NL SUPPORT Spark Grants – Funding for Clinician, Nurse or Allied Health Professional-led Research
The Spark Grants program is closed until further notice.
Details
Total Maximum Amount: $10,000
Duration: 12 months maximum
Grants available: 10 per fiscal year (1st April to 31st March)
Applications for the first five grants due February 28th 2019
Purpose & General Guidelines
NL SUPPORT underwent an external evaluation in Fall 2016, part of the feedback from this evaluation was that small grants should be made available to support clinician, nurse and allied health professional researchers across the province in undertaking small patient-oriented quality improvement, evaluation or research projects. This fund has been set up to provide that support.
NL SUPPORT will award a maximum of $100,000 in 2018 – 2019, with a funding cap of $10,000 per grant. Two funding rounds will be run, the deadlines being 28th September 2018 and 28th February 2019. Up to 5 grants will awarded after each round. The grant applications will be assessed by the Translational and Personalised Medicine Initiative (TPMI) Executive
Applicants will be informed via email of the outcome of the assessment.
Grant funds will be released only upon the receipt of a letter of approval from the appropriate ethics review committee. Once an application has been funded, major changes in the project design will require prior approval from the TPMI executive. Grant funds will be issued by way of Letter of Agreement issued to the Host Institution.
An applicant may only apply for one clinician / nurse / allied health professional led grant per fiscal year.
Eligibility
Applicants must be a clinician, nurse or allied health professional employed within a research or health or community care institution in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Applications for clinician / nurse / allied health professional led research grants will be judged according to the following selection criteria:
- Incorporation of patients as partners rather than subjects throughout the project’s lifecycle;
- Expertise and research experience; and past contributions to patient-oriented research and related fields
- Merit of the proposal, based on: potential for meaningful real world outcomes, quality and clarity of research question, originality, potential contribution to patient-oriented research, scalability of the proposed work , relevance to health-related decision-making, systems improvement or positive patient impacts, value to the healthcare system
- Clarity of presentation and appropriateness of design and research plan, feasibility of the proposed work and appropriateness and justification of the budget.
Eligible Costs
The funds are to be used for eligible expenses directly related to the research and in accordance with the Tri-Agency Financial Administration Guide – Use of Grant Funds (
http://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/Professors-Professeurs/FinancialAdminGuide-GuideAdminFinancier/FundsUse-UtilisationSubventions_eng.asp).
Role of NL SUPPORT
The NL SUPPORT team will make available to applicants and grant holders as needed support services in the areas of; patient engagement, biostatistics and methods development.
Host Institutions
Institutions that employ holders of clinician / nurse / allied health professional led research grants are called host institutions. Signatures are required from host institution representatives on all grant applications. By signing, host institutions agree to accept the responsibilities outlined below on behalf of their grant-holding employees:
- Acceptance of the terms and conditions as outlined in Awards Guide and Letter of Agreement
- The financial administration of the grants
- Reporting to NL SUPPORT any change in the funding recipient’s status that may affect the fulfillment of their research commitment, for example resignation or termination
- Submission of an annual financial statement (Form 300), (a copy of which will be included in the Letter of Agreement) with back up documentation (receipts etc.), covering the period from April 1 to March 31 for each award or grant; the statement(s) are due no later than May 1 of each year
Grantee – Reporting Requirements
In addition to providing the required financial reporting information, the successful grantees will be required to:
- Provide a 6 month progress report
- Provide an end of study report
- Present their research findings at the TPMI Science Health and Research Education Summit and / or the Health for All Festival held in the Fall.
Required Information from applicants
Applicants are requested to provide a three page summary maximum (letter size, single spaced, arial 10 font, 2cm margins) of their proposal using the following headings:
- Title
- Study lead
- Study team
- Project Summary
- Population
- Patient engagement
- Design
- Intervention
- Timeline
- Budget
- Budget justification
In addition to the above information applicants must provide confirmation that any required research clearance(s) are in place, or a timeline for submission to the appropriate committee for review. Awards will not be released until applicable documentation has been received by NL Support.
The application must be signed by the study lead and a letter of support provided by the host institution confirming that they will accept the responsibilities outlined in the section role of host institutions.
Submission
Once complete the application should be submitted to Dale Humphries (dale.humphries@med.mun.ca) the email should be titled Clinician / allied health professional led research grants application – name of study lead, date submitted