Call for career development fellowship proposals focusing on quality of life

Arthritis Research UK is committed to improving the quality of life for people with arthritis so that they can say “I am in control, independent and recognised”. In line with our 5 year strategic focus, Arthritis Research UK is providing support for novel and innovative research that has the potential to make a positive and tangible change to the lives of people with arthritis.

To address this priority area for patients, in this fellowship round Arthritis Research UK is seeking applications that focus on pain and fatigue in arthritis and their impact on quality of life. Arthritis Research UK recognises the scale and challenge of research in this area and the scope of this highlight notice is broad. We seek a breadth of research approaches and methodology - some areas of interest are highlighted below, but we would encourage applications beyond this scope:

• Understanding the biological and psychosocial mechanisms that underpin pain and fatigue and how these mechanisms can be targeted, treated or managed in arthritis (including both pharmacological and non-pharmacological approaches)
• Understanding the personal impacts of pain and fatigue in arthritis (to identify unmet needs of people with arthritis and build evidence for the approaches required to address these needs)
• Methods for the quantification and measurement of pain and fatigue in arthritis (including patient reported outcome measures) 
• Understanding and improving intervention compliance and adherence (e.g. to exercise)
• Stratification of patients to aid and guide clinical decisions (including physiological, biological and psychosocial measures).

In addition, to encourage applications from the Nurse and Allied Health Professional community, we welcome fellowship applications beyond pain and fatigue, in areas such as:

• Health services research
• Disease management

Applications should be submitted to the career development fellowship scheme, where a proportion of the funding budget will be prioritised to the area of quality of life. Applications will be assessed by our fellowship implementation committee with further expertise and input where appropriate. Applications will be assessed for excellence and potential impact on quality of life through the usual rigorous peer review and committee processes. 

The next deadline for career development fellowships is 5pm on 17 June 2015.

For further information please contact research@arthritisresearchuk.org. 

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