Grant for planning of clinical study in therapy research

The following requirements must be fulfilled in order for you to be eligible to apply for the grant. We carry out checks and reject applications that do not fulfil the requirements.

Focus

The research must be clinical; that is, research in medicine and health sciences that assumes the structures and resources of healthcare, and has the goal of solving an ill-health problem, or identifying factors that lead to improved health. The research should aim to fill a knowledge gap. Projects that are relevant for this call are clinical studies in therapy research, aimed at producing reliable and implementable results that can be of benefit to patients and society within a relatively short period of time (within 5 years of the project’s implementation). The main part of the work for the project shall be conducted in Sweden, but it is possible to collaborate with foreign higher education institutions.

Purpose of the grant

You may apply for the planning grant to complete a planning or preliminary study ahead of an application for a grant for clinical study in therapy research Opens in new window.. The preliminary study should map the feasibility of a future well-defined research project. The mapping may, for example, include a plan for national recruitment of patients, and (in particular if the patient base is limited), formulate how the number of patients recruited and participating clinics/centres can be ensured. The preliminary study may also be used to identify problems with permit applications or delays in the procurement and manufacture of trial medicines, and how these can be avoided. Conducting a systematic review in order to get a better picture of the state of knowledge may also form part of the planning.

The planning grant may also include collaboration with the users involved, and enabling active user participation on future projects.

You may also include costs of creating a national network with different researchers and actors to coordinate a research question of high scientific quality that is relevant to clinical therapy research.

The aim of the grant should be to enable submission of an application to the Swedish Research Council within 1–2 years in conjunction with calls for grants for clinical study in therapy research.

National collaboration

National collaboration will be a requirement for a future application for a grant for clinical study in therapy research. Even though national collaboration is not a formal requirement for this grant, it is important that your application includes a clear ambition and plan for how the project can achieve the requirement for national participation in the long run.

National collaboration is important to ensure the study and its results have greater impact, and entails collaboration between a number of regions (minimum 4). The requirement for collaboration to include a minimum of 4 regions must be fulfilled, unless there are special circumstances: that the application relates to national highly specialised/national medical care, or diseases that are only relevant to a few regions. Read more about national collaboration in the call text for grant to clinical study in therapy research. Opens in new window.

Applicant

The applicant for a project grant must be an individual researcher together with their organisation (a Swedish higher education institution (HEI) or another Swedish organisation that fulfils our criteria for administrating organisations for Swedish Research Council grants Opens in new window.). We must have approved your organisation as an administrating organisation for you to apply. The administrating organisation must sign your application in Prisma no later than 7 calendar days after the deadline for this call.

You shall be the project leader and have scientific responsibility for the project. The time you set aside for the project (your activity level, that is the percentage of a full-time equivalent) must be suited to the task and its implementation throughout the grant period.

You must hold a Swedish doctoral degree or an equivalent foreign degree, awarded no later than the deadline for this call. For applicants with Swedish doctoral degrees, the award date listed in Ladok applies.

You do not need to be employed by the administrating organisation at the time of application, but you must be employed at the start of and throughout the grant period and any further additional availability period. The employment must equal at least 20 per cent of a full-time equivalent.

At the time of application and throughout the grant period, you must hold a clinical position in Sweden, that is to say be employed and carry out clinical work as a physician, nurse, dentist or physiotherapist, or similar. The scope of this employment must correspond to a minimum of 20 per cent of a full-time equivalent. You must describe the clinical work in your application (see instructions under “Clinical work” below).

Number of applications and previous grants

The requirements described in this section only apply to applicants (project leaders).

General information about overlaps between applications and grants

Your application must not cover costs for purposes that are already funded by the Swedish Research Council or any other funding body. Overlaps with other grants or applications may impact on the grant amount you are awarded, or be a reason for us to reject your application.

What grants may I apply for simultaneously from the Swedish Research Council?

You may only submit one application for this grant under this call. Further information about the grants you may apply for during the same year are shown in on the page Several grants simultaneously 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 an ongoing grant, that is to say where the grant period (payment period from the Swedish Research Council) overlaps the grant period of the grant the application relates to. Please note that the availability period, that is to say the time during which you have the right to use your grant, is normally longer than the grant period. You can find information about the requirements for your ongoing grant in the “Approval of terms and conditions” you received from the Swedish Research Council.

If you already have an ongoing grant, then further information about the grants you may apply for are shown in on the page Several grants simultaneously Opens in new window.. Please note that you may not apply for this grant if you are the project leader for an ongoing research environment grant or an ongoing grant for planning of clinical study in therapy research.

Please note also that you cannot later apply for a grant for clinical study in therapy research if you have an ongoing distinguished professor grant or are a researcher recruited through the Swedish Research Council’s international recruitment call with a grant period that overlaps the grant period for the planned grant for clinical studies in therapy research. On the other hand, you may participate in such an application.

Note: If you have been the project leader for previous grants from the Swedish Research Council that have ended, a final financial report 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 concept as a grant you have already been awarded by, or are applying for to another funding body, please describe this.

Participating researchers

You must include a minimum of 3 and maximum of 10 participating researchers in your application. Participating researchers are other researchers with a doctoral degree or equivalent competence (not doctoral students) whose scientific competence will be crucial for the implementation of the planned project. They 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. Any doctoral students and other collaboration partners and their roles shall be described in the project plan (please 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.

You cannot apply for a grant to buy equipment or for depreciation costs. 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 in total.

Grant period

You may apply for a grant for a minimum of 1 year and a maximum of 2 years, starting in January 2024.

The first payment will be made during January 2024 at the earliest.

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

International 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 (apart from the popular science description, which you should write in Swedish).

Sections of the application

The application form includes the following tabs:

• Descriptive information
• Research description
• Budget and research resources
• Publications
• Administrating organisation
• Review panels
• Participants
• CV

The information we request under each tab is described below.

Descriptive information

Abstract

The summary of the project plan shall provide a brief description of:

• What is to be done: purpose and aims
• A brief description of the state of knowledge and the position of the research field, preferably with reference to previous systematic reviews
• How the planning/preliminary study will be carried out: project organisation, time plan and scientific methods
• What is important about the planning/preliminary study

The abstract shall provide a summary picture of 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. This is approximately one third of an A4 page in Arial, font size 11, single line spacing.

Popular science description

Describe the planned project in such a way that a person who is not a researcher can understand it. Do this by answering the following questions:

• What is the project about?
• Why is it important to research this?
• In what way may the new knowledge be important?

The popular science description is important when we inform about the research funded by the Swedish Research Council.

The text must be in Swedish and may cover a maximum of 2 000 characters including blank spaces. This is approximately half an A4 page in Arial, font size 11, single line spacing.

Other applications or grants

Describe the relationship between the different projects if

1. you are applying for or intend to apply for other grants from the Swedish Research Council
2. you are receiving an ongoing grant from the Swedish Research Council with a grant period that wholly or partly overlaps with the grant you are now applying for
3. there are current applications or grants with the same project concept/purpose at the Swedish Research Council or other funding bodies (from you or another researcher).

In all cases, you should also justify why you are submitting one or several further applications. If there are no other applications or grants, please state so.

The description may cover a maximum of 2 000 characters including blank spaces. This is approximately half an A4 page in Arial, font size 11, single line spacing.

Clinical work

Confirm that the scope of your clinical employment corresponds to a minimum of 20 per cent of a full-time equivalent at the time of application and throughout the project period. Describe also in what way you fulfil the requirement for clinical work in Sweden (see under the heading “Requirements for applicants”) and what your clinical work involves.

The description may cover a maximum of 750 characters including blank spaces. This is approximately one A4 page in Arial, font size 11, single line spacing.

Research description

Ethical aspects

Legal and formal requirements

State whether the research covers the handling of personal data, or experiments on animals and/or studies involving humans.

You must also describe/state what approvals and permits that your planning/preliminary study, as well as the proposed therapy research project requires (such as from the Swedish Ethical Review Authority and the Medical Products Agency), and how you plan to obtain these. Describe any other permits that affect your application, such as whether parts of the research will be done in a country other than Sweden. If no approvals or permits are needed, please state so.

The description may cover a maximum of 2 000 characters including blank spaces. This is approximately one A4 page in Arial, font size 11, single line spacing.

Further information is available on the page Conducting ethical research. Opens in new window.

Ethical considerations

Reflect on the ethical issues that may arise for your project, and describe these. 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. Examples of issues to reflect on:

• How do your research questions and expected results measure up in relation to the ethical issues?
• What (direct) risks (physical, mental, or integrity) will research persons or animals be exposed to?
• What long-term risks may arise from the research? Is there any risk that the research may be used in a way that is detrimental to animals, nature/the environment, or society (whole or parts of the same) in other respects?
• Is the research expected to contribute to other values over and above the knowledge gain? If so, to whom?
• How do you weigh up the risks (in particular short-term risks) against the value (which is often more long-term) of the research?

If no ethical issues are raised, please justify this. The description may cover a maximum of 4 000 characters including blank spaces. This is approximately one A4 page in Arial, font size 11, single line spacing.

Sex and gender perspectives

Please state whether sex and gender perspectives are applicable in your planned research, and justify your decision. Please note that we are not asking for information about the composition of the research team (men/women). Read more about sex and gender perspectives in research content Opens in new window..

The following applies:

• If you answer “Yes”: Please justify your answer, and describe also how you take account of sex and gender perspectives in the project plan. If you have stated that sex and gender perspectives are applicable, but still choose not to include them in your project plan, you will need to justify this here.
• If you answer “No”: Please justify your answer.

The justification may cover a maximum of 4 000 characters including blank spaces. This is approximately one A4 page in Arial, font size 11, single line spacing.

Project plan

The project plan shall be forward-looking, and consist of a brief but complete description of the planning/preliminary study. It may cover a maximum of 4 page-numbered A4 pages in Arial, font size 11, single line spacing and 2.5 cm margins, including references and any images.

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

• Purpose and aims: State the overall purpose and specific aims of the planning/preliminary study.
• Survey of the field: Describe briefly (maximum half an A4 page) the evidence-based knowledge background and the current clinical practice of the research field. List any systematic reviews, 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.
  
  If a reliable systematic review is lacking for the question, then one should be carried out to ensure that research into the question is justified. A systematic review should be conducted according to the PRISMA statement External link.. Please also consult SBU’s method book External link.or alternatively Cochrane handbook External link. for implementation and methodological aspects.
• Research idea: Describe the research question of a future clinical therapy research study. What is to be studied, and in whom? This should include a summary description of the question’s population (inclusion and exclusion criteria), the method to be studied, controls, and outcomes. The research question should be set up according to PICO (Population/Intervention/Control/Outcome). If PICO cannot be used for the research question, please explain why. Please justify how the selected study design is adequate for the research question.
• Mode of collaboration: Please describe:
  • ­how the collaborating partners in the planning/preliminary study complement each other
  • the collaboration structure, that is leadership and role division among the participating parties
  • ­how national collaboration will be achieved to allow a future application for a grant for the therapy research study
  • ­ 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 considered
  • ­preparation/planning of a joint application for a grant for therapy research.
• Survey of the feasibility of the planned therapy research study: Describe how the planned design and method of the preparatory study will answer the question about feasibility of a future application for a therapy research study, in relation to the following items:
  • Inventory of the patient material – number of patients in existence and how many of these are possible to include.
  • Any need for a procurement of trial medicines to be used in a future therapy research study and/or obtaining a quotation for placebo.
  • Other relevant preparatory work.

Please note that you must describe the planned organisation and work on obtaining the necessary approvals and permits from bodies such as the Swedish Ethical Review Authority, the Medical Products Agency, etc., in a separate section under “Ethical aspects”.

• Outcome: The description shall specify how the planning grant can lead to the development of a clinical therapy research study, in relation to the following:
  • Study design for the future clinical therapy research study
  • Outcome variables and measurement
  • Dimensioning (estimated number of patients) and the study’s estimated power
  • Material: patient sample – size of available population and how large a proportion of this that can be expected to be recruited to take part in the study
  • Statistical analysis plan for the most important outcome variables
  • Clinical benefit
  • Health economics considerations
  • User participation
  • Implementation
  • National collaboration.

Further information on the items above is described in the call text for grant for clinical study in therapy research. Opens in new window.

• User participation: Describe how this grant can be used to establish good user participation, primarily based on the following:
  • Why the question is regarded as important to patients, relatives and professions
  • How outcomes are produced through active user participation
  • How users can be involved in the planning and implementation of the study, information material, and the dissemination of study results

Participating collaborators

State the names and affiliations of any participating collaborators (for example from health and medical care, business or user representatives).

The text may cover a maximum of 4 000 characters including blank spaces. This is approximately one A4 page in Arial, font size 11, single line spacing.

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, doctoral stundents 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 the amounts in Swedish krona, rounded to the nearest 1 000 SEK.

Other costs

Describe the running costs for all planned activities within the project by specifying the items below. Please state the amounts in Swedish krona, rounded to the nearest 1 000 SEK.

• Costs of obtaining permits from the Swedish Ethical Review Authority, the Medical Products Agency, procurement, etc.
• Costs of travel, collaboration activities, joint conferences, workshops, seminars, etc.
• Costs of preparation/planning research grant applications, including for a future therapy research study
• Costs of joint publications and other joint information dissemination

Total cost of the project

Prisma will automatically add up your budget items 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 that the project entails (for which you are not seeking funding under this call).

Indirect costs follow the model that your administrating organisation uses. Please contact your administrating organisation if you have any questions about what constitutes indirect and direct costs.

Justification of the budget applied for

Justify briefly each cost applied for in your budget. The description may cover a maximum of 4 000 characters including blank spaces. This is approximately one A4 page in Arial, font size 11, single line spacing.

Other funding

Please state your or any other researcher’s funding for the project over and above what is applied for in this application. Please state the amounts in Swedish krona, rounded to the nearest 1 000 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 and 2.5 cm margins.

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 equivalent that are published or accepted for publication at the time of applying. The author name 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 10 publications of greatest importance to your application. Describe how you contributed to each publication, 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 2015–2023: In this part, the publications listed under Item 1 shall also be included if they have been published during the period in question. 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 the 10 publications that are the most relevant to the research described, and shall cover a maximum of 1 A4 page in Arial, font size 11, single line spacing and 2.5 cm margins. 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 equivalent that are published or accepted for publication at the time of applying. The author name 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.

Review panels

Please request the review panel or panels (in priority order) that you wish to carry out the scientific assessment of your application.

The final allocation of applications is determined by the Swedish Research Council.

Review panels Opens in new window.

Participants

Under this tab, you shall invite the 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:

• Education: First, second and third cycle higher education and specialist degrees.
• Work: Current employment (including employment form) and longer relevant employments held, 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 merit as a researcher.
• Merits and awards: Docentship/associate professorship, supervisees (postdoctoral and doctoral students; state the number of persons in each category and list the names of the up to 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.

Evaluation process

Your application for grant for planning of a clinical study in therapy research is evaluated in one of the three review panels where the members are international researchers. At least three members review and grade your application individually. If extra competence is needed, your application might also be evaluated by an additional, external, reviewer. The entire review panel (not including any external reviewers) then meets at a review panel meeting to discuss and prioritise the applications, and to make a proposal for a decision to the Committee for Committee for Clinical Therapy Research.

Review panels Opens in new window.

Following the grant decision your application will receive an individual final statement containing the grades and a summary of the review panel’s discussion and overall assessment of the scientific quality of the application.

Here you will find a more comprehensive description of the Swedish Research Council's assessment of applications. Opens in new window.

Evaluation criteria and guiding questions

The evaluation of the scientific quality of your application is made based on four basic criteria (Scientific quality of the proposed research, Novelty and originality, Merits of the applicant, Feasibility). The purpose of using several components is to achieve a multi-faceted evaluation. The criteria are assessed on a seven-grade scale, except for feasibility, which is assessed on a three-grade scale.

In addition to the basic criteria, your application is also evaluated using an additional criterion Patient value – benefit for the society on a 7-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.

Scientific quality of the proposed research (1–7)

Guiding questions:

• Are the ethical considerations for the proposed project properly described and addressed? Does the applicant adequately consider risk/value/suffering for humans, animals, nature and/or society?
• Is the main research question motivated and specified?
• Are the purpose and the plan for how the proposal will lead to a future application for a research environment grant within clinical therapy research clarified and well justified
• Are the planned activities clearly specified and fit for purpose, for example, how to
  • 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.
  • optimize the study design and develop a statistical analysis plan
  • make an inventory of the patient material – total number of eligible patients in the catchment area and number of those patients possible to include in the study
  • obtain medicine approval for the research project
  • start the procurement of study drug(s) to be used in the research project
  • obtain a quote for placebo, if relevant
  • meet the requirement on national collaboration
  • gather necessary expertise and actors to create a network that can lead to a future application for research environment grant within clinical therapy research
  • perform a systematic review of the research field if systematic reviews are lacking for the research area

• Is there a well worked-out plan for how both junior and senior researchers will participate in the network?
• Have the applicants described if and how sex and gender are relevant to the research question?
• If sex and gender is described as relevant to the research question, have the applicants considered sex and gender in their description of the proposed work, including choice of study population, design, analyses, and implementation?
• If sex and gender is not considered in the description of the proposed work, including choice of study population, design, analyses, and implementation, have the applicants justified why this is the case?

Patient value – benefit for the society (1-7)

Guiding questions:

• Is there a well worked-out plan for how to include users (that is to say patients, patient organisations and patient relatives) in the planning of a future study and the choice of endpoints?
• May the results of the planned clinical therapy study contribute to a better use of the resources in the healthcare sector? Factors such as prevalence, the severity of the disease, the current burden on the health care system, and social costs should be weighed in the assessment of clinical relevance.

Novelty and originality (1–7)

Guiding questions:

• Have similar studies been conducted before? If so, why is the proposed one needed?
• Does the planned study have the potential to deliver implementable results beneficial to patients and society?

Merits of the applicant (1–7)

Guiding questions:

• Does the team have a track record in carrying out research within the subject area?
• Does the main applicant have documented experience of leading major collaboration projects? If not, is there a clear description for how senior members in the project group will provide this competence to the governance of the project?
• Has any team member been involved in critical assessments or guideline establishment?
• If an intervention study is planned: Is there any involvement of a clinical trials unit or any experienced trial staff?
• Does the application contain a plan for statistical competence?

Feasibility (1–3)

Guiding questions:

• Does the applicant adequately consider relevant legal and formal requirements for the proposed research, such as ethical permits and guidelines?
• Has the proposed project potential to result in an application for a research environment grant within clinical therapy research within 1-2 years?
  
• Is the planned preliminary work, including the time-frame, realistic for the proposed project?
• Are the study design, statistical methods and patient cohorts adequate and well adapted to the research question?
• Does the application contain a plan for feasibility?
• Are the costs reasonable and well justified?

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