From Seed Funding to National Impact: ENT UK Foundation Grant Propels Researcher’s Career
08 September 2025
An ENT UK Foundation grant has played a pivotal role in launching the research career of Mr Elliot Heward, whose early project investigating post-tonsillectomy recovery has grown into a major body of work with national significance.
Elliot, now completing his clinical PhD and about to begin a National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Research for Patient Benefit (RfPB) panel appointment, first applied for Foundation funding as a registrar in 2021. The grant supported the POPT study, a multicentre, registrar-led study that explored patient recovery following tonsillectomy.[1]
“The Foundation support was essential,” he said. “It allowed us to get the study off the ground at a time when external funding would have been difficult to secure. We ran a 12-centre study on a relatively small budget, recruiting 372 patients — children and adults — during the COVID period.”
The study resulted in two published papers and directly informed how Elliot and his colleagues counsel patients on recovery expectations. But its impact didn’t stop there.
The project also served as a springboard for further research. Using the skills and experience developed, Elliot successfully secured an NIHR grant worth nearly £150,000 for a subsequent study within his PhD. That research, too, has now been completed and published.
Elliott said the Foundation grant added credibility to his funding applications. “Being able to cite a competitive award and a completed, published study was hugely helpful,” he added. The Foundation also provided a letter of support, an element he described as “very powerful.”
Building on this momentum, Elliot has successfully applied for a larger-scale £297,000 NIHR grant for a new study comparing treatment approaches for children with ear discharge.[2] If successful, the study could pave the way for updating the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidance and improving both the quality of life and cost efficiency across the NHS.
In parallel, he will soon take up a seat on the NIHR RfPB regional panel, giving him the opportunity to help shape funding decisions and share insights with the wider ENT research community. “It’s about collaboration,” he said. “The more we can share what makes a strong grant application, the better placed we are to grow high-quality ENT research nationally.”
Elliot credits much of his progress to the timing and support of that first ENT UK Foundation award. “Without that initial project, I don’t know if I would have taken the next steps. It gave me the experience and confidence to grow as a researcher.”
The ENT UK Foundation, which funds early-stage research through competitive grants, continues to support clinicians across the UK. Eligibility is open to ENT UK members — something Elliot believes more clinicians should take advantage of.
“There’s growing awareness now, and the quality of grant applications just keeps getting better. It’s a great opportunity, especially for trainees and early-career researchers looking to make a difference.”
[1] Heward, E., Rocke, J., McNally, G., Thompson, G., Oladokun, D., Timms, S., Abbas, J. R., H. Chu, M. M., Akbar, S., Dobbs, S., Chudek, D., Jaiswal, I., Vora, D., Harrison, A., Oremule, B., Sarwar, S., Menon, S. S., Advani, R., Daniels, J., . . . Kumar, N. (2024). The post-operative tonsillectomy (POPT) study: A multi-centre prospective paediatric cohort study. Clinical Otolaryngology, 49(2), 176-184. https://doi.org/10.1111/coa.14110
[2] NIHR no: NIHR209173