University of Cambridge Funding Roadshow 22/11/2006

On Wednesday I attended a funding roadshow at the University of Cambridge, this was attended by all the major funders such as the Research Councils, Cancer Research UK, Wellcome Trust and ourselves. It was a chance to provide information on funding opportunities to postgraduate researchers and academics at the University. The day proved to be very lucrative in a number of ways, it gained access to an area where RDInfo is less known, enabled ourselves to form a new partnership with the Research Services Division as well as helping make contact with the major funders also displaying there. I felt the day was really beneficial and can only help to promote our services further in the Cambridge area.

Articles

We have recently offered via our profiling service to registered users the opportunity for RDInfo to provide an article to be published in their newsletters. Derbyshire Mental Health Services Trust have taken ourselves up on the offer. So i will keep the blog posted as to when this will be published and where we can find it.

CPHVA Proves a Huge Success

Following the CPHVA (Community Practitioners' and Health Visitors' Association) Conference on the 18th-20th October 2006 RDFunding has seen an increase of new registrants to the profiling service. The conference was a huge success with a lot of interest shown in our services.

Merseyside and Chester Cancer Research Network

Further to my post dated 26th September 2006 regarding the invite to do a funding workshop for Merseyside and Chester Cancer Research Network, i have now done the workshop on the 9th October 2006 and what a success it has been! There were representatives from various trusts, PCT's etc across Chester and Merseyside who were all impressed by the workshop and presentation. All attendees are now going to spread the word of RDInfo to their colleagues which is great way of getting our information out there. Lynda Appleton who organised the event has also asked for a copy of the presentation and the chance to put links on the Network's website which will go out to a larger audience. I have also made arrangements with Lynda to continue this support and collaboration on an ongoing basis.

Funding Workshop

RDFunding has been recommended by Health R&D NoW to provide a funding workshop for the Merseyside and Chester Cancer Network Group. The group have been looking for a while for advice and guidance on looking for and applying for funding and Ruth Hunter from Health R&D NoW recommended RDFunding as the perfect choice to fulfil the needs of the Group. A date has been arranged and I will provide a workshop on the 9th October 2006 for approximately 30 people. This is great and shows how other organisations such as Health R&D NoW have faith in our knowledge and the services we provide.

Feedback

I attended a conference on the 15th September 2006 at Airedale Conference where I received the following feedback from Maryann Hardy, a Senior Lecturer from the University of Bradford:
" RDInfo is an easy to use website, which provides through RDFunding an excellent weekly email update service. It also provides an excellent Research Process Flowchart which is useful to both my fellow colleagues and students. I would definitely recommend RDInfo to any future fellow colleagues or students who have not heard about your services before".

Great Feedback from the British Menopause Society

Anne Tandy from the British Menopause Society contacted RDLearning to advertise some forthcoming conferences organised by the BMS on our website. Anne initially heard about our service when we wrote to her in July informing her that we had posted details of a different BMS event on RDLearning.

Anne said that she was impressed by the service and by the fact that it is free and said the British Menopause Society will be using RDLearning as a tool to promote future events including the annual conference next year.

College of Occupational Therapists

RDFunding has had a long standing good working relationship with the College of Occupational Therapists, who continually contact us to keep their listings upto date. Due to this good relationship the College contacted RDFunding on the 16th August to ask for our permission to distribute the prestigious Research Process Flowchart to 40 delegates who were attending a Research Governance event. Of course we have given them the green light and are delighted that they are using our services to full capacity.

RDLearning featured in a PPI Handbook

RDLearning has been featured in a guide for health regulators to guide their work in Patient and Public Involvement. The document produced by the Joint Health & Social Care Regulators’ Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) Group will be called A PPI Good Practice Handbook for UK Health Care Regulators. The document is in draft form at the moment. Once published, a link to the document will be provided in this blog.

Funding for Research into Learning Disabilities

RDFunding was contacted by Annie Hammerton, Research and Development Assistant, Colchester Primary Care Trust, on the 1st August 2006 to find some funding to conduct a study on Learning Disabilities. I found nine possible sources of funding for Annie to apply to and as a result Annie sent the following comments:

"Thanks Claire, very helpful indeed - in fact I can't tell you how helpful this has been"

I will keep the blogger updated on how Annie gets on!

Welcome to RDFunding

Comments from Dr Anita Hall, Department of Biological Sciences, Imperial College London, on discovering the RDFunding website:

“Fantastic resource - thank you very much; I'll spread the news"

RDFunding Special Editions

RDFundng Special Editions have been updated and include areas of interest such as, Stem Cells, Cancer, Diabetes and many more. There are also special editions available for specific professions such as Nurses and Midwives, Dentistry, Allied Health Professions plus many more. We also produce specials editions for Fellowships, Studentships and travel awards. These can all be found on our website.

RDFunding Newsletter

The July 2006 Newsletter is now available via the website with details of forthcoming funding opportunities.

RDFunding : Success Story

In November 2004 Dr David Porter, The Scientific Director at the New Oxford Centre for Enablement (disability) was looking for funding to conduct research entitled “Does the use of a knee block influence hip deformity, functional ability and pain in children with bilateral cerebral palsy?” Dr Porter had used RDFunding previously and decided to have a look to find details of possible funding sources. The search turned up details of Remedi, Cerebra and Action Research. I am happy to report that following submissions to Remedi and Cerebra in April 2006 Dr Porter was successful in securing funding for this project.

RDLearning

The Primary Care Training Centre found out about us because people were contacting them concering their courses which they had found on our website.
They had not heard of us before, but will now provide information on all their courses.

RDDirect

One of the statisticians recruited from a directory of Academic Statisticians provided by Swansea University moved back to Africa but agreed to remain on our list of advisors.

Two new enquiries from Kenya (May 2006) seeking help with statistics were referred to him.