These notes are based on advice provided by our current lay representative and the excellent information on NIHR and Asthma UK websites. All applications will now require a 500 word structured lay abstract.

• To provide an input, independent of professional researchers' views, for the assessment of grant applications.
• To encourage applicants to explain their proposals in relatively non-technical terms to the wider non scientific audience.
• Where appropriate to assess the research plan from the point of view of a 'subject' in the research.

• Writing in non-scientific language is difficult but you need to be able to describe your work to the wider audience.
• Write your abstract as though it was for a broadsheet newspaper.
• We are aware that not all projects fit easily into the same structure (clinical compared to laboratory) but a suggested structure is;

1. Background: disease burden (if appropriate), current state of the evidence. In essence describe the bigger picture.
2. Aims: what you want to do and why it is important
3. Methodology:
   1. describe the research context and study design, eg, this is a randomised controlled trial of patients undergoing total hip replacement; this is a laboratory study using blood cells taken from critically ill patients, etc;
   2. describe any interventions and control/comparator treatments;
   3. explain in simple terms what you will measure and how the data will be used.

4. Expected outcomes
5. Implications: what are the practical implications of your results likely to be? • When complete we suggest that you ask someone not involved in the work, preferably non-clinical and non-scientific to look over the abstract. • Lay abstracts of all funded projects will be posted onto the NIAA and funding partner web sites.