Deadline: 30-Sep-2020
The Health Foundation has launched a new research programme, which seeks to understand the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in two distinct areas.
This call is seeking to fund research which is highly applied, where there is a clear pathway for the findings to be translated in to action. The outbreak has had a significant impact on the ways in which data can currently be collected (eg focus groups, interviews). The Foundation encourages researchers to be creative, inclusive and pragmatic when selecting the research methods for their projects.
Applications involving patients, the public and people with lived experience are strongly encouraged.
Priority Areas
This call is designed to support short-term applied research projects which address important questions relating to one of the following priority areas:
- How health and social care service delivery has changed in light of COVID-19.
- The impact of COVID-19 on health inequalities and the wider determinants of health.
Funding Information
The Foundation anticipates funding projects with budgets in the range of £100,000 to £200,000 for up to 12 months (including start-up phase).
The COVID-19 Research Programme will not support:
- Research which does not address one of the two priority areas.
- The cost of product or technology development as a sole purpose the project.
- Costs where a core component of the project is supporting professional and personal development
- Basic scientific or epidemiological research on the causes of disease, including biomedical or genomic research.
- Research focusing on biomedical or genetic factors as determinants of health inequalities.
- Clinical or drug efficacy research, including clinical trials.
- Proposals which are solely or mainly service developments or needs assessments.
- Research focusing on the impact of COVID-19 on individuals’ health behaviours, such as diet, physical activity, or alcohol and tobacco consumption.
Eligibility Criteria
- The programme is an open award programme, available to suitable qualified and experienced research teams based in the UK.
- Project teams will need to demonstrate that they have strong research and analytical skills relevant to the project; adequate systems of information and/or research governance; and experience in project management and delivery.
- They would encourage applications from multidisciplinary teams combining expertise from a broad range of disciplines, including (but not limited to) public/population health, economics, geography, anthropology, sociology and other social sciences.
- They strongly encourage applications involving patients, publics and people with lived experience.
- Researchers who are currently in receipt of a Health Foundation award should contact their Grant Manager in the first instance to discuss varying their existing award, instead of applying for funding via this call. If a variation to their existing award is not appropriate, applicants will need to demonstrate within their application that they have the capacity to work on both projects within the agreed timescales
Selection Criteria
When selecting proposals to fund, the Foundation will look for evidence of the following:
- Strong alignment with the priority areas of this call.
- Addressing a pressing COVID-19 related knowledge gap, with findings that will be relevant to policy/service delivery decisions.
- A strong, robust research methodology that is feasible and well-planned.
- A researcher or team with the right strengths, expertise and credibility to deliver the research.
- Value for money.
For more information, visit https://www.health.org.uk/funding-and-partnerships/programmes/covid-19-research-programme
