The Bone Cancer Research Trust approach to funding is to support exceptional research that covers a wide range of themes including understanding the causes of primary bone cancer, developing new ways to diagnose and identifying new ways to treat primary bone cancer.
Our 2022-2032 strategy Accelerating Research to Help More Patients Survive and Thrive marks our continued commitment to turn the tide on this disease by pledging £10 million to support innovative and impactful research, wherever this may take place. This research strategy will see us not only focus on improving survival rates but also the quality of life for those who survive. We will capitalise on the progress we have made over recent years, ensure patients remain at the heart of everything we do and remain committed until there’s a cure.
We are committed to funding the highest quality research in a fair and transparent manner, our Peer Review Policy can be found here.
External experts reviewing research applications on behalf of the Bone Cancer Research Trust must adhere to our conflict of interest policy for peer reviewers policy.
Members of ISAP reviewing research applications on behalf of the Bone Cancer Research Trust must adhere to our BCRT ISAP conflict of interest policy.
Members of PPIP undertaking lay reviews of research applications on behalf of the Bone Cancer Research Trust must adhere to our BCRT conflict of interest policy for PPIP.
When developing these policies we adhered to the AMRC's Conflict of Interest Guide.
We adhere to AMRC's best practices and their six principles of expert review.
All research funding decisions and recommendations are made by BCRT’s Independent Scientific Advisory Panel ISAP.
Application and review process overview:
Submission:
- Research applications (in full or preliminary form depending on the funding call) are submitted by Principal Investigators (PI’s) to a deadline date.
Processing:
- All applications received, acknowledged and assigned an internal research reference.
- They are initially triaged by BCRT's research staff against the eligibility criteria. Any applications which do not meet the eligibility criteria are returned to the PI and host institution with an explanation of where the application was ineligible.
- Triage carried out by BCRT staff is based on eligibility, scope, strategic fit, or completeness of the application.
- Where triage it is based on research quality, it is undertaken by independent experts, for example by members of ISAP. In both triage and ‘expressions of interest’ BCRT staff only decide that an application is unsuitable for funding when it clearly falls outside BCRT’s remit (for example if the focus is not primary bone cancer). This ensures the process must is fair and transparent to researchers. If BCRT staff are unsure about the appropriateness of an application, they refer to the chair of ISAP.
- Expression of interest are used for some, but not all funded schemes, namely, Early Career Fellowships, Research Programne grants and Clinical Translational Research Program grants . For these grants, selection to full application is conducted by ISAP. Their decisions for progression to full application are based on the CV of the applicant (s) and the description of the research proposal.
Expert review:
- Eligible applications are assigned to peer reviewers, either internal or external. At least two experts review each application in detail. In depth review can take the form of a written or oral report, or a combination of both.
- Members of BCRT's PPI panel provide lay reviews.
- Applications are discussed and ranked by ISAP. ISAP's research review meetings must be quorate for their recommendation to stand.
Final decision:
- Following the decision making meeting of BCRT’s ISAP, their recommendations are presented to the Board of Trustees for approval.
- All applicants receive anonymised feedback on their applications.
Resubmission:
Please note that any resubmissions are subject to our resubmission policy
The schemes below illustrate our review processes:
