EFCNI research support

Our work is dedicated to improving the situation of newborn infants and their families in Europe across the full spectrum of care, promoting and protecting the right to the best start in life. Supporting research projects and promoting scientific evidence is key to our mission. EFCNI’s work relies on generating new knowledge on maternal and newborn health, particularly in the field of neonatal care. Evaluating the impact of follow-up screening programmes and infant and family-centred developmental care is part of EFCNI’s primary research interest. We are looking for new angles and innovative problem-solutions from the patient’s/parents’ perspective.

Areas of research support

We welcome requests from researchers and institutions who seek our support and patient/parent representation at the five principal stages of a research project:

  1. Agenda setting and research prioritisation (e.g. gap-analysis, patient-reported outcomes definition, parent representatives coordination)
  2. Research design and planning (e.g. development of grant application, review of data collection methods, support with recruitment strategies)
  3. Research conduct and operation (e.g. field work, patient information and consent)
  4. Data analysis and interpretation (e.g. interpretation from the patient/parent perspective, advice on key messages)
  5. Dissemination and communication (e.g. advocacy, campaigning, post-study outreach, and cooperation with patient/parent communities)

How to get in touch

Please send your questions or timely request using the request form – (at least eight weeks prior to submission of the grant application) to: research@efcni.org

EFCNI will get back to you as soon as possible to elaborate an individualised strategy on supporting your project and calculate a realistic estimate of costs and time.

Our expectations regarding research collaborations

We believe in cooperation as a fast-track to social development and are excited to work together with co-applicants to achieve common research goals. To make this happen, EFCNI expects from research collaborators:

We believe in cooperation as a fast-track to social development and are excited to work together with co-applicants to achieve common research goals. To make this happen, EFCNI expects from research collaborators:

  • Timely requests with sufficient time for decision-making and planning
  • Adequate financial funds-allocation to cover our involvement
  • Involvement in the early stages of the research project’s development and during the application process
  • Participation in the project’s steering group
  • Leading work on the generation of work packages concerning patient/parent involvement and outreach
  • Transparency in every stage of the process (e.g. sharing the final grant application before submission, invitation to meetings)
  • Involvement in publication/communication and transparent mentioning of EFCNI’s contribution
  • Communication on eye-level

Further information

For more information on the involvement of parent representatives in research, please download our position paper.

Download Position Paper “Involvement of parent representatives in neonatal research”