INSIGNEO Bursary for Clinical Translation – 2015 Call The Insigneo Institute for in silico Medicine calls for proposals for its 2015 bursaries for clinical translation. The bursaries will be assigned according to the regulations attached. This year funding is available for up to 3 six-month bursaries, and one three-year PhD scholarship, generously provided by the Sheffield Hospitals Charity. These are the important dates: - Publication of this call: 17 October 2014 - Deadline for submission: 5 December 2014 - Panel meeting: December 2014 - For 6-month bursaries: o Latest start of the contracts: May 2015 o Poster at Insigneo Showcase: 8 May 2015 o Submission report: 30 October 2015 - For 3-year PhD Scholarship: o Latest start of the contracts: September 2015 o Presentation at Insigneo Showcase 2016, 2017, 2018 o Submission reports: 30 October 2015, 2016, 2017 Applications must be submitted via email to Prof Pat Lawford [email protected], no later than 12:00am of December 5th, 2014. No applications will be accepted after this deadline. The Pam Liversidge Building, Sir Frederick Mappin Building – Sheffield S1 3JD, UK email: [email protected] phone: +44 1142 220162 website: www.insigneo.org INSIGNEO Bursary for Clinical Translation – Regulation Rationale The ultimate scope of the bursaries for clinical translation is to improve our ability to translate into the clinical practice the results of our technological research. A first essential step in this sense is to drive the applied technological research toward objectives that are clinically relevant, and have a significant potential for impact. This means that most applied research projects we conduct should arise from a clear clinical need to be addressed. In some clinical domains our members already have enough collaborations with the clinical specialists to know what are the relevant clinical problems. But in other sectors where the presence of INSIGNEO is less established, we need a new mechanism that makes possible: i) To explore if available technologies can solve a given clinical problem. When this is the case, immediate translation paths should be sought; ii) If not, to explore if such existing technologies can solve the clinical problem after some minor adaptations. When this is the case, bridge funds should be found to complete such modifications, and then translation paths should be sought; iii) If not, to elaborate the specifications for a new technology aimed to solve that clinical problem. Such specifications, and any preliminary results obtained while compiling them would provide an excellent basis for the writing of a research grant specifically aimed to the development and assessment of that new technology. Bidding process Every year the Board of the INSIGNEO Institute will circulate to all INSIGNEO members a call for bids that details the bidding process and its rules. At least 60 days should be allowed between the circulation of the call and the deadline for submission of the bids. The selected bids will be awarded with a bursary of £15,715, sufficient to hire with fixedterm research assistant contract with the University of Sheffield, a Research Assistant Bioengineer for six months with a grade 6.1 or for five months with a grade 7.1 in the university scale, and a forfeitary contribution to the research costs equal to £900 per bursary. Such opportunity would be offered to engineers who recently completed their master degree; it may also constitute part of a PhD Scholarship. However, because of the exploratory nature of bursary, the PhD research program should not rely on the outcomes of the bursary, which should be considered as an addition to stand-alone PhD program. The proposal can be presented in collaboration with an industrial partner that provides cofunding; while this is not required, such industrial co-funding will be considered favourably by the panel. The Pam Liversidge Building, Sir Frederick Mappin Building – Sheffield S1 3JD, UK email: [email protected] phone: +44 1142 220162 website: www.insigneo.org Each bid must be submitted jointly by a clinical and a non-clinical member of INSIGNEO. The clinical member is responsible for hosting the research assistant with the hospital premise, and to ensure that all data and information necessary to fulfil the work plan are made available to the research assistant; he/she will also cosupervise the research assistant, ensuring that the results are clinically relevant. The non-clinical member will be responsible for the recruitment of the research assistant, and will supervise him/her, ensuring the work is done according to principles of technical excellence. Every bid will have to be submitted according to the instructions in the call for bids; no bid will be evaluated if submitted in violation of those terms. Each proposal will be written in free format, and should not exceed 2500 words, or three pages with a point 11 fonts. Every proposal should include: a) A brief description of the clinical problem to be solved, and of the reason why such problem should be considered of high impact; b) A brief translation of the existing technologies that will be explored as possible solution for the aforementioned problem; c) A brief description of the materials and methods, in particular on which clinical data the technology will be tested, and how its efficacy will be measured. A panel formed by the members of the INSIGNEO Board and by at least one representative of the Sheffield Hospitals Charity will evaluate the proposals. If any of the Board members is involved in one of the proposals under evaluations, he/she will be excluded from the panel. The Scientific Director of INSIGNEO, who will have no voting right, will chair the panel. The panel decision cannot be appealed. Once informed on the panel decision, the selected bidders will have 90 days to activate the research assistant contract, and to confirm in written that all necessary ethical permissions are in place to conduct the proposed study; after that period, the INSIGNEO Direction reserve the right to withdraw the grant; proposals where the name of the candidate for the bursary is already identified at the time of submission will be evaluated more favourably. At the end of the bursaries, the participants will produce each a final report, which will be collated by the INSIGNEO PMO into a report to the funders. The outcome of each bursary will be monitored, and it will act as a track record that will be taken into consideration in future applications of the same members. The Pam Liversidge Building, Sir Frederick Mappin Building – Sheffield S1 3JD, UK email: [email protected] phone: +44 1142 220162 website: www.insigneo.org INSIGNEO PhD scholarship for Clinical Translation – Regulation Rationale The ultimate scope of this scholarship for clinical translation is to improve our ability to translate into the clinical practice the results of our technological research. A first essential step in this sense is to drive the applied technological research toward objectives that are clinically relevant, and have a significant potential for impact. This means that most applied research projects we conduct should arise from a clear clinical need to be addressed. In some cases such clinical need can be well identified, the candidate technologies are clear, but for some reason it is difficult to attract research funding at that stage; an exploratory research is required, but its necessary duration exceed that of bursary. To address these very special cases the Sheffield Hospitals Charities Trust has generously agreed to sponsor a non-clinical three-year PhD scholarship. We expect applications related to clinical problems with a considerable socioeconomic impact, where a clear and highly translational research plan is defined, and that present high chances at the end of the three years, to transform into full blown research projects capable of attracting significant external funding. Bidding process Every year the Board of the INSIGNEO Institute will circulate to all INSIGNEO members a call for bids that details the bidding process and its rules. At least 60 days should be allowed between the circulation of the call and the deadline for submission of the bids. The selected bids will be awarded with a bursary of £64,984, sufficient to pay stipend and home student fees for three years, and a forfeitary contribution to the research costs equal to £900 per year. The proposal can be presented in collaboration with an industrial partner that provides cofunding; while this is not required, such industrial co-funding will be considered favourably by the panel. Each bid must be submitted jointly by a clinical and a non-clinical member of INSIGNEO. The clinical member is responsible for hosting the PhD student with the hospital premise, and to ensure that all data and information necessary to fulfil the work plan are made available to the PhD student; he/she will also co-supervise the PhD student, ensuring that the results are clinically relevant. The non-clinical member will be responsible for the recruitment of the PhD student, and will supervise him/her, ensuring the work is done according to principles of technical excellence, in the respect of the rules and procedures for the award of a PhD degree. The Pam Liversidge Building, Sir Frederick Mappin Building – Sheffield S1 3JD, UK email: [email protected] phone: +44 1142 220162 website: www.insigneo.org Every bid will have to be submitted according to the instructions in the call for bids; no bid will be evaluated if submitted in violation of those terms. Each proposal will be written in free format, and should not exceed 2500 words, or three pages with a point 11 fonts. Every proposal should include: a) A brief description of the clinical problem to be solved, and of the reason why such problem should be considered of high impact; b) A brief translation of the existing technologies that will be explored as possible solution for the aforementioned problem; c) A brief description of the materials and methods, in particular on which clinical data the technology will be tested, and how its efficacy will be measured; d) A clear motivation of why at this stage such research would be difficult to fund through an external grant. A panel formed by the members of the INSIGNEO Board and by at least one representative of the Sheffield Hospitals Charity will evaluate the proposals. If any of the Board members is involved in one of the proposals under evaluations, he/she will be excluded from the panel. The Scientific Director of INSIGNEO, who will have no voting right, will chair the panel. The panel decision cannot be appealed. Once informed on the panel decision, the selected bidders will have 180 days to activate the PhD, and to confirm in written that all necessary ethical permissions are in place to conduct the proposed study; after that period, the INSIGNEO Direction reserve the right to withdraw the grant. Every year the applicants will produce a report of the progress of the research project, which will be collated by the INSIGNEO management services into a report to the funders. The outcome of each scholarship will be monitored, and it will act as a track record that will be taken into consideration in future applications of the same members. The Pam Liversidge Building, Sir Frederick Mappin Building – Sheffield S1 3JD, UK email: [email protected] phone: +44 1142 220162 website: www.insigneo.org
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