opportunities for hrc funding 2016 round investment processes

Opportunities for HRC Funding

2016 Round

Investment Processes

HRC Overview

Mission: Benefiting NZ through health research

• Supporting health research for 25 years with celebrations being held during the year. Established as a Crown Entity by HRC Act 1990

• Responsible to Minister of Health• Funding mainly from Vote Science &

Innovation through MBIE

Impact of HRC-funded Research (2014)

• HRC-funded researchers had a high international profile, with an average citation of 14.5 per publication.

• HRC-funded researchers were involved in 189 international collaborations in 28 countries, with 203 positions on contracts held by the collaborators.

• Supported 773 full-time researchers. As many researchers work part-time on HRC contracts, this translates to 2,678 individuals.

• 17% of NIs supported are emerging researchers (240), including 102 Research Fellows and 92 Postgraduates. 56% of First Grant recipients were engaged on HRC projects.

Funding Leaderboard (2003-2014)Organisation Grand Total

UofA $ 307,229,327

UofO $ 301,701,662

MU $ 51,138,181

UNISER $ 49,368,627

MIMR $ 43,449,628

AUT $ 33,313,548

HRC $ 21,379,962

MRINZ $ 18,685,121

ADHBCT $ 13,738,165

Te Atawhai o te Ao $ 9,443,148

Update of HRC Refresh Process

• Lessons for HRC from the Refresh

• HRC in a complex landscape 

• How to do more with the reality of less  - and for how long?

• HRC's aspirations for health research in NZ and what we are doing about it

• What does the future of HRC look like?

HRC SecretariatDr Kathryn McPherson, Chief Executive•Jaylene Wehipeihana, Acting Group Manager, Māori Health Research•Dr Vernon Choy, Group Manager, Investment Processes•Melanie Duncan, Group Administrator•Dr Katie Evans, Project Manager, Biomedical Research•Dr Deming Gong, Project Manager, Public Health Research•Lucy Pomeroy, Project Manager, Clinical Research

•Dr Tania Pocock, Group Manager, Research Policy, Strategy & Evaluation•Dr Nuhisifa Seve-Williams, Project Manager, Pacific Health Research• Vivien Lovell, Group Manager, Business SystemsFinance & Corporate Services, Ethics, Communications, Research Partnerships

Research Investment Streams

Research Investment Streams

Health and Wellbeing in

NZUnderstanding

health and preventing

illness & injury

Improving Outcomes in

Acute & Chronic

Conditions in NZ

Rangahau Hauora Māori

Building Māori knowledge &

capability to address

Māori health issues

Research for NZ Health Delivery

Immediate impact on health policy, clinical-decision-making &/or

service delivery

Applied

Basic

End-users involved

HRC & National Science Challenges

• Investment signals & guidelines updated to include National Science Challenges (NSC)– HRC “encourages research that can contribute to a NSC, as

well as research on other health priorities, provided it is in scope for one of our investment signals”

• HRC funding will complement the challenges– Research will not be excluded because not in NSC scope– Research will not be prioritised because in NSC scope– Applications assessed using existing HRC criteria

• Read guidelines & investment signals for detail

HRC & National Science Challenges

• HRC will ensure NSC get maximum value from HRC-funded research– Successful applicants in scope for NSC will be

encouraged to engage with NSC leads– HRC will monitor and report outcomes for HRC-

funded research in scope for each NSC– HRC will identify opportunities for HRC-funded

research to contribute to high-level outcomes sought by NSC

• 2016 SACs may penalise proposals in wrong RIS– Max score of 1 for ‘Impact’ criterion if ‘out of scope’

• Read Investment Signals

Avoid Falling into Wrong RIS

Applying for Research Funding

Researcher Initiated Proposals• Programme - $5M, 5 y• Project - $1.2M, 3 y (2, $0.8M; 4-5 y,

$1.2M• Feasibility Studies - $0.15M, 1 y• Emerging Researcher First Grant - $0.15M,

3 y• Explorer Grant - $0.15M, 2 y

• Career Development Awards

Requirements for Programme Director

• PRG Director with ≤1 year remaining; or• PRG director in the last 5 years; or• First NI on ≥2 PRJ grants from HRC or equivalents

that are current or expired after 14 Oct 2014; or• First NI on 1 HRC project begun after 14 Oct 2013,

leading ≥ 2 First NI on PRJ grants from HRC or equivalents that are current or expired after 14 Oct 2014.

• ≥ 0.2 FTE to this PRG; and• Employed by a NZ organisation and residing in NZ

What a Programme Should be?

• Not just 3-5 separate Projects

• Good integration or relationship between objectives and Projects

• Good collaboration between senior investigators

• Different Projects within the Programme should relate logically to overall theme

• Assessed by Science Assessing Committee and Programme Assessing Committee based on different criteria

Project EOI Forms (GA216S, RHM216S)• Section 1: General Information (online, HRC

Gateway) - Type of Research - Role (NI FTE required) - Lay summary (including methods, eg, RCT) •Section 2: Proposed Research

•Section 3: CV (online), must be the same as Section 1

•Section 4: Research Classifications (online)

EOI Form: GA216S Section 2 Proposed Research

• Rationale for Research• Design & Methods• Research Impact • Responsiveness to Māori • Expertise & Track Record

Project Full Application

•Must be substantially similar to EOI•Adjustments to lay summary allowed (based on EOI feedback)•NIs can be substituted, HRC must be informed

How to Submit Your Application?

Online Submission System, HRC Gateway

• All NIs must have an account on HRC Gateway• To get an account, click on ‘Sign up for HRC

Gateway’

After Sign In

• Update your profile information• Create applications to any open HRC

funding round• Access applications that list you as a NI– You will be emailed when your name is added to a new

application

• Follow the progress of your applications• See your My Tasks tab on Home page

Research Contract Obligations

HRC Funding and Ethical Approval

• Required for release of funding• Cannot be extended from one contract to

another• Should be specifically linked to HRC

contract number• More information www.hrc.govt.nz• Lana Lon, Project Manager Ethics– llon@hrc.govt.nz

Research Contract Obligations

• Final reports from past 5 years required at full application

• Media/News items (Suzy Botica: sbotica@hrc.govt.nz)

Final Reports & Future Impact

– HRC retains final payments until satisfactory report received

– Compliance could influence future funding success

– Includes discoveries & achievements, workforce development,

outcomes & impact, dissemination & knowledge transfer

– Help identify newsworthy findings & demonstrate the benefits

of funding health research & continued investment– Note all outputs specific to contract – reported to Ministry (Publications, impacts on policy, conference, media)

Update of HEARD Upgrade

• HEARD will get a much-needed upgrade this year. The new project will overhaul the old software, and incorporate the new-and-improved contract reporting software into HRC Gateway.

• This mean that users will be able to log in to contract reporting through HRC Gateway using their existing log in.

• The new contract reporting will have new functionality to make it easier for users submitting reports, and RO monitoring reports.

• Any questions, please contact Vivien Lovell, vlovell@hrc.govt.nz.

Career Development Awards

Career Development Awards

Please refer to CDA Guidelines and CDA Peer Review Manual for details (www.hrc.govt.nz)

Name of Award Value ($) Term (Years)

Clinical Practitioner Research Fellowship

Salary+50K/Year

5

Sir Charles Hercus Health Research Fellowship

0.5M 4

Clinical Research Training Fellowship 250K 3

Foxley Fellowship Salary+20K/Year

1-2

Girdlers’ New Zealand HRC Fellowship £45K/Year 2

Clinical Practitioner Research Fellowship

Founding Round

Number of

Applicants

Number of Funded

Success Rate (%)

2015 3 1 33.3

2014 2 1 50.0

2013 10 2 20.0

Sir Charles Hercus Health Research Fellowship

Funding Round

Number of

Applicants

Number of

Funded

Success Rate (%)

2015 15 3 20.0

2014 10 3 30.0

2013 13 3 23.1

Clinical Research Training Fellowship

Funding Round

Number of

Applicants

Number of Funded

Success Rate (%)

2015 23 7 30.4

2014 22 8 36.4

2013 18 7 38.9

Foxley Fellowship

Funding Round

Number of

Applicants

Number of

Funded

Success Rate (%)

2015 0 0 0

2014 2 1 50.0

2013 0 0 0

Girdlers’ New Zealand HRC Fellowship

Funding Round

Number of

Applicants

Number of

Funded

Success Rate (%)

2015 NA NA NA

2014 1 1 100

2013 NA NA NA

Major Changes • Eligibility of Clinical Practitioner Research Fellowships

- Must have no more than 20 years out of PhD or

post-graduate medical studies• Eligibility of Sir Charles Hercus Health Research Fellowships - Must have held a PhD for 4-8 years

• Project/Programme Application Form - CV (as part of profile) and Research Classifications submitted on HRC Gateway - Budgets submitted separately

Tips for Writing Your Application• Read application guidelines, investment signals and Peer

Review Manual/CDA Peer Review Manual (www.hrc.govt.nz)

• Start writing well in advance of deadlines, and revise, revise and revise

• Write for a more general scientific reader, and make it easy to follow by assessors who may not have specific expertise in your research area

• Make your objectives very clear, realistic and achievable

• Include design and power calculation details at EOI stage

• Highlight any preliminary data or experience with research-specific techniques

• Consider carefully which investment stream your application is submitted to. Ensure your application is written to address RIS goals

• Demonstrate appropriate responsiveness to Māori

Tips for Writing Your Application

Tips for Writing Your Application• Have a team with appropriate FTE, skills &

collaborations (e.g. biostatistician, clinician, etc.)• Make the role of each NI very clear, and all items

requested in budget justified appropriately • Demonstrate engagement with stakeholders and end-

users

• Incorporate EOI feedback into full applications• Programme is not just 3-5 separate projects that are

not building on each other. • Check spelling, structure and grammar, and allow time

for review, peer review and rewriting

• Focus on all the issues raised by the reviewers rather than comparing reviewers

Tips for Rebuttal to Reviewer Comments

• Need to respond completely to all of the reviewer’s comments/points regardless of the tone of expression

• Care may need to be taken to remain objective in dealing with difficult reviewers. Avoid “emotional” rebuttals

• Some rebuttals were viewed as a missed opportunity to respond in more detail to comments raised by reviewers

Any queries?

• Contact your Research Office• Peer Review Manual/CDA Peer Review

Manual 2015• Guidelines

www.hrc.govt.nzinfo@hrc.govt.nz

Email: firstinitialsurname@hrc.govt.nz

Level 3, ProCare Building, 110 Stanley Street, Auckland