CRN North East and North Cumbria: Investigator Initiated Commercially Funded Research Studies (IIT) award guidance 2024/2025
Contents
The Award
Summary
The NIHR Clinical Research Networks in North East and North Cumbria (CRN NENC) and Yorkshire and Humber (CRN Y&H) in partnership with MedConnect North have agreed to fund a total of 10 Awards of £5000 each. 5 applicants will be awarded from each region. One of the awards is sponsored by MedConnect North and seeks to support an investigator working on a Medical Technology product.
This £5000 award is to support applicants from the two regions to develop and lead on an Investigator Initiated Trial (IIT), as well as providing practical support to assist you in achieving Clinical Research Network (CRN) Portfolio status.
The Detail
An IIT (Investigator Initiated Trial) is a study led by an Investigators (e.g. NHS, University, Public Health or Social Care staff) with research funding (e.g. financial/equipment/software) provided by a commercial organisation specifically to support that study. NHS IITs are often supported by a commercial company such as a pharmaceutical, biotechnology or devices company. However, for non-NHS settings it could be any type of commercial organisation that provides support via the funding described. For IITs, an NHS Trust or other non-commercial organisation (e.g. University or Local Authority) is the Sponsor of the study.
NIHR Clinical Research Network North East and North Cumbria (CRN NENC) aims to:
- Increase the volume of Investigator Initiated Commercially Funded Research Studies (IITs) taking place across the region.
- Support the development of new Chief Investigators
Since 2017/2018 the CRN NENC Executive Board and MedConnect North have funded a total of 31 IIT projects. The awards aimed to ensure that individuals had recognition of work done to develop IIT research and supported the development of portfolio adopted IITs. In the short term this brought benefit in the form of recruitment and investment and has helped develop research skills, involvement and engagement with portfolio research. In the longer term we want to further support the development of applicants; specifically to facilitate future CI trials that lead to larger grant-funded or commercially funded projects.
Consequently, the NENC Executive Board and MedConnect North have agreed to run the scheme again. 5 awards of £5,000 will be available to support the development of new IITs, or to support the progression from current or recent IIT to research council funded or commercially sponsored study.
One of the awards is sponsored by MedConnect North and seeks to support an investigator working on a Medical Technology product.
Applications are open to anyone involved in health or social care research including previous applicants. Where an award was received in any of the previous years, applicants are expected to outline the next steps and detail how further funding will be used towards a larger study.
The award will be for a period of 12 months from April 2024 with funding provided to support the scheme up front. We will treat the award as being fully spent in-year however it is up to partner organisations how it is used to support the 12 month programme.
Criteria
This is a competitive funding award assessed against the following criteria:
Essential
- The lead applicant is a professional in the CRN NENC or CRN Y&H region working in a Health, Public Health, Social Care or Academic setting
- Formed research idea
- Partner/funding agreed (commercial company) and written documentation of their funding contribution.
- Proposed study to run in an NENC or Y&H Partner Organisation, Public Health or Social Care setting.
Desirable
- Unfunded to do research/without adequate Chief Investigator (CI) time included in any commercial grant/remuneration
- Development of previously supported feasibility study (if applicable)
- Multi-site within NENC
Support available
As part of the scheme, support will be available to help with completion of the award application. Please email nencstudies@nihr.ac.uk if you want to access support with your application.
For Medical Technology studies, additional support will be provided from the MedConnect North Service including Research Operations Manager and Project Manager to assist with study design, grant writing and liaising with R & D. The MedConnect North Team can also make introductions to a Methodologist and Statistician if required (although there may be a cost for this time if anything other than a high level review is required).
Expected outcomes
The award is expected to increased research capacity via development of new, or progression from existing, IITs that have the potential to be adopted onto the NIHR Portfolio at the end of 12 months.
Applications
Applications will be via an online form and will require details of the proposal, how it meets the above criteria.
A panel will review and assess applications against the criteria outlined above and will also discuss with relevant R&D Managers/Directors from applicants’ host organisations before confirming outcomes.
Timelines for Applications
11/03/2024: Competition advertised and open to applications
12/04/2024: Closing date for applications
W/C 22/04/2024: Decision by panel on successful applications
May 2024: Funding sent out
October 2024: 6 month progress review
March 2025: Protocol Approval/Study Set-up due by
March 2025: Final Review