NHMRC-Early Career Fellowship for Funding Commencing in 2019 Office of Research Services Chloe Bibari Scheme Leader 10 January 2018
Outline of today s session Funding Rules and Processes Panel Discussion and Q&A Dr Kimberley Pitman Prof James Sharman OFFICE OF RESEARCH SERVICES 2
Where to start? OFFICE OF RESEARCH SERVICES 3
1 Check your eligibility At 30 June 2018, applicants must be < 2 years from date of PhD award, unless eligible career disruption. Or must submit their thesis by 31 December 2018 Exceptions: Health Professional ECFs Applicants who hold a medical qualification If in doubt contact me: Chloe.Bibari@utas.edu.au OFFICE OF RESEARCH SERVICES 4
Career Disruption A career disruption involves a prolonged interruption to an applicant s capacity to work, due to: Pregnancy Major illness/injury Carer responsibilities Must be continuous and for 28 calendar days or more Required docs: medical certificates and/or letters from an applicant s employer OFFICE OF RESEARCH SERVICES 5
Employment conditions At the time of acceptance and for the duration of a grant, the Fellow must be: an Australian citizen a permanent resident of Australia or a New Zealand citizen with Special Category Visa status. Ensure that you are aware of the employment conditions for each of the different ECFs will discuss this later OFFICE OF RESEARCH SERVICES 6
2 Research Grants Management System - RGMS Obtain access and familiarise yourself with RGMS OFFICE OF RESEARCH SERVICES 7
8 3 Update CV components in RGMS Qualifications, Awards and Prizes Employment History Appointments Career Disruption Relative to Opportunity Professional Memberships Conference Participation Community Engagement and Participation Patents Translation into Policy/Practice Contribution to NHMRC Editorial Responsibilities Supervision and Mentoring NHMRC Research Funding Other Research Funding Publications Workload Therapeutic Products and Commercial Outcomes Research Data Research Tools
Relative to Opportunity All applications are assessed relative to opportunity Circumstances considered: career disruption amount of time spent as an active researcher available resources including situations where research is being conducted in remote or isolated communities clinical, administrative or teaching workload relocation of an applicant and his/her research laboratory worked in other sectors the typical performance of researchers in the research field in question Etc see the NHMRC funding rules section 6.2 OFFICE OF RESEARCH SERVICES 9
Tips for your completing your CV sections Add all track record achievements to the various CV sections. Not all panel members are from your discipline: ensure that you provide details of what the awards mean. E.g., Only four awarded nationally, only awarded to top 2% of applicants in the field of neuroscience. Include all grants: even leadership on small grants is important; panels understand how difficult NHMRC funding is. Make sure that you complete the career disruption and relative to opportunity sections (if applicable). INSERT FACULTY NAME IN FOOTER 10
4 Read the NHMRC documentations The ECF Fellowship rules and advice are distributed over multiple NHMRC documents: 1. NHMRC Funding Rules 2018, NHMRC Advice and Instructions to Applicants 2018, Guide to NHMRC Peer Review 2018 Applies to all Schemes 2. Funding Rules ECF Scheme-Specific Funding Rules Attachment A: ECF Category Descriptors Attachment B: Categories of Award Objectives Attachment C: Additional Information Health Professional Research Fellowship Attachment D: Additional Information Australia-China Exchange Fellowship Attachment E: Centres Allocated to Each Tier 3. Instructions to Applicants ECF Scheme-Specific Advice and Instructions to Applicants OFFICE OF RESEARCH SERVICES 11
Category Descriptors (Attachment A) 1: Research Output Relative to Opportunity 50% Track record relative to discipline Publications (quantity and quality) Grant funding Conference presentations Influence on policy or practice (including relevant industry experience) Patents 2: Research Proposal and Environment 30% Research Proposal clear objectives, achievable, addresses an important human health issue Research Environment appropriate for research, excellent mentoring and training arrangements 3: Professional Contribution Relative to Opportunity 20% Exemplary contributor to research Recognition through prizes and awards Supervisory experience Broader community engagement as well as contribution to the research community Peer review experience OFFICE OF RESEARCH SERVICES 12
Category Descriptors Scoring Matrix OFFICE OF RESEARCH SERVICES 13
Categories of ECF (Attachment B) Full-time Australian Based Fellowships 4 years in Australia (at 1.0 FTE) Multiple types - Peter Doherty Biomedical; Clinical Research; Public Health and Health Services; Fellowship for Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander Health Full-time Overseas Based Fellowships Initial 2 years overseas + following 2 years at an Australian Institution (at 1.0 FTE) Multiple types CJ Martin Biomedical; Neil Hamilton Fairley Clinical; Sidney Sax Public Health and Health Services Research Health Professional Research Fellowship (Attachment C) Currently practicing health professionals to undertake part-time research (0.5-0.9 FTE) with remaining time on the associated professional activity Based in Australia for duration of ECF Australia-China Exchange (Attachment D) Australian applicants: Initial 2 years in China, return for 2 years in Australia Chinese applicants (Chinese nationals): Full-time fellowship for 2 years in Australia OFFICE OF RESEARCH SERVICES 14
5 Start writing the key sections Key sections: CV components track record (discussed earlier) Application Executive Summary Grant proposal Supervisor report Generate a snapshot so that you can see what the application will look like to reviewers. OFFICE OF RESEARCH SERVICES 15
Application Executive Summary (~ 2 pages) Summarise claims against the selection criteria under the following subheadings: 1. Research Output Relative to opportunity 50 % 2. Research Proposal and Environment 30 % 3. Professional Contribution Relative to opportunity 20 % Provides an opportunity to highlight the most compelling evidence to support your application. Refer to the Category Descriptors while you write the AES (Attachment A) OFFICE OF RESEARCH SERVICES 16
Tips for the Application Executive Summary Make your trajectory clear Ensure reviewers understand how much time you have spent in research -> relative to opportunity Focus on what makes you a stand-out from other applicants Include any additional information that you wish to bring to the reviewers attention that is not captured elsewhere in the application. I was the first to report X. These papers received wide media attention via press conference, print media and featured on ABC news, etc. I have published X peer-reviewed publications, including X as firstauthor. Y of these have been in the highest ranked journals in the field of X (ranked X/250). My publications have gained X citations (Scopus). OFFICE OF RESEARCH SERVICES 17
Research Proposal Use the template provided on the NHMRC website Clearly demonstrate: your vision: develop a career plan proposed research objectives methodologies expected outcomes (the research and your career development) Why me, why here, why this, why now? Why are you the best person for the job? (track record and experience) Why is UTAS the best environment? What is the gap in the research field? Why is it of utmost importance? Why is now the best time to do this project? OFFICE OF RESEARCH SERVICES 18
Supervisor s Report Applicant needs to nominate their supervisor for the referee report in RGMS Supervisor will upload this separate report in RGMS as a PDF Template is provided 5 questions around: Research environment Mentoring arrangements & previous mentoring experience Training opportunities OFFICE OF RESEARCH SERVICES 19
Tips for the supervisor s report Strong referee report is needed Give your supervisor plenty of notice Avoid leaving it to the last minute - you need this letter to submit your application Provide dot points your supervisor can then review, expand and tweak OFFICE OF RESEARCH SERVICES 20
If staying at the same place as your PhD NHMRC encourages applicants to go to different research groups from where they completed their PhD Applicants who are not changing their PhD research team, or the department where they studied, will need to upload a PDF letter indicating why. NHMRC agree that it may not be possible to change because of: Family circumstances Unique facilities available only in an applicant s PhD institution Need to provide a signed statement OFFICE OF RESEARCH SERVICES 21
6 Support from the Research Office Get in touch with the Research Hub: drafting advice and assistance, development workshops, peer review Application drafting advice and assistance Academic Peer review Provide templates and tip sheets Bookmark the UTAS ECF webpage UTAS grant library/ NHMRC list of successful applications OFFICE OF RESEARCH SERVICES 22
7 Internal deadline 1 February 2018 RGMS Snapshot Summary RGMS Snapshot Assessor Grant Proposal Word doc Supervisor Referee Report Career Disruptions (if applicable) Letter if staying in same place as PhD (if applicable) UTAS NHMRC readership team will review your application for compliance/eligibility and strategy. We can provide more than one review if we receive it on time. OFFICE OF RESEARCH SERVICES 23
8 External deadline 28 February 2018 5PM Certify and submit your application in RGMS Locked for editing ORS will provide a final review compliance and eligibility ORS will submit on your behalf Please ensure you have sent us a certification form (internal document) OFFICE OF RESEARCH SERVICES 24
Once you have submitted Submit to NHMRC Panel individual score/review Panel teleconference Notification of Outcomes Recipient Starts February October January OFFICE OF RESEARCH SERVICES 25
Next year - NHMRC changes https://www.nhmrc.gov.au/restructure/changes OFFICE OF RESEARCH SERVICES 26
Panel Discussion and Q&A Dr Kimberley Pitman Prof James Sharman OFFICE OF RESEARCH SERVICES 27