Dear all,

Thank you for expressing an interest in the DIPEx website for obesity in children. You all asked for a description of the ‘next steps’, so below you will find a general introduction, a description of a variety of attached documentsthat you can look at and/or download from my website ( - you can even see how the weather is at my place….) under ‘Hot List’ and a general (rough) idea about the things to do.

GENERAL REMARKS

First of all let me explain the various issues that are important for you or your organisation if you want to take part in this project. Perhaps most of these issues are well-known to you, but for those that are new at this, I thought it best to give an overview.

One of the most important things is that you or your organisation has to have a fair knowledge of qualitative research. This is because the Oxford group wants to train participants in using the ‘DIPEx methodology’ and foreknowledge of this type of research is then a must. Furthermore, because of the proposed link with Second Life, it would be useful if someone in your organisation knows how to enter and use Second Life.

Secondly, the funding we will be able to get from the EU has a maximum of 60% of the total amount asked for. So you will have to decide where to get additional funds. Clearly, 40% cannot easily be funded with money ‘meant for’ overhead and supervision.

Nowadays, the total cost of one DIPEx-module is around 120,000 pound and added to that is an obligatory training of the researcher in Oxford (after that the researchers will be able to train other researchers in their own country, so this is more like a onetime investment). The cost of the module is of course different in each country due to differences in income, but it gives you a general idea about the amount of money that we will have to raise.

You will have to decide whether you will take part in the ‘core group’ that will put together the text of the application or in the ‘sounding board group’ that will judge the text and propose alterations. Both are very important for writing a potentially successful application! After that you will have to decide what (part of what) work package you want to take responsibility for.

Finally (for now..), you will have to give a description of your organisation – see the application form on my website.

I just saw that the call for proposals will be published by DG Sanco on February 29th. See below for the relevant websites.

The general lessons I learned from evaluating the 2007 proposals are:

(1) one has to adhere strictly to the priorities set in the Call for Proposals/2008 Health Plan

(2) the project has to have a clear added value for Europe as a whole

(3) sustainability and dissemination of knowledge is very important

DOCUMENTS ON THE WEBSITE

Below you will find a description of the documents I put on my website.

  1. Application Form 2007.pdf – the original form one had to use for application in 2007
  2. Guide_for_applicants_2007.pdf – a set of instructions how to fill in the application form metioned above
  3. AYPE_project 3507_ScanVersion_1.pdf (example of an application for funding used by the ‘independent evaluators’ to practice evaluation of proposals) – this document will give you a good idea of the amount of information we will have to provide – BTW this is nót an example application in the sense that it is exemplary in the way the various components are dealt with!! According to most evaluators it just barely made the list of fundable projects…
  4. AYPE example evaluation.doc – the form we had to use for evaluating AYPE
  5. Guide for evaluators 07.doc – this document is roughly the same as the guide for applicants
  6. example evaluation.doc – an example of the way the various components of the application are graded (this is an anonymised version of one of the evaluations I did in Luxembourg)
  7. background DIPEx.doc – a description of the ideas behind DIPEX, it’s origin, working methods, etc. This is an early version (many modules have been added in the mean time) but the procedures are still the same.

Websites:

– the Oxford DIPEx website

- my own website where you will find the documents described above

– here you can find the Health Programme 2008-2013 of DG Sanco in your own language

- information about the ‘information day’ DG Sanco is organising March 12th – perhaps you will be able to make it.In The Netherlands we have an governmental organisation that organises its own about that – I will attend that one. - information about the D Sanco Info Days in Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, Poland, and Finland.

GENERAL TIME TABLE:

(End of) February: call for proposals by DG Sanco

getting acquainted with application protocol (see attachments above) and the working methods of DIPEx

first half of March:deciding the various issues mentioned above: additional funding, qualified researcher to take part in training, preferences regarding type of group (drafting or sounding board) and potential work packages.

March/Aprildraft of application by various partners with feedback from the ‘sounding board’

End of Aprilsubmission of application

If you have anything to add to this or suggestions etc. please mail me ánd the other participants, whose email addresses you will find in the heading of this email.