Collaborative funding partnership calls for applications that address palliative and end of life care

Marie Curie is launching its largest-ever call for research in partnership with the Scottish Government Chief Scientist Office (CSO) and the Motor Neurone Disease Association (MND Association), totalling £1,425,000.

In addition to the £1million funding pot from Marie Curie, the CSO will contribute £225,000 of funding and MND Association will contribute up to £200,000.

The partnership is calling for applications that address research priorities identified in the Palliative and end of life care Priority Setting Partnership (PeolcPSP), which asked carers, health and social care professionals, and people with terminal illnesses to identify what they thought were the most pressing areas of focus for palliative and end of life care research.

Dr Sabine Best, Head of Research at Marie Curie said:

Our call for research is particularly exciting this year. Not only have we committed to looking at the research questions identified by carers, practitioners and people with terminal illnesses in the PeolcPSP but we have two new funding partners, which will broaden the scope of our research and ultimately result in better care for more people living with a terminal illness.

Both the CSO and MND Association were instrumental in the PeolcPSP and their enthusiasm has been reflected in this partnership. The next round of proposals will no doubt come from a wider set of research institutions than ever before, thanks to their contributions.

Dr Alan McNair, Senior Research Manager at CSO said:

The Chief Scientist Office is delighted to be a partner in this exciting collaborative funding call. Research into palliative and end of life care is essential in order to develop the best care models for those with a terminal illness, their carers and families. We are confident that research funded through this call will allow some of the unanswered questions in palliative and end of life care to be addressed.

Dr Belinda Cupid, Head of Research for the MND Association said:

This is the first time that we have made such a specific call for research to improve palliative and end of life care for people living with MND. We’re keen to encourage the development of research programmes in this important but often neglected area.

There was a fantastic response from the MND community to the priority setting exercise that finished in January this year. It’s vital that through this call for research we find answers to issues of greatest priority and relevance to people with MND. We’re delighted to continue our successful partnership with Marie Curie.  

Funds from MND Association will be matched by Marie Curie and to be eligible for this part of the fund (total fund of up to £400,000) proposals must show relevance to people living with MND and draw on the associated priorities from the PeolcPSP.

Funds from the CSO will also be matched by Marie Curie (total fund of up to £450,000) and must be led by a principal investigator who is based in Scotland. Applicants to this fund must submit proposals that are based on any of the PeolcPSP themes.

The remaining £575,000 of the fund, provided by Marie Curie, will be awarded to proposals that focus on any one, or combination of, the 83 priorities identified by the PeolcPSP.

Applications are welcome from scientists, clinicians or healthcare workers in UK universities, medical schools, hospitals and some research institutions.

The deadline for submitting outline applications is 14 January 2016 and the application form and guidance for applicants can be found on the Marie Curie website. Following initial peer review, full applications will be invited in April 2016. Funding decisions with committee feedback will be available in autumn 2016.