MIROR — Methods in Research on Research

Results in brief

Methods in Research on Research

A study published in 2009 estimated that 85% of research conducted is wasted. This waste represents tens of billions of Euros spent each year on studies that are redundant, flawed in their design, never published or poorly reported. The public is the main victim of this waste. If clinical research is not adequately planned, conducted and reported, clinicians are prevented from using effective health interventions in practice and researchers from adequately prioritizing future research questions. This situation ultimately has a detrimental impact on patient care. Therefore, reducing waste and increasing value of research represents a major societal challenge. Our aim was to create an innovative and ambitious multidisciplinary intersectoral joint doctoral training programme in Europe dedicated to Methods in Research on Research (MiRoR) in the field of clinical research. “Research on Research (RoR)” is an emerging new scientific discipline that aims to reduce waste in research and increase research value. With this project we created an International Training Network of 15 Early Stage Researchers, each enrolled in two of the seven European universities of the consortium with the aim of obtaining a European Joint Doctorate on this topic. Our consortium included also 6 non-academic partners and 6 major academic partners, most of them hosting ESRs during secondments. We tackled several steps of a clinical research project (planning, conduct, reporting and the peer-review); various study designs (observational studies, randomised trials, systematic reviews); and various study questions (therapeutic, diagnostic, and prognostic evaluation) using various methods (scoping reviews, meta-epidemiologic studies, qualitative studies, experimental studies, simulations etc).Our main objectives were to: 1) Prepare students for envisioning the future challenges in clinical research and find innovative solutions to face them; 2) Train students to go beyond the state-of-the-art in their research; 3) Help students think differently. Research findings resulted in the publication of 37 research articles and protocols (all available in open access) and 10 conference papers. Three ESRs have already defended their thesis and the other defenses are planned in the next months: all fellows are planning to conclude their PhD by the end of 2020.

Data: CORDIS, © European Union

Project objective

Our aim is to create, in Europe, an innovative and ambitious multidisciplinary intersectoral joint doctoral training programme, dedicated to Methods in Research on Research (MIROR) in the field of clinical research. “Research on Research”, is an emerging new scientific discipline that aims to reduce waste in research and increase research value. Waste in research represents tens of billions of Euros spent each year on studies that are redundant, flawed in their design, never published or poorly reported. The public is the main victim of this waste and reducing waste and increasing value of research represents a major societal challenge. Our proposal involving 15 early-stage researchers, aims to 1) prepare students for envisioning the future challenges in clinical research and find innovative solutions to face them, 2) train students to go well beyond the state-of-the-art in their research, 3) help students think differently, taking advantage of the multidisciplinary expertise and intercultural diversity of the network, 4) teach students how to move from research to action and convert knowledge and idea into a product, and 5) help students develop skills to match the public and private sector needs and create new professional opportunities. MIROR will bring together 7 world-class research teams in various disciplines (computer sciences, applied mathematics, biostatistics, bioinformatics, clinical epidemiology, psychology, social sciences and translational medicine) from 6 different European countries; 6 non-academic partners involved in diverse sectors, and 4 major academic partners. We will tackle several steps of a clinical research project (planning, conduct, reporting and the peer-review); various study designs (observational studies, randomised trials, systematic reviews); various study questions (therapeutic, diagnostic, and prognostic evaluation) using various methods (meta-epidemiologic studies, qualitative studies, experimental studies, simulations etc).

Original text from CORDIS.

Participants

UNIVERSITE PARIS CITE · ParisCoordinatorFrance
AMSTERDAM UMC RESEARCH BV · AmsterdamNetherlands
CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE CNRS · ParisFrance
STICHTING AMSTERDAM UMC · AmsterdamNetherlands
SVEUCILISTE U SPLITU · SplitCroatia
THE UNIVERSITY OF LIVERPOOL · LIVERPOOLUnited Kingdom
UNIVERSITAT POLITECNICA DE CATALUNYA · BARCELONASpain
UNIVERSITEIT GENT · GentBelgium

MIROR · Methods in Research on Research

Results in brief

Methods in Research on Research

Project objective

Participants

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