We believe that healthy competition in research leads to better outcomes for people with OI. We have therefore chosen to select which OI research projects receive funding based on “competitive” annual proposal rounds.
At the start of each proposal round Care4BrittleBones engages with its wide, international group of professionals that are involved with OI research by sending out a ‘Call4Proposals’, inviting research proposals to be submitted within a specified deadline. The Call is published on the relevant specialised websites and is sent directly to our network of 900 OI researchers worldwide. The scope is very open, enabling virtually all subjects (such as orthopaedic, genetic, paediatric, psychological) to be proposed. In the future Care4BrittleBones will also consider targeted proposals.
After the submission deadline, all proposals are presented to our Scientific and OI Advisory Boards, which help us to make choices that are both the smartest from a scientific point of view as well as meeting the needs and priorities of people with OI. The members of both advisory boards study the submitted proposals and provide recommendations on which proposals Care4BrittleBones should fund. The final decision by the Care4BrittleBonesboard is heavily based on the advice of the advisory boards.