How to deal with unsuccessful research bids and what to do next
After all the work invested in a nursing research proposal, it is dispiriting if it is rejected for a grant, but our tips and advice can help you succeed
Research income from external grants or fellowships has become the exemplary metric of an individual's research success (Moore et al 2017, Edwards 2022) because to do the research you need the funding.
With every research proposal which becomes a bid for a fellowship or grant, there comes a great deal of emotional labour. You want the funding; you need it to do your research and believe that your question and bid is of the upmost importance to the funder; it is highly valuable to the profession and, most importantly, the patient group. That is until the email arrives to say ‘sorry’, but you were unsuccessful, and it initially feels like all that emotional labour was for nothing.
Let’s go through the motions. You are sure these were the right funders and your research was addressing the needs of their call. All bases were covered: experienced team; experts in the field clinically and methodologically; early stakeholder engagement in the process; clear early input from patient and public involvement and engagement (PPIE); and a demonstration of how you would achieve equity and equality within the sample of potential participants.
No matter how good you feel your research bid is, it is down to what the reviewers think
Your bid feels well-written, it is carefully costed, and the budget is sensible, your Gantt chart is as realistic as it can be, and the application is carefully proof-read. It is submitted on time in the correct way, you have congratulated your team of co-applicants on pulling it all together, and they have wished you the best of luck, so you then you just await the outcome.
The truth is, no matter how good you feel your bid is, it is about what the reviewers think and how much money is available in that funding call. Your research application might be reviewed as good quality, important in the field and good value for money, but if there are several bids still considered better than yours, with a limited financial resource, you might still be unsuccessful.
As a nurse you are recognised as an under-represented discipline in research. In the National Health and Care Research (NIHR) programmes of Research for Patient Benefit funding, nurses and midwives combined only have an 8% success rate for funding (NIHR 2022) whereas our medically qualified colleagues have a 41% success rate.
So has there been a lack of equity for nurses? Meaning has it been harder to achieve funding? If it has, then the figures show that this is equally problematic for our allied health professional (AHP) colleagues too. Figures from 2017 highlighted that 4.6% of medical consultants were clinical academics, whereas the figure for nurses, midwives and AHPs was 0.1% (NIHR 2023a).
What should you do if your research bid is unsuccessful?
Despite often thinking of the time spent on an unsuccessful grant as ‘wasted’ (Barnett et al 2015), a starting point might be to recognise that a lack of success does not mean failure. Most successful research bids have been submitted multiple times before achieving that success and have evolved and developed for the better by responding to feedback. If a reviewer provides feedback on ways to improve your proposal, take it seriously and improve your bid for the next submission.
Be proactive, identify the funder and the call early, give yourself as much time as possible to work on developing what you are writing. If you are reacting late to a call, is it going to bring out your best bid, or should you delay rather than rush a bid into a late call? You could start with a checklist.
Research funding checklist
- Right funder (is it a themed call?)
- Right question and methods
- Right candidate as student, fellow or principal investigator
- Right higher education institution or hospital or trust (strong in that field of investigation?)
- Right team of co-investigators (good experience of topic and methodology)
- Demonstrate you have involved patient and public involvement and engagement (PPIE) and wider stakeholders (from the start) (NIHR 2019)
- Ensure inclusivity through co-design (stakeholders and PPIE) (NIHR 2021)
- Use you regional research support service wisely
- Ensure you have a clear dissemination plan (use knowledge mobilisation strategies) (NIHR 2024)
- Where possible consider implementation strategies
- Demonstrate transparent costings and value for money
Funding programme offers new hope for budding researchers
There is hope on the horizon. You could say now is the time to be an under-represented discipline, as the NIHR has developed a funding programme allocating £30 million per year, for five years, to increase research opportunities for the non-medical (under-represented) disciplines. With an aim to develop highly skilled researchers and research leaders, the focus is on providing opportunities for all levels of research experience.
Supported by NHS England in a delivery partner role, the initiative aims to develop undergraduates in the national engagement programme (INSIGHT) and create more internships and bursaries for early career researchers along with the expansion of the pre-doctoral fellowship and continuing with doctoral fellowships.
For those at a post-doctoral level there will be a new fellowship, and a continuation of the Clinical Research Leaders Programme (NIHR 2023b).
Do not give up, with more opportunities on the way, now is the time, and if at first you do not succeed, try, try again.
References
- Barnett AG, Graves N, Clarke P et al (2015) The impact of a streamlined funding application process on application time: Two cross-sectional surveys of Australian researchers. BMJ Open. 5, 1, 1–6
- Edwards R (2022) Why do academics do unfunded research? Resistance, compliance and identity in the UK neo-liberal university. Studies in Higher Education. 47, 4, 904–914
- Moore S, Neylon C, Eve M et al (2017) ‘Excellence R Us’: University research and the fetishisation of excellence. Palgrave Communications, 3, 1–13
- NIHR (2019) PPI (Patient and Public Involvement) Resources for Applicants to NIHR Research Programmes
- NIHR (2021) Guidance on Co-producing a Research Project
- NIHR (2022) RfPB Under-represented Disciplines and Specialisms Highlight Notice: Nurses and Midwives – Call Specification
- NIHR (2023a) Extra £30m a year to boost research careers for healthcare professionals
- NIHR (2023b) NIHR Senior Clinical and Practitioner Research Award (SCPRA) Round 1 Guidance Notes
- NIHR (2024) Plan Knowledge Mobilisation
