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The Bupa Foundation strategy
The Bupa Foundation is an independent medical research charity
Registered Charity No.277598
Dedicated to providing support for research into the prevention, relief and treatment of ill health, for the public good.
Aims
The charitable objects (intentions) expressed above give rise to two aims:
- to advance the knowledge base in clinical and health science
- to advance the translation of Foundation-funded research into health gain
Objectives
The Foundation's three main objectives are:
Strategy development
In developing this strategy, Bupa Foundation has been informed:
- by the research outcomes study carried out for The Bupa Foundation in 2003
- by briefing notes, guidance and other research strategy papers issued by the AMRC and fellow AMRC members, including the MRC and Wellcome Trust
Strategy review
The strategy is monitored annually by governors at the September board meeting each year.
Full review is carried out every five years, following further outcomes studies.
The next full review will take place in September 2009 in light of the results of the 2008 outcomes and impacts study.
Objective 1: supporting clinical research
The Bupa Foundation supports high-quality medical research in three ways:
Project Grant Funding - medical research grants
These are considered on two occasions each year, in February and November. (Closing dates: 31 October of the previous year and 31 July, respectively).
These support work in five areas:
- surgical research and development
- epidemiology and preventive medicine
- communication and health information between health professionals and patients
- mental health of older people
- health at work
The Foundation does not apply set maximum or minimum grants, except in relation to term, which may be up to three years only. For longer programmes, another application will need to be made at the appropriate time, in competition with other applications submitted on that occasion, to allow continuation of the study.
Specialist grants - annual themed competition.
This is an annual specialist grant competition for up to £750,000 of funding for one or more projects over one, two or three years.
It is advertised in the medical press each autumn for a closing date of 28 February of the following year and judged that May.
A specific call for submissions in the area of one of the categories for general grants is made each year by the Bupa Foundation Board.
The specification is advertised on the Bupa Foundation website www.bupafoundation.co.uk/asp/specialist/this_years_theme.asp and in appropriate journals etc. in the clinical/medical press.
This competition is open to researchers based in the UK, Australia, Denmark, Hong Kong, India, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, Spain and Thailand.
Past themes include:
- consumer involvement in healthcare
- surgical innovation with potential for making significant changes in practice
- exploitation of clinically relevant data sets
- health and care of older people
- health in the workplace
- new roles for health professionals
Awards
Annual awards - awarded in November, the closing date is in July each year.
They are awarded in recognition of excellence in completed work. Entries are assessed by expert panels of judges in each category. The panels will usually include a Bupa Foundation governor. The majority of panel members are external specialists appointed for expertise in each particular area. There are seven categories, each offering a £15,000 prize as reward and to assist with future work:
- research
- epidemiology
- health at work
- communication
- clinical excellence
- care
- patient safety
Awards are advertised in January/February each year, with a closing date in early July. Full details of awards entry criteria and the application process can be found at www.bupafoundation.co.uk/asp/awards/eligibility.asp.
Please note: The chairman and the board of governors of the Bupa Foundation reserve the right to amend and/or add to these details as they consider appropriate, at any future date.
Grants - assuring quality and value for money
Project and specialist grants are competitively assessed for their scientific quality and value for money by means of a three-stage process:
- short listing by Foundation governors as soon as possible following the closing date
- all short-listed applications undergo expert peer review
- final judging: at appropriate meetings throughout the year, by Foundation governors, informed by the advice from peer reviewers
Objective 2: disseminating foundation funded clinical research
The Charities Act imparts a burden of responsibility on charity trustees to ensure that the results of any research supported by the Foundation are disseminated in the public interest.
Beyond this, in the spirit of scientific enquiry, the results of such work should be available as openly and widely as possible to the scientific and medical communities and the public, including patients.
The Bupa Foundation therefore takes the following steps to actively encourage and further the dissemination of Foundation funded research findings:
- Annual Review - published by the board each November.
- We ask that grant holders ensure that the Foundation is informed, if possible in advance, of any publications arising from their research projects as well as presentations at any conferences, to assist in raising awareness of these.
The board is aware of the advent of open access journals and has currently decided not to actively encourage and fund researchers to publish in them. This policy is subject to review as considered necessary.
- When accepting Foundation grants, researchers also agree to assist with the board's efforts to inform the public about results from Foundation-funded clinical and health research.
- Seminars are arranged as appropriate to disseminate the results of Foundation funded research.
Previous seminars:
a) 'Evidence-based Medicine'
Royal Institution, March 2003. This first seminar featured the work of two projects on health information funded by medical research grants from the Foundation.
These were the 'Knowledge Now' project (UCL) and the 'Evidence based Medicine' project (Oxford Pain Research Unit), which included the 'Bandolier' web site and magazine.
b) 'Making Healthcare Safer'
Royal College of Physicians, October 2004, with partners, including the National Patient Safety Agency and BMJ Quality in Healthcare.
This featured projects from the 'Reducing Adverse Events' initiative of 2001 by Imperial College, London; AVMA; Queen's Medical Centre Nottingham, Newcastle Upon Tyne NHS Trust.
c) 'Consumer involvement and the informed patient'
One Birdcage Walk (Institute of Mechanical Engineers), Westminster, October 2006.
This featured projects from the 'consumer involvement' initiative 2002.
d) Secondary analysis: the search for hidden gems
Wednesday 25 June 2008 at the Science Museum, Directors' Suite
This meeting demonstrated how secondary analysis has helped increase our medical and scientific knowledge through the prize-winning projects from the Bupa Foundation 2004 Specialist theme, an international open competition that attracted an unprecedented number of high quality entries worldwide.
Objective 3: encouraging the application of foundation funded research
The Board circulates details of Foundation-funded research or award-winning projects that governors consider of national importance to interested parties including NHS trusts, strategic health authorities, medical directors of hospitals etc, as appropriate.
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