Call for proposals of research and development projects in medical technology 2021

Aim
Barncancerfonden (The Swedish Childhood Cancer Fund) calls for proposals for projects in the field of medical technology from clinicians, scientists, and companies. The purpose is to highlight and solve problems related to medical technology relevant to children with cancer, and to enable adaption of existing medical technology to children with cancer.
 
Terms and conditions for the call
The research proposal should proceed from a clear medical research problem and contain a description of the project's relevance for children with cancer. A proposal for technical solution is also to be described. Barncancerfonden defines medical technology as products associated with medicine with the exceptions pharmaceuticals and biotechnology. This includes, but is not limited to, radiation technology, orthopedical implants, minimal invasive surgery, aids for people with disabilities, adaption of analysis techniques, IT support, and disposable items. This also includes child-adapted design of existing products in order to facilitate medical treatment of children. Despite the definition of medical technology, applications at the intersection between medical technology and biotechnology may also be considered.

Projects can be up to 3 years. Barncancerfonden finances fundamental research projects, development projects, and projects for clinical adaption for children. Clinical adaption may also be a part of fundamental or development projects. The applicant should justify why the application is classified as research, development or clinical adjustment for children. Fundamental research projects and development projects should demonstrate how the results may be applied within five years. Barncancerfonden is aware that fundamental research may have different application areas and fundamental research projects can therefore state one or several future applications. The interrelation between application(s) and children oncology should, however, be clearly specified.

Within the call, implementation grants may also be applied for. Such applications should aim to implement a new evidence-based health care or treatment method for children at the clinic. In the application system, implementation grants is classified according to the type of project that is most relevant (research, development or clinical adjustment for children). It should be clearly stated in the application that the project is an implementation project. Implementation projects should also state a clinical application area.

The project period for the projects can be 1-3 years. Applications in different categories will be evaluated separately.

Eligibility to apply
Projects are applied for by a constellation of partners with at least one clinician and at least one researcher within technology. One of the partners is main applicant and the other partners are co-applicants. The main applicant for a research project must hold a Swedish doctoral degree or an equivalent foreign degree. Applicants for the other project categories do not need a doctoral degree. The main applicant has the scientific responsibility for the project. Companies may be co-applicants in the proposal but not grant recipients. Companies may in exceptional cases be the technology part of the constellation, especially for applications for development projects and projects for clinical adjustment for children.

Funding for fundamental research projects is applied for by an individual scientist that has, or intend to locate, the main activity in one of the Nordic countries. Funding for the other project categories is applied for by an individual scientist that has, or intend to locate, the main activity in Sweden. Funding for international projects may be granted under the prerequisite that the main applicant is situated in Sweden and that the research results are relevant for children with cancer in Sweden. The project should have active participation from a partner based in Sweden (main or co-applicant).

Co-applicants
After the imposition of The General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679, also known as GDPR, Barncancerfonden has changed the handling of co-applicants. The following applies:

• All co-applicants must confirm their participation before the application can be submitted
• The main applicant is responsible to inform all co-applicants about this
• The main applicant fills in the co-applicant information 
• The co-applicant confirms participation via an e-mail generated from the system after the co-applicant is registered
• Co-applicants that have not confirmed their participation must be deleted by the main applicant before the application can be submitted

About the grant
The grant is a block grant unless otherwise stated in the decision letter.

Evaluation criteria
All submitted applications are subjected to peer review evaluation by active researchers. The scientific evaluation of the application is conducted in competition with other applications on the basis of the evaluation criteria of Barncancerfonden: research problem, methodology, merits of the applicants/feasibility, relevance for children with cancer, and, when applicable, the scientific report. If needed, applications with clinical connection will be prioritized.

Administration
Grants for fundamental research projects are to be administered by a Nordic university, hospital, institute, or another Nordic organization with research as its main purpose in collaboration with a university, hospital, or institute. Grants for the other project categories are to be administered by a Swedish university, hospital, institute, or another Swedish organization with research as its main purpose in collaboration with a university, hospital, or institute. 

Application documents
A complete application is submitted via the application system. A complete application includes a filled-in form and a project description as attachment. Note that the application may not be submitted electronically if mandatory information is missing. Attachments must be in PDF file format (maximum 2 MB). Additions or revisions after closure of the call are not accepted.

The project description should have an overall aim and a number of specific goals. The aim may be visionary but the goals should be written as specific as possible. The project goals should be directly comparable to the final report where the progress and results from the project will be described. 

The project description should be maximum 6 A4 pages including references (12 ppt Times New Roman, single space, automatic line break) and contain the following headings:

• Aim and goals; present the overall aim and the specific goals of the research project.

• Background; a summary of your own and others’ research, as well as previous findings in the research field. 

• Preliminary result; describe your own experiments and pre-studies in the research area

• Work plan; summarize the project and present a timetable. Describe theories, methods and implementation. 

• International and national collaboration: short description of collaboration with foreign and Swedish researchers and research groups or clinical partners.  

• Five own publications that are most relevant to the project

• Literature references of importance

• If the main or co-applicant has allocated grants or other applications under review at Barncancerfonden that are similar to the present application, the differences between these and the present application should be described under a certain heading.

Confirmation of the application
The application must be confirmed by the main applicant and the head of department, director or equivalent in order to be valid. The main applicant confirms the application in connection to submission. Note that this must be done before the closure of the call. The day after the call has closed, an email with a request to confirm the application is sent to the head of department, director or equivalent you have stated in the application. Confirmation must be done no later than 7 days after the call has closed.

If the application for some reason cannot be confirmed digitally, the first page of the application must be printed, signed, and sent to forskning@barncancerfonden.se 

Application period
Refer to the web page of Barncancerfonden. Note that the call closes at 14:00 the last day for application. Applications cannot be submitted after the closure of the call. 

Organization of the application
Instructions on how to fill in the application form is found in the top right corner on each tab.

The application may be written either in English or in Swedish with the following exceptions:
• The popular science title shall be written in Swedish.
• The project title shall be written in English.
• The popular science summary shall be written in Swedish.
• The summary shall be written in English.

Special terms

• A maximum of 25% of the respective salaries of the main and co-applicant may be covered by grant.
• Barncancerfonden has some restrictions regarding parallel grants. Refer to the separate document "Policy for parallel grants from BCF".
• Refer to the separate document "Eligible costs BCF" for eligible costs for the grant form. 

General terms
Refer to the separate document ”Generel terms” in the application system.

Retrieval of grants
Refer to the separate document ”How to claim your allocated grant” in the application system.

Contact
Anders Höglund, Research coordinator
Tel: 08-584 209 31 (00)
anders.hoglund@barncancerfonden.se

or

forskning@barncancerfonden.se