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Secondary Data Analysis Projects (SDAP 2025)

The Secondary Data Analysis Projects are designed to bring together researchers, knowledge users and data controllers to develop research projects that answer policy and/or practice-relevant questions through the use of secondary data. The proposed research should be explicitly linked to the documented evidence needs of the knowledge user organisation.

This is a rolling call and as such there will be two separate opening and closing dates and associated peer review cycles.

1. Cycle 1

Opens for applications from 03 February 2025 at 13:00 until 30 May 2025 at 13:00

2. Cycle 2

Opens for applications from 01 September 2025 at 13:00 until 09 January 2026 at 13:00

SDAP 2025 Seminar:

The HRB is pleased to announce an in-person SDAP 2025 Seminar.

The SDAP Seminar aims:

1. To network researchers, data holders/processors & knowledge users

2. Share the experience & learnings of previous SDAP Grant holders

3. Highlight potential datasets available for use in SDAPs

4. Advise on the review of the HRB Sharing & Management of Research Data Policy

5. Update on the current SDAP call.

Seminar details:

This seminar is taking place at the Health Research Board Offices, Grattan House, 67 -72 Lower Mount Street, Dublin 2 on Wednesday 26 March 2024 from 13:00-16:00.

Registration:

The Registration process for the event will be manged through Eventbrite please register using this link.

Attendees are encouraged to secure their spot early by completing the online registration form. Once registered, they will receive a confirmation email.

For any questions or assistance with the registration process email at ssaha@hrb.ie.

Changes Since The Last Round:

The SDAP scheme was extensively reviewed in 2024. This included analysis of grant management processes, monitoring and engagement with both the health research community and current SDAP grant holders. The following changes have been implemented to strengthen and enhance the scheme:

1. Grant Budget

The budget per grant will increase by €100,000 from €250,000 to €350,000. The enhanced budget is to assist securing appropriate, required personnel with health data expertise and/or enable training and upskilling of personnel on data management, linkage and support skills to conduct SDAP. The enhanced budget empowers capacity building across the system enhancing data expertise skillsets.

2. Project Duration

The standard SDAP duration will increase by 12 months meaning the minimum duration will be 36 months or up to 42 months if developing a tool. The increased timeline is in recognition of potential challenges regarding data curation, hiring of suitable personnel and dissemination activities to conduct the project. This should alleviate and reduce the requirement for no cost extensions.

Note: Applicants are still encouraged to consider allocating appropriate time and budget supports for Data Curation/Preparation, Data Management, Salaries and Training/Specialist skills.

3. Scope & Datasets

The SDAP scheme is designed to have direct relevance to policy and/or practice in the Irish health and social care system and is not appropriate for proposals focused solely on audits or service improvements hence these are excluded from the scope of SDAP 2025.

The datasets used must either be existing Irish or international datasets. Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) generally seek to answer one specific question under certain conditions, with limited scope outside the specific trial parameters. Data from RCTs are not appropriate when seeking to make more generalised policy and practice decisions and should ideally be avoided as dataset sources without specific justification.

4. Public/Patient Involvement (PPI)

The HRB encourages PPI to be actively considered for inclusion in all proposals where appropriate. In the event of PPI being excluded in a proposed project appropriate justification will be needed and this will be considered by the Review Panel.

Details of this scheme

The awards will support proposals typically between 36-42 months duration where the findings from the research will have direct relevance to policy and/or practice in the Irish health and social care system. This should involve close collaboration of researchers with relevant stakeholders including decision makers and data custodians/controllers. The proposed research should be explicitly linked to the documented evidence needs of the knowledge user organisation.

As some data sets are not currently in an accessible format, proposals are allowed that include some aspect of development or improvement by the data provider/s in order to make datasets more accessible for research purposes in accordance with international best practice and ensures that the privacy, confidentiality and data protection rights of data subjects is preserved in line with the Data Protection Act 2018 and the Health Research Regulations of the 2018 Data Protection Act (e.g., through the creation of a published data dictionary, use of encryption on de-identification techniques). In these cases, the duration of the award may be up to 42 months, with up to 12 months dedicated to the development of such protocols and tools.

Who can apply?

Applications should be made on behalf of a team made up of researchers, knowledge users and data controllers.

  • The Lead Applicant and Co-Applicant(s) must include a researcher and a knowledge user. This is a requirement of the scheme
  • Data controllers from data provider organisations should ideally be included as Co-Applicants or Collaborators
  • At a minimum, the data controller of the organisation providing access to the dataset/s must agree to provide access to the dataset
  • PPI Contributors should be included as part of the team where appropriate

In some instances, a researcher or a knowledge user may also be the data controller/processor. The applicant team should designate a Lead Applicant from the research team.

The applicant team must demonstrate clearly that the appropriate and relevant partners are involved in order to achieve the objectives set out in the research proposal and in a manner that aligns well with the sections included in the application on relevance, knowledge translation plan and impact. This round has added an additional objective: to enhance capacity for further research of this nature in Ireland through upskilling, training and education of team members where possible.

How to apply

This call has two cycles each with specific opening and closing dates. Applications can be submitted to either cycle up to the relevant closing date. There are two distinct opportunities for peer review – see ‘Key dates’ section of the guidance notes. This enables researchers and knowledge users to develop collaborations and to submit their application at the time that best suits them.

All applications must be made using the HRB Grant Electronic Management System (GEMS) (https://grants.hrb.ie), and this system will close automatically at the deadline.

The application must have been reviewed and approved by the signatory approver at the research office (or equivalent) in the host institution before it is submitted to the HRB. Therefore, applicants should ensure that they give the signatory approver sufficient time before the scheme closing date to review the application and approve it on GEMS. Please note that many host institutions specify internal deadlines for this procedure.

Apply for this award

Contact us

Sudipta Saha                        Gavin Lawler

Project Officer                      Programme Manager

ssaha@hrb.ie                        glawler@hrb.ie