Call OUH Research Career Fund 2024

Launch of call	Application deadline	Assessment meeting
14 August 2024	8 October 2024, 11:59 PM	27 November 2024 (expected)

Proposals for the OUH Research Career Fund are invited.

One call a year is expected, see above. Please also pay attention to the equivalent regional fund with alternate deadlines.

Objective

The ambition of Odense University Hospital (OUH) is to be an attractive workplace with visible and flexible career paths for all researchers.

Skilled and committed clinicians and researchers are crucial to undertake research of high international quality, where research results create value for patients and relatives.

To reach this objective, OUH have set aside funding for a Research Career Fund available for postdoctoral fellowships and assistant professorships at OUH and SDU. Support from this fund will ease the possibility of early career researchers to continue their research with settled research time at least one research day a week alongside ongoing clinical obligations.

The funding supports clinical combination positions with determined redemption research time.

Requirements for applicants

All professional groups and research disciplines may apply, including clinical patient-related research, research of epidemiology, experimental laboratory research, and Health Services research.  

To be eligible for support from the fund, the following criteria must be met:

• The applicant has obtained a PhD degree a maximum of three years before the application deadline or a PhD dissertation has been submitted for assessment and a PhD degree will be obtained no later than a year after the application deadline.
• In order to apply, the future postdoc/assistant professor must be or will be employed in a combined position between OUH and SDU. The research employment must be with SDU and the clinical/other part of the employment must be at OUH.
• The research time must be at least 20 pct. (1 day/week) of the combined employment.
• Both the OUH Head of Department (usually the chief physician) and the Head of Research at the OUH hosting department must approve that the project can be carried out at OUH and that the applicant can be employed in a combined position of at least 20 pct. between OUH and SDU, equivalent to one research day a week. (See details further below in “Appendices and approvals”.)
• Duration of redemption that can be applied from this fund:
  • 4 years for postdoctoral fellowships
  • 3 years for assistant professorships.
• A maximum of DKK 120,000 per year can be granted.
• The significant part of the project must take place at OUH and the project must have a distinct clinical perspective relevant to OUH.

A maximum of one grant per applicant can be obtained from the fund.

App. four postdoctoral fellowships or assistant professorships may be granted from the fund in 2024.

Eligible costs

• Own VIP salary – a maximum of 20 pct. (1 day/week) redemption for research time.

Non eligible costs

• Salary for other researchers (SCS in English and VIP in Danish)
• Employment or co-financing of non-scientific staff (NSS in English, TAP in Danish) for research projects (e.g. biomedical laboratory technician, research nurses, etc.)
• Purchase of apparatus or other material for research projects
• Operating costs
• Other research-promoting purposes
• Overhead
• Open Access publication.

The OUH Research Support offers instructions on how to draw up a budget. If you request assistance, please contact reg.forskerservice@rsyd.dk.

If you request support for applications to external foundations, please refer to the OUH Funding Team at ouh.funding@rsyd.dk.  

How to submit an application

Applications must be submitted via the electronic application system efond. Please read and comply with the instructions given in efond and enter and upload the required information.

Please note that an application will be rejected on an administrative basis if it does not comply with the above requirements listed in the call.

Language

The application must be written in English.

Content of application

The following must be written in efond:

• A clear description of the following topics:
  • Layman’s resumé (in Danish)
  • Patient involvement in the research process 
  • Impact and significance for citizens (patients) and society
  • Research Plan equivalent to one research day a week
  • Plan for articles to be prepared in relation to the research projects in the research plan
  • Plan for independence in research
  • How the project supports elements in the current research strategy between OUH and KI
  • Applicant’s career plan (please also check template for career plan at the SDU web page)
  • Applicant’s collaborators (local, regional, national, international)

Appendices

Please upload the following mandatory appendices in PDF format: 

• Short CV. It is mandatory to apply the CV template at the SDU web page including publication list and applicant’s teaching portfolio listing pedagogical qualifications and supervisor function (e.g. number and name of supervising PhD students, master theses, bachelor theses, scholar stipends (pre-graduate research year students) etc.

• Approvals from both the OUH Head of Department (usually the chief physician) and the Head of Research at the OUH hosting department (see list of Heads of Research at OUH departments at the OUH webpage; choose “Forskningsenheder- og ledere” from the drop-down menu) must approve that the project can be carried out at OUH and that the applicant can be employed in a combined position of at least 20 pct. between OUH and SDU, equivalent to one research day a week. (The applicant must generate approvals in Step 2 in efond via separate e-mails to both the OUH Head of Department and the Head of Research of the OUH hosting department asking them to provide confirmation by following the link in the e-mail – please ensure that both Head of Department and Head of Research have approved before the application deadline. See efond for further details.)

• A plan for attracting external funding for the projects in the portfolio (own salary if projects exceeds 2-3 years and/or exceeds 20 pct. (1 day/week) as well as operating costs etc.

• Gantt chart.

You may upload the following appendices:

• Confirmation of research stay abroad from the foreign research institution.
• Figures to support your project description.
• Authorisations, e.g. The National Committee on Health Research Ethics (Videnskabsetisk Komité), The Danish Data Protection Agency (Datatilsynet), Danish Medicines Agency (Lægemiddelstyrelsen) or other.

Budget information

In the budget section in efond (step 3), please state which years (and number of months) a possible grant from the Research Career Fund is to be used:

·       Year 1 = 2025

·       Year 2 = 2026

·       Year 3 = 2027

·       Year 4 = 2028

·       Year 5 = 2029

In the budget section in efond (step 3), please enter the expected full budget for the entire postdoc fellowships or assistant professorship projects including already obtained or expected funding and any other budget headings.

A confirmation by email will be sent from “efond” if the application is submitted correctly (please check your spam filter if you do not receive an email).

Assessment criteria

The application will be assessed based on the following criteria:

• Qualifications of the applicant.
• Scientific quality/relevance of the projects in Research Plan.
• Strategic considerations related to the research strategy, in particular:
  • Research at a high international level with the potential of altering treatment of patients.
  • Research and implementation of evidence-based treatment.
  • Focus on the course of the patient’s treatment across professions, departments, hospitals and sectors.
  • How patients and relatives are or may be involved in all phases of the research project.
• Plans for repatriation of external funding, articles, supervision of students.
• Applicant’s career plan.
• Applicant’s teaching portfolio.
• Applicant's collaboration partners (internal and external) in the different projects.

Assessment procedure

The submitted applications will be reviewed and prioritized by the committee of the Odense University Hospital’s fund for postdoctoral fellowships and assistant professorships at an assessment meeting.

All applicants will receive notice of the outcome of the application approximately three weeks after the assessment meeting.

Considerations

It is important to describe considerations about patient and relative involvement in the application. The involvement can take place throughout the entire research process. You can get more information at the ForSa-P web page (in Danish), or find more inspiration at VIBIS (in Danish) or NIHS in the UK.

Examples of how and when patients and relatives can be involved:

• Clarification of research questions, outcome goals
• Co-creation of specific elements of a potential intervention
• Reading the application – especially Danish sections (layman’s description, descriptions to Ethical Committee of Science)
• Dissemination of research results

Questions and contact information

Please forward questions to ouh.forskning@rsyd.dk