The Healthcare Technologies theme has prioritised funding to support novel investigator-led projects. We are inviting investigator-led proposals and intend to batch these through the year. This will allow prioritisation panel membership to better reflect the expertise required to assess the multidisciplinary, team science and impact considerations which are a common feature of high quality Healthcare Technologies research.
Proposals submitted to this call should clearly articulate the novel Engineering and Physical Sciences aspects of the proposed research project and how it will deliver the Healthcare Technologies theme strategy, and/or the investment priorities within the Healthy Nation of the EPSRC delivery plan. We would particularly like to encourage research projects which address the priorities of “Transform community health and care” and “Improve prevention and public health”.
Proposals submitted in response to this call are expected to describe:
- High quality projects where the novel engineering and physical sciences component comprises the majority of the proposed research;
- Multidisciplinary teams with the appropriate mix of skills and expertise for state of the art engineering and physical sciences research combined with a full understanding of user needs or “pull”;
- Alignment to relevant EPSRC strategies for Healthcare Technologies and how they will deliver aspects of the strategies;
- An identified health need that will be addressed through the project, and how the research outcomes will lead to improved clinical practice and/or offer significant added value over current or alternative healthcare solutions;
- How the proposed research and associated impact activities have been designed to support and shorten the pathway to impact in health. Additional support for specific activities to consider and resource through the pathways to impact part of the proposal can be found on the EPSRC website
If a proposal does not align to relevant Healthcare Technologies strategies, and/or does not describe a good understanding of the pathway to impact of research in health, with appropriate activities and collaborations in place to support that pathway, EPSRC reserves the right to refer the proposal to the most appropriate capability theme (i.e. Engineering, Information and communication technologies (ICT), Physical Sciences or Mathematical Sciences), in Standard Research, without reference to the applicant(s).
Provided there is sufficient demand at each batching date we will convene a Healthcare Technologies focused prioritisation panel. If there is insufficient demand at any given batching date, proposals submitted in response to this call will be considered at the most appropriate capability theme panel meeting and the Healthcare Technologies theme will work with the capability theme to ensure that there is as far as possible appropriate expertise on the panel to assess the key features of Healthcare Technologies research.
Proposals submitted after the batching date, or those that do not have sufficient reviews in time for the panel, will be held until the next batching date or an appropriate capability theme panel.