CFP: Supporting the Completion of High-Impact Randomized Controlled Trials

Eligibility

For a trial to be eligible it must fulfill each of the following points: 1. Be registered with an organization such as clinicaltrials.gov 2. Be led by a Canadian researcher who is a member(s) of an ACT Network • the principal investigator(s) of any trial can only submit 1 application to this competition 3. Have a letter of support from an ACT network • each Network can provide a maximum of 3 support letters to this competition, and 4. Agree funds will be transferred to an organization eligible to hold CIHR funds; this organization will ensure and report that funds were used for CIHR eligible expenses, and the researchers will acknowledge ACT Consortium partnership and funding in all related presentations and publications.

Summary

The Accelerating Clinical Trials (ACT) Canada Consortium was established to accelerate, optimize, and facilitate the conduct, implementation, and results translation from high-quality, high-impact randomized controlled trials to improve health in Canada and around the world.

The first ACT call for proposals is designed to support ongoing and active, Canadian-led, high-impact randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that need additional funding for successful completion and will publicly report their results by January 15, 2025.

Application deadlines

RSO final internal review deadline

Program application deadline

NOTE: Consult your Faculty Associate Dean (Research) (ADR) regarding Faculty-specific deadlines and submission processes.

Principal Investigators: Complete a Research Management System (RMS) record, including a copy of your complete application, and submit this for approvals in RMS.

Postdocs, students, and trainees: For fellowships and externally-sponsored research training awards or opportunities, you must complete the Research Funding Application Approval (RFAA) Trainee PDF form, and submit it, along with a complete copy of the application, to Research Services at rsotrainee@ucalgary.ca. Trainees should not use RMS at this time.

Approvals: The University of Calgary requires that all funding applications be approved prior to submission. Approval requires signatures via either RMS or the RFAA Trainee form, in the following order:

• Principal Investigator
• Department Head
• Faculty ADR/Dean
• Research Services (on behalf of the Vice-President Research)

Read the Meaning of Grant Signatures policy to understand what your approval means. Please see the agency guidelines for details about which signatures are required on your application, as it may differ from internal requirements.

Late submissions: Late submissions will only be accepted in cases of medical or family emergencies, or other exceptional circumstances. If you submit your RMS record to Research Services after the internal deadline has passed, you must secure additional approvals. Please read: Late Applications Process.

Overhead N/A

Submission Process:

Full application, plus approvals in RMS, will be required by RSO by noon on Wednesday, March 29, 2023. Please be sure to select "Submitted for approvals" (Under Save & Progress) in RMS in enough time to allow for approvals from your Department Head and/or ADR prior to the internal RSO deadline. Consult your department and faculty for more information on their approval processes and timelines.

Once institutional approval has been obtained via RMS, follow ACT instructions below to submit full application by 10:00AM Calgary time on Monday, April 3, 2023.

ACT Application Instructions

• Please combine the following application components into a single PDF:

• Written proposal: Maximum of 3 pages if written in English or 4 pages if written in French (see formatting requirements in section titled, Proposal Sections and Adjudication Criteria below); includes 1 page trial summary o References, figures, or tables (optional, up to 1 page)
• Letter of support from an ACT Network (up to 1 page)
• Most recent version of the protocol, and preferably the most recent version of the statistical analytic plan

• Submit the full application PDF to act-aec@phri.ca by noon EST on April 3rd, 2023 o Once submitted, written confirmation of receipt will be provided within 24 hours of submission. If you do not hear back within 24 hours, please follow up to ensure successful delivery.