The Research Development Fund was launched in February 2021 to fund projects that contribute to the development of clinical research, in turn leading to further research activity. Applications in this third round of funding were scored on their potential value in aiding the development of future research activity, importance and relevance of the clinical question being developed, methodological rigour, likelihood of completion and value for money.

The BHF CRC are pleased to announce that 5 applications were successful, covering a variety of clinical cardiovascular specialities and themes.

The successful projects included:

• A pilot study to investigate the effect of acetazolamide as a chloride-sparing diuretic in patients admitted with heart failure.
• Preparatory work for a multi-centre randomised trial application to investigate the benefits of myocardial ischemia and viability guided coronary chronic total occlusion recanlization.
• Development of a standard set of outcomes measures for South Asian people living with coronary heart disease and/or diabetes using the Delphi method.
• A scoping exercise using patients and healthcare professionals to identify how best to use digital tools to support lifestyle and behavioural changes in patients requiring cardiac surgery.
• Investigation of factors that influence progression from Phase III to Phase IV cardiac rehabilitation in underrepresented groups (females and ethnic minorities) in order to support a grant application for a multi-centre RCT to investigate interventions that influence uptake to PHASE IV cardiac rehabilitation.