Deadline for Mind Matters mental health research award extended

The RCVS Mind Matters Initiative has extended the application period for its Sarah Brown Mental Health Research Grant to July.

The £20,000 research grant, named in honour of an RCVS Council member who tragically passed away in 2017, is made on an annual basis to fund research that focuses on mental health and wellbeing in the veterinary professions in areas such as prevention, diagnosis, interventions and treatment.

The original deadline for the applications was today (Thursday 30 April 2020), but this has been extended to Thursday 23 July in recognition of the difficulties that researchers may have had in making the submission due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Lisa Quigley, Mind Matters Initiative Manager, commented: “With the disruption that the coronavirus pandemic has caused on all our lives over the past few months, we have recognised that researchers working in the field of veterinary mental health and wellbeing might need more time to put together their applications and so have extended the deadline accordingly.

“If anyone who is interested in making an application for the research grant wish to get in touch with the Mind Matters Team for an initial discussion about the process we would be more than happy to help.”

This year is the second of a five-year commitment in which the £20,000 will be awarded annually. The recipient of the inaugural grant was Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC) with a project on how to promote job satisfaction and break the cycle of negative thoughts and poor mental health and wellbeing identified amongst some farm vets.

Applications for the grant are welcome from individuals at all stages of their careers, including those who have not been previously published. Applicants must be affiliated with a university and have ethical approval for their proposed research.

Applicants should submit a proposal relating to any aspect of mental health or wellbeing in the veterinary professions. Proposals should be a maximum of 3,000 words and include aims, methods, ethical considerations, proposed timelines, and a bibliography. Any academic literature referred to within proposals must be accurately referenced.

The successful applicant to the Sarah Brown Mental Health Research Grant is likely to be formally recognised at the combined RCVS Fellowship and RCVS Day, which is due to take place in October, subject to any restrictions associated with the coronavirus pandemic.

The successful applicant will also be invited to present their research findings at a future Mind Matters Initiative Research Symposium.

Applicants should send their research proposal to Lisa Quigley, Mind Matters Initiative Manager, at [email protected] by 5pm on Thursday 23 July 2020.