A guide to applicants for the Sir Harcourt Caughey Award

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Please read these notes carefully before completing your application.

Objective

The Auckland Medical Research Foundation’s (AMRF) vision is to improve the health and quality of life for all New Zealanders. We aim to achieve this by providing genuine advances in health, science and medicine through funding the highest quality medical research of all kinds.

Funding area

The AMRF’s research funding area is limited to all recognised tertiary institutions, district health boards (DHBs) and Crown Research Institutes (CRIs) with sites in the greater Auckland and Northland region of New Zealand. The principal investigator/grant holder must be affiliated with a host institution within this area, and the majority of work should be undertaken within this area, but co-applicants can come from, and part of the research can be performed, outside our catchment area - either nationally or internationally.

How to apply

Use the on-line application form provided, after first creating an account. The application must be created and submitted from the applicant's portal account.

Purpose of the grant

There are three different categories for this Award:

1. Be a graduate of New Zealand who, having trained in research overseas, is returning to New Zealand to a part-time appointment in Auckland and who has sufficient experience in research to deserve part-time support (or similar to a part-time Senior Research Fellowship) in such research; This grant is a personal award, and once awarded, is non-transferable to another person.

1. Be a New Zealand medical graduate in Auckland who is deserving of assistance to train in a specific field overseas and to undertake research in that area, especially where there is a local deficiency in expertise in that field. This award is a personal grant, and once awarded, is non-transferable to another person; or,

1. Be sufficiently prestigious in a particular field of medical knowledge and/or research to visit Auckland, normally for 3-4 weeks, to foster interest & research in that speciality.

Value of grant

Up to $25,000.

Tenure of grant

Dependent on the category applied for.

Number of grants awarded

The AMRF offers one to two each year, but may consider more depending on the available funds and quality of applications.

Eligibility

* Applications may be made by individuals or organisations.

* To apply as an individual, you must be a New Zealand resident, permanent resident or citizen. Applications from non-New Zealand residents or citizens will not be accepted.

* The start date of the Award must be after the award date (decision date) of that round. Please check the grant rounds dates on the How to Apply page on our website.

Writing guidelines

* Choose the application type. Individual applicants should complete Section A, organisations should complete Section B if necessary. Both must complete all remaining sections.

* When you write your application, please remember that your proposal may be reviewed by both discipline-specific referees and also by members of the Medical Committee with a broad range of experience in health research. Please structure your proposal in a clear and succinct way and if possible seek feedback from a colleague outside your immediate research area.

* If the research involves the use of laboratory animals, the AMRF strongly recommends that you familiarise yourself with the ARRIVE guidelines (Animal Research: Reporting of In Vivo Experiments). Not all the guidelines may be relevant to your project, but you can use them to ensure that you plan your experiments carefully and include all the relevant information in your application(s) crucial to the peer review process at the application stage, as well as providing all the experimental details, results and analysis required for publications that arise from the work.

* The AMRF supports the National Institutes of Health (NIH)’s expectation that scientists will account for the possible role of sex as a biological variable (SABV) in vertebrate animal and human studies (or any material originating from animals or humans, e.g. organs, cells, tissues). The AMRF recommends that you familiarise yourself with the SABV policy. Strong justification from the scientific literature, preliminary data, or other relevant considerations must be provided for applications proposing to study only one sex. Additional useful information can be found within the Sex and Gender Equity in Research (SAGER) guidelines, which are a comprehensive set of guidelines for reporting of sex and gender information in study design, data analyses, results and interpretation of findings. Not all the guidelines may be relevant to your project, but you can use them to ensure that you plan your experimental design carefully and include all the relevant information in your application(s) crucial to the peer review process at the application stage, as well as providing all the experimental details, results and analysis required for publications that arise from the work.

* If the research involves a clinical trial, the AMRF strongly recommends that you familiarise yourself with the SPIRIT 2013 Statement (Standard Protocol Items: Recommendations for Interventional Trials). Not all the guidelines may be relevant to your project, but you can use them to ensure that you plan your trial carefully and include all the relevant information in your application(s) crucial to the peer review process at the application stage, as well as providing all the trial details, results and analysis required for publications that arise from the work.

* Please use the standard New Zealand MSI Curriculum Vitae template. This can be download from the link within the application form. You should complete only Parts 1 and 2a, include no more than five pages in total, and list references only from the last five years.

Budget guidelines

* Please provide sufficient information in the “Item description” section of each budget line.

* Please provide copies of receipts or quotations to support each budget line entry (where applicable).

General

* The terms of this Award can be flexible, so if you are unsure whether you do fit the criteria, please contact the Research Programme Manager to discuss your eligibility for this Award.

* The Award will usually be administered by the Host Institution through which you submitted your application. However, in some instances due to the nature of the Award programme, this is not possible and the AMRF will work with the grant holder to administer the funds directly.

The AMRF will not fund

* The AMRF will not fund any element of overhead recovery, including salary buyout.

* The AMRF does not fund costs of heating, lighting and what might be termed the usual office facilities and accessories.

* The AMRF does not provide retrospective funding.

* The AMRF does not fund major items of equipment costing more than $5,000.

Regulatory approval

* Experimentation or questionnaires involving human subjects requires approval from an HRC accredited ethics committee. Experimentation with animals requires approval from a registered animal ethics committee. Either attach the approval(s) to the application, or indicate that approval is being sought.

* All appropriate regulatory approvals must be in place before the grant can be activated.

* If the project involves a clinical trial, please indicate if the trail is registered and with which clinical trial registry. Please also provide details of your data safety monitoring committee if applicable.

* Applications will not be considered unless the Applicant Agreement is completed.

Publicity declaration

The AMRF is supported by private donations and therefore has an obligation through the news media, and its own newsletters to members and supporters, to report research that it supports. By becoming a recipient of an AMRF grant, you automatically agree to the mention of your name to media and stakeholders.

The AMRF raises awareness of its aims with the general public, by inviting AMRF funded researchers to discuss their research with local interest groups (Rotary, U3A etc). By becoming a recipient of an AMRF grant, you automatically agree to be included on a list of available guest speakers.

Submission procedure

Log into the AMRF Portal at funding.medicalresearch.org.nz and create a new application. Ensure all the required details are entered and all necessary documents have been attached.

Clicking ‘Submit’ on your application form sends it to your host institution. They will then complete their requirements, before officially submitting it to the AMRF. Your host institution compliance process takes time so please adhere to internal deadlines to ensure your application reaches the AMRF by 5 pm on the closing date.

Please refer to the Application process help page for details of what happens to your submitted application.

Additional information can be found in the Grant Proposal template.

Our contact details

EMAIL ADDRESS	[mailto:amrf@medicalresearch.org.nz,amrf@medicalresearch.org.nz]
POSTAL ADDRESS	Research Programme Manager Auckland Medical Research Foundation P O Box 110139 Auckland Hospital Auckland 1148
TELEPHONE	+64 9 923 1701
COURIER	Third Floor, 81 Grafton Road Grafton Auckland 1010

If you can't find the information you need, please use the contact form at the bottom of this page to send an inquiry to the Auckland Medical Research Foundation.