Team Grant: E-Rare-7 Joint Transnational Call

Eligibility

For an application to be eligible, all the requirements stated below must be met:

1. The Nominated Principal Applicant (NPA) leading the Canadian component must be an independent researcher affiliated with a Canadian postsecondary institution and/or its affiliated institutions (including hospitals, research institutes and other non-profit organizations with a mandate for health research and/or knowledge translation).
2. The NPA must have their substantive role in Canada for the duration of the requested grant term.
3. The Institution Paid for the Canadian-led application must be authorized to administer CIHR funds by the application deadline (see List of CIHR Eligible Institutions).
4. If the Canadian team in the consortium includes more than one Canadian researcher, only one of them must be named the NPA on the abbreviated application submitted to CIHR.
5. CIHR's Early Career Researcher definition will be followed for the Canada-based applicants.

All Canadian applications must additionally meet EJP RD JTC2023 eligibility.

Summary

CIHR-IG is pleased to be partnering with Ataxia Canada, Cystic Fibrosis Canada and approximately 20 international funding organizations in the context of this European Joint Programme on Rare Diseases (EJP RD) call for proposals 2023. CIHR-IG is committed to expanding and improving the diagnosis and treatment of rare diseases by creating the conditions needed to bring together creative, dynamic, interdisciplinary teams of researchers from across Canada and the European Community (EC) to collaborate for better health outcome for the rare disease patient community.

The topic of the call is natural history studies addressing unmet needs in rare diseases.

Projects shall focus on a group of rare diseases or a single rare disease following the European definition i.e., a disease affecting not more than five in 10,000 persons in the European Community, EC associated states, and Canada. Applicants are encouraged to assemble groups of rare diseases based on relevant criteria and commonalities if this strategy leverages added value in sharing resources or expertise.

For more information, please consult EJP RD JTC2023.

Research Areas

This funding opportunity will support transnational research proposals relevant to at least one of the following areas:

1. Estimation of disease prevalence;
2. Identification of biomarkers/companions for the diagnosis/prognosis of a rare disease (RD);
3. Identification of biomarkers/indicators/predictors of a rare disease or group of disorders (e.g., having the same etiology) onset/progression (including collection of genetic, physiological, environmental data or variables….);
4. Identification of relevant endpoints for future studies that include potential biomarkers, querying patient-reported outcomes (PROs) and quality-of-life measures;
5. Identification of biomarkers/variables for therapeutic approaches (pharmacology, drug repurposing, gene therapy, RNA therapy, cell therapy, medical devices…).

Using cellular and animal models for validation of the new diagnostic approaches in the subtopics listed above, where relevant, is permitted.

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:

• Note: The CIHR application is required at the Full Proposal stage only.
• The application process for this funding opportunity is comprised of two steps for Canada-based applicants: 1a) Pre-Proposal to EJP RD; and 2a) Full Proposal to EJP RD and 2b) Abbreviated Application to CIHR.

Step 1a - Pre-Proposal to EJP RD:

• Pre-Proposals must be submitted in English only to EJP RD. For more information, consult EJP RD JTC2023.
• Note that no documents need to be submitted to CIHR at the pre-proposal stage.

Step 2a - Full Proposal to EJP RD:

• Invitations to submit Full Proposal are expected to be sent end of April 2023 by the Joint Call Secretariat.
• Full Proposals must be submitted in English only to EJP RD. For more information, consult EJP RD JTC2023.

Step 2b - Abbreviated Application to CIHR:

The purpose of this additional application to CIHR is to provide CIHR with an operating budget for the project, with the amounts quoted in Canadian dollars, a complete justification for funds requested, and a one-page research summary of the project.

• In addition to the Full Proposal to EJP RD, Canadian consortium members invited to submit a Full Proposal to EJP RD JTC2023 must also complete an abbreviated CIHR application (in one of the two official languages of Canada) and submit it using ResearchNet.

Submission to RSO:

The abbreviated CIHR application, plus approvals in RMS, will be required by RSO by noon on Friday, June 9, 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.

Do not submit through ResearchNet until RSO's signature has been granted!! 

Once institutional signature has been obtained, a copy of the CIHR signature page will be available via the RMS record, under Documents. Upload the CIHR signature page and routing slip in the Print/Upload Signature Pages task in ResearchNet by 6:00PM Calgary time on Wednesday, June 14, 2023.