Category: Fundraising

STIRIG: Sexually Transmitted Infections Research Interest Group

Visit STIRIG: if you are interested in current research going on in sexually transmitted infections.

SITRIG is part of London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

LSHTM is a world-leader for STI research, and is a WHO Collaborating Centre for Sexually Transmitted Infections.

STIRIG aim to:

  • Raise awareness of STI-related research being conducted at LSHTM
  • Increase cross-disciplinary and cross-Faculty work on STIs
  • Develop internal and external collaborations
  • Maximise funding opportunities

See the January issue of their newsletter.

 

Development of a questionnaire to measure patients’ satisfaction with HIV Clinics

A STIRF funded project (STIRF-012) has been completed successfully. Professor Jonathan Ross, Consultant in HIV medicine at University Hospital Birmingham and Lucy Land, Reader in Nursing at Birmingham City University have developed a questionnaire that will give patients attending an HIV clinic the opportunity to feedback their experiences of care.

A systematic review of the medical literature provided background information on what factors were important to patients attending a HIV clinic. Current users of the service were then involved in verifying this information and added their views about the issues that were important to them. For example being afforded respect, dignity and autonomy, together with an expectation of expert medical care were considered essential to a good service.

A draft questionnaire was constructed to include questions around these issues as well as others that were relevant and important to patients with HIV. This draft was tested with a group of patients and refined further. The final questionnaire was piloted on 100 clinic patients and showed that the feedback from the questionnaire could provide an accurate reflection of patients’ experiences. In the future, an annual survey using this questionnaire will be conducted and the data will be used to measure the quality of care and inform improvements in HIV clinic services.

The research had been submitted for publication

Invitation to apply for research funds

We have entered a new round of invitation to apply for research funds. We are particularly interested in providing initial funding in projects that may allow young researchers to obtain preliminary results as a prelude to acquire further funds from larger funding bodies.

We invite applications from researchers in the East and West Midland, the North East and North West Regions on projects relating to sexually transmitted diseases and HIV. All projects will be initially screened by the Scientific Committee of STIRF and those considered suitable will be sent for peer review by experts in the field. We encourage applications for

The following fields of research will be considerd in relation to STIs and HIV

  • Epidemiology of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases
  • Health care delivery including views of clients
  • Issues relating to deprived or marginalised communities.
  • Pathophysiology of diseases and syndromes
  • Inter-relationship between diseases
  • Treatment modalities
  • Complications of treatment and co-morbidities

Applications should not exceed £50,000 in the first year. Depending on satisfactory reports a further £25,000 may be available for the second year. Joint funding with other grant giving bodies will be considered.

Further information and guidance on how to apply can be found on

How to Apply for Research funds

 

Universities under attack: a warning by former president of the British Academy

Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford and former President of the British Academy, Sir Keith Thomas and Professor Michael Wood who teaches English at Princeton spoke at the Universities Under Attack a conference sposored by the London Review on November 26, 2011 at King’s College London. In his talk Keith Thomas pointed out that ‘confronted by the philistinism on the scale of the Browne report and the goverment’s White Paper’ we can look to neither the present government, committed as it is to the university system as a market, not the labour in power or in opposition, nor Hefce, or the research councils, or the law courts, the vice-chancelors, or even the academic profession as a whole to come up with a solution.

Thomas then goes on to suggest some alternative ways forward on tuition fees and the Resarch Excellence Framework (REF) formerly the RAE, and called on the universities to collecively and publicy repudiate the ‘repugnant phiosophy underlying the Browne report and the White Paper by reaffirming what they stand for the correct reletinhip tp students on ghe one hand and the governmemt on the other.’

Wood gave the view from the other side of the pond that those who think that the ‘supposedly unpractical side of higher education (such as, say, the teaching of Sanscrit) are a luxury for which the state has no responsibility are right in a quite wretched way. They won’t have to pay for them. But their children will, and so will ours – and not with money.’

How to apply for research funds from STIRF

Application for Research Funds from STIRF

Conditions and regulations

Sexually Transmitted Infections Research Foundation (STIRF) was set up to pump prime research projects relating to the epidemiology, pathophysiology, management, and health care delivery of sexually transmitted infections and HIV in the East and West Midlands. In 2010 the North East and North West Regions were added.

Before filling the application form for funding from STIRF please read the following conditions, which should be met before applications are considered.

1. The following fields of research will be considered in relation to STIs and HIV

  • Epidemiology of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases
  • Research on HPV and other sexually transmissible malignancies
  • Health care delivery including views of clients
  • Issues relating to deprived or marginalised communities.
  • Pathophysiology of diseases and syndromes
  • Inter-relationship between diseases
  • Treatment modalities
  • Complications of treatment and co-morbidities

2. Applicants should be working in the NHS or universities within the East and West Midlands and the North East and North West Regions of the United Kingdom. Applicants from non-NHS and non-academic settings within the same geographical locations will also be considered.

3. Applicants should ensure that sponsorship of the project, including adherence to the NHS Research Governance Guidelines, is provided by the host institution.

4. Applications should not exceed £50,000 in the first year. Depending on satisfactory reports a further £25,000 may be available for the second year. Joint funding with other grant giving bodies will be considered.

5. Detailed justification for costs should be made on the application form

6. Overhead costs be should be limited to 15% of salary costs within any proposal.

7.  Funding will be paid quarterly in arrears dependent on satisfactory progress

8. A brief (2 page) CV should be attached.

Please note that we are less likely to fund researchers who have successfully received funds from STIRF in the recent past

To apply fill download the Application form complete and send it by email with the other required documents to stirfweb@gmail.com or post to

STIRF, c/o Dr Shahmanesh, Whittall Street Clinic, Whittall Street, Birmingham B4 6DH

Deadline for receiving applications in the 2015 round is March 31, 2015