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Our research priorities

Pulmonary fibrosis has a life changing impact on all aspects of life for patients’ and their families. By listening to their lived experiences, we know that investment in research is desperately needed to provide hope for a better future.

Pulmonary Fibrosis Research Priorities

APF supports and funds research with the potential to aid the discovery of an effective treatment, and/or accelerate change which will enable our community to live well for longer.

By listening to patients, carers, health care professionals and scientists within our community, we have identified four broad areas for investment in research:

Early and accurate diagnosis
The development of effective treatments or a cure
Enabling patients, carers and families to live well for longer
Understanding of the biological basis of pulmonary fibrosis

We understand how important it is to accurately identify the priority areas of unmet need within our community. As part of our on-going review of research priorities, APF partnered with Imperial College London and the James Lind Alliance to carry out a Priority Setting Partnership for pulmonary fibrosis. The partnership brought together patients, carers and clinicians to jointly agree the Top 10 research priorities for progressive pulmonary fibrosis. We welcome applications for funding that address one or more of these priorities.

Our Research Funding

We are able to invest in research because of the dedicated fundraising activities of patients, caregivers, family and friends: from marathons to coffee mornings, selling crafts to singing songs, and making donations in memory of loved ones. We are also indebted to the generosity of several philanthropic trusts and funds.

As a community, we have the potential to transform the understanding, diagnosis and treatment of pulmonary fibrosis and enable patients, their carers and families to live well for longer. Together, we will find a cure for pulmonary fibrosis.

We offer a broad range of funding options to researchers at different stages of their career, so that we can invest in research across the pulmonary fibrosis field and build research capacity. Our funding includes:

How do we decide which research to fund?

All research must have the potential to meet one or more of our four prioritised areas of unmet need and applications that address priorities within the JLA Top 10 are particularly welcomed.

Recommendations for funding are made by our Research Review Panel (RRP). The RRP is an independent panel of experts, including scientists, patients and caregivers, who provide impartial advice to APF to guide our funding decisions.

We are a member of the Association of Medical Research Charities (AMRC). All applications are assessed in accordance with their principles of peer review: proportionality, independence, rotation, diversity, impartiality and transparency.

For full details read our 2022 -2025 Research Strategy

Our commitment to supporting research in UK universities

We support the AMRC's position statement on supporting research in universities. We are committed to supporting research and the careers of talented researchers in UK universities.

Our statement on the use of animals in research

We support the AMRC's position statement on the use of animals in research. We acknowledge that medical research using animals has led to medical advances. However, we are committed to supporting the 3Rs: Replacing the use of animals with alternative methods, reducing the number of animals used where no alternative is available, and refining methods to advance animal welfare.

Other forms of research support

We don't just provide research funding, we also ensure that we support researchers in a variety of other ways. This can vary from supporting grant applications with reviewing documentation and providing written feedback, co-design of research and ensuring that the patient voice is at the heart of all research activities.

Our support to researchers aims to improve the quality and relevance to our community, making sure that it is acceptable and will ultimately benefit patients, carers and service users. We strive to aiding high quality and well designed research to find the answers to the questions that are most important to our community.

Research must be done with or by patients and carers, with an active partnership between representatives from our community and researchers, with involvement in key decisions throughout the research project cycle.

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