Corporate Support
The British Urological Foundation exists to promote research and education in urology in the United Kingdom and Ireland and is grateful to all the companies that support its work enabling it to make a real difference to the management and treatment of urological disease.
BUF Research Scholarships
The core of our work is our highly prestigious research scholarships.
Each year we fund several scholarships for one year's scientific research, with grants of between £10,000 and £35,000. These are highly competitive and the number of applications increases year by year. In 2006 we have received 23 applications for research grants, and have been able to fund eight of these at a total of £283,500. The standard of applications is very high and gets better each year. If appropriate the scholarship bears the name of its sponsoring organisation.
BUF scholars present the results of their research (subject to satisfactory peer review of abstracts) at the BAUS Annual Meeting and at other scientific meetings and conferences. If appropriate a representative from the sponsoring organisation is also invited to visit the department where the research is taking place.
BUF hosts a lunch in July for the new and previous year's scholars and representatives from their sponsoring organisations, to facilitate communication between these organisations and some of the brightest young trainees.
A number of organisations and individuals have supported BUF for several years and appreciate the benefits of their funding to the trainees, to industry and to the cause of urological research.
Clinical Visits
Observing colleagues in centres of excellence abroad is one of the most effective ways of ensuring that pioneering techniques and the newest technological developments are disseminated throughout the British Isles. Clinical visits enable motivated and like-minded clinicians to discuss their clinical findings in person and observe first-hand how the latest management approaches are put into practice. BUF supports clinical visits by Consultant Urologists and by Higher Surgical Trainees, in their final year of training, to units abroad. These clinical visits are usually of short duration to a unit which the applicant feels would help their clinical practice. The maximum grant is £1,750.
Visiting Fellowships
In 2003 and 2004 BUF funded 12 fellowships for urological surgeons to the Cleveland Clinic, Ohio, specifically to train in laparoscopic surgery at a centre with an outstanding international reputation. In 2005 and 2006 BUF has funded 6 fellowships in bladder reconstruction in Mansoura, Egypt. This programme has proved extremely successful and it is proposed to run it again in 2007. Each fellowship requires £5000 funding.
In 2006, with support from Oncura, BUF has run a Brachytherapy Programme in association with the Prostate Cancer Centre, Guildford, UK, and the Seattle Prostate Institute, USA and the opportunity to join the programme will be extended to urologists worldwide in 2007.
