1. Managing a research grant (or the bits that nobody tells you) (or a list of the mistakes that I made)
Fergus Doubal
Jan 2010

2. Practicalities
You have already approached a keen supervisor (ask), applied for and received ethical approval and been in touch with the R and D dep.
You have applied for and won an award to fund you for three years
You have 287,000 sterling
What do you do after you have found a catchy name?

3. Data collection (without data you are nothing)
What are you going to collect?
Who will collect it?
Can you trust them?
Do not take too much but critical not to miss out key information
Keep forms to one/two pages if possible
Ensure collectable

4. Data collection (cont)
Try and get quantitative data ie numbers or yes/no
Definitions key – write them down
Avoid free text (but have at least one box)
Think ahead – plan analyses at beginning (which often means early statistician involvement)
Keep it simple and thoughtful

6. Data Protection Data protection Anonymize data
Do not use memory sticks
Do not identifiable data
Watch out for hard drives on laptops
Be careful about ing linked documents

7. Entering data Dull But you need to be sure accurate
Ask expert to help design database
Anonymise data
Make a data dictionary

8. Data backup Enlist IT help
Paper copies of everything (therefore can be re-constructed if all computers fail)
Backup up daily
Errors – unavoidable but need system of data checking – can be various methods

9. The patient bit Who? How? When? Why should they do it?
Money (also mention for the hospital)
Company
Interested
Altruism
Might improve their care

10. The patient bit Patients are patients first and researchees second
Research must tie in with clinical
Use simple information sheets
Carefully design consent forms

11. Consent forms/information sheets
Important
Need to tell the pt what will be done with the data
Why they have been chosen
Good/bad points
Can they refuse
Remember to say that data may be shared

15. Site folders For external review Includes key papers
Ethics, information leaflets, consent forms, delegation logs, research proposals, protocols for everything, definitions

16. Information flow Fellow to patient Patient to fellow Fellow to GP
GP to fellow
Patients often keen to hear results

17. Animals Special case Need welfare licences
Need to meet certain criteria for animal husbandry
Need to meet standards for experimental design

18. Finishing up a project Make definite stop dates/targets
Then stop (and stay stopped)
Analyse
Publish – beware of author lists
Reports for funding bodies
Tie up loose ends
Publish and then “sit back and bask in a warm glow safe in the knowledge that that it has all finished and you have made a significant contribution to alleviating medical suffering”
PS just ask somebody for help PTO

19. Good points Autonomy Publishing a paper
Talking at a meeting and somebody else being interested
Being the first to know something