Research funding
Call now open
The LEAP Hub is welcoming applications for research projects. Projects may seek funding between £30k and £100k and may additionally request time of Hub research staff. Funding decisions will be made by 15th October 2024, projects must commence before the end of December 2024, and the maximum duration of any project is 18 months.
Key information
Opening date: 17 June 2024
Closing date: Friday 6 September 2024
Contact: leap-dh-hub@bristol.ac.uk
Call document
Read online or download a copy:
Full call document (PDF)
Full call document (Microsoft Word)
Application
To apply, please submit your funding application form and accompanying documents to leap-dh-hub@bristol.ac.uk by midnight BST on 6 September 2024.
Research themes
Care outside of the hospital
Digital technologies have huge potential to help prevent or reduce the time people need to spend in hospital. This supports wellbeing and is a priority for health services. This can be achieved through health and social care services that support people in their own homes and communities (such as virtual wards). Digital health (and care) opportunities include:
- Technology for remotely monitoring patients (or people accessing care and support).
- Technology that enables high-quality remote patient consultations.
- Technology to ensure a safe, warm, dry home environment where patients can be safe and in good health.
- Technology to support a necessarily more mobile health and social care workforce.
Further, these technologies can help deliver new services in our region’s relatively under-utilised town centres, including community pharmacies, community diagnostics centres and establishing pop-up clinical services in former retail locations. Digital health (and care) opportunities include:
- Low cost, portable diagnostics and imaging devices able to operate with limited bandwidth.
- Decision support tools and AI-assisted diagnostic and imaging tools.
Service and resource planning
Health and social care are resource-constrained activities – the NHS and social care workforce operates very close to capacity and is difficult to expand in response to short- or long-term demand. Resources such as staff, facilities, ward space and ambulances all need to be planned in a dynamic, responsive and joined-up manner. Digital health (and care) opportunities include:
- Scheduling and queuing algorithms to help plan/allocate staff time/availability, or the use of resources such as hospital beds and ambulances.
- Research to improve processes and decision-making, including operations research and optimisation.
Frailty, fall prediction and fall prevention
Falls are a leading case of hospital admission in older adults and a major priority for the Hub’s partner organisations. Predicting and thereby preventing injury such as hip fracture could help many older adults remain independent and well in their own homes. Digital Heath (and care) opportunities include:
- Wearable and video analytics to predict risk of falling.
- Technologies that support the delivery of interventions, including physiotherapy, rehabilitation, social care and support.
Smartphone and wearable technologies
Consumer electronics including smartphone, wearable and video technologies put powerful computing and sensing capabilities in the hands of patients and health & social care professionals alike. Digital health (and care) opportunities include:
- Predicting exacerbations of chronic conditions.
- Image and video analytics for conditions such as eye health, hearing loss, cardiovascular health and skin lesions.
- Facilitating remote interaction between professionals and patients.
- Evidencing benefits and side-effects of new therapies and interventions, from pharmaceuticals to physiotherapy, to talking therapies and social care support.
Frequently asked questions
Please send any questions about the call to leap-dh-hub@bristol.ac.uk and we will aim to answer them as soon as possible and add to the FAQ list.
The Remit of Projects
Q: Are multidisciplinary projects acceptable?
A: Yes. We recognise that effective, impactful, research in Digital Health regularly involves multidisciplinary collaboration. You should therefore ensure that the project team includes the appropriate skillsets to deliver the research.
Q: Are non-collaborative projects acceptable?
A: Yes, however the Hub has a stated mission to bring partners together, and this is an assessment criterion for this call, so a project not involving collaboration between organisations may be less competitive than others.
Q: Are projects that create publications in health or social sciences acceptable?
A: Yes, indeed many engineers and computer scientists publish in those venues. Wherever published, the publications themselves should be describing new findings in engineering and computer science, rather than the straightforward application of well-known techniques. Publications may also be describing insights beyond computer science and engineering.
Q: Will the Hub fund qualitative research?
A: Yes, and indeed there is a long tradition of qualitative research within health, social sciences, engineering, design (HCI) and computer science.
Q: Does my project require ethics?
A: if your project involves work with human research subjects (whether patients, students, members of the public, professionals, other research, via social media, face-to-face or online) then it will require ethical review either by the lead institution or by an NHS organisation. The proposal should set out plans for ethical review and explain how this is accommodated in the timeline. Where the proposed project will be operating under an existing ethical permission, the reference number and review body should be stated in those plans.
Q: I have a research idea that I’d like to commercialise, is this suitable for funding?
A: all projects are required to generate publishable new knowledge, so commercialisation cannot be a sufficient or primary goal in itself, although moving an idea towards successful commercialisation can certainly be one of the objectives. The Hub also has an entrepreneurial fellowship scheme which may be of interest.
Eligibility, Partnership and Costings
Q: Can projects involve NHS partners?
A: Yes, projects including NHS partners will likely be very competitive. However NHS organisations cannot lead (see above). Projects can certainly address the priorities of NHS partners and they can be a central part of the leadership team for the bid, including co-leading in decision-making. EPSRC rules do allow the costs of NHS organisations to be included in the bid costing, and it will be the responsibility of the lead organisation to ensure that the requested funding passes to NHS partners, as agreed. A letter of support is required as part of the application describing the nature of the involvement and any costs sought, waived or contributed.
Q: Can projects involve charity partners?
A: Yes, however charities cannot lead (see above). Projects can certainly address the priorities of charity partners and they can be a central part of the leadership team for the bid, including co-leading in project decision-making. Due to EPSRC funding rules, companies and charities must:
- Declare themselves as a project partner, submitting a letter of support explicitly describing any in-kind (e.g. staff time for advisory or research participation, access to data or facilities) or cash contribution to the project. All such contributions must be itemized and approximately costed within the letter. Project partners cannot receive funds from Hub beyond expenses of participating in the research, such as travel to research meetings.
OR
- Declare themselves a subcontractor, in other words a third party individual who is not employed as staff on the grant, or a third party organisation, who is subcontracted by the host organisation to deliver a specific piece of work. As guidance, any such subcontract should be less than 40% of the value of the total funding requested. The subcontract will be subject to the procurement rules of the Lead Institution, including compliance with any relevant Subsidy Control legislation, and so should be discussed with the lead institution before submission. The reason for the subcontract should be clearly described and justified in the proposal so that it can be peer-reviewed. If the Subcontractor is contributing time or other in-kind support beyond the work in the subcontract, this should be described clearly in a letter to accompany the proposal, so that it can be peer-reviewed.
Charity organisations can also receive research outputs and arising IP from the projects, such as licenses for software and for necessary background IP – the lead institution is encouraged to make those available to charity partners in due course at minimal or zero cost. A letter of support is required as part of the application describing the nature of the involvement.
Q: Can projects involve industry?
A: Yes, however they cannot lead (see above). Projects can certainly address the priorities of companies and future plans for products and services. Companies can be a central part of the leadership team for the bid, including co-leading in project decision-making. Due to EPSRC funding rules, companies can either:
- Declare themselves as a project partner, submitting a letter of support explicitly describing any in-kind (e.g. staff time for advisory or research participation, access to data or facilities) or cash contribution to the project. All such contributions must be itemized and approximately costed within the letter. Project partners cannot receive funds from Hub beyond expenses of participating in the research, such as travel to research meetings.
OR
- Declare themselves a subcontractor, in other words a third party individual who is not employed as staff on the grant, or a third party organisation, who is subcontracted by the host organisation to deliver a specific piece of work. As guidance, any such subcontract should be less than 40% of the value of the total funding requested. The subcontract will be subject to the procurement rules of the Lead Institution, including compliance with any relevant Subsidy Control legislation, and so should be discussed with the lead institution before submission. The reason for the subcontract should be clearly described and justified in the proposal so that it can be peer-reviewed. If the Subcontractor is contributing time or other in-kind support beyond the work in the subcontract, this should be described clearly in a letter to accompany the proposal, so that it can be peer-reviewed.
The Hub encourages appropriate involvement of industry in the projects through one of the models above – therefore the details of the proposed arrangements should be detailed in the application and will be assessed as part of peer review. For the avoidance of doubt, the relationship with the industry partner is the responsibility of the lead institution, including compliance with UK Subsidy Control rules and internal/external procurement rules.
Q: Can companies own arising IP from the project?
A: Companies are very likely to be important to achieve impact and benefit to the public/patients from the research. Regardless of the company’s role in the research project, they can receive research outputs and arising IP from the projects, such as licenses for software and for necessary background IP – the lead institution is encouraged to make those available to industry partners in due course so that impact is achieved. Although the expectation is that all research results are published, companies can request a short delay in order to seek protection for IP. We encourage that conversation to happen between the company and the lead institution at an early stage.
Q: Can projects be led by a PhD student?
A: No (see eligibility above).
Q: Can projects be led by a postdoctoral member of staff at a University?
A: Yes, provided they meet the other eligibility criteria outlined above.
Q: Can projects be led by a professional or technical services member of staff at a University?
A: Yes, provided they meet the other eligibility criteria outlined above.
Q: Can patients or members of the public be applicants of part of the project leadership team?
A: Yes. EPSRC rules allow for the reimbursement of necessary expenses of attending meetings.
Q: We have recently purchased a new digital health technology and wish to apply for funding to evaluate its use, is this eligible?
A: As described above, Hub projects are required to produce publishable new knowledge in engineering and physical sciences (including computer science). It may be difficult for a purely evaluation project to achieve these outputs, however if the evaluation methodology involves novelty and rigour (e.g. could be publishable in, say, a HCI venue) then this may be possible.
Q: We are a company and wish to apply to the Hub for funding to achieve regulatory approval of our product. We are happy to work with a lead university but is this work suitable for funding?
A: As described above, Hub projects are required to produce publishable new knowledge in engineering and physical sciences (including computer science). It will be difficult for a commercialization project to achieve that, since the knowledge generated is likely to be proprietary rather than publishable. However, regulation is itself a research field, and some of the challenges around the regulatory approval of new technology (such as AI) could indeed create publishable insights – it is up to the proposal to explain that potential.
Q: Can NHS cost overheads?
A: Yes, NHS can claim estates and overheads using dispensation rates. If the NHS Trust does not have agreed rates for Estates and Indirect Costs, the dispensation rates should be used; these are published periodically on the UKRI Funding Assurance Programme webpage. These can only be claimed for the research component of the proposal.
Q: I need to find a collaborator, can the Hub help with this?
A: Yes. Please send the following information to leap-dh-hub@bristol.ac.uk:
- Your name and the organisation that you work for
- A summary of your proposal
- Details about any partners that you’ve already identified
- Information about the support/contacts you are looking for (please be as specific as possible)
We will do our best to match you with a suitable contact.
If you are interested in offering support to projects, please get in touch with details about the type expertise that you/your organisation are able to provide.
Q: Do the LEAP Researchers-in-residence need to be costed?
A: No but the Hub can provide the in-kind cost for negotiating match funding. Other non-staff costs associated with the work that you want the researchers-in-residence team to do should be included in the main staff costing and justified.
If you are interested in offering support to projects, please get in touch with details about the type expertise that you/your organisation are able to provide.
Q: Can equipment be included in costing?
A: Equipment can be included up to £10k.
Q: Who need to write letters of support?
A: Outside of the letters from the Lead Academic and Lead Institution, it will be up to project teams to consider what they want to demonstrate with the letters of support submitted to the panel and peer reviewers. They could be used to evidence need, to demonstrate financial backing, or indicate endorsement from senior members of an organisation (or a combination of the above). The letter of support could come from a project team member/academic if you felt that strongly demonstrated the organisation’s support of the proposal.
Q: Do other collaborators need to write letters of support (e.g. university partners, subcontractors)?
A: Yes, it is a good idea to include letters of support if you want to demonstrate need or if there’s a significant contribution.
Q: Can international partners or partners outside of the region be involved in the project?
A: This is possible but preferably partners from Wales and/or the South West of England need to be involved as well. Some research can be conducted overseas or outside the region but you will need to demonstrate how the project will link back to Wales and South West England and what benefit the project will bring to the region. This will need to be clearly communicated in the application.
Q: Can PhD students be funded?
A: The funding can’t cover stipends but can cover casual work with agreement from the CDT director.