title: Features of successful bids for funding of applied health research: a cohort study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The literature suggests that research funding decisions may be influenced by criteria such as gender or institution of the principal investigator (PI). The aim of this study was to investigate the association between characteristics of funding applications and success when considered by a research funding board.
  
  
  METHODS
  We selected a retrospective cohort of 296 outline applications for primary research (mainly pragmatic clinical trials) submitted to the commissioning board of the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Programme between January 1st 2006 and December 31st 2009. We selected proposals submitted to the commissioned NIHR HTA work stream as they addressed issues which the programme already deemed to be important, hence the priority of the research question was not considered as one of the selection criteria for success or failure. Main outcome measures were success or failure at short-listing and in obtaining research funding.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The characteristics of applications associated with success at shortlisting and funding were multi-disciplinarity of the team (OR 19.94 [5.13, 77.50], P < 0.0001), particularly inclusion of a statistician (OR 3.76 [2.21, 6.37], P < 0.0001), and the completion of a pilot/feasibility study (OR 4.11 [1.24, 13.62], P = 0.0209). The gender of the PI was not associated with success or failure at either stage. The PI's affiliation institution was not associated with success or failure at shortlisting.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The gender of the PI was not associated with success or failure. The characteristics of research applications most strongly associated with success were related to the range of expertise in the team and the completion of a pilot or feasibility study.
authors.affiliation: Wessex Institute, University of Southampton, Alpha House, Enterprise Road, Southampton SO16 7NS, UK. s.turner@soton.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Sheila
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Turner
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Davidson
authors.forename: Louise
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Stanton
authors.forename: Victoria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Cawdeary
mesh_terms: D005381:Financing, Organized; D006262:Health; D006801:Humans; D033183:Interdisciplinary Communication; D016017:Odds Ratio; D010865:Pilot Projects; D012106:Research / Q000191:economics*; D012108:Research Personnel; D012737:Sex Factors