Evidence Implementation Fund 2023

Closed

  • The NIHR School for Social Care Research (NIHR SSCR) invites proposals from non-academic partners to utilise NIHR SSCR evidence and/or expertise to support adult social care practice. This is part of NIHR SSCR’s commitment to ensure the School’s research has the potential to improve adult social care practice in England.

    Lead applicants are required to be based within a social care setting where implementation of NIHR SSCR-funded evidence and/or expertise from NIHR SSCR will directly impact the lives of people who use care services and/or carers. They are expected to develop their proposals with an academic partner linked to (current or past) research funded by NIHR SSCR and/or who has been supported by a career development award.

    Proposals received by 16.30 on Wednesday 21 June 2023 will be considered by the NIHR SSCR’s Commissioning Panel.

    Applicants are asked to indicate their intention to submit a proposal by completing a short form (see below) by 16.30 on Monday 12 June 2023. This is to help NIHR SSCR estimate the number of proposals and does not commit any individual to submit a proposal.

ABOUT THIS FUNDING

Launched in May 2009, NIHR SSCR is funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research until April 2024. The School’s third phase of funding runs from 2019 to 2024. NIHR SSCR aims to develop the evidence base for adult social care practice in England by commissioning and conducting high-quality research.

Over the last 14 years the School has commissioned research studies, and numerous methods and scoping review papers across the scope of adult social care. Further information is available on our website. Our business plan for this third phase can be found here.

Information on our programme of work to build research capacity in adult social care in England can be found on our website.

We recognise that there are challenges in ensuring that evidence developed through social care research projects is transferred to practice settings and implemented. These can include the lack of funding to support implementation of evidence in practice, sector challenges in accessing and translating research, and the capacity of researchers for activities beyond the resources available for research projects.

The Evidence Implementation Fund aims to provide funding to support impact from NIHR SSCR’s funded research and its community of researchers, and for non-academic partners to work with academic partners to apply knowledge and evidence in flexible, responsive and creative ways to develop the care and support they provide. This is particularly where resources would help accelerate progress in implementing social care research evidence.

For the purposes of this Call, non-academic partners are those commissioning and/or providing adult social care services including local authorities, charities and the third sector.

Queries

For queries about these awards please email sscr@lse.ac.uk and the most appropriate person will reply as soon as possible.

Should an applicant wish to do so, a meeting can be arranged with a member of the School to discuss their proposal prior to the submission deadline.

REQUIREMENTS / ELIGIBILITY

We are seeking high-quality proposals for funding from non-academic organisations who are committed to utilising research evidence and experience to improve adult social care practice in England.

The expectation is that modest funding would enhance the anticipated outcomes or impact from NIHR SSCR-funded awards directly on social care practice.

Applicants could apply for funding, for example, to:

  • Work with an academic partner to review the resources developed from an NIHR SSCR-funded award and implement these within their organisation/setting
  • Work with an academic partner to implement the recommendations from an NIHR SSCR-funded award
  • Carry out a further piece of work (e.g., further analyses, additional data collection, linking work) that could add value to the outcomes or impact from one or more existing School-funded projects specific to their organisational needs
  • Utilise expertise within NIHR SSCR (e.g. from a project lead or SSCR Fellow) to explore ways to address an organisational or service challenge
  • Utilise expertise to develop strategic processes to improve the way care and support services are managed or delivered
  • Develop partnerships to support evidence implementation.

Funding to evaluate the impact of NIHR SSCR-funded evidence and initiatives in social care practice settings would be eligible.

This is not an exhaustive list, and other relevant activities can be proposed. The Fund should not be used for new research. Proposals need to act as “added value” and not to backfill for activity that is, or should, already be taking place.

Applicants will need to make a strong case to NIHR SSCR for the proposed plan for their award with a clear commitment to using and implementing School-funded evidence to improve adult social care.

FURTHER PARTICULARS

Selection criteria

Proposals will be assessed using the following criteria:

  • A strong case for impact to improve adult social care practice in England;
  • Use and implementation of School‐funded evidence and/or NIHR SSCR expertise;
  • Clear aims, objectives and understanding of the issues to be addressed;
  • Commitment to sustainability in the use and implementation of evidence linked to the proposal beyond the award;
  • Expected outcomes;
  • Practical issues, including timetable and fit with the School’s timetable;
  • Value for money;
  • Appropriate user/carer/practitioner involvement.

Duration of awards

Successful applicants can start from August 2023. Awards must finish no later than 30 April 2024.

The duration of the award should reflect the nature of planned activities and be fully justified.

Funding available

Funding of £100,000 is available for this Call, with the maximum funding available for any one proposal set at £20,000.

Direct costs relating to proposed activities during the award are eligible, including salary costs and other direct costs. It is for the applicant(s) and hosting organisation to determine whether to apply overheads. NIHR SSCR will only fund up to 25% of staff costs as overheads. These should be included as part of the budget requested.

Funding will be paid to the lead organisation.

Future calls

This is a pilot scheme and we do not currently anticipate issuing a further call. Unsuccessful applicants in this round will receive feedback to support future proposals to other funding sources.

Queries

For queries about these awards please email sscr@lse.ac.uk and the most appropriate person will reply as soon as possible.

Should an applicant wish to do so, a meeting can be arranged with a member of the School to discuss their proposal prior to the submission deadline.

APPLICATION PROCESS

This is a one-stage process. Completed proposals should be uploaded and submitted through the School’s website here by is 16.30 on Wednesday 21 June 2023.

Intentions to submit should be completed using the “Intention to Submit” form on the School’s website here by 16.30 on Monday 12 June 2023. This will enable us to plan our administrative work for processing the award.

All proposals will be initially assessed to ensure that they are within the remit of this call, meet required criteria and that the form has been fully completed.

All proposals successfully passing this triage will be reviewed by the NIHR SSCR Commissioning Panel for these Awards.

Applicants will be informed of the outcome of their proposal in mid/late-July 2023.

A contract for successful awards will be issued by LSE to the main host organisation for the award based on standard NIHR SSCR terms.