National Public Health Research Calls and Programmes in 2010

PHIRE – Public Health Innovation & Research in Europe

REPORT

National Public Health Research Calls and Programmes in 2010

WP5 Demonstrating national innovation and research

September 2012

EUPHA

European Public Health Association

P.O. Box 1568

3500 BN Utrecht

The Netherlands

This report has been compiled by Work Package 5 partners:

Cláudia Conceição –School of Health Sciences, University of Minho, Portugal;

Marvic Sammut – Ministry of Health, the Elderly and Community Care, Malta (MHEC);

Amanda Saliba – Ministry of Health, the Elderly and Community Care, Malta (MHEC);

Zuzana Katreniakova – Slovak Public Health Association (SAVEZ);

Olivier Grimaud – French School of Public Health (EHESP);

Laura Narkauskaitė – Lithuanian Institute of Hygiene (LIH);

And

Floris Barnhoorn – European Public Health Association (EUPHA)

Mark McCarthy – Faculty of Public Health (UKFPH)

This publication arises from the project ‘PHIRE - Public Health Innovation and Research in Europe’,

Agreement Number 2009 12 14, which has received funding from the European Union, in the framework of the Health Programme.

PHIRE is implemented from 1 September 2010 until 28 February 2013.

The project is coordinated by the European Public Health Association (EUPHA). Associated partners are School of Public Health (EHESP), France; Faculty of Public Health (FPH), United

Kingdom; Institute of Hygiene (LIH), Lithuania; Karolinska Institute, Sweden; Ministry of Health, the Elderly and Community Care (MHEC), Malta; Netherlands Institute for Health Services Research

(NIVEL), the Netherlands; Slovak Public Health Association (SAVEZ), Slovakia.

2

Contents

INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................. 5

PHIRE, Public Health Innovation and Research in Europe ........................................................ 5

Work package 5, Demonstrating national innovation and research ........................................ 5

MATERIAL AND METHODS ............................................................................................................ 7

RESULTS ....................................................................................................................................... 13

Thematic areas of public health research (research fields) which were financed through national programmes and calls in 2010 .................................................................................. 15

Establishing contacts and collaboration with National Public Health Associations ................ 19

DISCUSSION ................................................................................................................................. 20

CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................... 22

Appendix 1 - Distribution of the countries by partners .............................................................. 53

Appendix 2 - 1 st phase WP5 letter sent by email to National Public Health Associations’contacts or other national contacts ........................................................................................................... 54

Appendix 3 - Form ....................................................................................................................... 56

Appendix 4 - Email and letter from EUPHA office and president about PHIRE 1 st phase WP5 .. 61

Appendix 5 - Letter from EUPHA president to National Public Health Associations .................. 62

Appendix 6 - PHIRE summary sent to National Public Health Associations ................................ 64

Appendix 7 – Second email from EUPHA office and president to National Public Health

Associations ................................................................................................................................. 65

Appendix 8 – Second letter from EUPHA president to National Public Health Associations ..... 66

Appendix 9 - Form with answers ................................................................................................. 67

Appendix 11 - PHIRE Supplemental Information – Ireland ......................................................... 71

3

List of Boxes

Box 1 - Summary of activities carried by PHIRE management committee and WP5 coordination to design and conduct the 1st phase WP5.

Box 2 – Definition of Public Health Research sent as reference.

List of tables

Table 1 - WP5 first phase, summary of contacts between regional coordinators and National

Public Health Associations and Country informants and type of organization from final respondent.

Table 2 - Countries with or without calls or programmes on public health research opened in

2010.

Table 3 - Number of calls included by country.

Table 4 - Number of calls or programmes by areas of research.

Table 5 - Number of calls or programmes by main areas of research financed in 2010, total and without France and the United Kingdom.

Table 6 - Open calls or programmes in public health research opened in 2010, by country, code of call, commissioning agency and objectives

Table 7 - Calls or programmes in methods in public health research opened in 2010, by country, code of call, commissioning agency and objectives.

Table 8 - Calls or programmes on cancer (Public health research / Disease control / Noncommunicable chronic diseases) opened in 2010, by country, code of call, commissioning agency and objectives.

Table 9 - Calls or programmes on mental health (Public health research / Disease control /

Non-communicable chronic diseases) opened in 2010, by country, code of call, commissioning agency and objectives.

Table 10 - Calls or programmes on non-specified and other non-communicable chronic diseases (Public health research / Disease control / Non-communicable chronic diseases) opened in 2010, by country, code of call, commissioning agency and objectives

Table 11 - Calls or programmes on other or non-specified diseases (Public health research /

Disease control) opened in 2010, by country, code of call, commissioning agency and objectives.

Table 12 - Calls or programmes on communicable Disease (Public health research / Disease control) opened in 2010, by country, code of call, commissioning agency and objectives.

Table 13 - Calls or programmes on environmental and occupational health (Public health research / Health promotion) opened in 2010, by country, code of call, commissioning agency and objectives (to be continued).

Table 14 - Calls or programmes on Health promotion, in general (Public health research /

Health promotion) opened in 2010, by country, code of call, commissioning agency and objectives (to be continued).

Table 15 - Calls or programmes on health services, statistics, information, screening, organization (Public health research / Health services) opened in 2010, by country, code of call, commissioning agency and objectives (to be continued).

Table 16 - Calls or programmes on other health services (Public health research / Health services) opened in 2010, by country, code of call, commissioning agency and objectives.

Table 17 - Call or program on youth (Public health research / Target groups) opened in 2010, by country, code of call, commissioning agency and objectives.

Table 18 - Call or program on ageing (Public health research / Target groups) opened in 2010, by country, code of call, commissioning agency and objectives.

Table 19 – Additional information provided by countries, summary.

Table 20 - Additional information provided by countries.

4

INTRODUCTION

PHIRE, Public Health Innovation and Research in Europe

PHIRE (Public Health Innovation and Research in Europe) is a collaborative action between

EUPHA members and its general objective is to contribute to the improvement of public health knowledge and practice across the European Union by assessing the impact and uptake of the first Public Health Programme (PHP) and structuring information on public health research.

PHIRE seeks to explore uptake of knowledge from public health actions funded under the first

PHP at national level across Europe; develop a resource base bringing together national public health research at European level; assess the impact of the public health programme and propose recommendations for improved effectiveness of current and future health programmes.

During 2011, PHIRE activities were mainly developed by two work packages 4 and 5. The specific objectives for WP4 were to identify and characterize eight ‘tracer projects’ developed within the first Public Health Programme (PHP). The projects were selected in relation to their applicability across European countries and for their innovative character. The aim was to assess dissemination and uptake of the results across the 30 European Economic Area (EEA) countries to determine national and regional impact on public health actions. The work was undertaken in close cooperation with the EUPHA Section leads 1 . An independent report will be produced.

Work package 5, Demonstrating national innovation and research

The Work package 5 was designed, through collaboration of EUPHA's member national associations, to present national and comparative data on public health research and innovation across Europe.

1 Seven EUPHA Sections decided to take part in PHIRE: Public health epidemiology, Food and nutrition,

Urban public health, Public mental health, Environment related diseases, Injury prevention & safety promotion, and Chronic diseases.

5

It was led by a Work Package Coordinator together with four PHIRE partners. Each of these four PHIRE partners worked with 7-8 national associations in geographical sectors of Europe

(Appendix 1).

Two sets of data were gained from National Public Health Associations: i) In the first year, information describing national public health research calls and programmes was collected; ii) In the second year, national summary reports were compiled based on public health innovation and research drawn from the investigations by the 7 EUPHA section informants (obtained during 2011, with WP4).

This report concerns the first year of the project (2011). The specific objectives of this 1st phase of WP5 were:



To describe thematic areas of public health research (research fields) which are currently being financed through national programmes and calls;



Establish contacts and collaboration with National Public Health Associations.

6

MATERIAL AND METHODS

To fulfil the objectives, a set of activities and tools were developed. Box 1 lists the main meetings during which the study was designed and implementation was followed up.

Box 1 - Summary of activities carried by PHIRE management committee and WP5 coordination to design and conduct the 1 st phase WP5



Management committee meeting, Utrecht 30 September and 1 st October 2010



Work Package 5 Coordination Meeting on the 11th Nov 2010 in Amsterdam, during

EUPHA annual conference



Telephone conference 31st January 2011, from Paris with summary of main resolutions)



Work Package 5 Coordination Meeting on the 3rd May 2011 in Brussels



Participation on the meeting of WP 4 section leads (Cláudia Conceição, Denmark, 4th June

2011)



Management Committee Meeting, Utrecht 22 September and 23 September 2011

The main instrument developed to collect information on public health research programmes and calls was a form. The form drew on lessons learned with the preparation of country profiles in STEPS’ (Strengthening Engagement in public health research, www.steps-ph.eu

).

According to limitations of time and the knowledge of the variability on the amount of calls on public health research, it was decided that the survey would be limited to programmes and calls on public health research opened during 2010.

A first version of the form was piloted during December in each of the countries of the regional coordinators (France, Lithuania, Malta and Slovakia). The final version was ready after the telephone conference in January 2011.

The form was to be completed for each call or programme on public health research identified in the country. The definition of public health research, to be used as reference by the National

Public Health Association is shown in Box 2 and Appendix 2.

7

Box 2 – Definition of public health research sent as reference

Definition of public health research used on SPHERE*

Public-health research operates at a complex level between scientists, individuals and society.

And the issues that public-health research addresses – how to improve the health of the population, and how to ensure the effective and efficient organisation of health care – are of direct concern to governments themselves. For SPHERE, the following definition of public health research, which gave a broad meaning, was used:

"Public-health research refers to the organized quest for new knowledge to protect, promote and improve people's health. It:

• is undertaken at population or health services level, in contrast to laboratory

(cellular) or clinical (individual) health research;

• differs from public-health practice (which also uses scientific methods), as it is designed to obtain generalizable knowledge rather than to address specific programmes for service delivery;

• is usually goal-oriented, addressing questions of policy relevance, and may be published in either academic journals or reports; and

• uses a range of observational methods, including surveys, registers, data sets, case studies and statistical modelling, and draws on disciplines including epidemiology, sociology, psychology and economics, and interdisciplinary fields of environmental health, health promotion, disease prevention, health-care management, healthservices research and health-systems research."

(BMC Public Health 2009, 9:203 doi:10.1186/1471-2458-9-203)

* SPHERE, Strengthening Public Health Research in Europe, http://www.ucl.ac.uk/publichealth/sphere

The form (Appendix 3) covered four main areas:

A - Identification of the funding thematic program or call for research projects;

B - Description of the program/call;

C - Funding and duration of the program/call;

D - Eligibility criteria and other conditions to obtain funding.

8

The strategy to launch the first phase WP5 was as follow:



A first email was sent to EUPHA Governing Council members from EUPHA office on the first February 2011 (Appendix 4). This email asked each National Public Health

Association to designate a responsible person to collaborate with PHIRE. It included: o a letter from EUPHA President regarding PHIRE (PHIRE had already been presented at the annual Governing Council meeting in November 2010). The

EUPHA President also introduced the Regional coordinators who would send the forms and asked for collaboration from the National Public Health

Associations (Appendix 5); o a summary on PHIRE (Appendix 6)



Emails and phone calls from regional coordinators followed until November 2011

(Table 1 )



Second email to EUPHA members from EUPHA office on the 14 April 2011 (Appendix 7) with the following attachments: o Second letter from EUPHA President acknowledging contributions received and again reminding National Public Health Associations about PHIRE

(Appendix 8); o Summary on PHIRE (Appendix 6)

The strategies to obtain collaboration from National Public Health Associations were further discussed in May (Box 1). The general strategy followed by regional coordinators included the following steps:



Address initial email to National Public Health Associations’contact given by EUPHA office;



Offer to contact by telephone (ask for a time, date and number to establish the contact);



Ask the National Public Health Associations first contact to suggest another person to be contacted if the first contact was unable to provide information (to use even if the contact does not belong to the National Public Health Associations);





Offer assistance in organizing the information and fulfilling the forms

If no answer, use other contacts of the same National Public Health Associations (to be asked for from EUPHA office);



If still no answer, use contacts outside National Public Health Associations.

9

Contacts made and final respondents are presented on Table 1. A total of more than 242 emails were sent and 60 phone calls were made. The results were received until the end of

November 2011.

Germany

Greece

Hungary

Iceland

Ireland

Italy

Latvia

Lithuania

Luxembourg

Malta

Netherlands

Norway

Poland

Portugal

Romania

Slovakia

Slovenia

Table 1 - WP5 first phase, summary of contacts between regional coordinators and National

Public Health Associations and Country informants and type of organization from final

Country

Austria

Belgium

Bulgaria

Cyprus

Czech

Republic

Denmark

Estonia

Finland

France

NPHA

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y(2)

N

Date first contact

9 Feb 11 of

9 Feb 11 2

10 Feb 11 1

9 Feb 11 -

11 Feb 11 5

9 Feb 11

9 Feb 11

4

4

9 Feb 11 4

10 Feb 11 - respondent

E - mails

Number of phone calls

4

Sent

11

10

10

5

11

6

13

6

1

Received

5

1

2

1

1

10

6

5

3

Date of reception of answers

Organization of final respondent

/key

- informants

-

28 Apr 11 NPHA

22 Jun 11 NPHA

29 Apr 11 University

- -

8 Sep 11

-

WP5

-

7 Jun 11 NPHA

18 May 11 NPHA + WP5

Y

Y

Y

N

Y

Y

Y

N

Y

Y

Y

Y (3)

N

Y(2)

Y

Y

Y

10 Feb 11 1

11 Feb 11 3

9 Feb 11

2 Apr 11

6

1

23 Feb 11 -

11 Feb 11 -

9 Feb 11

9 Feb 11

3

-

20 May 11 -

11 Feb 11 -

2 Apr 11

9 Feb 11

1

1

9 Feb 11 4

11 Feb 11 7

9 Feb 11 -

9 Feb 11

9 Feb 11

-

3

7

2

3

2

1

4

6

1

4

3

-

5

1

-

3

1

2

10

1

9

8

14

11

6

2

6

7

4

14

6

6

6

1

10

9 Sep 11 NPHA + WP5

22 Apr 11 MoH

-

1 Nov 11

-

NPHA + WP5

14 Mar 11 MoH + HRA

26 May 11 NPHA

19 Jul 11 NPHA

15 Apr 11 WP5

-

19 Jan 11

-

NPHA

Nov 11 HRA

17 Aug. 11 NPHA + WP5

6 Oct 11

15 Jul 11

26 Jul 11

NPHA + WP5

NPHA

NPHA

5 Apr 11 NPHA

30 Oct 11 NPHA

Spain

Sweden

Switzerland

United

Kingdom

TOTAL

Y

Y

Y

Y(2)

11 Feb 11 5

9 Feb 11 -

10 Feb 11 1

2 Apr 11 -

23

8

12

5

10

6

4

4

27 Jul 11 HRA

10 May 11 NPHA

19 Sep 11 NPHA + WP5

19 Aug 11 NPHA

60 242 103

Notes: NPHA – National Public Health Association; Y – yes; N – no; (number of NPHA when more than one); MoH - Ministry of Health; WP5 – work package 5; HRA - Health research agency

10

Definition of calls and programmes to include

The WP partners sent a definition of Public Health Research (Box 2 and Appendix 2) to National

Public Health Associations or country key informants (Cyprus, Greece, Ireland, and

Luxembourg). The submitted material was sometimes discussed with respondents and also moderated by the work package or project coordinators. A further revision for internal consistency was performed during the preparation of this report, and at this stage the decisions were taken by consensus or majority of authors.

Classification of themes

To organise thematic areas financed through competitive financing (programmes and calls) some classifications were explored 2 but none matched the needs of this project.

A new typology was therefore developed by the WP partners. An initial proposal was applied to the existing reported calls and programmes. It was revised twice, and a final classification was agreed.

Some general rules guided the process of thematic organization of the calls /programmes:

 the main objective was not to create a taxonomy on public health research but to classify the calls collected;

 all the items included on the classification created had, at least, one call. This means that even if a category would be logical, if no call existed, it wouldn’t be included;

2 UK Clinical Research Collaboration. Health Research Classification System. January 2009 http://www.hrcsonline.net/sites/default/files/HRCS_Document.pdf

, last accessed April 2012;

RICHE (Research into Child Health in Europe) Taxonomies of Child Health Research. Draft Discussion

Document – Version 1 - 6 April 2010. Available at: http://www.childhealthresearch.eu/aboutus/inventory-of-research/taxonomy-discussion-paper/view, last assessed in September 2011;

Bauer G, Davies JK, Pelikan J on behalf of the Euhpid Theory Working Group and The Euhpid Consortium.

The EUHPID Health Development Model for the classification of public health indicators. Health Promot.

Int. (2006) 21 (2): 153-159. doi: 10.1093/heapro/dak002;

Jorm L., Gruszin S., Churches T. A multidimensional classification of public health activity in Australia. http://www.anzhealthpolicy.com/content/pdf/1743-8462-6-9.pdf

;

Public Health Classifications Project. http://www.nphp.gov.au/workprog/phi/index.htm

;

Public Health Classifications Project - Phase One: Final Report . Report to the National Public Health

Partnership. December 2005. http://www.publichealth.gov.au/pdf/reports_papers/technical%20papers/ph_classifications_report_ph ase01.pdf

;

Public Health Classifications Project – Determinants of Health. Phase Two: Final Report. NSW

Department of Health. December 2010. http://www.health.nsw.gov.au/pubs/2010/pdf/public_health_classifications_project.pdf

;

McCarthy M, Harvey G, Conceição C, La Torre G, Gulis G. Comparing public health research priorities in

Europe.Health Research Policy and Systems 2009, 7:17.

11

 as a call might include many aspects, a main “entry point” of that research should be chosen and then classified accordingly. This means that a call/program is included in only one category.

The classification process took place by email, where reasons for disagreement on others

‘classifications was offered and positions changed. During the Management committee that took place in June 2012 and during revision of earlier versions of this report, further revisions of the classification were made.

12

RESULTS

Of the 30 countries included, we obtained answers from 25, and of these 16 had at least one calls or program on public health research announced in 2010 whilst nine did not find information on calls or programmes opened in the same period (Table 2).

Table 2 - Countries with or without calls or programmes on public health research opened in

2010.

No calls on public health research announced in 2010

Calls on public health research announced in 2010

Bulgaria

Cyprus

Greece

Latvia

Malta

Poland

Portugal

Slovakia

Slovenia

Belgium

Denmark

Finland

France

Germany

Iceland

Ireland

Italy

Lithuania

Netherlands

Norway

Romania

Spain

Sweden

Switzerland

United Kingdom

Note: No answers received from: Austria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary and Luxembourg.

The number of calls or programmes on public health research opened in 2010 and financed by the main national commissioners is shown in Table 3. While the median value is two calls or programmes per country, France and United Kingdom described 41 calls, more than 50% of the total.

13

Table 3 - Number of calls included by country

Country

Belgium

Denmark

Finland

France

Germany

Iceland

Ireland

Italy

Lithuania

Netherlands

Norway

Romania

Spain

Sweden

Switzerland

United Kingdom

Total

3

1

1

2

1

1

2

6

Number of forms/calls

3

5

2

27

5

1

1

14

75

We have previously worked with country respondents, using phone calls and emails to build knowledge on public health research systems 3 , and recognise that the final information obtained may not be complete. Only France had an organized database to record calls or programmes on public health research across a full range of commissioning organisations. The data are collected by IReSP (French Institute for Public Health Research) within the national medical research institute (INSERM) and distributed with the collaboration of the French

Society of Public Health.

Aspects of bias that may be present in these results are:

1. Reporting. The extent of informants’ knowledge of, and engagement in, systems of public health research differ in European countries to an unknown degree.

2. Country systems. Larger countries tend to organise research calls separately, while smaller countries may make a single overall call for research. For a smaller country, the opportunity (in principle) for public health research may exist within a broader call.

3 STEPS report: Public Health Research –Europe’s Future, available at http://www.steps-ph.eu/wpcontent/uploads/STEPS_Report.pdf

; Country ‘profiles: http://www.steps-ph.eu/country-researchprofiles/ ; Conceição C, McCarthy M. Public health research systems in the European Union. Health

Research Policy and Systems 2011, 9:38.

14

3. In some countries, research is supported through the traditional method of institutional grants (negotiated directly between institution and government department), rather than through the competitive calls and programmes recorded by this WP.

4. Only one year was chosen, and in some countries calls for research are not made every year.

Moreover, 2010 was a particularly difficult budget year.

Thematic areas of public health research (research fields) which were financed through national programmes and calls in 2010

Tables 4 and 5 summarise the number of calls/ programmes in each thematic area in total and without France and United Kingdom. Tables 6-18 (page xx) information obtained on commissioning agency and objectives of calls and programmes.

Table 4 - Number of calls or programmes by areas of research.

Number of

Open calls / All public health

Thematic areas of public health research

Disease control

calls/programmes

11

Number of

calls/programmes

7

3

Health promotion

Health services

Methods

Target groups

Noncommunicable chronic diseases

Cancer

Mental health

Non-specified and other non-communicable chronic diseases

Other or non-specified diseases

Communicable Disease

Environmental, occupational

Health promotion (general)

Health services, statistics, information, screening, organization

Other

Epidemiology, social sciences, other

Youth

Ageing

8

2

4

1

1

3

4

11

8

12

15

Table 5 - Number of calls or programmes by main areas of research financed in 2010, total and without France and the United Kingdom.

Total

Number of calls/programmes

11

% of calls/ programmes

15

Without France and United

Kingdom

Number of calls/programmes

6

% of calls/ programmes

18 Open calls / All public health

Thematic areas of public health research

Disease control

Health promotion

Health services

Methods

(Epidemiology, social sciences, other)

Target groups (Youth,

Ageing)

Total

25

19

14

4

2

64

75

33

25

19

5

3

85

100

10

9

7

2

0

28

34

29

26

21

6

0

82

100

Many countries have open calls on “health” research (Table 19). However we were looking for specific programmes for Public Health Research areas. Some countries do also have open calls on public health research (details on these calls on Tables 6-18). The countries where we could find these generic calls on public health research in 2010 were: France, Ireland, Lithuania,

Norway, Spain, Sweden, and United Kingdom.

The area with the most calls or programmes was “Disease control” (total of 25 calls with 18 on non-communicable chronic diseases) concerned with specific diseases, their prevention and health services control of the problem. The second most frequent area was “Health promotion” with research on generic determinants of health, especially environment and social. The third area with more calls was “health services”, including information systems, organization of services and effectiveness of interventions. A small group of calls was on development of methodologies of research (Belgium, France, Netherlands and United

Kingdom). Finally two calls were classified on an approach by target age group: research on ageing and on youth.

Appendix 9 provides complementary information provided in forms. In general, calls did not have target groups in terms of age group or sex. Also calls or programmes were not specifically directed to disciplines as epidemiology, economics or biostatistics.

The total amount available for each program or call was from a minimum of € 135.000 (one of the calls from Belgium) to a maximum of € 101 million (Italy). The maximum funding available

16

for each project was from € 3.000 (Iceland) to € 21 million (one of the calls from Sweden).

However this could be assigned to projects from 10 months (one of one project from France 5) until 10 years duration (one programme from France). However, in many call or programmes, this funding was available for broad research areas and the proportion of funding for public health research was not known (see content of call or programmes, Tables 6-18).

When reported for (32 calls/programmes), the nationality of the research team had to be national in 19 and could involve foreigners in 13. When further explanation was provided, the involvement of foreigners meant that: i) foreigners could be from EU countries with no further explanation (three calls, Denmark); ii) foreigners could be involved if initiative, coordination or collaboration was from a national team (three calls, France); iii) foreigners are allowed if no national expertise is available (two calls, United Kingdom); iv) international teams are allowed but only the national part will be financed by the call/ program (one call, Ireland); v) foreigners are allowed if working in the country (one call, United Kingdom).

In general the potential beneficiaries of the competitive grant were public institutions. In all cases where private institutions could apply (36) also public ones also could (50).

Tables 6-18 provides information obtained on calls or programmes on public health research opened in 2010, organized by theme of research, country, code of call, commissioning agency and objectives.

Although some countries did not open specific calls or programmes on public health research some valuable information and comments were provided. Some further information was provided on:

 calls or programmes on public health research but without the time range established for this research (2010) or without information available on dates where calls were opened;

 other mechanism for support of public health research in the country;

 calls or programmes that were not earmarked for public health research, nor included in the objectives aspects of public health research, but where PH projects could be eligible. In this group it is frequent to find broader calls on “health” or “medical sciences”.

This information is summarized on Table 20 and more detailed information is provided on

Appendix 10 and 11. In this table and appendix it is also included information on programmes

17

and calls provided by respondents but not considered (either by researchers or researchers and respondents) as calls or programmes in public health research.

Table 19 – Additional information provided by countries, summary.

Type of additional information

Country / code of call or programme

(details in Table20)

Calls or programmes on public health research

Information on public health research support but through other mechanisms than calls or programmes

Opened before or after 2010;

With no available information on date to apply for

Funding research centres

Funding Scholarship programmes (e.g. PhD Scholars in health services research);

Awards

Cyprus

Germany b)

Poland

Greece a)

Ireland

Ireland

Malta

Portugal

Calls or programmes not considered on public health research themes

Support to infrastructure development

Calls on broader area as

“health”

Other

Ireland

Romania b)

Germany a)

Italy a)

Italy b)

Latvia

Portugal.

Romania a)

Slovakia b)

Slovenia

Italy c)

Greece b)

Greece c)

Norway

Romania c)

Romania d)

Slovakia a)

Slovakia c)

18

Establishing contacts and collaboration with National Public Health

Associations

Getting involvement of the National Public Health Associations (NPHA) was a major objective for the project, along with obtaining the required information. In general, no National Public

Health Association designated a responsible person for the project. Information was gained, however, from individuals within and outside National Public Health Associations (where there was not a NPHA) that collaborated with valuable contributions, thoughts and opinions.

The strategies used to overcome the objections and difficulties have already been presented on the Methods section.

National Public Health Associations members of EUPHA regretted the lack of clear information on financial support for the research, because most of the countries do not have the information on public health research commissioners and programmes/calls well organized.

19

DISCUSSION

From the 30 countries inquired we obtained information from 25 countries. Of these 16 reported at least one call or programme on public health research announced in 2010, while nine found no call or programmes opened. The number of calls or programmes analysed was

75. There was a median of 2 calls per country while France and United Kingdom held more than 50% of total.

This first phase of PHIRE, WP5 aimed to describe thematic areas of public health research

(research fields) which are currently being financed through national programmes and calls.

Some public health research continues to be funded directly, through negotiation between commissioners (generally ministries) and providers (institutes and universities). However, research is increasingly funded in response to competitive calls. In general the potential beneficiaries of these competitive grants are public institutions. In all cases where private institutions could apply also public ones also could. In general, only national researchers working in the country are eligible to apply to these calls or programmes. However, there are examples of eligibility of foreign researchers especially if initiative is from a national team and if no national expertise is available.

Methodology issues

In the first year of PHIRE, information had been drawn together on national health and public health research systems, based upon financial flows from research commissioners to research performers. No country, except for France, had well-organized information on competitive public health research calls and programmes. Almost all the countries claimed that to obtain the information on calls opened in 2010 was not possible without a specific and significant allocation of time to that task.

Comparisons by country

The two countries with large numbers of call or programmes identified were France and UK. In

France, a national system for collecting research calls and programmes – and projects – has been operating within the national research council INSERM for 7 years (through the groundbreaking initiative of Professor Alfred Spira). This database draws on 28 funding organisations, including national, regional and local, and across public, charity and commercial funders. The

UK information derives from the national research councils, ministry of health and diseasebased charities, and shows segmentation to give specific support to public health themes. The

Netherlands and Denmark also had differentiated research programmes.

20

One of the reasons for the strength of health research in these countries is that they draw some funds from their health system. This is not the case in most other European countries.

Germany’s programmes for disease / topic groupings are funded directly by the Ministry of

Science and Education (more generic national programmes for ‘Prevention’ and ‘Patient

Research’ were closed in 2010). Spain reported only for a single national programme, funded from the Ministry of Science through the National School of Health Carlos III (although regional funding was not reported). No call or programme was reported for Poland, where the national scientific institutes are still directly funded, rather than by open calls and programmes. There were open calls for general research in 2010 for Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia, but these were not directed towards public health topics. In Cyprus and Ireland calls had been made in the previous year, while in Latvia, Malta and Portugal expected calls were not announced in

2010.

Comparisons by theme

Programmes and calls may be i) thematic, focused on a defined subject area; ii) open to any subject in the area of public health; or iii) general, such as to reinforce research capacity

(scholarships, seminars, training, grants for visiting researchers) 4 . The classification of research calls and programmes into themes had, as its main difficulty, the decision on how to allocate a call within a single theme – public health research often (and appropriately) stretches across scientific and medical fields. The choices were influenced by authors, by the information provided in the forms (original information was limited when transcribed) and by the structure of the classification scheme itself.

The groupings of public health calls and programmes made for this analysis were quite broad, reflecting the need to accommodate to different traditions in different countries, and also the broad categories typically seen grouping research papers in relevant journals (eg European

Journal of Public Health) and at conferences (eg European Public Health Conference annually).

Clinical research classically divides by diseases, while public health research is concerned with prevention and organisation of services more generally. Nevertheless, much public health research can be – and still needs to be – undertaken within ‘disease-specific’ fields. Cancer featured more prominently than heart disease, perhaps surprisingly as these both have strong public health aspects, as well as other ‘chronic diseases’. It was welcome to include ‘rare

4 Conceição C, McCarthy M. Public health research systems in the European Union. Health Research

Policy and Systems 2011, 9:38.

21

diseases’, stimulated in 2010 by the European coordinating project ERA-RARE, for which there are very significant public health research aspects. Environmental and occupation health were perhaps under-represented (WHO has coordinated a separate inventory of this field at ERA-

EnvHealth). The grouping of health services, statistics, screening and organisation was pragmatic, reflecting the interface of this field with ‘clinical’ research across health system lines. Finally, the categories for age-related research, although cutting across typical research methods and fields, are potentially relevant for wider public interest in the research agenda.

CONCLUSION

This is the first description that has been made of public health research calls or programmes across Europe. Restricted, for practical reasons, to one year (2010), and using information from 25 of 30 European countries, it has classified 75 calls and projects. While the broad topics in countries were similar, there was less coherence shown in comparison between the national programmes, and it was impossible to assess the funding for public health research compared with other medical research.

Public health actions achieve as much in improving health and lengthening life as bio-medical advances, yet public health research receives far less support than biomedical research. To maintain and develop the evidence base for public health, more investment is needed for public health research. Yet also, to maximise the benefit of this investment, European countries – their ministries of science, ministries of health, health services, industry and civil society – must work much more closely together.

Shared information is at the heart of cooperation. We present this report towards the success of combined research calls, programmes and projects in public health research for Europe.

22

Table 6 - Open calls or programmes in public health research opened in 2010, by country, code of call, commissioning agency and objectives

Open calls / All public health

Country / code

France

Commissioning agency

Institut de recherche en santé publique (IReSP) / French

Institute for Public Health

Research

Name of the program/call Overall objective of the program/call

2010 call for research projects

Public health research (mental health, prevention, new paradigms in health, general issues of IReSP: health services research, public policies and their impact on health, health determinants)

Ireland

Lithuania

Norway

Spain

Health Research Board

Research Council of Lithuania

Norwegian Research Council

Ministry of Science and

Innovation/ Institute of

Health Carlos III

Health Research Awards

(population health sciences research and health services research)

Social Challenges to

National Security

Programme for Public

Health (FOLKEHELSE)

National Plan on Research,

Development and

Innovation 2008-2011:

Strategic Agenda on Health

2010 Public Health,

Enviromental, Ocupational,

Health Service Research

Subprogramme

To fund individual researchers and research teams, who will conduct internationally competitive and innovative research, through population health sciences research and health services research that will create new knowledge and evidence of benefit to health.

To reveal the nature, content, extent and trends of the social phenomena of the threats to national security, and to develop strategic solutions and recommendations to overcome these threats.

Goals and measures for their implementation: birth studies (determinants and consequences, fertility behaviour and factors, family and household transformation factors), mortality and public health research (impacts and potential consequences).

To generate new knowledge about the factors that affect public health, the causes of social inequalities in health, and the measures that can reduce these inequalities and improve public health.

Generating knowledge for the health and welfare of citizens and for the development of the preventive, diagnostic, curative, rehabilitative techniques.

Reinforcing and increasing the competitiveness and ability in R&D&I of

Spanish National Health System and companies in this sector.

The Subprogramme aims at producing evidence for policy making decisions as well as knowledge to clinical practice.

23

Table 6 - Open calls or programmes in public health research opened in 2010, by country, code of call, commissioning agency and objectives

(continuation).

Country / code Commissioning agency Name of the program/call Overall objective of the program/call

Sweden

Sweden

(FAS) Swedish council for working life and social research.

Swedish Research Council

Public Health

Epidemiology, Public Health and Caring sciences

The Swedish Council for Working Life and Social Research funds research on living conditions, environment and social conditions, lifestyles, and the healthcare system for public health, as well on the efficiency of the healthcare system. Causes, prevalence and prevention of illness in the population are also studied, as is the distribution of illness by class, gender, ethnicity, age and education.

Supports research on how disease occurs and how our genetics interacts with the environment, childhood circumstances and other living conditions

United Kingdom

United Kingdom

United Kingdom

United Kingdom

Medical Research Council

NIHR - National Institute for health Research



Population and Systems

Medicine Board

Programme

Research programme grants applied research

Public Health Research for capability

This is the main decision board within the MRC covering population health sciences.

Calls are open for any research proposal, but the current thematic priorities include Nutrition … obesity; Ageing and lifelong health; Maternal health and the early origins of health and disease; Medical sociology; lifestyle, socioeconomic and behavioural impacts on general health and health inequalities.

Alongside the full range of ‘clinical’ (disease-based) research, Population

Health Sciences - include population-based studies into aetiology of disease, traditional epidemiology and social and behavioural medicine.

Applied health research including health services research; public health research; behavioural research; economic evaluations; and modelling.

It is a national “response mode” programme that aims to provide evidence to improve health outcomes in England through promotion of health, prevention of ill health, and optimal disease management (including safety and quality), with particular emphasis on conditions causing significant disease burden.

Evaluate public health interventions: new knowledge on the benefits, costs, acceptability and wider impacts of non-NHS interventions intended to improve the health of the public and reduce inequalities in health.

Use of national electronic records system. Most of the research studies within the pilot are non-interventional (interventional studies are known as clinical trials). 10 pilot studies were commissioned in 2010.

24

Table 7 - Calls or programmes in methods in public health research opened in 2010, by country, code of call, commissioning agency and objectives.

Methods / Epidemiology, social sciences, other

Country / code Commissioning agency

Belgium

France

Netherlands

United Kingdom

French Community – Health

Directorate

Agence Nationale de la

Recherche (ANR) / National

Research Agency

The Netherlands Organization for Health Research and

Development

Medical Research Council and



Socio-Medical Information –

Customer logistics support and

To make a technical and scientific support to the achievement of the obligations of the French Community as regards statistics relating to death causes

To develop the medical data and to support their use in the preparation and the implementation of the five-year program of promotion of health, the operational community programme of promotion of health and the declaration of Community policy

Investments for the Future:

Cohorts - Public loan

To develop, over time, a small number of cohorts for health research :

• ongoing cohorts, to ensure their durability and widen their investigation scope

• new cohorts aimed at covering public health fields that have not been deeply studied yet

Research program on the development of (research) methods or – instruments on (cost)effectiveness, implementation and issues in public administration in public health. Projects should develop instruments to be

Program Prevention &

Methodology

Methodologies

Programme

Research used in research in public health.

Priorities, instruments that can be used: 1. To prove (cost-) effectiveness in public health, especially in health promotion; 2. To prove societal benefits of prevention; 3. Implementation research; 4. Research on instruments to support analyses on the evidence of public health.

Methods development and methodological outputs that are applicable beyond a specific case-study.

The programme includes research on: methods for the design and analysis of primary descriptive and evaluative studies; and secondary reviews and evidence synthesis of descriptive and evaluative studies; methodologies in the applied disciplines underpinning research in the health science, for example; the assessment and validation of patient-reported measures of health, health outcomes and satisfaction; methods development research to support the use and evaluation of complex interventions in health research.

25

Table 8 - Calls or programmes on cancer (Public health research / Disease control / Non-communicable chronic diseases) opened in 2010, by

country, code of call, commissioning agency and objectives.

Disease control / Non-communicable chronic diseases / Cancer

Country / code

France

France

France


Research on interventions to reduce cancer related health inequalities

Ligue nationale contre le cancer / League against cancer



Institut National du Cancer

(INCA) / National Cancer

Institute

To take into account health inequalities to ensure more equity and efficiency in all measures related to the response to cancer

Call for

Research in human and social sciences proposals

Adolescents and Cancer

Research projects for improving knowledge of cancer among adolescents and young adults aged 12 to 25 (currently being treated or having been treated) and strengthening the quality of therapeutic, psychological and social care.

Determination of anthropological, socio economic, socio cultural and geographic factors that condition the conditions of living of people affected by cancer.

Stresses multidisciplinary approaches and international comparisons.

France


Cancer

Research

Epidemiology

Research projects on cancer epidemiology

France

National Cancer Institute

(INCA)

Call for projects in public health – Cancer prevention and screening policies supporting early diagnosis and prevention of cancers

To support research and actions in public health focused on:

• promotion or evaluation of actions aiming at making cancer risks prevention better for general population or specific publics

• Design, experimental implementation and evaluation of cancer early detection actions for general populations or specific audiences

To promote implementation of balanced, reproducible, pooled, innovative actions and/or studies for the prevention, screening and early detection of cancers

26

Table 8 - Calls or programmes on cancer (Public health research / Disease control / Non-communicable chronic diseases) opened in 2010, by

country, code of call, commissioning agency and objectives (continuation)

Disease control / Non-communicable chronic diseases / Cancer

Country / code

France

United Kingdom


Cancer National Institute

(INCA)

Cancer Research UK


Call for free research projects in human and social sciences, epidemiology and public

• To allow the emergence of original and scientifically excellent projects in different fields of social and human sciences, epidemiology and public health applied to cancers

• To increase and strengthen multidisciplinary scientific research grouping health about cancer (within the Cancer National Plan

2009-2013) together teams, fields and technological means around an issue or a specific objective

NAEDI (National Awareness and Early Diagnosis

Initiative) Research Call

Research on early detection of cancer with focus on: Targeting higher risk populations; Research focusing on public awareness and reasons for late presentation; Research focusing on health services; Methodology for, and evaluation of, early detection and awareness research

Table 9 - Calls or programmes on mental health (Public health research / Disease control / Non-communicable chronic diseases) opened in 2010,

by country, code of call, commissioning agency and objectives.

Disease control / Non-communicable chronic diseases / Mental health

Country

France

Germany

Netherlands


Foundation Plan Alzheimer

Federal Ministry of education and research (BMBF)


Development

Name of the program/call Overall objective of the program/call

Call for proposals 2010:

Social supports

To develop research projects dealing with new services or structures created within the Alzheimer Plan

Research on behavioural disorders associated with violence, neglect, mistreatment and abuse in childhood and adolescence

To support research collaborations on behavioural disturbances associated with violence, neglect, mistreatment and abuse in childhood and youth

Program Prevention 4

Prevention of psychological disorders (anxiety, depression) and to promote mental health

Research program on the promotion of mental health

The second call of this program only prioritizes research on: The promotion of mental resilience; Promotion of accessibility of effective interventions; Priority has universal and selective prevention.

27

Table 10 - Calls or programmes on non-specified and other non-communicable chronic diseases (Public health research / Disease control / Non-

communicable chronic diseases) opened in 2010, by country, code of call, commissioning agency and objectives

Disease control /Non-communicable chronic diseases / Non-specified and other non-communicable chronic diseases

Country

Denmark

France


Danish Council for Strategic

Research

Agence de la biomedecine /

Biomedicine Agency


Strategic research in individuals, disease and society/ Health and

Prevention

To contribute to the prevention of chronic diseases and their symptoms and – through treatment and rehabilitation – to preserve quality of life and functional ability for people with chronic disease and thereby also to reduce public healthcare expenditure.

Network of epidemiology and information in nephrology (REIN)

Research projects in epidemiology, economics and care management regarding renal failure

France

France

Association vaincre la mucovicidose / Association

Fight cystic fibrosis

Fondation coeur et artères /

Heart and Arteries

Foundation

Call for research projects

2011

Call for proposals 2010

To finance projects of basic and clinical research about cystic fibrosis

(includes epidemiological studies)

Germany

Germany

Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF)

Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF)

Competence

Diabetes mellitus

Competence

Obesity

Network

Network

To strengthen the development of research on cardio vascular diseases and metabolic disorders that encourage their development: diabetes, obesity, dyslipidaemia, hypertension

Applications are available on the following topics:

- Aetiology and pathogenesis research

- Prevention, diagnosis and treatment including clinical research studies

- Health services research, epidemiological research, health economics research. obesity

- Aetiology and pathogenesis research

- Prevention, diagnosis and treatment including clinical research studies

- Health services research, epidemiological research, health economics research.

28

Disease control /Non-communicable chronic diseases / Non-specified and other non-communicable chronic diseases

Country

Lithuania


Research Council of Lithuania

(Lithuanian Budged subsidies)


To clarify the impact of non-infectious diseases in population’s risks and

Chronic diseases non-infectious develop a theoretical framework for a new health strategy for the country.

The program aims to acquire new knowledge necessary to reduce incidence, prevalence, mortality and disability of the Lithuanian population from prevalent NCD (cardiovascular disease, malignant neoplasm, diabetes mellitus, neurodegenerative, allergies and autoimmune diseases, mental and behavioural disorders); to develop strategic principles for prevention of these diseases; to create improved diagnostics and prevention methods.

United Kingdom

National Prevention Research

Initiative

(UK-wide, funded by government departments, research councils and medical charities)

To support research into chronic non-communicable disease prevention.

Research, both inside and outside of the NHS setting, by addressing health behaviours at the level of the individual, community or population, and with consideration of environmental factors. Relevant behaviours include physical activity, diet, alcohol misuse and tobacco use.

Table 10 - Calls or programmes on non-specified and other non-communicable chronic diseases (Public health research / Disease control / Noncommunicable chronic diseases) opened in 2010, by country, code of call, commissioning agency and objectives (continuation).

29

Table 11 - Calls or programmes on other or non-specified diseases (Public health research / Disease control) opened in 2010, by country, code of

call, commissioning agency and objectives.

Disease control /Other or non-specified diseases

Country Commissioning agency

France

France

Germany



Research Agency

Agence de la biomedecine /

Biomedicine Agency

Federal Ministry of Education and research (BMBF)


Rare diseases (not more than five in 10.000 persons) in the European

E-Rare-2 Call for Proposals

2011 for "European

Research Projects on Rare

Diseases”

Call for proposals Research and Transplant 2011

Community, excluding infectious diseases, cancers and adverse drug events in treatments of common diseases.

Interventional clinical trials are also excluded. Part of the programme includes collaborative research using patient databases, epidemiological studies, natural history of diseases, development of innovative screening systems.

To get better knowledge of organs, tissues and cells transplant. Includes:

1) Human and social sciences, Economics : study in public health or/and ethics; ... 5) Terminal organ insufficiency: studies in epidemiology, public health, healthcare demand and offer; ... 7) Prevention of sanitary risks for sampling and transplant.

Transnational projects on rare diseases

ERA-NET "E-Rare" has been established to coordinate the research activities of the participating European countries in the field of rare diseases.

To gain better knowledge about the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of rare diseases.

30

Table 12 - Calls or programmes on communicable Disease (Public health research / Disease control) opened in 2010, by country, code of call,

commissioning agency and objectives.

Disease control / Communicable Disease


Belgium

France

Netherlands

Romania


Directorate

Association Sidaction


Development

Center for Policies and Health services


Prevention and prophylaxis of the infectious diseases in

French Community

To improve the monitoring of infectious diseases being of interest in public health, including the diseases targeted by vaccination and to detect the emergent phenomena.

To optimize the obligatory system of declarations of the infectious diseases and to reinforce its use.

Call for medical programmes scientific and research

Medical and public health research on AIDS. Basic, applied and clinical research on HIV/AIDS (virology, immunology, preventive vaccines, treatments). Human and social sciences, epidemiology and public health research on HIV/AIDS.

Co-infections and HIV/AIDS associated pathologies, if relevant for HIV/AIDS research and care.

Q Fever

Operational research in TB field – Round 2

To contribute to the reduction of the number of people suffering from C.

burnetii. Research areas

1: Development and evaluation of interventions directed toward prevention or reduction of sources of contamination. Or interventions directed towards prevention of spread of the disease between animals and humans;

2. Improvement of diagnosis of the disease in animals and humans;

3. Improving the treatment of infected humans.

The program is focused to develop models of good practice in TB management and control.

31

Table 13 - Calls or programmes on environmental and occupational health (Public health research / Health promotion) opened in 2010, by country,

code of call, commissioning agency and objectives (to be continued).

Health promotion /Environmental, occupational


Belgium

Denmark

France

France


Directorate


Research

Ministry of ecology, energy and sustainable development

Ministry of work


Environmental health – To ensure the scientific role of pole expert testimony in environmental health scientific pole of expert testimony in accordance with the June 13 2008 decree

Strategic research in health, food and welfare/ Foods including manufacturing biological

The research is seeking to document the health promoting effects or nutritional qualities of bioactive substances. Requirements for the strictest standards of food safety and traceability are key competitive parameters for the food industry, since they will enable Denmark to market safe and healthy foods. The research focus on preventing and combating infections and the spread of resistant microorganisms and for the purposes of extending expertise in biological preparedness.

National research program on environmental and health risks linked to genetically modified organisms

Occupational risk (SUMER survey)

Environment, health and genetically modified organisms

Methodological surveillance of GMO

Issues related to food safety including economical, ethical and social dimensions

Identification of occupational risks and of actions that can be implemented to tackle these problems

32


code of call, commissioning agency and objectives (to be continued).


Country

France

France

France


Ministry of ecology and sustainable development



Research Agency



Research Agency


Call for research proposals

«national research program on endocrine disruptors»

To understand better the endocrine disruptors mechanisms a) Assessment of endocrine disruptors exposure; b) Development of tools and strategies to improve the endocrine disruptors risks assessment; e) Health risk assessment and costs analysis of endocrine disruptors exposure; f) Management of the endocrine disruptors issue in public policies; g) Endocrine disruptors and scientific practice.

To bring better fundamental knowledge on contaminants in order to identify adapted preventive measures to reduce their potentially harmful effects on

Pollutants

Program Global

Environmental Changes and

Society (CEP&S) and

Environments : metrology, health, adaptability, behaviours and uses (CESA) ecosystems and human, animal and vegetal health. (…) To understand better environmental exposures (nature, sources), their effects on health, diseases associated with contaminations and methods for detecting and preventing them; To develop use and combination/coupling of environment and health data bases, from existing or future information systems; To promote surveillance methods; To evaluate risk perceptions on populations and societies, including contamination modes and behaviours and uses towards pollutants;

Strengthening comprehension of processes (evolution of production, economic, social, ecological systems) related to Global Environmental

Changes for a better governance of these changes

33


code of call, commissioning agency and objectives (continuation).



France

France

Netherlands

Norway

AFSSET

Collaboration of ADEME and

INCA

Conseil Régional Nord Pas de

Calais / Nord Pas de Calais

Region


Development



National program of

Research Environmental and Occupational Health,

Call for proposals 2010

Evaluation and analysis of environmental risks for human health, general population and occupational health

Research in Environmental

Health

To strengthen knowledge about the relationships between environment and health. To identify preventive actions, recommendations and structure networks of actors from the prevention and public decision making fields.


Participation and health

(occupational health)

Research program on the development of interventions (development, evaluation of (cost)effectiveness and implementation) of interventions to improve health in work environment

Two main priorities in two calls that go together :

1. Interventions that promote life time employability;

2. Projects that promote the knowledge on implementation and strategies for

Environmental and Health

Exposures

Outcomes

(MILGENHEL programme) implementation of interventions in work areas (organizations) and effects of implementation of these interventions on the health and quality of life of employees.

To generate new research-based knowledge on the interplay between the environment and health.

Research projects must incorporate both environmental and health perspectives. The programme encompasses research into all aspects of exposure to environmental factors, and addresses basic as well as applied research questions. As a general rule, research on the working environment is not included under this programme

34

Table 14 - Calls or programmes on Health promotion, in general (Public health research / Health promotion) opened in 2010, by country, code of

call, commissioning agency and objectives (to be continued).

Health promotion (in general)

Country

Denmark

Finland

France

France



Research

Ministry of Social Affairs and

Health

Institut de recherches scientifiques sur les boissons,

IREB / Institute on Drinking

Research

Institut veille sanitaire, InVS /

National Surveillance Institute


Strategic research in health, food and welfare/

Connection between food, health and lifestyle

The connection between diet and lifestyle, including factors determined by changes in professional and private life; the interaction between diet and genes; and for the development of dietary recommendations which will contribute to an improvement in health. Funding is available for research within projects concerning environmental, health and ethical related issues applying new technology in the crossing of health, food and life style.

Health promotion - grant

Research on Alcohol 2011

To support current and feasible development and research projects related to health promotion, where results are useful in practice.

Research on alcohol in the field of social studies:

-Alcohol consumption: epidemiology, social use, interactions between genetic and environmental factors, psychopathological aspects, social consequences, vulnerability, interpersonal relationships

-Predictive factors of overuse and dependency

-Alcohol and society: history, culture, creativity, art and literature, policy, ethics, economics

Call for proposals for the analysis of National Study on Nutrition and Health

(ENNS) data

To use data bases of the ENNS study to carry out different analyses than those which have already been conducted, in order to have a wider scope of use of these data.

35

Table 14 - Calls or programmes on health promotion, in general (Public health research / Health promotion) opened in 2010, by country, code of

call, commissioning agency and objectives (continuation).

Health promotion (in general)


Iceland

Netherlands

Switzerland

United Kingdom

Ministry of Health and

Directorate of Health


Development

Swiss Federal Office of Public

Health (Ministry of health)

Economic and Social Research

Council


Prevention fund

Evaluation of implemented public health programmes in primary health care, target group children in elementary schools; research/surveys focusing on population health such as: alcohol/drug consumptions, tobacco, mental health, nutrition and physical activity, targets group is children in elementary and secondary schools.

Research on proven intervention strategies to prevent the transmission of

Sexual Health of Youth

Tobacco prevention fund

Health and wellbeing

STD’s and AIDS, and to prevent unwanted pregnancy, to develop.

Interventions where gaps in knowledge exist, and to disseminate at least one intervention method for each age category.

To finance preventive measures to prevent the onset of tobacco use, promote its decision and to protect people from passive smoking. One of the goals of the programme is to promote research.

ESRC provides social science funding for cross-council projects a) Addictions b) Dietary Decisions in the 21st Century

36

Health services / Health services, statistics, information, screening, organization

Country

Denmark

Denmark

Finland

France

Germany

Italy



Research


Research

The Social Insurance

Institution of Finland

Conseil Général des Alpes

Maritimes / Alpes Maritime

Department

Federal Ministry of education and research (BMBF)

Ministry of Health


Strategic research society/ Clinical Research in individuals, disease and

Funding may be granted to clinical research projects concerning patientcentred research, intervention research and health-service research.

Strategic research society/ Rehabilitation in individuals, disease and

Funding for research and development focused on rehabilitation, health promotion, and health insurance projects

The aim is to promote research that documents the effects of methods in treatment, retraining and nursing from a holistic perspective on the citizen, with the involvement of professional expertise in the projects. These would include interventions and professional teams in disciplines such as clinical medicine, nursing, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, social work and psychology.

Objective is to support current and feasible research related to social security/health insurance, where results are useful in practice.

Support to Department medical and scientific teams for technical innovations in health

Research Networks

Health Economics

Program for health research

2009 – targeted research on

To support innovative projects, developed by department teams, aiming at improving health, prevention, screening, diagnosis or management of pathologies: Technical or technological innovations; Cancer: at the department level but in accordance with the National Response to Cancer;

Alzheimer disease.

To finance “Studies in health services research" using different methodological approaches

Financing of clinical and healthcare-related research project and of translational biomedical research. “Targeted research” is for competitive proposals.

Table 15 - Calls or programmes on health services, statistics, information, screening, organization (Public health research / Health services) opened

in 2010, by country, code of call, commissioning agency and objectives (to be continued).

37

Table 15 - Calls or programmes on health services, statistics, information, screening, organization (Public health research / Health services) opened

in 2010, by country, code of call, commissioning agency and objectives (to be continued).


Country

Netherlands

Norway

United Kingdom



Development


Medical Research Council



New methods of screening: research on the (long term) (cost)effectiveness of already existing screening programmes; research on ethical aspects of

Screening and (medical) preventive interventions in

(primary) health care

Research Programme on

Health and Care Services

(HELSEOMSORG) screening; research on methods to inform and counsel.

Preventive interventions in health care: research on the development, evaluation and implementation of preventive interventions in health care. All research has to take into account social economic health differences.

To identify the most effective methods of organising, managing, financing and delivering high-quality health and care services, lowering the incidence of undesirable incidents, minimising differences in people’s access to health services, and providing better security for the individual patient and user.

Patient Reported Outcome

Measures (PROMs)

PROMs are an assessment of health status and health-related quality of life that comes directly from the patient. The focus of the call is improving the generation, validation, interpretation and evaluation of PROMs.

38

Table 15 - Calls or programmes on health services, statistics, information, screening and organization (Public health research / Health services)

opened in 2010, by country, code of call, commissioning agency and objectives (continuation).


Country

United Kingdom

United Kingdom

United Kingdom






Health

Assessment

Technology

Health Technology … covers any method used by those working in health services to promote health, prevent and treat disease and improve rehabilitation and long-term care. Includes effectiveness, costs and broader impact of healthcare treatments and tests. NHS-funded interventions mentioned include: screening programmes; interventions delivered by midwives, health visitors or community pharmacists; research involving prison health services; smoking cessation services.

Research for patient benefit

Service Delivery

Organisation and

“Response-mode” programme to generate high quality research for the benefit of users of the NHS in England. It funds regionally-derived applied research projects in health services and social care. While clinical trials form the largest single category, there is also qualitative work in mixed methods studies, in pilots, and in other health interventions.

To identify, prioritise and refine the research needs of the NHS management community; to commission research that will be of great value to that community in shaping, influencing and contributing to decision-making; and in promoting the more effective use of research evidence alongside other forms of knowledge in their work.

39

Table 16 - Calls or programmes on other health services (Public health research / Health services) opened in 2010, by country, code of call,

commissioning agency and objectives.

Health services / Other

Country

France


Caisse Nationale de Solidarité pour l’Autonomie (CNSA) and

Mission « Research » of the

Direction of Research,

Studies, Evaluation and

Statistics


Permanent call for research about handicap autonomy loss and

Strengthening research field dealing with handicap and autonomy loss by individual and collective supports

Focus on populations and their needs, on infrastructures, services, and public policies and programmes.

United Kingdom Department of health Policy Research Programme

Heads of the main policy groups in the Department of Health submit requests for research directly to the PRP. Research is not commissioned in response to unsolicited proposals.

“The primary objective of the PRP is to assist colleagues in DH who are formulating developing or evaluating policy by: providing evidence to inform policy development and implementation in timely and accessible ways, including assessment of its potential impact and cost-effectiveness; evaluating existing policies or experimental pilots before policies are fully implemented; commissioning research evidence for policy making over the longer-term.”

40

Table 17 - Call or program on youth (Public health research / Target groups) opened in 2010, by country, code of call, commissioning agency and

objectives.

Target groups / Youth


France

Wyeth (Pfizer) Foundation for child and adolescent’s health


6th call for research proposals on adolescents and health

Youth health risks

Table 18 - Call or program on ageing (Public health research / Target groups) opened in 2010, by country, code of call, commissioning agency and

objectives.

Target groups / Ageing


United Kingdom Medical Research Council


Supporting multidisciplinary research, to build and sustain existing and emerging areas of ageing-related research and strengthen the UK ageing research community.

Lifelong health and wellbeing

Specific focus included: self-management of chronic pain, independence during rehabilitation, promoting health postretirement; major determinants of health and wellbeing in later life; Identify and develop effective interventions; Inform policy and practice including the development of services and technologies for independent living.

41

Table 20 - Additional information provided by countries.

Country

Cyprus

Germany a)

Complementary information provided Exclusion criteria

Call/Program

Commissioning agency: Cyprus Research Promotion Foundation;

Name of the funding program/call for projects: Pillar 1: Strategic Multithematic Research, Programme Health and Biological Sciences, Action Public Health

Overall objective of the program/call: Production of New Knowledge at international level in scientific matters related to Public Health; Enforcement of initiatives for new strategies and policies in the Public Health Sphere, the provision of statistics and data on the development of various diseases and the protection and promotion of good mental health; Promotion of development of new health systems which will contribute to the promotion of quality in public health services.

Specific focus of the program/call: Epidemiological studies on various chronic or infectious diseases;

Epidemiological studies on rare diseases; Epidemiological studies on population groups such as the children, the elderly, pregnant women, communities, etc.; Epidemiology as a tool for public health policy promotion; Physical activity, sports and health promotion; Health and safety at work; Child health and risk factors; Sunlight and related consequences on health; Health risk factors; Health systems, hospital management, more effective health care and health care improvement; Development of Home Care

Information on the “Framework Programme of the Federal Government on Health Research” from the Federal

Ministry for Education and Science, adopted in December 2010.

Objective of the program: to improve the application of clinical research; research on population diseases and individualized therapy. Includes research on population diseases, on prevention and nutrition, on health care; on economic perspectives of the health care sector.

The strategic document "Health Research Framework Programme of the Federal Government", was available in

July 2011 at http://www.bmbf.de/pub/health_research_framework_programme.pdf

. No information on amounts available or application mechanisms was provided.

Cal was not announced in

2010

(call has been open /been communicated to the researchers between June and September 2009)

No specific information on public health research calls opened during 2010

42

Table 20 - Additional information provided by countries (continuation).

Country

Germany b)

Greece a)

Complementary information provided

Call/Program

Commissioning agency: Federal Ministry of education and research, association of private health insurance funds, German pension insurance and Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, since 2006.

Name of the funding program: Patient-Oriented Research - Patient Orientation and Chronic Diseases

Objective of the program: Area of Health Care Research from the Health research programme from the Ministry of education and research. It establishes research oriented comprehensive care. The "Patient-oriented Research" funding priority thus contributes to a more effective and clearer presentation of the complex care system for patients with chronic diseases. Patients are more actively involved in their own health care”; “Among other things, scientists are looking into ways to evaluate training concepts for rehabilitation, innovative patient information schemes in hospitals, and how to integrate the wishes of patients into the work of general practitioners. Numerous projects are also dealing with patient-oriented healthcare which overcomes the barriers between and links the different care sectors”; http://www.bmbf.de/en/6647.php

Research center

Information on a research center under the General Secretariat for Research and Technology (Ministry of

Education, Lifelong Learning and Religious affairs)

“The National Hellenic Research Foundation (NHRF; www.eie.gr) is a national research Centre funded by the

General Secretariat for Research and Technology. It comprises a number of research institutes, including the

Institute of Biological Research and Biotechnology, within which operate a number of long-term research

Programmes of relevance to public health.

The Programme of Chemical Carcinogenesis and Genetic Toxicology is one of these programmes with closest relevance to public health, focussing on the conduct of research in the area of the environmental aetiology of cancer, identification of biomarkers of cancer risk and individual susceptibility, and mechanism-based cancer risk assessment. The Programme conducts its research in the form of specific projects, funded through the Centre’s regular budget as well as by extramural sources (mostly EU-funded projects).”

Exclusion criteria

Not possible to know if the program opened calls during 2010

Information programme on a developed inside an organization: The

National Hellenic Research

Foundation, funded by the

Ministry.

It is not a competitive funding that was open to other applicants.

It is a direct financing from the ministry to a research centre.

43


Country

Greece b)

Greece c)

Ireland

Italy a)


Call/Program

Information on a call on public health research opened in 2009

Commissioning agency: Ministry of Health

Name of the funding program/call for projects: Development of a diagnostic assay for hepcidin, the ironregulatory hormone implicated in the anaemia of chronic disease and in hemochromatosis.

Objective of the program: The aim of the proposal is the development of diagnostic tools for the detection of hepcidin.

Call/Program

Information on a call on PHR opened in 2009

Commissioning agency: Ministry of Health, Ministry of Education

Name of the funding program/call for projects: Differentiation and Gene Flow among strains belonging to the

Leishmania donovani complex in Eastern Mediterranean

Objective of the program: The general objective is to contribute to the establishment of a surveillance system in this region and to promote trans-border control strategies.

PHIRE Supplemental Information – Ireland (Appendix 10)

Ireland provided supplemental information on governmental support to public health research development.

Exclusion criteria

Call was not announced in

2010

Thematic not on public health research


2010

Call/Program

Commissioning agency: Ministry of Education, University and Research.

Name of the funding program/call for projects: Program “Future in Research” 2010 (Bando “Futuro in ricerca”

2010) within the Fund for Investment in Basic Research (FIRB, Fondo per gli Investimenti in Ricerca di Base)

Objective of the program/call: To promote generational turnover and to support emerging scientific excellences, by allocating adequate resources to the financing of fundamental research projects proposed by young researchers. public health research financed in other ways then programmes and calls opened in 2010

Thematic not considered on public health research

44


Country

Italy b)

Italy c)


Call/Program

Commissioning agency: Ministry of Education, University and Research.

Name of the funding program/call for projects: Research Projects of National Interest 2009 (PRIN, Progetti di

Ricerca di Interesse Nazionale).

Objective of the program/call: Financing of projects that, by complexity or nature, require the cooperation of more scientists or financial resources that exceed the normal capabilities or single institutions.

The research projects can belong to one of 14 disciplines that have been specified by a previous law (Ministerial

Decree n. 175/2000); those relevant to the field of public health are “Medical sciences”, “Agrarian and veterinarian sciences”, “Biological sciences”, “Chemical sciences”, “Economic and statistical sciences”, “Political and social sciences”.

Call/Program

Commissioning agency: Italian Drug Agency (AIFA, Agenzia Italiana del Farmaco), the Government Agency supervising research, approval and surveillance of drugs in Italy.

Name of the funding program/call for projects: 2009 call for independent research on drugs (Bando 2009 per la ricerca indipendente sui farmaci).

Objective of the program/call: The AIFA calls on independent research on drugs is targeted at promoting the production of knowledge with features of “excellence” which can contribute to improving public health in research areas that would otherwise remain marginal because of their low commercial interest. AIFA, the Italian

Drug Agency, was the first European national drug agency that included among its duties the promotion of independent drug research, so as to give more opportunities to research areas that would have otherwise been overlooked by private research because of their low commercial value.

Exclusion criteria



45


Country

Latvia

Malta


Call/Program

Commissioning agency: Ministry of Education and Science

Following the recommendations from EU and initiatives of the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Science and

Educations agreed that the research strategy in clinical and public health research will be developed by the

Ministry of Health. The deadline for the Ministry of Health to develop the next research strategy was set to be

June, 2011

Name of the funding program/call for projects: State research program 2010 – 2013 "New prevention, treatment, diagnostic tools and methods, biomedical technologies to improve public health" priority direction of science "Public health (prevention, treatment, diagnostic tools and methods, biomedical technology)"

(hereinafter - the priority research areas "Public Health").

Objective of the program/call: The main objective of the program is with methods of clinical medicine, molecular genetics and cell biology, as well as medical chemical and pharmaceutical methods in framework of multidisciplinary research consortium to create new personalized medicine technologies and treatments in order to improve public health.

Program includes 3 main areas: 1) Cardiovascular and metabolic diseases; 2) Cancer; 3) Children and infectious diseases. More about the program http://stradini.lv/page.php?id=1578.

Comment from respondent: “Despite the name the program, it has very little relation with public health.

Biomedical researches are granted under the label of “public health research”. There is no separate allocated budget for public health research in Latvia. The call for state programmes is every fourth year”.

National public health funding

"The national public health funding in 2010 was limited to scholarships, training and postdoctoral awards. The

National Research and Innovation Programme, due to funding constraints, funded only 3 projects starting in

2010. None of them were Public Health projects, however."

Exclusion criteria


2010

Call not specific for public health research

Calls were not announced in 2010

46


Country

Norway


Call/Program

Poland

Commissioning agency: Norwegian Research Council

Name of the funding program/call for projects: Research Programme on Clinical Research

Objective of the program/call: The primary objective of the KLINISKFORSKNING programme is to enhance the knowledge base for preventive measures, diagnostic methods, and treatment and rehabilitation measures through clinical trials.

List of Programmes from Ministry of Health

National Public Health Association was not able to find information on areas of research that were financed through calls in 2010.

A list of programmes from the ministry of health was provided (below). Within those programmes many research are being made, but it is not clear whether it was conducted in 2010 and whether the calls were in 2010.

National Health Programmes of Ministry of Health in Poland in 2010

1. New-borns Screening Programme in Poland in 2009-2014; 2. Providing Self-sufficiency of Poland in blood and blood products in 2009-2014; 3. National Programme of Haemophilia Treatment in 2005-2011; 4. National

Programme of Cancer Fighting in 2010; 5. National Programme of Transplantation Medicine POLGRAFT in 2010-

2014; 6. National Programme of Antibiotics Protection in Poland in 2006-2010, including Module I – Monitoring of Nosocomial Infections and Invasive Bacterial Infections; for Epidemiological and Preventive Purposes and for

Treatment in 2009-2013; 7. Psychiatric Health Care in 2009-2013; 8. Antiretroviral Treatment of people infected with HIV in Poland in 2010-2011; 9. Programme of elimination of iodine deficiency in Poland in 2009-2011

10. Programme of Complex Diagnosis and Intrauterine Therapy in Developmental Defects and Fetus Illness

Prevention – as a part of Fetus’ and Newborns’ Health Status Improvement in 2009-2013; 11. National

Programme of Overweight, Obesity and Chronic Non-Infectious Diseases Prevention through Nutrition and

Physical Activity Improvement in 2007-2011 POL-HEALTH; 12. National Programme of Reduction the Inequity in

Cardiovascular Diseases Prevention and Treatment in 2010-2012 POLKARD; 13. National Programme of Lifestyle

Diseases Prevention: Module I – Programme of Overweight, Obesity and Chronic Non-Infectious Diseases

Prevention through Nutrition and Physical Activity Improvement in 2007-2011 Module II – Programme of

Diabetes Prevention and Treatment in Poland in 2010-2011 Module III – Programme of Elimination of Iodine

Deficiency in Poland in 2009-2011

Exclusion criteria


Information on whether calls were opened in 2010 was not possible to find

47


Country

Portugal


Information on activities of the Science and Technology Foundation, Ministry of Science

The FCT’ mission is mainly accomplished through the funding, subsequent to the evaluation of the merit, of proposals presented by institutions, research teams or individuals in public open calls, and also through cooperation agreements and other forms of support in partnership with universities and other public or private institutions. The FCT, Science and Technology Foundation has held Calls for Projects in all scientific domains every 2 years since 2000 and every year since 2008.

Some research on Public Health was financed but through scholarships, seminars, scientific conferences, or postdoctoral awards. However no specific call on any thematic area of Public health was open.

(Source: http://alfa.fct.mctes.pt/fct.phtml.en)

Information on research financing activities from Ministry of Health

The Ministry of health opens, on a non-regular basis, calls for support of research. At present, for example, in

2011, INSA, National Institute of Health Doctor Ricardo Jorge held a call for research on health services research/primary health care services reform. The deadline for responding to the call was end of March and the research projects approved will be completed on the next three years.

Comment from respondent: “However no calls or programmes on public health research were opened on 2010”.

Exclusion criteria

Calls were not announced in 2010

48


Country

Romania a)

Romania b)


Call

Name of the commissioning agency : National Authority for Scientific Research , Ministry of Economy, Trade And Business

Environment – Authority for Management of Operational Sectorial Program “Increasing Economic Competitiveness”

Name of the funding program/call for projects: Operational Sectorial Program “Increasing Economic Competitiveness”;

Priority Axis 2 –Research, Technological Development and Innovation for Competitiveness; Key areas of intervention 2.1 –

R&D partnerships between universities/research institutes, and enterprises for generating results directly applicable in economy

Objective of the program/call: The enhancement of the R&D cooperation between research institutes/universities, and enterprises for increasing the R&D activities in the benefit of enterprises; promoting technological transfer especially in key fields that are European or national priorities; generating results of economic interest and transferring the research results and knowledge through the economic environment; R&D partnerships with R&D organizations that will generate results directly applicable in economy with the aim of creating new or improved products, technologies and services of high addedvalue; Increasing the level of the technological development of the enterprises; the program is focused to research activities based on new technologies

Comment from respondent: “This program is not specific for public health, but it has “HEALTH” as one major fields of intervention. Public health calls are eligible as they could be classified as Health related projects.”

Call

Commissioning agency: National Authority for Scientific Research and Ministry of Economy, Trade And Business

Environment – Authority for Management of Operational Sectorial Program “Increasing Economic Competitiveness”

Name of the funding program/call for projects: Operational Sectorial Program “Increasing Economic Competitiveness”;

Priority Axis 2 –Research, Technological Development and Innovation for Competitiveness; Key areas of intervention 2.3 –

Supporting ICT use and creating new working places

Objective of the program/call: The program is focused to develop the research capacity of the enterprises in order to increase their innovation and competitiveness; increasing the number of working places in R&D activities is also an objective

(Modernising the existing infrastructure through purchasing new equipment; Building new establishments for creating new research centres or laboratories). The health field is eligible

Comment from respondent: “The call is not specific for public health, but public health research activities could be eligible as part of modernizing projects in the health fields. Private universities, hospitals and private clinics are not accepted, but

SME in public health field are eligible.”

Exclusion criteria



2010


49


Country Complementary information provided

Romania c) Call

Commissioning agency: Ministry of Internal Affairs

Name of the funding program/call for projects: Operational Program “Administrative Capacity Development”;

Priority Axis 1 – Structural and process improvements of the public policy management Cycle; Key area of intervention: Improvement the political – administrative decision-making process.

Objective of the program/call: Conceptual, horizontal issues in the areas of decision making system, aiming at increasing the quality of decisions within public administration by developing mechanisms for substantiating policy initiatives, increasing the effectiveness of organisational structures through better planning, and strengthening the accountability framework. The specific objective is to develop capacity in policy formulation,

Romania d) better regulation, strategic planning and inter-institutional partnership working. Activities under Priority Axis 1 concern the system for all central and local administration, including the health sector that was considered a priority.

Comment from respondent: “This program is not specific for public health, but the health system was defined as a priority sector. Public health research calls are eligible if they are focused to the improvement of the policy process at the administrative level.”

Call

Commissioning agency: Ministry of Internal Affairs

Name of the funding program/call for projects: Operational Program “Administrative Capacity Development”;

Priority Axis 1 – Structural and process improvements of the public policy management cycle; Key area of intervention: Improving the CSOs effectiveness in supporting the reform in public administration.

Objective of the program/call: Improving the effectiveness of CSOs in collaborating with the public institutions at least in the following fields: involving CSOs in the decision-making process at central and local level (including the definition of the public policies); involving the CSOs in the provision of social, educational and health services; developing the fund-raising capacity for CSOs; developing the CSOs capacity to be involved in national programmes or projects implemented by the public administration; involving CSOs in advisory boards of the public administration institutions.

Comment from respondent: “This program is not specific for public health, but the health system was defined as a priority sector. Public health research activities can be eligible if they are related to the main goal of improving the effectiveness of CSOs in relation to the public administration”.

Exclusion criteria



50


Country

Slovakia a)

Slovakia b)


Call

Commissioning agency: Slovak Research and Development Agency (APVV)

Name of the funding program/call for projects: General Calls – Verejná výzva; General call for projects on research and development in particular subdivisions of science and technology fields.

Objective of the call: This call has not limitation referring focus of projects. The project’s focus, objectives and scope of research and development is determined by applicant. The agency wants to increase research quality through competition of all applicants in competitive environment. In project proposal, applicant itself indicates scientific field as well as project theme.

Comment from respondent: “these kind of calls are also (potentially) related to public health research field but in fact they are not open on some specific public health theme or topic.”

Call

Commissioning agency: Scientific Grant Agency of the Ministry of Education of the SR (VEGA)

Name of the funding program/call for projects: Call on VEGA grant projects with start in 2011

Objective of the call: Overall objective is to support quality improvement of basic research in particular subdivisions of research and development fields and to strengthen competitiveness of Slovakia through R&D.

Public health subdivision belongs to medical sciences field. From all 136 applications, 18 were excluded before evaluation. Based on project title, no new project is public health research project.


Exclusion criteria



51


Country

Slovakia c)

Slovenia


Call

Commissioning agency: Cultural and Educational Grant Agency (KEGA)

Name of the funding program/call for projects: Call on KEGA grant projects with start in 2011

Objective of the call: Overall objective is to donate projects on applied research focused on support of new pedagogical educational models, new technologies, forms and methods within school education system and beyond it. Agency is also aimed at empowering research and development projects in the education field, which are initiated by researchers and Ministry of Education in particular groups of research and development fields and financial support of projects related to creative art.


Call

Commissioning agency: The Slovenian Research Agency

Name of the funding program/call for projects: Public call for financing the research projects for 2011 – call in

2010 - Medicine

Objective of the call: Medicine in general: each applicant defines their own theme for the project.

Exclusion criteria



52

Appendix 1 - Distribution of the countries by partners

Countries

Belgium,

France,

Germany,

Luxembourg,

Netherlands,

United Kingdom,

Switzerland,

Iceland

Estonia,

Finland,

Latvia,

Lithuania,

Poland,

Sweden,

Norway,

Denmark

Cyprus,

Greece,

Italy,

Malta,

Portugal,

Spain,

Ireland

Austria,

Bulgaria,

Czech Republic,

Hungary,

Romania,

Slovakia,

Slovenia

Coordination of geographical areas

French School of Public Health (EHESP Ecole des Hautes

Etudes en Santé Publique)

Olivier Grimaud

Martine M. Bellanger

Cláudia Conceição (Work package coordinator)

Institute of Hygiene, Lithuania

Laura Narkauskaitė (June)

Rasa Varvuoliene (June)

Vytenė Jankauskienė (left in June 2011)

Vytautas Jurkuvėnas (left in May 2011)

Ministry of Health, the Elderly and Community Care

(MHEC), Malta

Marvic Sammut

Amanda Bugeja

Slovak Public Health Public Health Association (SAVEZ)

Zuzana Katreniakova

53

Appendix 2 - 1

st

phase WP5 letter sent by email to National Public

Health Associations’contacts or other national contacts

Dear Dr /Mr /Mrs / Professor ….

PHIRE (Public Health Innovation and Research in Europe) is a new collaborative action between

EUPHA members and is co-funded under the second Public Health Programme. Its general objective is to contribute to the improvement of public health knowledge and practice across the European Union by assessing the impact and uptake of the first Public Health Programme and structuring information on public health research.

First phase of PHIRE is aimed at the collection of data in order to provide a description of what public health research is supported through national programmes or/and calls.

We are seeking especially for information on thematic areas of public health research

(research fields) which are currently being financed through national programmes and calls

(named in different ways by commissioners as “programmes”, “calls”, “calls for research proposals”, “calls for grants”, “programme grants”, “project grants”). We are not seeking information on public health programmes or calls on scholarships, seminars, scientific conferences, training, and grants for visiting researchers, bursaries or postdoctoral awards.

We are sending you a form and kindly ask your collaboration in fulfilling one form for each national public health thematic program or call open in 2010.

We are aiming to have on-line database ready by mid September and to be presented in

EUPHA annual meeting in Copenhagen (November 2011).

We would most appreciate that you could send us the filled forms by 15 April 2011.

Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

We thank you for your collaboration and look forward to hearing from you,

(Partner signature) and contacts (phone)

54

PS We also send in attachment your country profile that was obtained with STEPS

(Strengthening Engagement in Public Health Research, http://www.steps-ph.eu/countryhealth-research-profiles/ ). This might be of assistance in the identification of relevant funding agencies in your country

Definition of Public Health Research used on SPHERE

Public-health research operates at a complex level between scientists, individuals and society.

And the issues that public-health research addresses – how to improve the health of the population, and how to ensure the effective and efficient organisation of health care – are of direct concern to governments themselves. For SPHERE, the following definition of public health research, which gave a broad meaning, was used:

"Public-health research refers to the organized quest for new knowledge to protect, promote and improve people's health. It:

• is undertaken at population or health services level, in contrast to laboratory (cellular) or clinical (individual) health research;

• differs from public-health practice (which also uses scientific methods), as it is designed to obtain generalisable knowledge rather than to address specific programmes for service delivery;

• is usually goal-oriented, addressing questions of policy relevance, and may be published in either academic journals or reports; and

• uses a range of observational methods, including surveys, registers, data sets, case studies and statistical modelling, and draws on disciplines including epidemiology, sociology, psychology and economics, and interdisciplinary fields of environmental health, health promotion, disease prevention, health-care management, health-services research and healthsystems research."

(BMC Public Health 2009, 9:203 doi:10.1186/1471-2458-9-203)

55

Appendix 3 - Form

PHIRE

Public Health Innovation and

Research in Europe

Agreement Number 2009 12 14

PHIRE

Retrieval of national public health thematic research programmes and calls

Please fulfil one form for each program or call

Please, save each filled form as ‘yourcountry-PHIRE-form-number’ – e.g. ‘Slovakia-

PHIRE-form1’

Country:

Name:

Name and Contacts of Title: respondent Email:

Telephone number:

Please provide us this information, in case we need to contact you for clarifications

A - Identification of the funding thematic program or call for research projects

A1) Name of the commissioning agency which is launching the funding program/call

For identifying the relevant funding agencies from your country you can use the organogram and list of “Research Commissioners” which are described in the STEPS country profile available at http://www.steps-ph.eu/country-health-research-profiles/

A2) Name of the funding program/call for projects (please translate into English):

A3) Date of the program/call

We are looking for information on program/call which has been open (been communicated to the researchers) between the 1/01/2010 and the 31/12/2010.

Date the program/call was publically available (dd/mm/yy):

Deadline for responding to the program/call (dd/mm/yy):

56

B - Description of the program/call

Please provide in this section information on the following items when relevant

B1) Overall objective of the program/call

Please describe in one or two sentences the main goal or domain that the program/call is addressing

B2) Population targeted

Please tick as many as necessary population group(s) explicitly addressed as target group(s) of the program/call

Age group: Children Adult Elderly None specified

Gender: Men Women None specified

Other groups (e.g. drug users, ethnic minorities, …):

B3) Specific focus of the program/call

If applicable, describe in more details the specific topic(s) or focus of the research program/call

B4) Scientific disciplines invited to answer the program/call

The program/call may be aimed at one or several disciplines e.g. economics, epidemiology, biostatistics,…

57

C - Funding and duration of the program/call

C1) Total amount of funding available from the program/call

This is the total amount of money that the commissioning agency has provisioned for funding all successful bidders provide to research project(s) within the program/call

Total amount available for the € program/call:

Please convert into € if necessary

C2) Amount of funding available for individual projects within the program/call

Minimum funding for one project: €

Maximum funding for one project:


€

Not specified

Not applicable (please explain):

C3) Percentage of co-funding requested from applicants own sources

Minimum of co-funding for one project: %

Not specified

C4) Expected duration of the projects to be funded

The program/call may indicate that e.g. project of no less than 12 months and no more than 36 months will be funded

Minimum duration of projects:

Maximum duration of projects:

Not specified

Not applicable (please explain):

58

D - Eligibility criteria & other conditions to obtain funding

D1) Who can apply?

Choose all the suitable answers, please

D1.1) Nationality of research team

National researchers

National plus other country researchers (Please specify which “other country”)

Other (please explain):

Not specified

D1.2) Status of research team

Public institutions (please specify which):

Private institutions (please specify which):

Other (please explain):

Not specified

D2) Other conditions to be eligible:

59

E – Link to website where further information on this program/call can be accessed

F – Additional comments

Should you have further information or comments on this program/call, please add it here

Thank you very much for your collaboration

60

Appendix 4 - Email and letter from EUPHA office and president about PHIRE 1

st

phase WP5

From: Floris Barnhoorn [mailto:F.Barnhoorn@nivel.nl]

Sent: 1 de February 2011 15:06

To:

Subject: PHIRE and Member Associations

Dear Governing Council Members,

In the EUPHA Governing Council Meeting of 11 November 2010, we informed you about

PHIRE, a EUPHA coordinated project on Public Health Innovation and Research in Europe which will be implemented through collaboration of EUPHA Sections and Member Associations

(see attached Summary document). The project has started now with the research activities and it we are now looking for contributions from our members.

We would like to ask you to forward, if applicable, the attached documents to your association’s Board or Secretariat.

In the letter, EUPHA's President Walter Ricciardi invites the member associations to collaborate in PHIRE and, in particular, requests the member associations to assist with the identification of a knowledgeable researcher who could complete the forms or questionnaires which are to follow in a few days time. The forms will be sent directly to the member associations by the Work Package Co-ordinators.

Thank you very much indeed for your co-operation.

Best regards,

Floris Barnhoorn

Senior Project Officer

EUPHA - European Public Health Association

61

Appendix 5 - Letter from EUPHA president to National Public

Health Associations

62

63

Appendix 6 - PHIRE summary sent to National Public Health

Associations

64

PHIRE – Public Health Innovation & Research in Europe

Appendix 7 – Second email from EUPHA office and president to National Public

Health Associations

Email from EUPHA office and president to National Public Health Associations

From: Floris Barnhoorn [mailto:F.Barnhoorn@nivel.nl]

Sent: 14 th April 2011 16:21

To:

Subject: EUPHA project PHIRE

Dear EUPHA Members,

In the attached letter, EUPHA's President Walter Ricciardi extends his thanks to EUPHA member associations for their participation in PHIRE, our collaborative action to study public health research and innovation in Europe.

Those that have not responded yet are invited again to join the project in this first phase of data collection. In the coming days you will be contacted by one of the regional work package coordinators.

Thank you very much indeed for your co-operation.

Best regards,

Floris Barnhoorn

Senior Project Officer

EUPHA - European Public Health Association

Appendix 8 – Second letter from EUPHA president to National Public Health

Associations

66

Appendix 9 - Form with answers

PHIRE

Public Health Innovation and

Research in Europe

Agreement Number 2009 12 14

PHIRE

Retrieval of national public health thematic research programmes and calls

Please fulfil one form for each program or call

Please, save each filled form as ‘yourcountry-PHIRE-form-number’ – e.g. ‘Slovakia-PHIRE-form-1’

Country: 30 countries inquired (25 answers) ; 75 calls

16 countries with, at least, one call/program on PHR announced in 2010;

9 countries had no information on call/programmes opened in

2010

Name:

Name and Contacts of Title: respondent Email:

Telephone number:

Please provide us this information, in case we need to contact you for clarifications

A - Identification of the funding thematic program or call for research projects

A1) Name of the commissioning agency which is launching the funding program/call

For identifying the relevant funding agencies from your country you can use the organogram and list of

“Research Commissioners” which are described in the STEPS country profile available at http://www.steps-ph.eu/country-health-research-profiles/

Tables 6-18

A2) Name of the funding program/call for projects (please translate into English):

Tables 6-18

A3) Date of the program/call

We are looking for information on program/call which has been open (been communicated to the researchers) between the 1/01/2010 and the 31/12/2010.

Date the program/call was publically available (dd/mm/yy):

Deadline for responding to the program/call (dd/mm/yy):

2010

2010

67

B - Description of the program/call

Please provide in this section information on the following items when relevant

B1) Overall objective of the program/call

Please describe in one or two sentences the main goal or domain that the program/call is addressing

Tables 6-18

B2) Population targeted No answer 2

Please tick as many as necessary population group(s) explicitly addressed as target group(s) of the program/call

Age group: Children 3; Adult 0; Elderly 1; Children+adult 4; None specified 57; No answer 13

Gender: Men 0; Women 0; None specified 66; No answer 9

Other groups (e.g. drug users, ethnic minorities, …):

Specific groups of patients – 9;

Vulnerable groups – 5

Adolescents - 3

B3) Specific focus of the program/call

If applicable, describe in more details the specific topic(s) or focus of the research program/call

Tables 6-18

B4) Scientific disciplines invited to answer the program/call

The program/call may be aimed at one or several disciplines e.g. economics, epidemiology, biostatistics,…

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C - Funding and duration of the program/call

C1) Total amount of funding available from the program/call

This is the total amount of money that the commissioning agency has provisioned for funding all successful bidders provide to research project(s) within the program/call

Total amount available for the [135 .000€; 101.482.381€] program/call:


No answer: 34

C2) Amount of funding available for individual projects within the program/call No answer: 14

Minimum funding for one project:

Maximum funding for one project:

No answer: 66

[3.200€; 5.674.595€]

No answer: 53

[3.000€; 21.500.0005€]


Not specified 30

Not applicable 4

No limits;

Funding scheduled by objectives of programme.

C3) Percentage of co-funding requested from applicants own sources No answer: 18

Minimum of co-funding for one project: 0% - 9; 20% - 1; 25% - 2; 30% - 2; 50% -1

Not specified 42

C4) Expected duration of the projects to be funded

The program/call may indicate that e.g. project of no less than 12 months and no more than 36 months will be funded

No response 11

Minimum projects: duration of no answer 54;

1 year-10; 2 years-6; 3 years – 4; 6 years-1.

Maximum duration of projects:

No answer 33

1 year-6;

2 years-8; 2.5 – 1;

3 years-13; 3,5 year-4;

Not specified: 17

Not applicable (please explain): 3

“no limits”

4 years-4;

5years-5;

10 years 1.

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D - Eligibility criteria & other conditions to obtain funding

D1) Who can apply?

Choose all the suitable answers, please

D1.1) Nationality of research team

No answers: 6

National researchers 20

National plus other country researchers (Please specify which “other country”) 13

Other (please explain): 7

Not specified 31

D1.2) Status of research team

No answers: 7

Public institutions (please specify which): 50

Research institutions;

Universities;

Other public institutions with a research mission;

Health care institutions

Private institutions (please specify which): 36

Note: all the calls where private institutions could apply also public ones could.

Research institutions;

Partnerships with industry

Enterprises

Non-for-profit organizations

Universities

Other (please explain): 3

Organisations with private-public ownership

Not specified 18

D2) Other conditions to be eligible: 30

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Appendix 10 - PHIRE Supplemental Information – Ireland

PHIRE Supplemental Information – Ireland

1.

Department of Health (DoH)

There are significant policy-supportive research areas of child health and well-being, health of the traveller community, and practice and standards in health care provision. T he DOH provides core funding to the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) to maintain the HIPE database of in-patient admissions to Irish hospitals, and to the Children’s Research Centre at TCD.

2.

Department of Children and Youth Affairs (DCYA)

The Department of Children and Youth Affairs, (formerly with the DOH), has lead responsibility for the implementation of a national children’s research programme, which aims to facilitate the achievement of a better understanding of how children grow up in Ireland, including both their individual and shared needs. The overall programme comprises capacity building, the development of a data and research infrastructure around children’s lives and a commissioned research programme. Within each of these areas, public health is a core focus. The elements of the Research Programme are

 A funded Research Programme, which includes Growing Up in Ireland – the National Longitudinal Study of

Children;

 A Research Capacity Building Programme, which includes Research Placement and Research

Scholarship Programmes; and a contribution to the funding of a Structured PhD Programme in Child and

Youth Research in Trinity College Dublin

 A Research Infrastructure and Dissemination Programme, which includes the development of a National Set of Child Well-Being Indicators, the production of a biennial State of the Nation’s Children Report based on the indicator set, the development of a National Data and Research Strategy on Children’s Lives and other initiatives

3.

Health Research Board

The HRB extramural research programme is supported primarily through a core grant from the DOH; others smaller sources of support include the Health Services Executive, Department of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries, Irish Aid and so on.

3.1

HRB capacity building in the public health space (on-going support)

PhD Scholars Programme in Health Services Research

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The overall purpose of this scheme is to improve the quality of PhD training in health research by facilitating a broader education for young researchers, and enhancing co-operation between post-graduate students in different research groups. It also encourages institutions to establish a critical mass of students in a themed area by funding four-year PhD training programmes. Institutions in Northern Ireland are eligible to apply as co-applicants or partners.

A total of six training sites have been established under this scheme covering a broad spectrum of health research from applied biomedical to health services research. Each programme supports four cohorts of four to eight postgraduate scholars working in related research areas for four years. Host institutions must provide a structured training programme in the first year for each scholar cohort; including access for the scholars to specialist and generic skills training; as well as choice of laboratory rotations in different groups. The PhD Scholars programme in

Health Services Research has been singled out for continued funding beyond the original 7 year programme.

Clinician Scientist Awards

The HRB’s Clinician Scientist awards are targeted at individuals with a strong, internationally competitive track record in research. An applicant must be either a medical consultant in the Irish health service or a senior clinician in a health-related discipline that is qualified to hold a post in the Irish health service. The objective of the scheme is to create research leaders in the health services, capable of driving forward a health research agenda in the HSE and in providing mentorship to postgraduate and post-doctoral medical and other health professionals. The scheme has, to date, released outstanding researchers from some or all of their service commitments for a period of five years, to conduct world-class research. There are currently seven clinicians funded under this scheme with an average investment of €1.6M per award. The scheme is currently being reviewed and a modified scheme will be launched in 2011.

Interdisciplinary Capacity Enhancement (ICE) Awards

This new postdoctoral fellowship scheme, launched by the HRB in 2011, is aimed at building and attracting capacity into population health and health services research and, through a team-based approach, will enable the development of partnerships between researchers, practitioners and decision makers in policy and health service delivery. The ICE Awards initiative is a strategic initiative to address gaps in capacity, build on existing investment, strength and capabilities and encourage partnership and collaboration between the population health research and health services research communities and clinical researchers. Applicant teams must be interdisciplinary in nature to ensure that fellows receive appropriate training and mentoring in contextual, methodological and other issues related to their work and they develop skills and competencies required for successful interdisciplinary and transsectoral research in population health and health services research.

3.2

Fellowships relevant to the public health space

Health Professional Fellowships

The HRB has, in recent years rationalized a number of its fellowships into the Health Professional Fellowships. This encompasses the different health professions (medicine, nursing and the allied health professionals.)

Approximately 10 to 15 new awards are made annually through the Health Professional Fellowship scheme and many of these are for research relevant to public health.

Cancer Prevention Fellowships

This Fellowship programme aims to encourage successful applicants to pursue careers in cancer prevention on the island of Ireland. The Fellowship equips participants to embark on such careers by giving them the opportunity to obtain a Masters in Public Health (MPH) degree in year one, followed by two years of mentored research in the

National Cancer Institute’s distinguished Cancer Prevention Fellowship Programme in Washington DC.

Health Economics Fellowship

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This Fellowship programme aims to encourage successful applicants to pursue careers in health economics on the island of Ireland. The duration of the fellowship is four years leading to a PhD degree in health economics. The

Fellowship includes ten months of coursework in health economics, cancer prevention and health policy, based mainly in Ireland, followed by two years of mentored research at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) in Washington

DC and a final year of mentored research at an affiliated host institution in Ireland. Two awards have been made in each year in 2008, 2009 and 2010, and 2011.

Cochrane Fellowships and Colloquiums

The aim of the Cochrane Fellowship scheme is to build capacity in conducting systematic reviews in the health and social care field in Ireland by freeing up protected time for applicants to conduct a Cochrane systematic review in any topic of their choice. The Fellowship provides the Fellow with protected time of up to two days per week for up to two years to conduct their review. The award covers systematic review training costs, salary-related costs and research expenses. This scheme has supported over 70 health practitioners to undergo Cochrane training and a further 20 health professionals or scientists to undertake Cochrane Systematic Reviews. The Fellowship scheme is currently being reviewed prior to an expected new call in 2011.

Post-Doctoral Research Fellowships

Post-doctoral research fellowship awards are open to anyone with a PhD in an area relevant to health. The purpose is to enable researchers with a PhD to develop their research careers at an advanced level in Ireland. Each year a number of these awards are in the public health sphere.

HRB Infrastructure Development in the public health space

Health Research Centres

The purpose of these awards is 1) to address priority research needs of the health services in Ireland, 2) to provide capacity bridging higher education and health care to perform large-scale research projects underpinning clinical, health systems and health services research, and 3) to facilitate dissemination of the knowledge base and to increase its impact on health policy and health practice.

The objective of each Health Research Centre (HRC) is to undertake research and dissemination activities that will improve the health and/or care of the population. A HRC is intended to foster collaborative research and critical mass within the relevant research community to underpin translational, clinical, health systems and health services research and to ensure that new knowledge is translated into practice. Funding is available to support research consortia that enhance our ability to address health issues and that are aligned with national/international research and funding priorities. There are currently two HRC awards in Diet and Health and Primary Care. Consideration of further HRC awards is actively being reviewed.

Clinical Research Facilities (CRFs)

The HRB funds three of the seven clinical research facilities (CRFs) on the Island of Ireland, as collaborative initiatives with either the Department of Health or the Wellcome Trust UK. The HRB provides the running costs over a 5 year period, while the DoH or the Wellcome Trust provides the capital. The Dublin St. James and Galway CRFs were launched in 2007, while the Cork CRF was launched in 2008. These key clinical infrastructures aim to build world-class clinical research capability in Ireland to support bench-to-bedside initiatives and improve translation of the results of health research into treatments and techniques that are provably effective in the clinic. The Galway

CRF has, as part of its research portfolio, strands in health services research and primary care research.

Methodological Supports

The HRB has committed almost €600k to the provision of methodological support to the broader research community through the Research Methodology Support Centre (CSTAR) which is intended to provide health and

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social care practitioners and academic colleagues with methodological support to strengthen quality in health services, primary care and clinical research on a national basis, across health service and academic institutions.

The aim of the Centre is to strengthen research quality by providing advice, consultancy, training and education in research methodologies (both quantitative and qualitative), study design, project management, analysis, reporting and other support services. The HRB is currently examining a Hub and Spoke model to embed methodological design, statistics and data management in the health research infrastructure in the Republic of Ireland.

3.3

HRB Support for national health databases (on behalf of Department of Health)

1.

The Drug-Related Deaths Index (NDRDI) which is a census of drug-related deaths (such as those due to accidental or intentional overdose) and deaths among drug users (such as those due to hepatitis C and HIV) in

Ireland. It also records alcohol-related deaths.

2.

The National Drug Treatment Reporting System (NDTRS), which is an epidemiological database on treated drug and alcohol misuse in Ireland. It was established in 1990 in the Greater Dublin Area and was extended in

1995 to cover all areas of the country.

3.

The National Intellectual Disability Database (NIDD) and the National Physical and Sensory Disability Database

(NPSDD), which collect information on the demographic profile , receipt of, or need for, specialised health services for people with intellectual disability (NIDD) and physical or sensory disability (NPSDD).

4.

The National Psychiatric In–Patient Reporting System (NPIRS) and national psychiatric inpatient database in

Ireland records data on all admissions to, and discharges from, psychiatric inpatient facilities in Ireland annually.

The HRB is also the Irish national focal point for the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction

(EMCDDA).

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