Call for the establishment of 2 new Flagship Centres between OUH and SDU in 2024, phase 2

Application deadline is 4 September 2023 2023, 12. p.m.

	Launch of call	Application deadline	Assessment meeting
Phase II (only by invitation)	25 April 2023	4 September 2023	12 October 2023  (expected)

OUH and SDU invite applicants whose proposal was accepted in Phase 1 to submit a Phase 2 application regarding co-financing for establishment of a Flagship centre between OUH and SDU. It is expected that two flagship centres will be established 1 January 2024.

Content of phase 2 application

Your phase 1 proposal must be expanded by a detailed description of work packages, international partners, planned PhD programmes and postdoctoral fellowships, governance structure and expected number of publications and other deliverables and milestones. Furthermore, a detailed description of the budget, including external funding, is required.

Your Phase 2 application must

• be written in English.
• not exceed 21 A4 pages including figures, tables, etc.
• not exceed 63,000 characters including spaces, figure captions, formulas, etc.

Front page, table of content, list of references and Danish summary are excluded from the above count as well as appendices. You must use

• the font Times New Roman
• font size 12
• at least 2 cm margin on the left, right, top and bottom
• line spacing of 1.5.

Tables and figure texts must be readable by using at least font size 10 and line spacing 1.0.

All objectives, requirements, etc. from the Phase 1 call prevail. 

The phase 2 application should follow the outline below

• Detailed project description
• A summary in Danish and English (max 500 words each)
• Background, idea/overall ambition, objectives, etc. (max 500 words)
• Description of work packages and protocols
  • Work packages: E.g., study type (observational, interventional, laboratory etc.), overall aim, WP leader, description of trials/study’s in WP, synergy with other WPs
  • Protocols to be performed within the first 2 years should be detailed (max 1000 words) with

1.     PI

2.     Background

3.     Hypotheses

4.     Methods

5.     Statistic deliberations, including power calculation, also regarding animal research

6.     Endpoints

7.     Anticipated publication(s)

8.     Time frame

Note: A Gantt chart should be added in the appendix, including a list of deliverables and milestones for all work packages.

• A more detailed description of the governance structure, management structure and the management skills
• Description of national and international partners and their role in the Centre (core partners)
• If deemed relevant in the expression of interest (phase 1): Please give a more detailed description of how patients and relatives (or users) will be involved in the Flagship centre – e.g. as fellow researchers, in relation to Shared decision-making, ethical issues, Patient-Reported Outcome and Patient-Reported Outcomes Measures (PRO and PROM), Prioritizing research projects, patient advisory board, Citizen Science etc.
• Description of planned PhD programmes and Postdoctoral fellowships (career pathways)
• Expected impact

Appendices

• Gantt chart / time line
• Deliverables and milestones
• Detailed budget: Total budget for the first 5-year period, sub-budgets for each year and information about external funding.
• CVs  for primary participants (max. 2 pages each)
• Letters of collaboration
• List of references
• Funding and dissemination strategies (optional)
• Phase 1 application.

How to submit the Phase 2 application

The deadline for phase 2 applications is 4 September 2023, at 12.00 p.m.

Please upload your propoasal and appendices in efond.

Questions may be forwarded to ouh.forskning@rsyd.dk   

Assessment procedure

• Please forward contact information of a maximum of three possible reviewers (and possible secretary or PA’s for the reviewers) no later than 4 July 2023
  • Two of the candidates must have agreed to review your application if invited - as well as review four other applications. The last suggested candidate is an extra.
  • The candidates must be willing to participate in person at the assessment meeting in Odense 12 October 2023
  • Please notice that main participants in the Flagship Centre may not have written articles / done research with the suggested reviewers.
  • Preferably, the reviewers should travel from Europe.  
• The contact information should be sent to ouh.forskning@rsyd.dk   
• If appointed, the reviewer will receive a fee of EUR 1000 and will be reimbursed expenses regarding transport and accommodation.

Please mark 12 October 2023 in your calendar.

• As applicant, you will be asked to present your proposal to an international assessment panel with expertise in the areas applied for.
• Other guests at the assessment meeting will be members of the RI-council, Heads of involved departments at SDU and OUH, members from the OUH Research Council, and members of the executive boards at OUH and SDU respectively.
• It is expected that the boards of directors at OUH and SDU authorize the grants immediately after the meeting.

Follow-up with:

Applicants who are not awarded grant for Flagship centre

• Applicants who submit an application for phase 2, but who are not awarded a grant for a flagship centre, will be invited to a follow-up meeting with the director of research at OUH, the relevant deans from the faculties involved, SDU RIO and Southern Denmark Research Support. Focus will be how the applications can be developed and supported in the pursuit for external funding.
• Your application will be shared with the deans, contact person from SDU RIO and Southern Denmark Research Support.

Applicants who are awarded grant for Flagship centre:

• Individual performance contracts are concluded with each new flagship centre. 
• In each performance contract individual targets will be set for quantity and quality in research, education and PhD students, postdocs, external funding and international cooperation.
• The performance is evaluated externally by the international Advisory Board and internally by the steering committee. The first internal evaluation will take place early 2025.
• The Board of Directors from OUH and SDU respectively will be informed about the status of each center performance at joint meetings between the two institutions.