Research funding helping initial ideas progress

What is Research Funding?

Research funding is defined as a grant obtained to undertake scientific research. A grant is a way ideas and projects can progress with financial assistance. Applications for a grant are usually done as part of a competitive process. Applying for grants and securing funding is an essential part of conducting research.

The two most important components of any research project are the idea and execution. The successful execution of a research project depends not only on the effort of the researcher but also the availability of infrastructure to conduct the research. The infrastructure includes research facilities, equipment and resources required to undertake the research, and the experts.

Once a research project begins, expenses are incurred for both the time of the researchers and the materials required for the research. Funding is essential to meet these monetary requirements.

When studies involve multiple participation centres, are randomised controlled trials, are an experimental or observational study with a large sample size, it may not be possible to conduct the study within the resources of the institution and a source of external funding will be needed. Lack of funding means many great ideas do not progress into good quality research projects.

Below the Belt Research Fund

Great ideas need funding. ANZUP decided to take on the challenge of seeding new projects through the Below the Belt Research Fund. The launch of the Below the Belt Research Fund was announced at the 2nd annual Below the Belt Pedalthon at Eastern Creek in September 2015. Since then, ANZUP and the Below the Belt Events have raised just over $1.96million and supported 36 members to progress their ideas.

Ciara Conduit, a medical oncologist at Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in Melbourne, and Steve McCombie, a urologist at Fiona Stanley Hospital in Perth, are both recipients of the Below the Belt Research Fund.

Ciara is undertaking research with testicular cancer survivors who have had retroperitoneal lymph node dissection. Sometimes after retroperitoneal lymph node dissection (RPLND; surgery involving the lymph nodes at the back of the abdomen), important nerves controlling ejaculation can become disrupted. This results in retrograde ejaculation (RE), where sperm flows back into the bladder instead of through the penis after orgasm. The research being undertaken will investigate how this retrograde ejaculation affects people’s quality of life.

The research Steve is undertaking involves tumour and biopsy tissue samples being telescopically removed from patient’s bladders at several timepoints during their treatment whilst on the ANZUP BCG+MM trial. Along with the research team, Steve plans to perform extensive analyses on these samples to try and determine if it can be predicted which patients may do better with BCG treatment alone, combined BCG and mitomycin treatment, or those that may not be likely to respond to either BCG or the combination.

CIARA CONDUIT AND STEVE McCOMBIE

Both Ciara and Steve acknowledged that it is difficult to obtain grants in hospitals and in the state systems – there are not a vast number available. So, the Below the Belt Research Fund grants provide a good opportunity for those working in urological cancers.

Ciara and Steve believe the Below the Belt Research Fund provides an exciting opportunity for all researchers as a grant can make a big difference and help identify preliminary data. Seed funding will help to propel the researchers to answer initial ideas which will then hopefully move them towards larger grant applications, answering the questions on a larger scale as a fully-fledged trial. They both agree it is important to encourage peers and colleagues to apply for the Below the Belt Research Fund grants that are awarded each year at the ANZUP Annual Scientific Meeting in July. The grant provides an exciting opportunity to make a big difference in urological cancer research.

Steve went on to say, “I am often asked by people who have research ideas how can I bring them forward and I direct them to ANZUP when it is to do with urological cancers, and if it is, then the Below the Belt Research Fund is a really nice idea and a good opportunity for them.”

“Thank you to everyone who has raised funds for the Below the Belt Research Fund. It has really helped us do our projects.” Steve McCombie