Review process
Borne is a member of the Association of Medical Research Charities and follows their guidelines for best practice in peer review. All of our projects undergo a rigorous review process.
Triage
Applicants are invited to complete and submit an Expression of Interest (EoI) form in the first instance.
The expression of interest will be reviewed by Borne’s Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) to:
- Ensure that the proposal aligns with Borne’s scientific and strategic interests
- Identify that it is competitive
- Evaluate methodology to confirm if suitable
Applicants that pass triage will then be required to complete a full application form. Applications for grants of up to £50,000 will be reviewed internally by the SAB. Applications for grants above £50,000 will be sent out for external peer review.
External Peer Review
Experts are asked to score and comment on the project based on:
- Quality of the research and methods proposed
- Research environment and logistics
- Resources requested
- Data management plan
- Credentials of the investigator group
Applicants will be forwarded comments from external peer reviews and be given the opportunity to respond in writing in advance of the awarding decision.
SAB Evaluation
SAB grant review meetings are held three times a year where applications and peer review feedback are discussed before funding recommendations are made to the Board.
Awarding Decision
The Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) evaluates the expert reviews and scoring, any responses of applicants to the expert reviews and decides if a project should be recommended for funding. Applications recommended for funding by the SAB are presented to the charity’s trustees for final approval.
Once the project has been approved, we draw up a contract which stipulates monitoring and evaluation. This includes regular data collection.
We also ask all funded researchers to complete an in-depth end of grant report.