2011 has been an exciting and challenging year for the Bupa Foundation.
The emphasis this year has been on introducing the Foundation’s new remit and developing a bold, new strategy to attract the best researchers in the country, and fund promising new researchers so that they can build their credentials to go on to receive larger grants.
The scope of the new remit means that we are now investing in four key areas:
- enabling sustained behaviour changes in physical activity and/or nutrition amongst children, families or in the workplace or educational establishments
- utilising or developing shared-decision making tools for better patient decisions for use amongst disadvantaged or diverse groups
- promoting and encouraging healthy ageing through physical activity and other behaviour-based and social solutions for the older age group (65+ years)
- using new technologies to organise and interpret health outcomes data cheaply and effectively - for better design of community health activities and to improve patient decision making
To make sure of reaching as many in the research community as possible, in addition to increasing our advertising in traditional and online journals the Foundation extended and broadened its marketing plan to include social media channels, such as Twitter and LinkedIn. We also exhibited to 5,000 nurses, researchers and health care professionals at the Royal College of Nursing Congress 2011 in Liverpool – the first time we have taken the Bupa Foundation out to the community in this way. The whole campaign was a great success, reaching more than 660,000 people involved in medical research within a few weeks of the launch of the new funding strategy.
In October 2011 our re-launch seminar at the Royal Society of Medicine, entitled: Motivating change: working towards a healthier society, was fully subscribed and its success exceeded all expectations. Our excellent speakers gave us a brilliant overview of the topic, from the history of work on the social determinants of health and the science of behavioural change, to the dynamic components of happiness, of which health is one element. We heard the latest from top people in this area including exciting examples of behavioural change projects that not only work in the real world but are being sustained so well in the long term that there are plans to extend them to other parts of the UK. These ranged from active workplaces in Cornwall to Scottish League football clubs that are running healthy living programmes for supporters. The discussion that followed the debate was our liveliest ever and all too short, leaving plenty for us all to talk about next time.
I’m delighted to report that our communication strategy was rewarded by a trebling in the number of grant applications. More than 170 applications were submitted for our first grant round alone. After a challenging and extremely rewarding time sifting through the first applications in our new areas we have selected our first few projects for funding and when you read about them later in this review I know you will find them as exciting as we did.
We owe a great deal to the Bupa Foundation’s past and present Board members for their continuing support. Everything they do is entirely voluntary and this year has been particularly demanding. I cannot thank them enough for their huge dedication and commitment to maintaining the Bupa Foundation’s tradition of excellence in funding the best research.
Our high standards were acknowledged and underlined this year by the award to the Bupa Foundation of the quality mark of the Association of Medical Research Charities (AMRC). To attain this recognition and win the AMRC certificate of Best Practice, medical research charities must meet the highest standards of peer review and the key principles of accountability, balance, independence, rotation and impartiality.
We are immensely proud to bear this quality mark, widely recognised as it is in the scientific and research community and you will see it displayed prominently on our website.
And, finally, I pay tribute to Dame Deirdre Hine, who, after seven years, stood down as Chair of the Bupa Foundation in February this year. Under her leadership, the Foundation has flourished to become a respected funder of quality medical research and the projects supported in her time will benefit many. I would like to thank Dame Deirdre for her significant contribution and ongoing legacy of research excellence.
We have embarked on an ambitious and exciting new phase in the Bupa Foundation’s history. It has always been one of our strengths to respond to the demands of changing times while remaining committed to funding the highest quality health and medical research. In doing so, we truly believe that we can make a difference to the lives of people in Britain and around the world, now and for future generations.
Professor Parveen Kumar
About the Bupa Foundation
The Bupa Foundation Board
