ENGINEERING AND PHYSICAL SCIENCES RESEARCH COUNCIL Healthcare Technologies Strategy TOWN MEETING, APRIL 14 th 2015 Aug 2014 Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
Healthcare Technologies 29%of current portfolio jointly funded with other funders
Healthcare Technologies Vision Accelerating research impacts in Engineering and the Physical Sciences towards Healthcare applications by: Building critical mass around UK research strengths in computational, engineering mathematical and physical sciences that underpin healthcare Maximising business, charity and clinical engagement in research thereby increasing translation to products / practices
Healthcare Technologies- success features Focussing on the highest priority healthcare challenges and the research capabilities that will address them; Partnerships with other funders to encourage translational research and open up pathways to impact; Providing support for environments that promote multidisciplinary research and training; Stimulating creative and transformational approaches to address unmet clinical needs and improve patient outcomes.
Healthcare Technologies Strategy
Developing Future Therapies Supporting the development of novel therapies with technologies to enhance efficacy, minimise costs and reduce risk to patients. Through this challenge we aim to support the novel engineering, ICT, mathematical and physical sciences research required to develop the drug, biological, cell and regenerative therapies of 2050. Research supported by EPSRC will seek to enhance the efficacy and precision of therapies, improve the efficiency of discovery, lower the cost of manufacturing and reduce the risk to patients from side effects
Frontiers of Physical Intervention Restoring function, and optimising surgery and other physical interventions to achieve high precision with minimal invasiveness. Through this challenge we aim to support the novel engineering, ICT, mathematical and physical sciences research required to develop prostheses and devices to restore normal function, and develop precise, minimally invasive physical interventions to repair damage or remove disease. Interventions may include established techniques such as surgery, radiotherapy or high field ultrasound, but we also encourage new approaches to physical treatment.
Optimising Treatment Optimising care through effective diagnosis, patient-specific prediction and evidencebased intervention. Through this challenge we aim to support the novel engineering, ICT, mathematical and physical sciences research required to optimise treatment for the individual, improving health outcomes. Research supported by EPSRC will focus on technologies for timely and accurate diagnosis, stratification, predictive modelling, and realtime, evidence-based decision making. The aim is the right treatment at the right time.
Transforming Community Health and Care Using real-time information to support selfmanagement of health and wellbeing, and to facilitate timely interventions. Research supported by EPSRC will seek to integrate, interpret and communicate information from multiple sources, including realtime sensing, to help individuals stay healthy, and support a collaborative model of care involving patients, healthcare professionals and informal carers. This should empower individuals to self-manage effectively, and facilitate timely intervention when necessary.
Cross-cutting research capabilities (1) Advanced materials Development, characterisation & processing of advanced materials with novel chemical, physical or mechanical properties, for health-related applications. Disruptive technologies for sensing and analysis Innovative sensing systems or analytical technologies that could have a transformative impact on prediction, diagnosis and monitoring in healthcare. Future manufacturing technologies Technologies that will enable health-related manufacturing processes, products and systems to function with high precision, efficiency, reliability and repeatability.
Cross-cutting research capabilities (2) Medical device design and innovation Design, development, evaluation and production of costeffective, reliable and effective medical devices. Novel computational and mathematical sciences Development of innovative computational and mathematical methods for prediction, analysis and modelling in healthcare. Novel imaging technologies Development of next generation imaging technologies for diagnostic, monitoring and therapeutic applications; with improved accuracy, affordability and incorporating new modalities.
EPSRC in the healthcare landscape MRC (including UK Regenerative Medicine Platform, Biomedical Catalyst, AMR) EPSRC, BBSRC Basic Discovery and Idea Research Invention and Prototype Preclinical Research Early Clinical Trials Late Clinical Trials Regulatory Decision Product Launch Post product Monitoring Innovate UK, including Health KTN, Biomedical Catalyst, Cell Therapy & Precision Medicine Catapult, Innovation Platforms (Stratified Medicine, Assisted Living ) National Centre for the Replacement Refinement and Reduction of Animals In Research (NC3Rs) Wellcome Trust, Cancer Research UK DoH, including NIHR HTCs, NHS England and AHSNs
Impact and translation toolkit To encourage researchers to embed thinking about translation and impact into the planning and development of research. Highlights a number of topics for researchers to consider: Ethics Health economics and evaluation Public engagement Regulation Research project design Responsible innovation User engagement
Using the Impact and translation toolkit Resources may be requested and could form part of the pathways to impact for proposals, Will be key part of future HT calls for proposals Investigator led proposals proposing impacts in health will be encouraged to consider these topics to accelerate the research impacts towards healthcare applications
What can be requested on Pathways to Impact? Employment of specialist knowledge transfer staff, consultancy fees, publication and marketing costs, public engagement activity, engagement events, networking activities, people exchange, etc.
Support particularly relevant to Healthcare Expertise and costs associated with seeking regulatory guidance and regulatory engagement e.g. with MHRA Engagement and/or dissemination workshops to aid translation e.g. involving patients or clinicians Public engagement / Public dialogue on ethics and responsible innovation e.g. in regenerative medicine Patient acceptability work Good Clinical Practice training Health economics to demonstrate potential benefits Good manufacturing practice training to allow integration of GMP considerations into research proposals Proof of Concept (PoC) studies i.e. where initial data from a small amount of tests is being gathered to validate and inform the continual development of a technology developed as part of the project. Such studies are expected to be the end point of an EPSRC proposal, and act as an initial validation of feasibility before further funding is sought elsewhere.
Clinical Eligibility Individuals employed by eligible Independent Research Organisations (IROs) may apply to EPSRC as investigators. See http://www.rcuk.ac.uk/funding/eligibilityforrcs/ for the current list of IROs. Salaries of investigators or research staff may only be requested from EPSRC if the individual is employed by a university (or other eligible HEI). An individual who is employed (and paid) by both a university and the NHS is eligible to be an investigator on an EPSRC grant, however only the university portion of their salary may be requested. Their Je-S account should reflect their university appointment. Individuals employed full-time by the NHS with an honorary university position may be an investigator on an EPSRC grant, their time on the project should be shown correctly on the Je-S form but no salary costs should be requested. Their Je-S account should reflect their university appointment. NHS employees without a university position (joint or honorary) may be included on an EPSRC grant either: As a Project Partner offering their time as in-kind support; As a consultant; their time should be charged to the grant and included on the Je-S form under Directly Incurred Other Costs. EPSRC will only pay 80% of these costs. Costs for clinical postdoctoral researchers may not be requested from EPSRC if they will be employed by a hospital. Funding for research nurses/technicians may be requested from EPSRC and should be fully justified. If they are a university employee their time should be included on the Je-S form under Directly Incurred Staff Costs. If they are a hospital employee they should be included under Directly Incurred Other Costs.
Project Partners Project partners are not mandatory on EPSRC grants, however in the case of health related research we ask you to consider whether the engagement of clinicians and/or industry might be appropriate or useful in your proposed research. NHS hospitals and trusts may be named as Project Partners on EPSRC proposals, and we encourage you to seek the engagement of such partners where appropriate. Where a department from the same organisation as the named investigators is contributing to the project in the manner of a Project Partner they may not be listed as such on the Je-S form. However, a letter of support may be provided. This should follow the guidance for Statements of Support from Project Partners (http://www.epsrc.ac.uk/funding/guidance/preparing/pages/lettersofsupport.asp x). Statements of support must be submitted from all Project Partners, this should follow the guidance at http://www.epsrc.ac.uk/funding/guidance/preparing/pages/lettersofsupport.aspx. Project Partners may not financially benefit from an EPSRC grant therefore travel and subsistence costs may not be requested for Project Partners. The exception to this is if Project Partners are members of an advisory board and are the expenses are incurred as part of this role.
Responsible Innovation seeks to promote creativity and opportunities for science and innovation that are socially desirable and undertaken in the public interest. acknowledges, that innovation can raise questions and dilemmas, is often ambiguous in terms of purposes and motivations and unpredictable in terms of impacts, beneficial or otherwise. creates spaces and processes to explore these aspects of innovation in an open, inclusive and timely way. Anticipate, Reflect, Engage, Act
Implementing our strategy 2015-16 3 EPSRC led calls to initiate strategy delivery in 15-16: Healthcare Technologies Challenge Awards Translational Alliance Partnerships NetworkPlus
Implementing our strategy 2015-16 CRUK/EPSRC Multidisciplinary Awards 37.5M initiative over 5 years Encouraging collaborations between cancer researchers and the EPS community Aligns to future therapies and optimising treatment GCs Developing non-animal technologies CR&D competition Led by Innovate UK with partners: BBSRC, EPSRC, MRC and NC3Rs Aligns to future therapies GC Antimicrobial Resistance Led by MRC with partners: BBSRC, EPSRC, Aligns to future therapies and Frontiers of Physical Intervention GCs
Implementing our strategy 2015-16 Building critical mass primarily through platform and programme grants in partnership with capability programmes (Engineering, Physical Sciences, ICT, Mathematical Sciences) Strategic investments so alignment to GCs will be expected. Standard proposals, First Grants Increased emphasis on good practice in impact and translation using the toolkit for HT funding. Less emphasis on GCs as this the route for investigator led research ideas.
Implementing our strategy- fellowships Current HT fellowships priorities will be withdrawn from 1 Oct 2015 Will be replaced with a new call aligned to theme priorities. Open priorities in EPSRC relevant to health include: Digital Economy Engineering Advancing the Understanding and Development of the Internet of Things for the Digital Economy Advanced Materials Engineering Assistive technology, rehabilitation and MSK biomechanics ICT Manufacturing the Future Mathematical Sciences Physical Sciences Robotics and Autonomous Systems (joint with ICT) Working Together Scale up methodologies for novel manufacturing products and processes New Connections from Mathematical Sciences Statistics and Applied Probability Analytical Science
Implementing our strategy- fellowships Fuller list of priority areas relevant to health Theme Digital Economy Engineering Priority area Advancing the Understanding and Development of the Internet of Things for the Digital Economy Advanced Materials Engineering Assistive technology, rehabilitation and musculoskeletal biomechanics ICT Manufacturing the Future Mathematical Sciences Physical Sciences Across all themes Control Engineering Microsystems Performance and Inspection of Mechanical Structures and Systems Robotics and Autonomous Systems (joint with ICT) Software development for novel Engineering research Synthetic Biology Working Together Scale up methodologies for novel manufacturing products and processes Sustainable Feedstocks (e.g. biopharmaceuticals) Mathematical Aspects of Operational Research New Connections from Mathematical Sciences Statistics and Applied Probability Analytical Science Chemical Biology and Biological Chemistry Grand Challenges - Understanding the Physics of Life Complexity Science
The next 6-9 months Government EPSRC May 2015 Sep 2015 Dec 2015 Election Spending review bidding process Spending review announced SR results Budget allocation Autumn Statement Science budget allocations Delivery Plan published March 2016
Implementing our strategy 2016-21 The strategic framework is the first step An opportunity to influence our future calls and priorities We re looking for your ideas today and in the future What are the breakthroughs that new EPS can enable, and what do we need to make that happen? Big ideas and quick wins Longer term challenges that need sustained investment and capability building
Resources that will be available after the meeting: All of you here committed to disseminating the HT strategy within your organisations We will place pdfs of all todays presentations and notes at the web page below by the end of April. http://www.epsrc.ac.uk/newsevents/events/healthcaretechgcto wnmeeting/ We will email all of you, and all those that applied to attend when this goes live
EPSRC Healthcare Technologies Theme Annette Bramley Theme lead (Overall strategy, budget) Nick Cook Senior Portfolio Manager (Impact) Katie Daniel Senior Portfolio Manager (Regenerative therapies, Grand Challenges) Anne Farrow Senior Portfolio Manager (Leaders, Technologies for a healthy lifecourse) Sarah Hobbs Portfolio Manager (Digital technologies, ICT) Mark Tarplee Portfolio Manager (Medical Imaging, Maths/Engineering) Victoria Marlow Portfolio Manager (AMR, Novel therapeutics, drug delivery, Phys Sci) Martin Champion Portfolio Manager (Assistive Technologies, Medical devices, Engineering) Sarah Ashwood Portfolio Manager (Clinical tech & Biomaterials and tissue Engineering) Sian Giles, Heather Winsor, Linda Norris Support Team Firstname.lastname@epsrc.ac.uk; healthcare@epsrc.ac.uk; EPSRC_remit_queries@epsrc.ac.uk