Guidance for applicants seeking awards made by the Chief Scientist Office of the
Scottish Government Health and Social Directorates.
The Guidance has the following sections: 1) Background
2) Financial Support
3) Completing the Application Form
4) Making an Application
5) Assessment of Applications all of which should be read thoroughly by all potential applicants to ensure that the form is completed correctly.
1. BACKGROUND
The Postdoctoral Fellowships in Health Services and Health of the Public Research are part of CSO’s portfolio of capacity building initiatives. These awards are intended for individuals who are postdoctoral but as yet do not have sufficient experience as independent researchers to build and lead their own research team. Applicants must show evidence of a clear commitment to a research career and success in the form of outputs from previous research. The awards are tenable in Health Services Research, Health Economics, Public
Health, Health Technology Assessment, Health Psychology etc but are not available for laboratory based research. The research undertaken via the Fellowship should have a translational focus (see the CSO Strategy Investing in Research|Improving Health , Aim 1)
Eligibility
Applications are welcome from individuals working in any scientific discipline and sector that can demonstrate a role and contribution to improving the health or health care of the population, or from researchers who have significant experience but are wishing to move into the area of Health Services and Health of the Public Research. Applicants would be expected to have no more than 5 years post-doctoral research experience at the time of applying. Exceptionally applicants with no post-doctoral experience may be considered if, for example, they are changing field from their PhD research, however an award at this stage would have to be strongly justified. Please note that applications from individuals with a Professional Doctorate rather than a PhD will be accepted however such applicants will have to provide a particularly strong case as to why they should be offered support.
Duration
The Postdoctoral Fellowships are available for up to 3 years full time (or part time pro-rata) and it is expected that they will commence within 6 months of any offer of award. If an applicant’s full-time salary at time of application exceeds the salary limit it is possible to undertake the Fellowship on part-time basis to come within the limit, but in these cases the award will must not extend beyond 3 years.
Keywords
1 primary and up to 5 secondary keywords must be provided. The CSO Keywords List can be found on the CSO website. The primary keyword should identify the area within which the proposed research falls. If it does not fall within any of these areas then please insert N/A.

2. FINANCIAL SUPPORT
Funding will normally cover:
a) Reimbursement of the basic salary of the award holder, with increments, based on an appropriate point for the individual on the relevant pay scale up a maximum of
£38,000 .
Employer’s superannuation and national insurance contributions will also be paid. Requests for salaries should be based on actual costs at the time of application; increases for inflation should not be included. Salary requests should take account of expected increments in future years.
The salary requested for the award holder should be at the level appropriate to the research experience and responsibilities of the individual and must be in accordance with the salary scales and terms and conditions of service applying at the employing institution. b) Research costs up to
£15,000 - those are the costs required for the research to be undertaken eg fieldwork, research related travel, software licences etc and these should be detailed individua lly. Equipment costing less than £1,000 may be funded under this heading however funding will not be provided for a computer, as there is the expectation that such equipment will be available in the grantholding institution. Only in very exceptional circumstances a lap-top may be funded if this is absolutely necessary for data collection in the field and is fully justified. Any NHS
Service Support Costs* will also need to be estimated separately and stated within the application. c) Research training costs and associated travel up to £1500. Costs for attending conferences should not be applied for under this heading as these should be applied for by successful Fellows and will be considered on a case-by-case basis d) Where the grantholder is a Higher Education Institution an overhead of 25% will be paid on the costs incurred under a)
* NHSScotland support costs (if any) should be clearly indicated, and the application form will then require the signature of the appropriate NHS R&D Lead Officer to indicate that he/she is aware of the potential for support costs. These are the additional patient care costs that can be attributed to particular R&D activities which end when the particular R&D activity finishes – see http://www.cso.scot.nhs.uk/nrs/nrs-funding-2/attributing-costs-forresearch-and-development/ for details. Such costs are covered by NHS Research
Scotland (NRS) funding awarded separately to the NHS Organisation.

3. COMPLETING THE APPLICATION FORM
Font Size and Format
Your application should be typed throughout, using Verdana 10 point Any applications which contain typewritten material smaller than this will be returned to you unprocessed.
Please bear in mind that some cases boxes will expand to fit the text, however you must stay within any specified word or page limits. It is essential that you check your application very carefully before submitting it to us to make sure that all text you have entered is visible on the printed version.
Research History (Section 5) a. Applicants for a Postdoctoral award must have been awarded a doctorate at the time of making an application.
Please give details of the higher degree(s) you have completed.
Briefly describe the research undertaken and, if applicable, its impact on health services or policy. b. Post-doctoral research experience Briefly describe the research you have undertaken at postdoctoral level and its impact. Please include a statement which indicates your exact role in the research effort. c. Publications - List any publications on which you are a named contributor or author using
Vancouver format. It is not necessarily expected that applicants will have extensive publications at this stage in their career. Mark with an asterisk the publication you consider to be your best. d.
Grants Obtained - Details of all grants obtained, including personal research training awards. Please indicate clearly any co-applicants and provide brief details of the nature and full extent of your involvement (e.g. project design, project management, day to day running, data collection, data analysis, writing papers for publication, etc.) e. Additional Information - You may include other research training and/or experience to date. For example - if you have a Master’s degree, give details of the training completed, e.g. topics covered, whether a dissertation was completed and, if so, the topic and methods used.
Research Proposal (Section 6c)
This should be separated into the following sections and sections i to vii must not exceed 4 pages. Please include all sections and use subheadings as appropriate. i ii iii iv v vi vii
Introduction (citing key references (see vii))
Results of any pilot studies
Aims
Research questions
Plan, methods
Timetable
Relevance/benefit of the research to the NHS/patients/public health* viii Key references
* Relevance/benefit to the NHS/patients/public health will be a key criterion in appraising proposals. Issues to be considered when determining relevance include whether the findings would lead to better health, better services or better value for money; whether there is currently genuine uncertainty about best practice; and whether findings are generalisable

and transferable outside the setting in which the research is carried out. The translational aspect of the research into practice will also be considered.
Training (Section 7)
The training proposed must be training in research methods but does not have to lead to a formal qualification. You should justify the training in terms of both your proposed project and your wider training needs in developing as a Principle Investigator.
Mentor (Section 9)
Details for your mentor must be given including contact details, current and past research experience (please note that this should focus on research skills not grants held), number of students currently being supervised/mentored and number supervised to completion. The relevance of your mentor to the Fellowship and how they will support you should be stated.
Completing the Form
You are required to provide all the necessary information within the space provided. All questions should be completed or marked "not applicable".
Applications should be signed by the appropriate administrative officials of the proposed institutions to confirm that all of the financial details shown on the application form, including the salaries, are correct.
All fellowship applications should be signed by the appropriate administrative authority (e.g. the institution's finance officer) and the Head of Department of the prospective host institution. In signing the officials are indicating their formal approval of the application, their willingness to offer an appointment to the individual (if successful) for the tenure of the award subject to their normal employment practices, their approval of the salaries sought, and the acceptance of the terms and conditions associated with a Postdoctoral Fellowship.
Declarations (Personal Data)
All personal and other data on applications, whether funded or not, will be stored on the
CSO Applicant monitoring database. As well as aiding the internal processing of applications the funders may make public in any form summary information about the application and any subsequent award including the title and abstract of research as it sees fit. By signing the Declarations applicants are confirming that CSO may hold and process, by computer or otherwise, all personal information supplied with the application.

4. MAKING AN APPLICATION
Annex A - R&D Project Details Proforma
Please complete in full.
Annex B – Nominated Reviewers
Please give the details of three researchers of national or international standing, not personally known to you, whom you consider able to offer unbiased peer review comments on your application. These must not be people with whom you currently work, or have worked closely with in the past (e.g. previous supervisors, Heads of Department). CSO makes no commitment to include these nominations when selecting reviewers if they are considered unsuitable.
Annex C – Equal Opportunities Monitoring
A form should be completed by the applicant and mentor. These will be separated from the rest of the application and used only for monitoring purposes.
Procedure for Application
Applications which do not comply with the guidance will not be accepted.
The signed original and (8) copies of completed applications should be sent to the following address by no later than Friday 4th April 2014.
Mrs Karen Ford, Administrator
Chief Scientist Office
Room GE.14
St Andrew’s House, Regent Road
EDINBURGH, EH1 3DG
A copy should also be emailed to Karen.Ford@scotland.gsi.gov.uk
. Please note that
Annexes B and C should not be included in the electronic form. Late applications will not be considered and extensions will not be granted in any circumstances therefore you must ensure you allow sufficient time to obtain all of the relevant signatures to meet the deadline.

5. ASSESSMENT OF APPLICATIONS
All applications are assessed by a process of peer review, whereby experts from the research and user communities assess the quality of the proposed training and environment; the potential of the applicant; and the scientific excellence of the proposal. Comments from the expert referees assist the Panel in reaching a decision.
Short-listed candidates will be invited to interview. Interviews will take place at St Andrews
House, Edinburgh
– the date (likely to be late June/early July) will be notified when your application is acknowledged.
Outcome of the Assessment
Applicants will be informed as soon as a final decision has been taken on their application.
Candidates who are interviewed will usually be notified of the decision as soon as possible after funding arrangements have been confirmed. The decision of the Panel is final and no appeals are allowed.
Re-application
Applicants who are unsuccessful may re-apply once. If you re-apply a covering letter stating how the previous proposal has been modified must be enclosed with the new application.
The selection panel will use the following assessment criteria when reviewing your application:
The Applicant
The Panel will look for evidence of commitment to a research career and a recognition of training requirements. Supporting evidence will include productivity, e.g. any publications, evidence of research outputs and increased research skills since the award of their doctorate. The Panel will also look for evidence that the applicant will be able to take on the role of Principal Investigator on completion of the Fellowship and has the potential become a
UK leader in their field.
The Project
The Panel will seek to judge the scientific merit of the research taking into account its originality and importance and judging the extent to which it will increase knowledge relevant to improving health and/or the potential for translation into practice. The introduction should detail the existing evidence base in the field. The methodology will require to be convincing and appropriate. The panel will also consider feasibility.
Value for money
The panel will consider the appropriateness of resources claimed and whether the total funding requested represents good value for the use of public funds