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How people use our service (archive) – Research Design Service Yorkshire and Humber

How people use our service (archive)

General advice and support

Matthew Marzetti
Medical Physicist
Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
May 2022
"I initially contacted the RDS when coming up with an idea for a PhD project. I had an initial conversation with an RDS advisor, which opened my eyes to all the different things I would have to consider. This was incredibly valuable as I had never applied for funding before. While further developing my proposal I had several online conversations with different RDS advisors. One area of my application which the RDS really helped me strengthen was patient and public involvement (PPI). As a physicist, talking to members of the public and patients about my research is not something I’d ever done before, and I had no idea how to start. However, it all became a lot more feasible thanks to help from the RDS advisers. The RDS read over lay person summaries of my application, helped me develop material for PPIE, and even helped me secure a small grant I could use to provide compensation to the patients that attended my focus groups. These focus groups provided me with valuable feedback on my application, and I doubt I would have run them as effectively without RDS help."
NIHR Doctoral Research Fellowship:

Dr Jamilla Hussain
Hull York Medical School

"I was advised by my supervisors to access the RDS at the University of York when I first started thinking about putting my proposal together. I met face-to-face with several of the RDS team whilst writing my proposal, and was given invaluable advice on generating a focussed, relevant research question; study design; funding bodies and importantly how to get patient and public involvement. I felt like I was part of a larger team, which was reassuring as I had never applied for funding previously. The RDS also arranged mock interviews which is essential when preparing for competitive fellowships. Overall I think taking advantage of the RDS was key to me securing my fellowship, and I would recommend the service to future applicants."
Public involvement in research:

Professor Mike Bennett
University of Leeds, Leeds Institute of Health Sciences
Self-management of analgesia and related treatments at the end of life (SMARTE)
NIHR Health Technology Assessment (HTA) funded study 2014-15

“The RDS-YH PPI Lead provided specific advice on enhancing the PPI content of our proposal, following reviewer comments on our outline proposal. Our PPI strategy was noted by the HTA review panel as - ‘this is the best inclusion of patients and public inclusion I've seen on any application and I'm very pleased to see it’.”
Dr Esther Hobson
Sheffield Institute for Translational Neuroscience, University of Sheffield
NIHR Doctoral Research Fellowship 2014 - 2017

“Whilst working as an NIHR academic clinical fellow at the Sheffield Institute for Translational Neurosciences I was exploring the improvement in the services we provide patients with motor neurone disease. The RDS YH provided us with a small public involvement grant to support our work which allowed us to organise two focus groups. The RDS suggested ways in which these groups could guide the methodology and acceptability of the clinical trial. Following this we developed a telehealth system which could support patients in their own home ….”
Christopher McDermott
(March 2017)


Professor of Translational Neurology
Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health University of Sheffield
Honorary Consultant Neurologist
Department of Neuroscience Sheffield Institute for Translational Neuroscience

“RDS have helped me collaborate and develop my programme of research in Sheffield. When I or my team go to RDS we get a very supportive and favourable response. They support the overall development of our research programmes and collaborations as well as guiding individual researchers. I encourage researchers working with me to go early to RDS with their ideas before they start down the wrong track.”

“My contact with RDS YH goes back quite a way - not long after I was appointed a Senior Lecturer back in 2006. One of the first research grants I applied for was to NIHR’s Research for Patient Benefit (RfPB) Programme on non-invasive ventilation (NIV). I went to the RDS and we discussed how to approach this …….read the full example of how Christopher has worked with us
Michael Reddington (March 2017)

Spinal Extended Scope Physiotherapist
Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
NIHR Clinical Doctoral Research Fellow
Sheffield Hallam University 2015 – 2019

“The RDS are not critiquing applications for the sake of it. They make suggestions and give fine detail on methodologies, particular designs and approaches to research that I wouldn’t otherwise know about as I'm a clinician by trade. They've been invaluable.”

“I've been involved with the RDS for a good number of years now on different projects. Some time ago my colleague and I were applying for a Research for Patient Benefit (RfPB) grant. We were both very new to the research field. Someone recommended the RDS so we came and sat down with an adviser and it was a real eye opener.The adviser took a really holistic view of the topic and gave us a critical overview which was invaluable. It took three visits to the RDS to refine and to get further critiquing of our application but we were successful which was brilliant ……..read the full example of how Michael has worked with us..