Purpose
Cancer Council Victoria’s Grants-in-Aid program funds high quality research into the causes, prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cancer. We are committed to funding research projects tackling all cancer types to achieve our vision for a cancer-free future.
Applications will be assessed in a two-phase process consisting of an Expression of Interest and if shortlisted, applicants will be invited to submit a Full Application.
The submission process is now managed directly by Cancer Council Victoria and no longer via the NHMRC.
Grants-in-Aid full applications
Outcomes from the EOI round were notified on 3rd of September 2020. Successful applicants have been invited to submit a full application. Further guidelines are provided below to assist applicants in completing the full application.
Research Plan
The extended response to this question in the full application should include the sections outlined in the expression of interest. It should also include details for key activities and milestones to support the projects research plan.
Aims and Hypotheses
Hypotheses to be tested should be clearly stated.
Methods / Design
Include sufficient detail for methods and experimental design to be assessed.
Experimental Plan
Clearly outline the experimental plan that best fits your project design.
Key Activities and Milestones
To clearly demonstrate the expected progression of your project, list every milestone you expect to achieve and when you expect to achieve it, including employment of staff, ethics approval, development of study measures, data collection (eg expected recruitment numbers within each 6 monthly interval), data analysis, manuscript preparation etc.
Curriculum Vitae
Include the following information in all CV 'sunder the following headings. CV’s must be limited to 3 pages.
Qualifications
Provide a list of your qualifications. For each entry include; the name and location of the institution, the degree received (if applicable), the month and year of end date and the field of study.
Career Disruptions
Outline any career disruptions that you have experienced that impact the length of time between your PhD (or MBBS) being awarded and the closing date for applications.
Personal Statement
Briefly describe why you are well-suited for your role(s) in this project. Relevant factors may include: aspects of your training; your previous experimental work on this specific topic or related topics; your technical expertise; your collaborators or scientific environment; and/or your past performance in this or related fields.
Positions and Honors
List in chronological order the positions you've held that are relevant to this application, concluding with your present position.
Contributions to Science
Briefly describe your most significant contributions to science that relate to this project. This section should also highlight your accomplishments, and those of your colleagues, as scientists. This information will be used by the reviewers in the assessment of each of your experience for a specific role in the proposed project, as well as to evaluate the research team as a whole.
Publications (5 years)
List your publications from the last 5 years, particularly those that relate to the project.
Grants-in-Aid certification form
Download certification form
Eligibility
- Grants-in-Aid are awarded to research conducted in Victorian universities, hospitals and medical research institutes.
- The work to be funded must relate to the causes, prevention, diagnosis or treatment of cancer.
- Funding will not be granted to any researcher who is receiving or who is an applicant for funding from the tobacco industry or any of its agencies or subsidiaries.
Available funding
Our Grants-in-Aid support cancer research for up to $100,000 per year for two or three years.
Additional funding is available for two Low Survival Cancers and one Mesothelioma research project.
- Low Survival Cancers*
Low survival cancers are generally defined as those with a five-year survival rate of ≤50%.
- Mesothelioma*
Submissions must relate to the causes, prevention, diagnosis or treatment of mesothelioma.
*To be eligible for one of these specific funding grants, applicants must answer ‘yes’ to the relevant question in both the EOI and Full Application forms and provide details of the direct relevance to Low Survival Cancers or Mesothelioma.
Salary requests
- Salary requests for CIAs will be permitted provided the CIA’s PhD (or MBBS) was awarded < 13 years ago at the closing date for applications.
Note: In order to verify eligibility, applicants must include the date of the letter advising them of their PhD or MBBS qualification being approved. This is to be provided in the ‘Budget’ question of the Full Application form. Career disruptions will only be considered if applicants provide specific details of their situation.
- Salary requests for CIB, CIC, CID etc will be permitted provided the salary is not being requested to support someone who is a group leader or head of laboratory.
- All requests for salary must be justified. Applicants are asked to include this justification in Budget section of the Full Applications document. This detail is not required for the EOI.
Selection Criteria
Applications are assessed on the following three criteria in both the Expression of Interest (EOI) and Full Application phases.
For the EOI, all criteria are weighted evenly. For Full Applications, the criteria will be weighted as follows:
- Quality/excellence of research including design and methodology (50%)
- Impact and significance to cancer (20%)
- Team track record, collaborative capacity and feasibility (30%)
As of 2020, the Standing Research Subcommittee provides all assessment of Grants-in-Aid submissions. The Medical and Scientific Committee then reviews and ratifies awarding the grants.
Relevance to cancer
Relevance to cancer is the fundamental criteria for eligibility for Grants-in-Aid funding. The primary focus of the project must relate to the causes, prevention, diagnosis or treatment of cancer. You must include information on the relevance to cancer in your response, including how you might progress the results of your work and its translation into clinical practice.
The application will be considered insufficiently relevant if the relevance and significance to another disease is greater than to cancer, or if the research is of such a fundamental nature that its likely short or medium term impact on cancer control is low.
Other funding sources
You may seek funding from other sources for the same project, however, there must be no overlap or duplication of funded components.
Limitations on funding for researchers and institutions
The first-named Chief Investigator (CIA) must hold a primary appointment at an institution in Victoria.
Chief Investigator A (CIA) may only submit and hold one Cancer Council Victoria Grant-in-Aid as CIA. This will not affect their status as CIB, CIC, CID etc on other Grants-in-Aid.
Cancer Council Victoria employees are eligible for inclusion on Grants-in-Aid project applications providing:
- The Cancer Council employee is not listed as Chief Investigator A (CIA)
- The project is led by another institution, and funds are awarded to and expended by another institution.
COVID-19
CIA’s that hold current Grants-in-Aid that were due to finish in 2020, but have been extended or will be extended because of delays due to COVID-19 restrictions, will be eligible to apply for this grant round, provided the delayed project ends no later than 30 June 2021.
Role of the Administering Institution
The Administering Institution guarantees that the infrastructure and research environment necessary to support the research will be available. The Administering Institution also provides the administrative framework through which applications are received and payments made.
Should the application be successful, the Administering Institution is required to enter into a funding agreement with Cancer Council Victoria. The conditions in the agreement cover the standard grants contract areas including acknowledgment, intellectual property, reporting requirements etc.
Grants-in-Aid certification form
Download certification form
Key Dates
| Expressions of Interest open |
Monday 15 June 2020 |
| Expressions of Interest close |
Friday 10 July 2020 |
| Full Applications open (by invitation only) |
Thursday 3 September 2020 |
| Full Applications close |
Friday 2 October 2020 |
| Cancer Council Victoria to decide funding outcome |
November 2020 |
| Cancer Council Victoria to notify successful applicants |
December 2020 |
| Funding agreement forwarded to applicants/administering institutions |
December 2020/January 2021 |
| Cancer Council Victoria grant payments to commence, provided compliance requirements have been met (funding agreement executed, confirmation of ethics/other approvals received) |
January 2021 |
Please note: individual institutions may have earlier closing dates to allow for internal processing before submitting to Cancer Council Victoria by the specified deadline.
Questions
If you have any additional questions, please contact:
Dorani Lacey
Research Governance & Optimal Care Unit
03 9514 6319
CancerCouncilGrants@cancervic.org.au
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Dr James Dowty, A/Prof Daniel Buchanan, Prof Ingrid Winship, A/Prof Robert Waterland, Dr Jihoon Joo, Prof Mark Jenkins, Prof Melissa Southey
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Dr Moritz Eissmann, Prof Matthias Ernst, Prof Alex Boussioutas
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A/Prof Thomas Gebhardt
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Dr Catherine Granger
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Dr Simon Keam
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Prof John Mariadason
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Prof Matthew J. Watt, Dr Renea A. Taylor, A/Prof Daniel Nomura
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