A review of research grants awarded during the last year and a report on some completed work
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BLF research grants are applied for in open competition, with respiratory researchers submitting bids from all over the UK. Successful applications are selected by our Scientific Committee, which consists of expert respiratory researchers and non-scientific members, who either have a lung condition, or care for someone who does. This allows us to fund work which is both scientifically robust and aims to make a real difference to people who live with a lung disease.
Over the past year we have awarded a host of grants, including an award funded in conjunction with the Mick Knighton Mesothelioma Research Fund and the Medical Research Council (MRC). The BLF/Mick Knighton Mesothelioma Research Fund contributed 20 per cent of the funding, while the MRC provided the remaining 80 per cent. This is an excellent way for the BLF to gain added value to our research spend and we are hoping to expand our portfolio of co-funding ventures in 2011 and beyond.
Twenty travel fellowship awards of £750 each were made over the year, helping exceptional junior scientists to attend world-class research conferences in the USA and Europe. These awards were sponsored by Allen & Hanburys. In addition to the grants described here, the BLF research team has also successfully presented the findings of BLF survey work at several research conferences; the American Thoracic Society annual conference in New Orleans in May 2010, the European Respiratory Society annual conference in Barcelona in September 2010 and the British Thoracic Society Winter Meeting in December 2010.
