Three RCSI researchers have been awarded funding totalling more than €1.1 million by the Health Research Board (HRB) under the Postdoctoral Fellowships – Applying Research into Policy and Practice (ARPP) and Clinician Scientist Fellowships 2023 schemes.

The funding is part of an overall investment of €6.4m by the HRB divided across 13 new projects to support the career development of outstanding researchers in health and social care. The awardees include post-doctoral researchers who are pursuing academic careers and those from clinical backgrounds who wish to further enhance their research experience while remaining embedded in the health service.

The successful RCSI lead applicants were:

• Dr Melissa Sharp, RCSI School of Population Health, for the project ‘Optimising the Dissemination of Health Research in Ireland’. This project will explore the media coverage of health research in Ireland and the current communication and collaboration between researchers, communications specialists and journalists with the aim of improving connections between these groups and identifying training needs for early-career researchers.
• Dr Colm Daly, RCSI School of Physiotherapy, for the project ‘Cerebral Palsy (CP) – The Adolescent Growth Evaluation Study (CP-AGE)’. This project will measure walking-related function in children with CP before, during and after their teenage growth spurt to create a set of recommendations aimed at improving the outcomes of children with CP as they go through the adolescent growth spurt. CP-AGE is a collaboration between RCSI and the National Centre for Movement Analysis at the Central Remedial Clinic (CRC).
• Dr Caroline McCarthy, RCSI Department of General Practice, for the project ‘Personal Formularies in General Practice to Support Safe, Effective and Cost-Effective Prescribing’. The Drug Utilisation 90% Tool describes the number of medicines that make up 90% of a doctor’s prescribing. The aim of this project is to look at the use of this indicator to support optimal prescribing in general practice and improve patient safety.

Meaningful impact

Professor Fergal O’Brien, Deputy Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation at RCSI, said: “I extend my congratulations to the three RCSI awardees on their success in the HRB Postdoctoral Fellowships. The diversity of topics addressed in the projects, as well as the high quality of the applications, demonstrates RCSI’s commitment to addressing health challenges across multiple areas and nurturing emerging talent. I look forward to their contributions and growth within RCSI as they continue to make a meaningful impact.”

Commenting on the scheme, Dr Mairead O’Driscoll, Chief Executive at the Health Research Board, said: “These awards enable our next generation of talented researchers to consolidate their scientific and professional skills and to progress towards research independence while at the same time enhancing the overall capacity to conduct applied health and social care research in Ireland.”  

The successful projects were selected by an international panel of experts following a highly competitive application and assessment process, which included international peer review, public review, and interviews by an international panel of experts for shortlisted candidates.