MEGA blog posting
http://www.megaresearch.me.uk/2016/12/01/patient-advisory-group-application-deadline-extended/
Patient Advisory Group application deadline extended
December 1, 2016 by Sonya
We have been contacted by a number of people asking if it’s possible to extend the deadline for applications to join the Patient Advisory Group.
We want to ensure that those who wish to engage with this process are able to do so, and so have extended the deadline to 9am 13 December 2016.
The reason that the timescale is so short is because the mainstream funder to whom we want to apply for MEGA funding has an application deadline in early January 2017. This deadline was only recently announced and was different to the timings we expected.
Financial costs need to be established before submission and so, as the Patient Advisory Group will play a part in shaping the design of the study, recruitment needs to happen urgently. Researchers are keen to gather the views of the group to inform decisions about which phenotypes are important to measure.
There will then be a couple of months for the Patient Advisory Group and researchers to develop a more detailed design.
If we miss the deadline for this funder, we will not be able to apply again until 2018.
The timetable for recruiting the MEGA Patient Advisory Group and holding its initial meeting is now as follows:
- 9am 13 December 2016 – Deadline for applications to join the MEGA Patient Advisory Group
- 13-14 December – Applicants contacted and group members confirmed
- w/c 19 December – Papers and key information sent out to Patient Advisory Group members
- 29 or 30 December – Patient Advisory Group teleconference and/or e-group meeting held
- 4 January 2017 – Back-up call for Patient Advisory Group if needed, to address outstanding issues from December meeting.
What a bizarre timetable. People chosen will be notified by Wednesday 14th December, but they won't send out the papers until the week commencing the following Monday 19th.
Looking at the best case scenario of sending them out promptly on 19th by e-mail, this means only 10 days, including Christmas to read, digest and sort out ideas about comments and questions.
If they literally mean paper copies, these will get caught up in the Christmas post, and may not arrive until after Christmas, ie Tuesday 27th December, then there's a 'meeting' on 29th or 30th, giving 2 or 3 days to study and prepare.
Why can't they send the stuff on 14th December. Presumably it's ready to go.
Or maybe it hasn't even been written yet.
Maybe it's on the back of an envelope somewhere and they've lost it.
Or the dog ate it for breakfast.