Steps for successful funding applications

Trauma- and injury-related research is recognised in Australia as a National Health Priority Area. Within the past 5 years (2005-2009) 926 trauma-related research publications with an Australian author can be retrieved from the Thomson-Reuters ISI Web of Science database. These publications are written with co-authors from 725 institutions world-wide and span 110 discipline areas from surgery to interdisciplinary social science. Each of these disciplines can represent an opportunity to bridge the gulf between research and health practice, but must be supported by major funding if this translational research is to continue. There are ways in which junior researchers and experience research teams can optimise their trauma-related research proposals to convince funding agencies of the continuing importance of the field and obtain the necessary funding.