The Shirley Glasstone Hughes Trust Fund is seeking applications for funding for research projects. Bids for the 2011 competition are invited for research projects that explore one of two questions:

  1. 1

    Does dentists' fear have an adverse effect on clinical decision making?

  2. 2

    Which dental liners under amalgam restorations have greater patient benefit?

Evidence summaries in response to these questions have been published in the BDJ.1,2

The questions have been selected after a review of 12 topics suggested by users of the Primary Care Dentistry Research Forum, an online community that helps general dental practitioners to shape the research agenda (www.dentistryresearch.org). A maximum of £200,000 of funding is available to the successful applicant(s). The successful projects are expected to begin in January 2012 and should be of no more than three years' duration. Bids are welcomed from UK-based candidates only and will be judged on criteria including their originality, relevance to quality enhancement in primary dental care and the involvement of dental practitioners in the research.

The application deadline is 19 September. Full details on how to apply are available at: www.bda.org/dentists/policy-research/research-overview/shirley-glasstone.aspx. The trustees of the fund are expected to announce which bids have been successful by the end of November.