Deadline: 4 July 2017
The Efficacy and Mechanism Evaluation (EME) Programme is currently seeking proposals for hypothesis driven research into the underlying mechanisms of action of clinical and public health interventions. Studies must utilise patients or samples from identifiable cohorts from current or completed NIHR-funded or NIHR-managed studies in any setting.
Proposals will be accepted across a wide range of interventions; including behavioural, pharmaceutical, psychological, surgical and public health interventions. The research should be hypothesis driven, relevant to the intervention and outcomes proposed by the original study and add significantly to the scientific understanding of the mechanisms of action of the intervention.
Funding Criteria
The EME Programme will support:
- Research to determine proof of clinical efficacy, size of effect, and long-term safety in a well-defined population.
- The evaluation of a broad range of interventions that have the potential to maintain health, treat disease or improve recovery.
- Hypothesis-testing research based on an efficacy study, to explore the mechanisms of action of interventions, causes of differing responses or disease mechanisms. These studies use data or samples obtained and stored from both treatment and control groups of a clinical study, to arrive at conclusions that would not arise from a simple cohort study.
- Proposals that include a series of linked stages (usually 2 to 3) with progression to the main clinical evaluation dependent on the outcome of the previous stage(s). The criteria for progression must be clearly defined. The main clinical evaluation should require more than 75% of the total project costs and commence within 18 months of the project start date.
- Pilot and feasibility studies where the main study would be within the remit of the EME Programme. These studies may be either stand-alone or can be the initial part of a staged project that includes the main clinical evaluation as a subsequent stage.
- The limited steps needed to progress the development of an intervention to a stage suitable for use in an accredited clinical service when included as an initial stage prior to commencing the main clinical evaluation.
- Studies using novel or infrequently-used study designs that increase the value of a study, by maximising the chances of demonstrating the benefit of an intervention, increasing the knowledge that can be gained through the study, or by making the study more efficient.
Eligibility Criteria
- Researchers in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales are eligible to apply for funding under this Programme. Anyone who considers that they can carry out high-quality research is likely to be eligible. If you have any concerns regarding your eligibility to apply we advise that you contact us before completing an application. Applications are accepted from all sectors.
- Studies funded by the EME Programme are generally UK based.
How to Apply
Applications must be submitted in a prescribed format via given website.
Eligible Country: UK
For more information, please visit MRC-NHS Call for Proposals.