Network grant within Clinical Therapy Research

You apply electronically in Prisma External link, opens in new window., which is the application system used by the Swedish Research Council. You create your application in Prisma by filling in the text fields, uploading information from your personal account, and attaching the appendices requested.

To enable you to apply, your organisation must have been approved as an administrating organisation Opens in new window. and have created an organisation account in Prisma.

For most items in Prisma, there is a User Manual External link, opens in new window. describing all the steps, and answers to FAQ External link, opens in new window.. Please refer to these when filling in your application.

Please avoid stating your own or anybody else’s full personal identity number in the application except where specifically requested.

Creating a personal account in Prisma

Before you apply, you must create a personal account in Prisma External link, opens in new window. where you save your personal and CV data. The information only needs to be entered once, and can thereafter be supplemented or changed as required. As most of the Swedish Research Council’s calls employ foreign reviewers, please use English when entering any descriptive text in you CV data. You can also input your publications for future use. Please note that no publications can currently be uploaded from your account to the application form. This is because the publications function is under development and not yet used in the Swedish Research Council’s calls. You should therefore submit your publications list as an attached PDF file instead (please see instructions under “Publications” below).

Please allow plenty of time to create your personal account. The applications you register in Prisma will be linked to your personal account.

All other persons participating in your application must also create a personal account in Prisma and confirm their participation. Thereafter they can add their data to the application via their personal accounts.

Text

Some text fields can be formatted, which means that the font, alignment and font size can be changed in these fields, and that tables and symbols can be inserted. If you insert text written using a word processing program (such as Microsoft Word), you may need to use the tools in Prisma to adjust the formatting after insertion. Images cannot be included in the text fields, however. We recommend that you use the fonts Arial, Calibri or Verdana.

All text fields have a limit on the number of characters, and this is illustrated by a character counter. If you use too many characters, the application cannot be registered.

Attached documents and appendices

You will need to attach an appendix to some fields as instructed. The appendix must consist of one file only, and you can only attach documents in PDF format. All appendices are limited as to file size and number of pages. You will not be able to register your application with an appendix that exceeds the stated maximum size.

Signing

Both you as applicant and an authorised representative of the administrating organisation shall sign the application electronically in Prisma. Please see further information under “Registering the application” below.

Please refer to the application form in Prisma in parallel with reading the instructions below.

Language

Foreign experts are involved in the scientific evaluation 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 data
• Research description
• Budget and research resources
• Publications
• Administrating organisation
• Participants
• CV

Descriptions of the information requested under each tab follow below. Mandatory information is marked with an asterisk (*) in Prisma.

Descriptive data

Under this tab, please fill in the project title in Swedish and English and select SCB codes and key words. Please also fill in the abstract and popular science description as instructed below.

Abstract

The abstract of the coordination plan shall include a brief description of:

• what is to be done: what and why
• how the research question will be addressed: time plan for national coordination and a summary study design
• what will be the direct benefit of the planned research question, and a plan for how it will lead to an application for a grant for a research environment grant within clinical therapy research.

The abstract shall provide a summary guide to the purpose and implementation of the research. 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).

Research description

Under this tab, please attach your coordination plan and describe any ethical considerations, as well as how you are fulfilling the requirement of holding a clinical position.

Ethical considerations

The application shall describe the ethical issues raised by the project. Please describe also how any ethical dilemma raised will be handled. Please justify why the research should be carried out against the background of the ethical issues identified. How do the questions and expected results measure up in relation to the ethical issues? Also state whether the research involves any handling of personal data, or experiments on animals or human subjects. If no ethical issues are raised, please state this.

Coordination plan

Please attach your coordination plan in PDF format. The coordination plan shall consist of a brief but complete description of the collaboration planned for the parties in the network. The plan shall cover a maximum of three page-numbered A4 pages in Arial, font size 11, single line spacing, including references and any images.

The coordination plan must include the following headings and information, listed in the following order:

• Purpose and aims. Describe the purpose and the long-term goal of the coordination of the research question.
• 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 gaps in knowledge 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 on whom?
• Network description and mode of cooperation. The description shall include:
  • a description of actual collaboration projects and joint research applications, and how these contribute to strengthen ongoing research at the participating HEIs
  • a description of the contributions of the participating parties in relation to the research theme, and how they complement each other
  • a description of the collaboration structure, that is to say the leadership and role allocation among the participating parties
• Forms for collaboration. Specify activities, for example:
  • joint seminars, meetings or workshops, aimed at further developing the research question
  • how national collaboration will be achieved
  • how senior and junior clinical researchers will be involved, and how an even gender distribution of participating researchers will be considered
  • preparation/planning of joint research applications
• Outcome. The description shall specify how coordination around the research question can lead to the development of a clinical therapy study, in relation to:
  • variables and measures
  • study design
  • estimated sample size and power
  • material: patient selection – population, sample
  • statistical analysis plan
  • clinical benefit
  • health economic considerations
  • patient participation
  • implementation
  • national collaboration.

Clinical position

In order to apply for a grant within clinical therapy research, you must hold a clinical position in Sweden, such as a physician, nurse, dentist or physiotherapist, corresponding to at least 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

Under this tab, please list the costs of all planned activities and any other funding.

Costs

Describe the costs for all planned activities within the network by specifying the items below. Please state rounded amounts in SEK.

1. Costs of travel, accommodation and subsistence
2. Costs of organising seminars and workshops
3. Other costs

Total project cost

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.

Explanation of the proposed budget

Justify briefly each cost applied for in the budget stated. The description may cover a maximum of 2 000 characters including blank spaces (approximately half an 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

Under this tab, please attach your and the participating researchers’ publication lists in PDF format to your respective fields.

Applicant’s publications list

Please attach your publications list drawn up according to the headings and information below. The list shall cover a maximum of five page-numbered A4 pages in Arial, font size 11, single line spacing.

1. Selection of publications, List the maximum ten 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 four lines per publication). Highlight your name in bold in the author list.

2. Relevant publications from the last eight 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.

Note: 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 in the publications list shall be identical to that of the published work. The application cannot be supplemented with publications after the deadline for the call.

Participating researchers’ publications lists

Attach all participating researchers’ publications lists joined up into one file. The list for each researcher shall include a maximum of ten publications, in the form of the most relevant publications for the research described, and shall cover a maximum of one 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.

The publications shall be of the type: Peer-reviewed original articles, conference contributions, edited volumes, research review articles, books and book chapters, and other publications including popular science books/presentations.

Note: Please only include articles or corresponding that are published or accepted for publication at the time of applying. The author order in the publications list shall be identical to that of the published work. The application cannot be supplemented with publications after the deadline for the call.

Administrating organisation

Under this tab, please state the administrating organisation and project site. The administrating organisation is the organisation that administers the grant awarded and is responsible for it according to the conditions set. The project site is the organisational unit where the project is carried out. Normally, the administrating organisation and project site correspond to the HEI and the department where the project leader is employed.

To allow you to link your application to an administrating organisation, the organisation must have an approved account in Prisma. Please contact your administrating organisation and ask it to apply for an organisation account External link, opens in new window. with the Swedish Research Council if it does not already have one.

If your project site is not listed in Prisma, please contact the person responsible for the organisation account at your administrating organisation. You will not be able to finalise the registration of your application if the project site is missing.

Participants

Under this tab, you shall invite theparticipating researchers and any administrators to your application. A participating administrator is a person who is not necessarily part of the project, but who can help you to input and edit information in the application.

When inviting participants, please make sure you use the correct email address linked to the person’s Prisma account. You may invite participants who do not already have an account in Prisma, but in order to participate in your application they must register their own personal accounts in Prisma. All participants must accept their invitation, and participating researchers must upload their CV data to the application before you can finalise the registration of the application.

Once a participating researcher has accepted your invitation, you can allocate authority to him/her to edit the 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 form of employment) 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 professorships, 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.

Registering the application

The tab “Check and register” shows a summary of the fields in your application that may require action in order to register it (such as mandatory fields not filled in, text fields with too many characters, discrepancies from limits on the possible project period or budget applied for). The registration of your application is not finalised until you click on the “Register” button.

Please make sure you use the preview function before registering your application.

Note: Everybody you have invited in your application must accept the invitation before you can register the application. If an invitation is not accepted, it must be deleted. Before registration, all participating researchers must also upload their CV information from their own personal accounts in Prisma.

The registered application can thereafter be found in your personal Prisma account in the tab “Applications and grants”, under the menu choice “Applications”. Until the deadline for the call, a registered application may be de-registered, amended and re-registered again as necessary.

It is your responsibility to ensure the application is complete, that is to say the application form is correctly filled in, the correct appendices are attached and the information requested has been provided according to the instructions. Please only submit material specifically requested. We do not accept any additional information after the deadline, except when specifically requested.

Signing

When you register the application, it is signed by you as project leader. To ensure the application is deemed complete and included in the review process, an authorised representative of the administrating organisation also has to sign the application. The representative is normally the head of the department where the research will be carried out, but this is dependent on your administrating organisation’s structure.

The applicant’s signature confirms that:

• the information in the application is correct and complies with the Swedish Research Council’s instructions
• secondary occupations and commercial ties have been reported to the administrating organisation and that nothing has emerged that breaches good research practice
• the applicant has not been found guilty of scientific misconduct during the last two years before the deadline of the call
• the permits and approvals required have been obtained before the research is started, such as permits from the Swedish Medical Products Agency or approval from an ethical review board or an ethical committee on animal experiments
• the applicant will comply with all other conditions applicable to the grant

The signature of the administrating organisation confirms that:

• the research or research-supporting activity described can be given room at the administrating organisation during the period and to the extent stated in the application
• the applicant will be employed by the administrating organisation during the period covered by the application
• the administrating organisation approves of the budget in the application
• the applicant has not been found guilty of scientific misconduct by the administrating organisation signing during the last two years before the deadline of the call
• the administrating organisation will comply with all other conditions applicable to the grant

The above points shall have been discussed by the parties before the representative of the administrating organisation approves and signs the application.

Note: The authorised representative of the administrating organisation must sign the application in Prisma no later than one week (seven calendar days) after the call deadline date in order for the application to be considered further in the review process.

When you have registered your application and the call closes (at 14.00/2 p.m. on the deadline date of the call), the registration of your application is automatically finalised and your application is given a registration number.

Your registered application is automatically forwarded to the representative of the administrating organisation for signature in Prisma. The application must be signed by the administrating organisation no later than one week (seven calendar days) after the deadline. You will receive an email when the application has been signed.

Thereafter you will find information about the status of the application, registration number and signature of the application in your account in Prisma, under the tab “Applications and grants”.

Decision

Shortly after the grant decision has been made, a notice of the grant awards will be published on the Swedish Research Council’s website. You will thereafter find a notice of the decision and a final statement on your application in your personal account in Prisma, under the tab “Applications and grants”. The statement consists of a grading and, in some cases, written comments.

The EU’s ABS Regulation and due diligence declaration: As from 12 October 2015, users of genetic resources (genetic material of actual or potential value) and traditional knowledge relating to genetic resources, obtained after 12 October 2014, shall comply with the EU’s ABS Regulation (No 511/2014) by making a “due diligence declaration”. This applies only to grant recipients. Due diligence entails the user being able to show that the genetic resource was obtained according to applicable legislation in the country in question and that the possible benefit of the genetic resource will be allocated in a reasonable and equitable way.

Exceptions apply to research into: the human genome, plant genetic material included Appendix 1 External link, opens in new window. in the international agreement on plant genetic resources, pandemic influenza virus and genetic material obtained from international waters. If you have any questions about the regulations and due diligence, please contact Naturvårdsverket External link, opens in new window.

The scientific evaluation of the application is carried out by active researchers. These peer reviewers evaluate the application in competition with the other applications on the basis of the evaluation criteria set by the Swedish Research Council.

If an application is not completed according to the instructions, this will be weighed into the evaluation.

Review panels External link, opens in new window.

The Swedish Research Council’s conflict of interest policy Opens in new window.

The Swedish Research Council’s gender equality strategy Opens in new window.

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.

Evaluation process

Your application is evaluated by a review panel where the members are international researchers.

At least three members review and grade your application individually. 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.

Each application receives an individual final statement that reflects the review panel’s discussion and overall assessment of the scientific quality of the application.

Evaluation criteria and guiding questions

The evaluation of the scientific quality of your application is made based on four basic criteria (Novelty and originality, Scientific quality of the project, Merits of the applicant, Feasibility). The purpose of using several components is to achieve a multi-faceted evaluation. In addition to the basic criteria, your application is also evaluated using an additional criterion (Benefit of the research – patient value). The criteria are assessed on a seven-grade scale, except for feasibility, which is assessed on a three-grade scale.

For each criterion, there are guiding questions to support the panel members’ evaluation of your application. These can also function as guidance for you when you write your application.

Novelty and originality (1–7)

Guiding questions:

• Is there a need of more research in this area in accordance to existing systematic reviews, national and international guidelines and/or identified knowledge gaps?
• Have similar studies been conducted before?
• Will the results of the planned clinical therapy study fill an existing knowledge gap in the clinic?
• Does the planned clinical therapy study have the potential to deliver implementable results beneficial to patients and society?

Scientific quality of the project (1–7)

Guiding questions:

• Is the main research question(s) motivated and specified?
• Are the purpose and the long-term goal of the network clarified and well justified?
• Is the research task clearly defined and related to future application within the call of Clinical therapy research?
• Are the planned activities clearly specified and fit for purpose (how to include target groups who may benefit from the research, how to optimize the study design, how to include a statistical analysis plan, how to meet the requirement on national collaboration)?
• Is there a well worked-out plan for how both junior and senior researchers will participate in the network?

Merits of the applicant (1–7)

Guiding questions:

• Does the team have a track record in carrying out research within the subject area?
• Has any team member been involved in critical assessments or guideline establishment?
• Is there any involvement of a clinical trials unit or any trial staff (if applicable)?
• Is there an inclusion of a statistician as an applicant?
• Does the main applicant have documented experience of leading major collaboration projects?

Feasibility (1–3)

Guiding questions:

• Does the network conclusively describe its organisation and structure, and how it fulfils the need for new activities in the research field?
• Are the costs reasonable and well justified?

Benefit of the research – patient value (1-7)

Guiding questions:

• May the results of the planned clinical therapy study be directly implementable into clinical practice within the relatively near future, approximately five years after the project ends?
• Factors such as prevalence, the severity of the disease and the social costs should be weighed in the assessment of clinical relevance.
• May the results of the planned clinical therapy study contribute to a better use of the resources in the healthcare sector and to general societal benefits?

Overall grade (1–7)

The above subsidiary criteria are weighed together into an overall grade, which reflects the review panel’s joint evaluation of the application’s scientific quality.