Our approach to research

At Bliss, we welcome research projects which evaluate the impact their projects have on families and babies, and on the culture of a neonatal unit. We believe this is especially important to make sure that babies and families are able to support any new developments in neonatal care and that any new changes are sustainable.

Learn about the different ways we approach supporting and funding research.

Bliss works in collaboration with organisations to support neonatal research in different ways.

We can support a research project by:

• Reviewing application materials and parent/patient information leaflets
• Writing a letter of support for the project
• Supporting parent advisory/patient and public involvement groups
• Participating in the project’s steering group
• Being a co-applicant on the project
• Helping communication around the project through the Bliss website and social media, including dissemination of results

We can also support research by finding people with lived experience to be involved in a project.

Through our network of parents and relatives of babies born premature or sick, and ex-neonatal patients, we can find people willing to:

• Help design and shape a research project
• Participate on the steering group of the project
• Be a co-applicant on the project (see guidance on public co-applicants in research)
• Participate in the research

Please read our Research Support Policy to understand our approach to supporting research. Use our Public Involvement Role Description Template to inform members of the public about involvement opportunities.

We want to make sure that the projects we fund are achievable, will contribute something new to improve the care and development of babies who are born premature or sick, and are run by a team which is able to carry out the work they have proposed.

In order to achieve this, we have worked with a panel of healthcare professionals, research experts, parents and with someone who was born premature, to identify our key priority areas.

Our research panel help us to make sure that the research projects we award funding to will address the key areas highlighted in our research strategy.

Please note that we are not opening funding rounds for research projects in 2019.

Find out how the National Neonatal Research Database (NNRD) can be used for research, audit or quality improvement by visiting the website or downloading this leaflet.