01. How can I get involved? Expand Please email [email protected] and let us know you would like to help us decide what research we fund.You will need to be a DEBRA member. If you are not yet a member, please see whether you are eligible to become one.
02. What will I be asked to do? Expand You will receive links to the research summaries by email from the DEBRA team. You will be asked to read the summary, provide a score to indicate how strongly you feel that the research is worth funding, and leave any positive or negative comments for us to consider.
03. How much time will it take? Expand The number of applications varies each year, but we estimate that reviewing each one should take no longer than 15 minutes. You are free to review all the applications you are sent or pick and choose which ones you’d like to review before the review period ends. There is no pressure to complete even one if you decide that this involvement opportunity is not for you.
04. Will there be any training? Expand We will hold an online meeting to discuss the process for reviewing the applications. This is an hour-long meeting with members of the research and membership teams, and fellow DEBRA members, and will be repeated every year.
05. Do I need to have a background in science? Expand Absolutely not. The applicants for our funding are asked to explain their research for people without a scientific background in the sections of the application that you will be asked to review. You are an EB expert by experience, and your review is separate and in addition to the reviews we receive from scientific experts.
07. Will there be any support? Expand Yes. You can email a member of the DEBRA team with any questions about the review process.
08. Will there be any remuneration? Expand We do not provide any financial payment to our experts by experience or scientific experts for reviewing the applications for our research funding. We are very grateful to those who contribute their time and expertise. The benefits to you are through improving our ability to fund research that is relevant to our members, and access to the research proposals that may be interesting to read.
09. What will happen to the reviews and scores I provide? Expand Our Charitable Purposes Committee will recommend applications for funding based on consideration of reviews and scores from experts by experience and scientific experts. Their recommendations will be presented to the trustees of DEBRA UK for a final decision as part of our research review process.