)
Named Research Associate, Co-applicant, Principal Investigator
Career Re-entry Fellowship (3-4y)
Includes programme grant funding for research

9. Immediate Postdoctoral Fellowship
For the most outstanding newly qualified postdoctoral researchers to start establishing an independent cardiovascular research career
Apply in the final year of PhD or within 1y of the PhD viva
Award includes personal salary and research expenses for 3y (possibility of a 1y extension)
Up to 18 months of the award should be spent overseas or in a second UK institution

10. Advanced Training Award
To provide younger researchers with an opportunity to move into cardiovascular science from a different field or to gain additional expertise in a different field within cardiovascular science
Apply within 2-3y of submitting PhD thesis
Award includes personal salary and research expenses for 2-3y
Successful candidates are likely to be moving to a strong cardiovascular research environment where their existing skills will be useful in future cardiovascular research

11. Intermediate Fellowship
For talented individuals intending to become research leaders, ready to establish independence
Candidates are usually 3-6y since PhD, with a series of first or senior author research papers in high quality journals
Personal salary, research expenses and technical support
Award for 4y, (1y can be spent overseas if justified)
Possibility of 1y extension

12. Senior Fellowship
For outstanding scientists expected to reach Reader or Professor level in less than 5y
Candidates are usually 7-10y since PhD, with an established track record of research leadership, often a previous Intermediate Fellow
Personal salary, research expenses and technical support if justified for 5y (up to 1y overseas if justified)
Competitive renewal possible, host institution must then pay 50% personal salary

13. Career Re-entry Fellowship
To enable successful post-doctoral scientists to re-enter research after a career break of longer than 2y
Award includes personal salary, research expenses and technical support post if justified
Duration of the award is 3y
Possibility of a 1y extension

14. Personal awards – clinical
Clinical Research Training Fellowship (3y)
Intermediate Clinical Research Fellowship (4-5y)
Pre or post CCT, includes research costs and technician/RA
Senior Clinical Research Fellowship (5y)
Includes research costs, renewable once only at 50% salary
BHF Professor (10y: reviewed at 5y)
Includes programme grant funding for research
Research Leave Fellowship

15. BHF Professors
BHF Professors are expected to be internationally competitive research leaders, with a commitment to training cardiovascular scientists
We consider how the candidate will enhance the university’s cardiovascular strategy, and the added value to BHF
Current support offer is for 10y (with 5y review)
Provides personal salary, 1-2 support posts, start-up funds (normally up to £200k), discretionary fund (£20k/y)
32 in post, 9 are basic scientists (4 awarded )

16. How we award Application submitted [no outline required] Peer review
Panel interview
Senior Fellows, some Intermediate Fellows,
all Immediate Fellows
Award or Reject
(Can often reapply)
Some decisions made prior to committee
Rest are discussed
Don’t rank applications
Application submitted [no outline required]
Peer review
Sent out to at least 3 external UK (international) reviewers
2 committee members each provide reviews
Fellowship Committee (4 times/yr)

17. Award numbers - non clinical
Fellowship type
Awards/
Applications
Current award nos
3 year PhD studentship
35/73 [48%]
28/65 [43%]
31/55 [56%]
106
Advanced Training Award
1/4
0/1
1/2 2
Intermediate Fellowship
8/21 [38%]
14/36 [39%]
6/23 [26%] 39
Senior Fellowship
2/10 [20%]
7/10 [70%]
2/7 [29%] 17
Career Re-entry Fellowship
1/1 1

18. Assessing fellowship applications
Person – quality of the applicant
Project – quality of the science
Place – quality of the research environment

19. Before you start your application
Is this the right time for you to be making this application?
if in doubt – ask advice
ask your mentors
contact us, send us your CV, come and talk to us
Is this the right place to conduct your research with the appropriate expertise?
Have you chosen the right supervisor?
Have you chosen the right collaborators?
If there’s a gap in your expertise, choose collaborators to fill the gap

20. What makes a good project?
Logic
Originality
Feasibility
Compelling pilot data

21. Key points about any application [1]
Must provide the scientific foundation for your project, citing the appropriate papers
It’s your job to show why your science is important and worth doing, and why you have the right credentials to do it
Aims must be clear
Hypotheses must be testable (not vague aspirations)

22. Key points about any application [2]
Experimental plans must be focussed, detailed and test the hypotheses
Must provide pilot data to back up your approach
Should be at least predominantly achievable by the end of the award
Make sure all your aims aren’t dependent on each other
Career intentions – clear statement
Strong letters of support

23. Before you submit your application
Make sure you have laid out the application correctly and followed the funder’s instructions
Get advice from your colleagues – the next pair of eyes seeing your application should not be those of the reviewers

24. Otherwise you’ll get comments like…
The project is overambitious and lacks preliminary data. Without these data it is too high risk to fund.
The applicant has little expertise in this area and this is also not an area of expertise of his supervisor.
It is not clear how the applicant’s research pathway is different to that of the host department. It is also not clear whether he will drive the work forward independently.
The application is densely presented, with small font and no margins – it is extremely difficult to read. The applicant clearly can’t present his ideas in a concise way and this is reflected in the overambitious nature of the project.

25. When you want comments like…
Dr XXX is a strong candidate for an Intermediate Fellowship. The publications from his PhD and his awards mark him out as an able clinician researcher. He has begun to develop his own programme of research attracting funding to support this. He has the appropriate facilities available to him and strong support from his supervisors and mentors.
AWARD

26. University of Sheffield
New BHF Fellows
Tamara Girbl
QMUL
Alan Lawrie
University of Sheffield
Maarten Koeners
University of Bristol

27. BHF Fellows

28. Thank you Shannon Amoils amoilss@bhf.org.uk
bhf.org.uk/research/research-grants.aspx