Giving patients and the public a voice in evaluating funding applications for clinical trials

Since 2016, the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) has been funding investigator-initiated clinical trials (IICTs) on topics that lie outside of industry focus but are of significance to society. This year, patient and public representatives actively participated in the evaluation of applications submitted to this programme for the first time, a measure that has been overdue at the SNSF when compared to other European funders. The inclusion of the patient’s perspective to “standard” clinical and statistical assessments added value to the evaluation and was an eye-opening experience for everyone involved.