MRC Transition Support Award:Maternal and perinatal Health Research collaboration,India(MaatHRI):improving outcomes in pregnant women with anaemia

I have completed a majority of the ongoing fellowship work which established a UK-India collaborative platform for maternal and perinatal health research (called MaatHRI), and is starting to demonstrate my research achievements and leadership. Five papers from the fellowship and a further four students papers have been published since the start of my fellowship.

The fellowship work leveraged additional funding, including industry funding, to strengthen the research outputs. I have received recognitions and awards including winning the science category of the Asian Women of Achievement Awards (UK) in 2019.

However, my research momentum and consolidation of the fellowship was affected initially by delays in receiving regulatory approvals in India and then due to the disruptions caused by the 'Citizenship amendment bill' related protests in December 2019 and the COVID-19 pandemic since March 2020. This has resulted in a delay in completing the two primary studies.

A Transition Support Award (TSA) will enable me to: (i) consolidate the ongoing fellowship by completing the research objectives; (ii) fulfil the ethical obligations for the ongoing human studies, and (iii) take the next steps towards establishing myself as a research leader by consolidating the emerging hypotheses for further research, strengthening nascent research collaborations, completing dissemination of research outputs, translating evidence to policy and clinical guidance, and establishing the sustainability of the MaatHRI research platform.

Without completing the two primary ongoing studies and firming up the emerging hypotheses, I am unlikely to be competitive for the next funding stage. Several mitigating measures have been put in place such as revising the required samples sizes, increasing the frequency of monitoring participant recruitment rates and checking data entry to flag and correct errors promptly.

The MaatHRI programme has grown beyond what I anticipated, producing rich datasets that are capable of answering several important research questions. A TSA will enable me to consolidate nascent multidisciplinary collaborations with national and international experts. This will facilitate translational research (translating emerging evidence from animal models to benefiting population health) in the next phase in the field of iron metabolism in pregnancy, and study of congenital heart disease and longer-term cardiovascular outcomes in women who have heart failure during pregnancy.

MaatHRI provides excellent value for money as a research and training platform. The studies of global relevance currently being undertaken using MaatHRI cannot be carried out in the UK or even in India without a large standardised research infrastructure. Limiting the ongoing studies will undermine the statistical power to produce meaningful results, thereby compromising the value of the data already collected, the ethical obligations to the women who have already participated, and the funds already spent.

Successfully completing the ongoing work will endorse the value of the platform and maximise research outputs, thus enabling me to take the next steps towards establishing myself as a research leader.

I have strong support from my institution, which has grown over the years since the start of the fellowship. I have continued to develop my research and academic leadership skills and profile through opportunities for training, committee membership, pump-priming awards, developing collaborations, disseminating my research outputs, and external and internal mentorships.

I have strong support from my Department to apply for the transition support award with a commitment to provide the required 50% salary and 100% protected time to complete the remaining research and leadership development activities.