Useful Documents to help with your application

Funding applications are reviewed by both the Lay Research Panel and Research Committee. The application form contains a section for a Lay Summary, please make sure this does not contain any technical language and is understandable for a non-scientific audience. Please see our Tips for Writing a Lay Summary.

• Alopecia UK Research Funding Code of Practice
• Alopecia UK Research Integrity Policy
• Alopecia UK Open Access Policy

Patient and Public Involvement (PPI)

We encourage the active involvement of people with lived experience of alopecia in all stages of research, including proposal development. To make the most of these types of activities, please see our PPI guide: 

Good practice guide to involving people affected by alopecia in research

To request patient and public involvement support with your application, please complete the relevant section of our request form and return it to [email protected], or get in touch for any queries. 

Patient and Public Participation, Involvement and Engagement request form

Terms and Conditions

Before considering making an application, please read through our Terms and Conditions of Award.  All applicants and the involved institutions should agree to accept and adhere to the grant conditions, including intellectual property and revenue-sharing elements, before making an application.

Expert Review Policy

We adhere to the Association of Medical Research Charities principles of expert review to ensure we fund research of the highest quality and relevance to patients. As members of the AMRC we also support their position statements on the use of animals in research, the importance of involvement in research, the use of patient data, bolstering charity-university partnerships, and embedding research in the NHS. 

Applications are subject to both scientific review through our Research Committee, and lay (expert by experience) review through our Lay Research Panel. Applications are also subject to a number of external peer reviews, depending on the size of the grant. Applications are assessed on criteria including:

• Priority, relevance, scientific merit, and novelty of the proposed project
• Quality of the research design and methodology
• Feasibility and suitability of the research environment
• Involvement of patients and the public 
• Value for money

Following individual reviewing, a Research Committee meeting is held to discuss the applications. Lay Research Panel members are invited to join the meeting to contribute patient perspectives on the applications. During this meeting, recommendations for funding are made to our Board of Trustees. Our Conflict of Interest Policy outlines our commitment to ensuring research applications are assessed objectively and impartially. 

Charity Research Support Fund (CRSF)

Alopecia UK does not fund any indirect costs of research. However, through our membership of the AMRC, grant holders may be eligible for extra support from the Charity Research Support Fund (CRSF). The CRSF underpins charity investment in university research across England. The fund enables universities to leverage research funding from charities; it means researchers who receive charitable funding can recover the ‘indirect’ costs of research that charities do not pay. These costs include estates, shared IT and administration overheads.

NIHR Research Delivery Network (RDN) support

Alopecia UK is an NIHR RDN Non-commercial Partner. This means the studies that we fund may be eligible to access the NIHR Study Support Service which is provided by the NIHR Research Delivery Network within the NHS, and the wider public health and social care environment, across England.

The NIHR Research Delivery Network supports researchers and the life sciences industry to plan, place and perform high quality research to agreed timescales and study recruitment targets, for the benefit of patients and the public, within the NHS, public health and social care system. 

In partnership with your local R&D office, we encourage you to involve your Regional Research Delivery Network in discussions as early as possible when planning your study. This will allow you to fully benefit from the support available through the NIHR Study Support Service. To find out more about how you can apply for this additional support to help deliver your study, please visit the NIHR Study Support Service webpage. 

If your study involves NHS sites in England or Wales you will need to apply for Health Research Authority Approval. For guidance on submitting an application, please visit: www.hra.nhs.uk. For NHS research led from Scotland or Nothern Ireland, approval should be gained through NHS Research Scotland or HSC Northern Ireland, respectively. 

Animal research

We do not take decisions on funding animal research lightly. As members of the Association of Medical Research Charities (AMRC) we support their position statement on the use of animals in research. This means we support the principle of using animals in research when necessary, to advance understanding and treatment of serious health conditions, where there is no alternative that can be used. All applications for funding we receive are subject to a rigorous expert review process. Alopecia UK endorses the principle of the 3Rs which means that every effort must be made to replace the use of live animals with non-animal alternatives; to reduce the number of animals used in research; and refine procedures so that the degree of suffering for animals is kept to an absolute minimum. Researchers proposing to use animals are required to explain how they will address the 3Rs of reduction, replacement and refinement, as basic principles of humane animal research. This includes high standards of animal welfare, including housing conditions, and well-trained animal technologists, to minimise discomfort for animals and enable researchers to get reliable results. Through our membership of AMRC we continually review our funding practices to encourage best practice and development of animal alternatives. 

More useful resources

• The Participant Information Quality Standards and Design and Review Principles from the Health Research Authority can be useful for developing patient-facing materials, including Participant Information Sheets, Consent forms, and preparing for ethics review.