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Statistics advice: South Central Research Design Service

The RDS provides free advice on research design to researchers in the South Central region who are developing proposals for national, peer-reviewed funding competitions for applied health or social care research

CSM members serve as consultant statisticians at the Oxford branch of the NIHR's South Central Research Design Service (RDS).

The RDS provides free advice for researchers planning to submit funding proposals, primarily to the NIHR:

  • Grant applications for applied health or social care research
  • Personal fellowships
  • Applications to national, open, peer-reviewed funding streams.

Advice service

The RDS Research Advisers help researchers with

  • Study design
  • Methodology planning
  • Identifying a funder
  • How to involve patients and the public

pre-submission panel

Once a researcher has completed their proposal, the RDS will put it through a mock submission panel. They use the same rigorous criteria as the NIHR to judge the proposal, then give the researcher detailed feedback to improve their chance of success.

Mock interviews

Fellowship applicants who are invited to interviews can make use of the RDS mock interview. Applicants get the chance to experience the interview set-up and practice their answers to typical questions, then get feedback from the RDS team before the real thing.

Our team