Bowel Disease Research Foundation
Regulations for application for
Delphi-based Project Grants
Background
BDRF will be offering grants for worthy research projects, in line with the funding
strategy established by the ACPGBI’s modified Delphi exercise.
BDRF will award bursaries of up to £10,000 each (maximum per award) to fund projects
addressing those key areas in colorectal research which have emerged as the highest
priorities through extensive surveying of the ACPGBI Membership, patient groups and
other interested parties.
This funding is intended as a start-up grant for work on a Delphi question that will
develop into a larger study. A further round of funding for grants up to £60,000 on
Delphi projects is envisaged for 2016. This call for applications is to address the BDRF’s
research priorities, and aims to establish best practice approaches to the most urgent
research challenges in bowel disease. The list of priority research questions is below, and
comprises 15 questions addressing cancer, and 10 regarding benign diseases:
Benign Disorder questions:
1 How can early detection and outcome of anastomotic leakage be improved? Are there
any new techniques or approaches that will reduce anastomotic leak rates in colorectal
surgery?
2 What is the best method of i) preventing parastomal hernias ii) repairing parastomal
hernias?
3 What are the indications for, and what is the optimal timing of, surgery for Crohn’s
disease in the era of biological therapy?
4 What are the short and long term outcomes of minimally invasive approaches (e.g.
percutaneous radiological drainage, laparoscopic washout and drainage) to managing
complicated diverticultis?
5 How can postoperative ileus be reduced?
6 What is the optimal multimodal strategy for managing fistulating perianal Crohn’s
disease?
7 How does reporting and sharing of surgeon specific outcomes affect clinical practice?
8 What are the short and long-term outcomes of laparoscopic ventral mesh rectopexy
(VMR), and is the mesh material important?
9 What are the predictive factors for poor outcome in patients with severe intraabdominal sepsis? How can outcomes be improved?
10 When should a colorectal anastomosis be defunctioned? Are there predictive factors
which would aid decision-making about need for diversion?
Cancer questions.
1 What is the optimal treatment for early rectal cancer? What are the relative roles of
endoscopic mucosal resection (EMR), transanal endoscopic microsurgery (TEMS),
radiotherapy, chemotherapy and resectional surgery? In cases of early rectal cancer
amenable to local excision techniques, are there benefits from additional treatment
modalities?
2 What is the best method to predict complete pathological response to
chemoradiotherapy in rectal cancer treated with neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy prior
to surgery? Do these patients require immediate resectional surgery? If not, what is the
best strategy for surveillance?
3 What is the optimal treatment for endoscopically removed polyp cancers? When is
surgical resection necessary? What is the long-term outcome of polyp cancers treated
with polypectomy alone?
4 What are the short and long-term outcomes after extralevator abdominoperineal
excision of rectum (ELAPE)? Is there an oncological gain and is it justified?
5 What biomarkers (including genetic profiling) affect response to chemoradiotherapy
for rectal cancer?
6 Why do some patients develop colorectal cancer metastases? Can early markers of
metastatic disease be developed?
7 What is the optimal timing of resection of liver and/or lung metastases from colorectal
cancer – before, during or after primary surgery?
8 What is the optimal method of wound closure after abdominoperineal excision of
rectum (APER)? In which situations are mesh or plastic reconstruction indicated, and is
there a benefit from these techniques?
9 Is there a benefit to preoperative (chemo)radiotherapy in T3 rectal cancer with nonthreatened margins? If so, does it justify any potential additional toxicity?
10 Is chemotherapy better given before or after surgery for locally advanced colon
cancer? Or both before and after?
11 Is there a price to cancer survivorship after treatment for colon, rectal and anal
cancer? What is the impact of treatment on quality of life? What level of poor function is
justified to avoid a permanent stoma?
12 What is the role of delayed resection of the primary tumour in chemoresponsive
metastatic colorectal cancer?
13 What are the optimal methods and intervals for population screening for colorectal
cancer? How can uptake of screening be improved? Are there subgroups of the
population who are at higher risk and should be screened earlier or at different
intervals?
14 Which colorectal adenomas indicate significantly increased risk of future colorectal
cancer? What is the optimal screening strategy for these patients?
15 What is the optimal surveillance strategy for patients who have undergone
transanal local excision of rectal cancer
Policy statement
The Research and Audit Committee of ACPGBI and the Bowel Disease Research
Foundation are committed to providing equality of opportunity and fairness in
distribution of research support from the Foundation.
Policy
1.
Applications will be externally reviewed. They will be considered by conference
call, after circulation by email to all members of ACPGBI’s Research and Audit
Committee, who will score the applications.
2.
BDRF’s Trustees will then award grants at their spring meeting. The allocation or
otherwise of all available monies will be at the discretion of Trustees depending on
the number and scores of the applications.
3.
Correspondence with or appeals against the Trustees’ decision by unsuccessful
applicants will not be permitted. BDRF is not able to give feedback on why
applicants have been unsuccessful or guidance for future applications. However,
such applicants are welcome to apply again in future years.
Regulations for project grants
The maximum funds available will be communicated to the Research & Audit
committee in advance of starting the peer review.
1.
Currently it is envisaged that up to £150,000 will be available for successful
applicants to begin work immediately. No single grant will exceed £10,000 but more
than one grant may be made for the same Delphi question.
2.
At least one of the applicants must be an ordinary or affiliate member of the
Association of Coloproctology of Great Britain and Ireland.
3.
The research application must comply with the following rules for eligibility and
arrive in the BDRF’s office electronically before the closing date for submission to be
eligible for funding.
4.
Projects may be considered unsuitable for funding at the discretion of the Research
& Audit committee.
5.
Research funds awarded must be paid to the institution for whom the applicant
works or a charitable fund thereof. In the event of the recipient’s moving location,
the award will not ordinarily follow the recipient.
If this institution is likely to “top slice” a grant, the fact that this will occur and the
amount of overheads charged must be made clear in the application. (Applicants
are advised to seek exemption from overheads by their institution prior to
submission – most Universities will not charge overheads on charitable donations, if
pushed).
6.
Successful applicants must submit a written report of their work to the BDRF
annually and also within 12 months of completion of the funded work. BDRF will
usually, at its sole discretion, withhold funding for the subsequent year’s work until
a satisfactory report has been received. All reports should include a lay summary.
7.
Further applications for funding will not be considered until all previously funded
work by an applicant has been fully reported on. In some cases the Foundation may
ask the applicant to make an oral presentation of their work at a seminar or
Association meeting.
8.
Only one project will be funded per applicant in each funding round.
9.
The Research & Audit committee reserve the right to reclaim monies not spent in
pursuit of the funded project more than 18 months after the award was made. This
does not apply to projects of two years or more duration.
10. The BDRF must be acknowledged in all publications arising out of work supported
by these grants.
11. The BDRF reserves the right to feature successful application forms on its website, in
order to provide a template for future applicants to follow.
Format for applications
Maximum length 4 sides of A4 in 12 pt typeface + one-sided CV per applicant. Please
submit applications electronically as a single Word document using the Application
Form.
Please send applications to:
For further enquiries please contact:
Glen Saffery, BDRF’s Coordinator, at
Glen Saffery at gsaffery@bdrf.org.uk, Tel: 020 7869 6946.
gsaffery@bdrf.org.uk by the closing
As required, Glen will consult with Miss Asha Senapati - Chairman
BDRF, and Miss Nicola Fearnhead - Chairman Research and Audit
Committee of ACPGBI
date