Closed call
12 June - 27 August 2019
Research project grant for planning of clinical therapy research
The purpose of the grant is to create opportunities for a constellation of researchers within academia and health and medical care to collaborate with other actors ahead of a future application for a research environment grant within clinical therapy research, or to develop a national network that interacts ahead of future research collaboration, for example where new knowledge is needed. The Swedish Research Council rewards research of the highest scientific quality in national competition.
Support form
Project support
Area
Clinical Therapy Research
Focus
Clinical therapy research
Applicant
Individual researcher
Participating researchers
A minimum of 2 and up to 10 researchers shall be invited to join the application.
Grant period
1 year
Grant amount
Minimum 400 000 SEK per year, maximum 1 200 000 SEK per year
Call deadline
27 August 2019 (14.00/2 p.m.)
Publication of grant award
No later than the beginning of December 2019
Start of grant period
January 2020
Please note
- Please read and follow the instructions: In addition to this specific call text, you also need to read our Guide for applicants Opens in new window..
- As from spring 2019, you will need to have a data management plan for data generated within the research we award funds for. You must not submit or send it to us with the application for a grant, but according to our general grant terms and conditions, your administrating organisation must confirm that a data management plan Opens in new window. will be in place when you start your project or corresponding, and also that the plan will be maintained.
- The call is a further development of last year’s network grant. A new feature compared to the network grant is that salary costs are allowed in this project grant.
PREVIOUSLY APPROVED GRANTS
Call text in full
The following requirements must be fulfilled in order for you to be eligible to apply for the grant. We carry out checks to ensure unqualified applications are rejected from further processing.
About the project grant
The purpose of the grant is to create opportunities for a constellation of researchers within academia and health and medical care to collaborate with other actors ahead of a future application for a research environment grant within clinical therapy research, or to develop a national network ahead of future research collaboration where new knowledge is needed.
Focus
Research of relevance for this call relates to clinical therapy studies, aimed at producing reliable and implementable results that may be of benefit to patients and society within a relatively short period of time (within 2–10 years after completion of the project). The research shall be clinical-based and therefore assumes access to healthcare structures and resources, and shall relate to studies using human subjects and not animals. The main part of the work for the project grant shall be conducted in Sweden, but it is possible to collaborate with foreign higher education institutions.
You can apply for the project grant for one of two purposes:
1) To complete the preliminary work ahead of an application for a research environment grant within clinical therapy research Opens in new window.. The preliminary work should map whether a future well-defined research project can be implemented. The mapping may, for example, include a plan for national recruitment of patients, or (if the patient base is limited), formulate how an expansion of the number of patients and participating clinics/centres can be implemented. The ability to implement may also be affected by problems with or delays in the procurement and manufacture of trial medicines or permit applications, and how these can be avoided.
2) Developing a national network that joins together competences within research, health and medical care, business and users in order to support knowledge exchange on a research question of high scientific quality with relevance to clinical therapy research. The network shall have the aim of stimulating research collaboration on a clearly identified problem, which is justified by the needs of health and medical care, and where increased knowledge is expected to be able to lead to benefits to patients and society in the near future. The networks shall have a clear plan for how users (that is to say patients, patient organisations and relatives) can be engaged to strengthen the participation in future research projects within a certain subject area within clinical therapy research.
Please note that the project grant is not an entirely new form of grant, but a development of last year’s network grant.
Applicant
The applicant for a project grant for planning of clinical therapy research shall be an individual researcher. You shall be the project leader and have scientific responsibility for the grant. You must set aside adequate time for the project throughout the grant period, with a scope (activity level) that corresponds to at least 20 per cent of a full-time equivalent.
You must hold a Swedish doctoral degree or a corresponding foreign degree, awarded no later than the deadline for this call. The degree award date we use is the date you fulfilled all the requirements for a doctoral degree, such as mandatory courses, oral defence and an approved doctoral thesis. For applicants with Swedish doctoral degrees, the award date listed in Ladok applies.
At the time of application and throughout the grant period, you must hold a clinical position in Sweden, such as employment as a physician, nurse, dentist or physiotherapist. The scope of this employment must correspond to a minimum of 20 per cent of a full-time equivalent. You must describe your clinical position in your application (see instructions under “Clinical position” below).
Grants from the Swedish Research Council shall be administered by a Swedish university or HEI or another Swedish public organisation, such as a county council/region, that fulfils our criteria for administrating organisations Opens in new window.. Your organisation must therefore be approved as an administrating organisation for you to apply.
If you are awarded a grant, you must be employed by the administrating organisation at the start of and throughout the grant period and any additional availability period, unless the Swedish Research Council approves an exception. The employment must equal at least 20 per cent of a full-time equivalent. You do not have to be employed by the administrating organisation at the time of applying.
Number of applications and previous grants
What grants may I apply for simultaneously from the Swedish Research Council?
You may only submit one application for this grant under this call. Please note that you can only apply for one of the purposes listed below. You may be a participating researcher in several applications.
Other restrictions on the grants you may apply for during the same year are shown in the table below.
Table: Grants you may apply for simultaneously Pdf, 460.8 kB, opens in new window.
What requirements apply if I already have a grant from the Swedish Research Council?
There are certain restrictions if you are the project leader of a previously awarded grant that is ongoing, that is to say where the grant period (payment period from the Swedish Research Council) overlaps the grant period of the grant this application covers. Please note that the availability period, that is to say the time during which you can draw down the grant awarded, is normally longer than the grant period. Information about the criteria for your previous grant can be found in the “Approval of terms and conditions” you received from the Swedish Research Council.
You may not apply for this grant if you are the project leader for an ongoing research environment grant within clinical therapy research. Please see the table below for further information and any restrictions relating to grants you may apply for if you have an ongoing grant.
Table: Grants you may apply for if you have an ongoing grant Pdf, 460.1 kB, opens in new window.
Note: If you have been the project leader for previous grants from the Swedish Research Council that have ended, final financial reports for all of these must have been submitted within the permitted time frame in order for you to apply for a new grant. Please contact your administrating organisation if you are unsure whether all your final reports have been submitted.
What applies for applications to or grants from other funding bodies?
If your application to the Swedish Research Council relates to the same project idea as a grant you have already been awarded by, or are applying for to another funding body, please describe this.
Participating researchers
Your application must include a minimum of 2 and up to 10 participating researchers, that is to say other researchers with a doctoral degree or corresponding competence, whose scientific competence will be crucial for the implementation of the proposed research. Participating researchers do not have to be employed by a Swedish HEI. Participating researchers shall provide the necessary information themselves in Prisma, and upload these to the application.
Please note that you must not invite participating collaboration partners from health and medical care, business or user representatives in the application. Instead, please provide names and affiliations of these persons in the text box “Participating collaboration partners” in the application form. You must also describe the participating partners and their roles in the project plan (see instructions under “Project plan” below).
Costs and grant amounts
You may apply for grant funds to pay for project and collaboration-related running and salary costs (for your own salary or for other persons included in the project), however no more than corresponding to the person’s activity level in the project. For further information, please see instructions under “Other costs” below.
Grants may not be used to buy equipment or cover depreciation. Grants may not be used for scholarships either. If a doctoral student participates, project funds may not be paid out as salary during teaching or other departmental duties.
The minimum amount you may apply for is 400 000 SEK per year, including indirect costs. The maximum amount you may apply for is 1 200 000 SEK.
Grant period
The grant period is one year, starting in January 2020. The first payment will be made in January 2020 at the earliest.
National collaboration
National collaboration will be a requirement for a future application for a research environment grant within clinical therapy research. National collaboration entails collaboration between a number of county councils/regions (minimum 4 county councils/regions), and may include universities. This collaboration is important to ensure the study and its results have greater impact. The collaboration shall be based on an actual need for interaction. The need may, for example, consist of ensuring sufficiently large patient numbers. Other needs for collaboration may relate to access to high-quality data sources, equipment or specialist competency within several disciplines. Collaboration with companies in the medical sector that are active in Sweden should also be taken into account.
Even though national collaboration is not a formal requirement for this grant for planning clinical therapy research, it is important that your applications includes a clear ambition and plan for how the network can achieve national participation in the long run.
Please refer to the application form in Prisma in parallel with reading the instructions below, which describe the call-specific content of the application. More information on what to do in practical terms is available in our Guide for applicants Opens in new window..
Language
Foreign experts are involved in the scientific assessment of the applications. To ensure fair and equitable assessment and efficient processing, please therefore complete your application in English.
Sections of the application
The application form includes the following tabs:
- Descriptive information
- Project description
- Budget and research resources
- Publications
- Administrating organisation
- Participants
- CV
Descriptions of the call-specific information requested under each tab follow below.
Descriptive information
Abstract
Please note that the instructions for the abstract differ for the two purposes – make sure you follow those that cover your application.
For applications with the purpose of completing the preliminary work ahead of a future application for a research environment grant within clinical therapy research
The abstract of the project plan shall include a brief description of the following:
- what is to be done: purpose and aim
- how the research question will be addressed: time plan for the work and a summary study design
- what will be the direct benefit of the project, and a plan for how the preliminary work will lead to an application for a research environment grant within clinical therapy research.
For applications with the purpose of developing a national network to interact ahead of future national research collaboration
The abstract of the project plan shall include a brief description of the following:
- the research questions that you intend to focus on in the network
- what is to be done within the collaboration network
- how the network relates to existing networks and supplements already existing networks
- how the collaboration will be conducted: organisation, time plan and collaboration formats
- how the network will be built up and administered and funded in the future
- the impact of the collaboration network.
The abstract shall provide a summary guide to the purpose and implementation. Please use wording to ensure persons with another subject specialisation can understand the information.
The description may cover a maximum of 1 500 characters including blank spaces (approximately one third of an A4 page in Arial, font size 11, single line spacing).
Popular science description
Describe the project in such a way that a person who is not familiar with the subject can understand it. Describe what is to be done and why, and explain in what way the new knowledge may be important.
The popular science description is an important tool when we inform about the research funded by the Swedish Research Council. If we grant your application, we reserve the right to use the description for information purposes.
Note: The popular science description must be written in Swedish, unlike the rest of the application.
The description may cover a maximum of 4 500 characters including blank spaces (approximately one A4 page in Arial, font size 11, single line spacing).
Project description
Ethical considerations
Describe the ethical issues raised by your project or corresponding. You must also describe how you plan to address ethical dilemmas that may arise. Please justify why the research should be carried out against the background of the ethical issues you have identified. How do your research questions and expected results measure up in relation to the ethical issues? Please also state whether the research involves any handling of personal data or human subjects. If no ethical issues are raised, please justify this.
Project plan
The project plan shall consist of a brief but complete description of the work to be conducted within the framework of this grant. The work shall have a clear link to the planning of a future application for a grant for a research environment within clinical therapy research, or to develop a national network that interacts ahead of future research collaboration. The plan shall cover a maximum of 4 page-numbered A4 pages in Arial, font size 11, single line spacing, including references and any images.
Please note that the continued instructions for the project plan differ for the two purposes – make sure you follow those that cover your application.
For applications with the purpose of completing the preliminary work ahead of a future application for a research environment grant within clinical therapy research
The project plan must include the following headings and information, listed in the following order:
- Purpose and aims: State the purpose and goals of the project.
- Survey of the field: Describe briefly (maximum one half of an A4 page) the evidence-based knowledge background of the research field, and the current clinical practice. List any systematic surveys, national and international guidelines and identify evidence gaps that justify more research being needed. Summaries of pre-clinical and technical data and of the disease burden may be excluded.
- Research idea: Describe the research question. What is to be studied, and in whom?
- Network description and mode of collaboration: Please describe:
- how the collaborating partners within the network complement each other
- the collaboration structure, that is leadership and role division among the participating parties
- how national collaboration will be achieved
- joint seminars, meetings or workshops, aimed at further developing the research question
- how senior and junior clinical researchers will be involved, and how an even gender distribution of participating researchers will be achieved
- preparation/planning for a joint application for a research environment grant within clinical therapy research
- Survey of the feasibility of the planned study:
- Design of the work with regulatory issues. Describe the work on regulatory issues topical for the project, such as approval from the Swedish Ethical Review Authority, permits from the Swedish Medical Products Agency, etc.
- Design and method of the preparatory work. Describe how the planned design and method of the preparatory work will answer the question about feasibility planned for the application for a research environment grant within clinical therapy research, in relation to the items listed below.
- Making an inventory of the patient material – number of patients possible to include in the study.
- Obtaining ethical approval for the research project with the aim of applying for a research environment grant within clinical therapy research.
- If relevant, obtaining medicine approval for the research project.
- If relevant, starting the procurement of trial medicines to be used in the research project.
- If relevant, obtaining a quote for a placebo.
- Other preparatory work relevant to the research project planned for a follow-up application.
- Outcome: The description shall specify how the project grant for planning can lead to the development of a clinical therapy study, in relation to the following:
- variables and measures
- study design
- estimated sample size and power
- material: patient selection – population, sample
- statistical analysis plan
- clinical benefit
- health economics considerations
- user participation
- implementation
- national collaboration
Further information on the items above is described in previous call texts for research environment grant within clinical therapy research Opens in new window..
For applications with the purpose of developing a national network to interact ahead of future national research collaboration
The project plan must include the following headings and information, listed in the following order:
- Purpose and aims: Describe summarily the purpose and other specific goals for the collaboration project.
- Research idea: Make a summary of the research theme and the research questions planned to be in focus for the collaboration, and describe your own and others’ previous work on establishing a national network and any preliminary results within the research area.
- Significance and scientific novelty: Describe briefly how the collaboration project relates to research within the area, and its importance to the research area in the short and long term.
- Network description: Describe the following:
- concrete collaboration networks aimed at joining together competences within research, health and medical care, business and users in order to support knowledge exchange on a research question of high scientific quality with relevance to clinical therapy research
- the primary purpose of the network and how it will stimulate research collaboration on a clearly identified problem, which is justified by the needs of health and medical care, and is expected to be able to lead to benefits to patients and society
- how the network will be managed in the long term
- the contributions of the participating parties in relation to the research theme, and how they complement each other
- the collaboration structure, that is to say the leadership and role allocation among the participating parties.
- Mode of collaboration: Provide a summary time plan for the collaboration and specify the planned activities, including the following:
- how health and medical care, the business sector and users will be involved in the collaboration
- how an even gender distribution of collaborating partners will be achieved. In the event the distribution is uneven, please justify why this does not have a negative impact on the research collaboration
- how the collaboration will be organised to lead to mutual exchange of knowledge between research institutes, health and medical care, business and users
- include a clear plan for how users (that is to say patients, patient organisations and relatives) will be engaged to strengthen the participation in future research projects within clinical therapy research
- joint seminars, meetings or workshops aimed at further developing the joint research basis and the research agenda
- how national collaboration will be achieved
- joint publications and other joint information dissemination
- joint conferences
- Outcome: The planned results of the collaboration shall be clearly specified, for example:
- Added value of the network collaboration: how the expertise and capacity among the collaborating partners and institutes cooperate to join up competences and support knowledge exchange on a research question of high scientific quality with relevance to clinical therapy research. How the collaboration will provide mutual added value.
- The way in which the collaboration is based on equal participation, and how this will lead to mutual exchange of knowledge.
- The planned dissemination of results and new knowledge, co-production of publications and other contributions.
- How the collaboration will continue in operation after the end of the grant period.
Participating collaborators
State the names and affiliations of any participating partners (for example from health and medical care, business or user representatives).
Description of clinical employment
To apply for a grant within clinical therapy research, you must hold a clinical position in Sweden, such as employment as a physician, nurse, dentist or physiotherapist. The scope of this employment must correspond to a minimum of 20 per cent of a full-time equivalent. Describe in what way you fulfil this requirement.
The description may cover a maximum of 750 characters including blank spaces in Arial, font size 11.
Budget and research resources
Project personnel
State the activity level (per cent of a full-time equivalent) of all personnel active within the project, that is to say yourself, any other researchers and other personnel. Please also state the salary you are applying for, for yourself and/or other personnel active within the project, both as a percentage of a full-time salary and as actual annual amounts (including social security contributions). Please state rounded amounts in SEK.
Other costs
Describe the costs for all planned activities within the project by specifying the items below. Please state rounded amounts in SEK.
1. Costs of obtaining ethical approval, medicine permits, procurement, etc.
2. Costs of preparation/planning research grant application
3. Costs of travel, collaboration activities, joint conferences, workshops, seminars, etc.
4. Costs of joint publications and other joint information dissemination
Total cost of the project
Prisma will automatically add up your budget items listed in a table. The total amount you are applying for shall also include indirect costs. You will have to add these to the table yourself. Here you can also add any additional costs covered by the project (for which you are not seeking funding under this call).
Please contact your HEI for information on what constitutes indirect and direct costs.
Justification of the budget applied for
Justify briefly each cost applied for in the budget stated. The description may cover a maximum of 4 000 characters including blank spaces (approximately one A4 page in Arial, font size 11, single line spacing).
Other funding
Please state your or any other researcher’s funding over and above what is applied for in this application. Please state rounded amounts in SEK.
Publications
Applicant’s publication list
Please attach your publication list drawn up according to the headings and information below. The list shall cover a maximum of 5 page-numbered A4 pages in Arial, font size 11, single line spacing.
Please sort the publications under each heading in reverse chronological order, so that the latest publication is at the top of the list. Please only include articles or corresponding that are published or accepted for publication at the time of applying. The author order shall be identical to that of the published work. The application cannot be supplemented with publications after the deadline for the call.
1. Selection of publications: List the maximum 10 publications of greatest importance to your application. For each publication, please state how you contributed to it, and its relevance to the research project described (maximum 4 lines per publication). Highlight your name in bold in the author list.
2. Relevant publications from the last 8 years: Sort the publications, with your name highlighted in bold in the author list, under each heading (publication type) in the following order:
- Peer-reviewed original articles
- Peer-reviewed conference contributions, the results of which are not included in other publications.
- Peer-reviewed edited volumes
- Research review articles
- Peer-reviewed books and book chapters
- Other publications including popular science books/presentations
Participating researchers’ publication lists
Attach all participating researchers’ publication lists joined up into one file. The list for each researcher shall include a maximum of 10 publications, in the form of the most relevant publications for the research described, and shall cover a maximum of 1 A4 page. The name of the researcher in question shall be highlighted in bold and also be included in the page header of each list.
Please only include articles or corresponding that are published or accepted for publication at the time of applying. The author order shall be identical to that of the published work. The application cannot be supplemented with publications after the deadline for the call.
The publications shall be of the types: Peer-reviewed original articles, conference contributions, edited volumes, research review articles, books and book chapters, and other publications including popular science books/presentations.
Administrating organisation
Please state the administrating organisation and project site.
Participants
Here you shall invite participating researchers and any participating administrators to your application.
CV
Under this tab, please upload your relevant CV information from your personal account in Prisma. Participating researchers must upload their own CV information to the application.
The following information, where available, must always be included in each CV, taking into account the stated limitation in numbers:
- Education: First, second and third cycle higher education and specialist degrees.
- Work: Current employment (including employment form) and longer relevant employment, postdoctoral visits (also included as employment if relevant), research exchanges relevant to the research described and any longer interruptions in the research that have impacted on your opportunity to gain merits as a researcher.
- Merits and awards: Docentship/associate professorship, supervisees (postdoctoral and doctoral students; state the overall number of each category and list the 10 most relevant to you), up to 10 of your most relevant grants awarded in competition, up to 10 of your most relevant prizes and awards, and up to 20 other merits relevant to the application.
- Intellectual property rights: For example, patents and open access computer programs developed by you; state up to 10 of your most relevant.
Scientific quality is the fundamental criterion when the Swedish Research Council allocates grants to research. Your application is evaluated in competition with the other applications on the basis of the following evaluation criteria. The committee for Clinical Therapy Research lends support to clinical studies which are justified by the needs of the healthcare sector, and thereby offer important benefits to patients and society within a relatively short time frame.
Evaluation process
The applications for project grants in clinical therapy research are assessed by review panels consisted of international researchers. The entire review panel then meets at a review panel meeting to discuss and prioritise the applications, and finally to make a proposal for a decision to the committee for Clinical Therapy Research. All applications will receive an individual final statement that reflects the review panel’s discussion of the scientific quality of the application.
Review panel External link, opens in new window.
Evaluation criteria and guiding questions
The evaluation of the scientific quality of your application is made based on five criteria (Scientific quality of the proposed research, Patient value – benefit of the research, Novelty and originality, Merits of the applicant, Feasibility). The purpose of using several components is to achieve a multi-faceted evaluation. Due to the nature of clinical therapy research, the Novelty and originality should be weighted lower than the other criteria.
For the assessment of the application a seven-grade scale is used for four of the assessment criteria: Scientific quality of the proposed research, Patient value – benefit of the research, Novelty and originality and Merit of the applicants. Feasibility is graded using a three-grade scale. The various criteria being used in the assessment will be weighed together to an overall grade (1—7), which reflects the overall assessment of the scientific quality of the application by the evaluation panel. Only applications that have been assessed to have high scientific quality and patient value will be consider for funding.
Scientific quality of the proposed research (1–7)
Patient value – benefit of the research (1–7)
Novelty and originality (1–7)
Merits of the applicant (1–7)
Feasibility (1–3)
Overall grade (1–7)