Investigator-driven Clinical Trials (Academy of Finland and Swedish Research Council)

Aim

The Academy of Finland and the Swedish Research Council launch a joint Finnish-Swedish call supporting investigator-driven clinical trials. The aim of the call is to establish and strengthen bilateral collaborative research projects between clinical med-ical researchers in Finland and Sweden. The projects are expected to provide added value to existing national research in the area. This added value could be related to, for example, joint data collection or data sharing to increase the number of cases, or to the combining of methodological expertise. A further goal is to strengthen medical research in the two countries so as to maintain a competitive position globally and respond to the grand challenges facing society today.

The disease scope of the present call is not restricted. The proposed studies should involve human participants, be clinically relevant and of excellent scientific quality. The studies can be either interventional or observational. All supported trials should be registered in at least one of the existing databases for clinical trials.

Joint research plan to the Academy

Applications should contain a joint research plan by both the Finnish and the Swedish research teams. The plan shall include a clear description of the planned research collaboration (division of work and methods of implementation) and the added value expected from the collaboration. The plan shall also include a joint budget with separate columns for both partners.

Joint bilateral research proposals may be submitted by research teams working at universities (or other higher education institutions), non-university public research institutes, and hospitals. The eligibility of these institutions, together with details of eligible costs (personnel, material, consumables, equipment, travel money, etc), are subject to the administrative requirements of the individual funding organisations and may therefore vary. Clarification may be obtained from the individual funding agencies (Academy of Finland and Swedish Research Council).

Only bilateral projects will be funded. Each proposal must involve a minimum of two research organisations and research teams from both Finland and Sweden. Research teams from other countries and companies may participate in the projects if they are able to secure their own funding. It must be stated clearly in the proposal if these funds are already available. If not, the proposal must include a plan describing how the funding will be obtained before the project starts.

The applications are submitted to the Academy of Finland by the Finnish partner(s), regardless of whether the project leader is from Finland or Sweden. The Academy’s general application guidelines shall be followed.

Funding period

While applications will be submitted jointly by research teams from both countries, individual teams will be funded by the funding organisation of their own country. The Academy of Finland and the Swedish Research Council have reserved a total of EUR 3 million for the call, which will be used to fund at least three joint projects. The planned start of the three-year funding is 1 September 2012.

Review of applications

The procedures of the bilateral call, its organisation and the evaluation will follow the established practices of the Academy of Finland. The applications will be evaluated by international peer-review panels appointed by the Academy’s Research Council for Health.

Evaluation criteria:

• scientific quality and innovativeness of the research plan
• significance of the project for the thematic area of the call
• added valued generated by Finnish-Swedish research collaboration
• feasibility of the research plan
• scientific merits and results of the Finnish and Swedish researchers/research teams
• applicability of research results.

Appendices

Obligatory appendices:

• joint research plan, no more than 15 pages, including

-       a clear description of the planned research and research collaboration (distribution of work and methods of implementation) and the added value generated by collaboration

-       joint budget including separate columns for both partners

-       justification for the funding applied for

-       description of researcher training to be carried out within the project

-       mobility plan detailing the research project’s national and international mobility during the funding period, describing the involvement of foreign researchers in the project, and explaining how the project intends to transcend international, national, institutional and public/private-sector boundaries

-       appendix: specific budget(s) for the Swedish partners, prepared following the general guidelines of the Swedish Research Council

• curricula vitae for the Finnish and Swedish applicants, no more than four pages each, combined as one document
• lists of publications of the Finnish and Swedish applicants, combined as one document. Clearly indicate the ten most important publications (in all lists of publications) in terms of the research plan.

Case-specific appendices:

• invitation from foreign university or research institute, if the research or part of it will be conducted outside Finland or Sweden
• statement by an ethics committee or the Committee on Animal Experimentation (if relevant). The ethical aspects shall always be specified in the research plan.
• statement by a Strategic Centre for Science, Technology and Innovation, confirming that the applicant is affiliated with the Strategic Centre and justifying the significance of the project for the Strategic Centre’s operations (Finnish applicants only)
• progress report on all Academy-funded research projects headed by the applicant that have not submitted final reports (Finnish applicants only).

Only the requested appendices are appended to the application. The appendices shall be drafted in accordance with the Academy’s guidelines, see Appendices on the Academy’s website. The appendices are drafted in the same language as the application and appended to the application in the online services under “Appendices”. The only exception is the curriculum vitae, which is appended under “Personal data/CV”.

In this call, the costs of the Finnish research project are calculated according to the full cost model. The costs of the Swedish partners (incl. the direct and indirect costs related to salaries and other project-related costs) are given only in a separate appendix to the research plan. Applications shall be written so as to ensure that the Academy’s contribution to funding comes to no more than 80% of the estimated total costs of the Finnish project. See guidelines on how to enter the costs in the application on the Academy’s website under Full cost model.

If the application involves more than one Finnish applicant, the applications shall be drafted according to the detailed guidelines for consortium applications, see Consortium application on the Academy’s website. The appendices are appended only to the application of the consortium leader, but each Finnish applicant must fill in a separate online application form. Please contact the Academy of Finland for further information.

The deadline is 30 September 2011 at 16.15. The deadline is non-negotiable. Applications are drafted in the Academy’s online services, select Open calls > Joint project call: Investigator-driven clinical trials (Academy of Finland, Swedish Research Council).

More information

• Science Adviser Sara Illman (Health Research Unit, Academy of Finland), tel. +358 9 7748 8294
• Coordinator Teresa Ottinger (Medicine and Health, Swedish Research Council), tel. +46 8 546 44 286

 Updated according to September 2011