Governance Structures (draft september 2008)

General

1. The final form that the charity will take will be determined by the work being carried out by the Management Centre. This may include a partnership with an existing charity or some other model.

2. The governance structure will be decided in line with Charity Commission requirements and the sector Code of Governance.

Expenditure on research
 
3. Expenditure on research will be determined by a Scientific Advisory Board (SAB). The SAB will comprise scientists, service users and carers with grant-making staff in attendance. Disciplines represented will include statistics, social science, public health, psychiatry, psychology and mental health nursing.
4. The procedure for awarding grants will be as follows:
a. Funding for research will be paid to organizations rather than individuals.
b. Eligible organizations include universities, NHS Trusts, charities.
c. Research costs will be paid, but not overhead costs. Reimbursement for investigator time where the investigator holds a substantive post in the organization will only be paid on the basis of back-filling the post (eg to cover teaching duties).
d. Applications will be sought by open advertisement or commissioned.
e. Calls may be open, or against specific criteria.
f. Calls may include project grants, programme grants, fellowships and training awards.
g. The process may be one stage or two stage (outline proposal followed by full proposal from shortlisted applications).
h. All applications will be peer reviewed by at least 2 peer reviewers.
i. Applications may be shortlisted before the SAB meeting.
j. At the SAB meeting (which may be virtual eg by teleconference), each member of the SAB will be asked to present a number of the proposals for decision. SAB members will discuss and score each proposal against a number of criteria.
k. The final decisions on funding will be made by the SAB based on the scores from the peer reviewers and the SAB, but taking into account the balance across subject areas, etc.
l. No payments will be made until Research Ethics Committee approval is obtained.
m. Funded projects will be expected to report 6-monthly against milestones. The final payment will be paid following delivery of the final report.
n. All applicants will be expected to demonstrate how service users and carers are involved in and will benefit from the development of their application.
o. All projects will be required to have a dissemination plan including, for example, publication in a peer review journal, preparation of a lay summary, conference presentations, etc., with the general principle that research findings should be made widely available as soon as possible.
p. From time to time scientific seminars and conferences will be organized by the Research Programme.
q. In order to reduce administration costs, no feedback will be given on unsuccessful applications.r. Where grants are made in partnership with another funding body the process for awarding the grant may be that of the partner funder provided that the procedure is as rigorous as that described above.