Our Expert Review Process
PSC Support is only able to fund research thanks to your donations.
We are a proud member of the Association of Medical Research Charities. Membership means that we have demonstrated that we evaluate funding applications in a robust and fair way that is to a high standard. This is important as we don’t want to fund poor quality research and waste precious charity funds.
PSC Support's Expert Review Process takes several months to review funding applications and involves six stages:
Stage 1 - Letters of Intent
Researchers ask us to consider their research projects by outlining their broad plans on one side of A4. The proposals most aligned to our research strategy and scope are invited to submit a full and detailed funding application.
Stage 2 - Submission
Researchers ask us to fund their proposed research projects by completing and submitting an application form. This can now be done completely online.
Stage 3 - Processing
Each application needs to be carefully considered before a decision about providing the funding is made. We invite independent experts from all over the world to help us with this.
Stage 4 - In-Depth Expert Review
The scientific experts review the details of the proposed research projects to make sure that everything we fund addresses an important and valid research question, represents value for money, is well-designed and will be delivered by a team with appropriate expertise.
Because PSC patients are at the heart of all our work, every grant application is also considered by lay reviewers (usually patients). They judge the relevance and importance of the research and on how the researchers have engaged with and involved patients and the public in their plans.
Stage 5 - Scientific Review Committee (SRC) Meeting
Both the scientific and lay (patient) views are carefully considered by our Scientific Review Committee in a special meeting. They prepare a report to recommend which research proposal(s) could be funded by the charity.
Stage 6 - Final Decision by PSC Support Trustees
The report is reviewed by the Trustees of PSC Support. They use this information to make the final decision about which research the charity will fund. They also take into account our portfolio of funded research and available charity funds for research.
