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Marie Curie has again made £1 million available to fund palliative and end of life care research which aims to improve care for people with advanced progressive life-limiting conditions and terminal illnesses.
The funding is part of the annual Marie Curie Cancer Care Research Programme, which was established in 2010 to help address gaps in research funding and support the wider palliative care community.
Marie Curie is changing the process to assess applications by introducing an outline application stage. This will simplify the initial application process for applicants. The deadline for outline applications to be received by Marie Curie is January 17, 2014.
We are inviting outline applications in three areas:
1. Pain control at home
Many studies show that the preferred place of death for most people is their home, but symptom control at home can be challenging.
Marie Curie is inviting proposals for improved methods of pain control for patients with any terminal or progressive illness in the community. Interventions may be pharmacological, simple therapeutic approaches or complex health service interventions. We are inviting preliminary or developmental work with a clear view to lead to a definite phase III trial in the near future.
2. Symptom control at the end of life
Marie Curie has an on-going interest in improving the management of symptoms at the end of life.
We are inviting proposals to address gaps in research evidence in symptom control. Studies must be relevant to commonly occurring symptoms for people with advanced life-limiting illness who are likely to be in the last year of their lives. The inclusion of a health economist in the multidisciplinary team is strongly recommended.
Marie Curie is particularly encouraging applications for studies that address the dearth of good quality evidence on artificial hydration and nutrition at the end of life in any condition. All studies should ensure they take into account the views of patients, carers and families in their design.
3. Addressing the needs of potentially excluded groups at the end of life
We are inviting proposals for experimental / interventional studies to address areas of proven inequality in end of life care in any of the circumstances included in the NICE Quality Standards: age, gender, disability, gender reassignment, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy or maternity, race (ethnicity), religion or belief, sexual orientation, cognitive impairment, culture or lifestyle, socio-economic status, mental capacity, diagnosis, location and setting where care is received as well as choices patients make about their care.
Dr Bill Noble, Marie Curie Medical Director, said: “As the leading end of life charity and major research funder, Marie Curie is committed to addressing gaps in evidence with high quality research.
“We know that our £1million annual contribution towards improving palliative and end of life care research makes a huge difference to researchers and to the ultimate beneficiaries – patients, their families, carers, and the professionals who support them.
“We have been increasingly impressed with the strength of applications received during our annual calls and we hope that our latest call will address important issues around pain control at home, symptom management and inequality in end of life care.”
Applications are accepted from scientists, clinicians or health care workers in UK universities, medical schools, hospitals and research institutions.
Applications should be made on the outline application form available from the Marie Curie research website and must be submitted by January 17, 2014. Funds will be available from February 1, 2015. Applicants must read the guidance notes and the advice to applicants from the Marie Curie Research Programme Funding Committee before applying.
For further information on research themes, application criteria and guidance, please visit: www.mariecurie.org.uk/researchprogramme or http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/science/funding/find-grant/all-funding-schemes/marie-curie-cancer-care-research-programme/.
If you have any questions about the outline application process, please contact Dr Sabine Best on research.info@mariecurie.org.uk.
Cancer Research UK is administering the subsequent steps in the application process and successful applicants will be invited to submit a full application using Cancer Research UK’s electronic grant submission system, eGMS.
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