Research Objectives Strategy

Research Policy and Priorities

Relevant research subjects and criteria 2013-2018

First of all, all research funded by the ECU should ultimately be to the benefit of the patients. In addition, PhD or post-doc projects will receive first priority. Furthermore, the following criteria must be fulfilled:

1. Acceptable methodological quality
2. High chance of completion and include a high quality research team
3. Aids in building the ECU chiropractic research capacity and/or has relevance for the profession
4. Have a high chance of implementation of the findings
5. Result in a favourable cost-benefit ratio to the profession
6. Meet our research priorities (further defined in the ‘research agenda’- see below)

Policy

The ECU Research Policy identifies several specific areas of research in basic and clinical sciences. However, in field research projects, which do not belong to chiropractic itself, will also be considered if it appears that they can improve the knowledge, understanding and practice of chiropractic.

ECU Research Fund Policy: Institutional Projects
ECU Research Fund Policy: Post-Graduate Education Programmes

Priorities

A prioritisation of the themes of interest has been proposed by the Research Council for the actual period and adopted by the ECU General Council in May 2003.

Operating Principles

Research proposals are evaluated and funding decisions are made on the basis of established criteria of quality, feasibility and relevance. Among these criteria are:

Relevance, quality and feasibility

• Importance and relevance of the research question
• Adequacy of suggested methods to answer the research question
• Feasibility of time and resource estimates
• Adequacy of academic support and infrastructure
• Prioritised themes of interest for the period during which the study will be done
• Research collaboration between chiropractic and other researchers is encouraged.
• The sharing of academic, as well as financial resources, may promote the conduct of larger research projects with higher potential impact.

Such collaboration may increase intra-professional learning and help to develop chiropractic resource persons and opinion leaders, thereby improving the visibility of chiropractic.

At least one chiropractor should be a member of the research team. Proposals which do not include a chiropractor on the team will be considered only if the proposed research is of particularly high quality and importance.

Applications are considered and prioritized on their merits against the ECURF policy as a guideline, not as a principle.

For More information about how to apply and our application forms please go to our Funding Application page