This week, as the global research community celebrates Peer Review Week, we’re shining a light on the experts or peer reviewers who help us to ensure that we’re funding the best and most promising research ideas. These scientists and healthcare professionals volunteer their time and knowledge to be members of our Biomedical Research Advisory Panel (BRAP) or Healthcare Research Advisory Panel (HRAP). These panels carefully evaluate research funding applications, ranking them against rigorous criteria, to ensure we fund the most promising and innovative MND research. This year we have had 180 peer reviews from 20 members of the advisory panels.
But what does being a member of BRAP involve? To find out, we spoke with Professor Rob Layfield from the University of Nottingham about his experience as a previous BRAP member.
What is BRAP and what does the panel do?
The BRAP is the Biomedical Research Advisory Panel and that’s a panel that the MND Association have that makes decisions on research funding. It considers research applications from researchers across the UK and manages the whole process. It looks at peer review, so that’s other experts making comments and suggestions about the research, and essentially it helps the Association decide where to invest their research funding in the highest priority research projects.
What was your role in BRAP?
I was a panel member of BRAP until fairly recently. My job was in the peer assessment of research, so that’s looking at proposals from other research groups in the UK. We do that in an entirely independent way, and what we’re trying to ensure is that the funding that’s raised through the MND Association goes to the most appropriate, most timely research and the research with the most potential to make a difference.
Why did you volunteer to be on the panel?
I volunteered to be on the panel because it’s about giving something back to the community. In Nottingham, we’ve benefited from research funding from the MND Association. Actually, it’s a lot of work in terms of monitoring research, deciding what the research priorities are, what should be funded. So it’s only right that we in the community also spend time helping assess and helping building the research capacity that the MND Association supports.
How does involvement in BRAP help MND researchers and their work?
It really helps people being involved in the BRAP because it gives you greater awareness for a start. You start to be able to form new connections, you have the potential to put groups in touch who might not necessarily be talking to each other. So at an early stage you’ve got a surveillance on the kind of research developing, the ideas that are being put together. One of the things that BRAP does is it tries, not only to make a judgement on research, but it also tries to improve research and make those new connections, collaborations that might not be immediately apparent to people who are independently applying for funding.
We would like to say thank you to Rob for taking the time to chat with us about his experience of BRAP, and a huge thank you to everyone who has volunteered their time to be peer reviewers on our BRAP and HRAP panels. You are vital to making sure that we invest in the most promising projects and keep pushing MND research forwards!
