DPFS Resource request (King s College London)

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The application of basic medical research results to improve the health of patients is a main goal of modern medical science. In order to do this, it is essential that we identify the best scientific ideas that can lead to the development of novel therapies and improved ways to diagnose diseases and predict the effectiveness of different treatments. The development or translation of these basic discoveries into applications (translational research) is the aim of the MRC?s Developmental Pathway Funding Scheme (DPFS). King?s College London is committed to translational research and has invested heavily in both staff and facilities to promote and support our activities in this area. Given the strong interest in translational research at King?s, we expect that our scientists will submit a large number of applications to the scheme and that we will have a significant number of funded projects running. The DPFS projects have in-built milestones, which can be used to measure progress of the research, and Go/No Go points where the project can be stopped if the expected progress is not achieved. Most academic scientists have limited experience in such translational, milestone based projects. We are requesting underpinning resources for devolved portfolio support to recruit a member of portfolio support staff to manage the King?s applications and funded projects. A member of portfolio support staff based at King?s will be able to interact with the scientists prior to applying for DPFS grants to ensure that proposals have a strong translational potential with realistic milestones and decisions points. Locally based staff will oversee the King?s projects and assist the scientists with project management. This oversight will allow the progress of each project to be closely monitored to ensure that projects remain on-track and that any potential problems can be identified and remedied at an early stage. The deployment of King?s based portfolio support staff will benefit both King?s and the MRC. King?s based portfolio support staff will assist applicants in the drafting of their translational proposals and so improve the quality and relevance of applications. Portfolio support staff will therefore benefit both King?s and the MRC by increasing the number of high quality DPFS projects and by maximizing the probability that they achieve their goals or are terminated at an appropriate early stage. A devolved portfolio will also reduce the burden on MRC Head Office of overseeing projects at King?s.