Purpose
The purpose of the Female Heart – Clinical Research Grants is to enhance clinical understanding of sex-related differences in cardiovascular disease by fostering global collaborative research projects anchored in the Nordics.
Areas of support
Grants awarded within this programme can fund research that seeks to enhance clinical understanding of sex-related differences in cardiovascular disease. Suggested areas of research include but are not limited to:
- Early detection, clinical diagnosis, and treatment of CVD to improve outcomes for women
- Consideration of specific conditions with relatively higher female prevalence, such as spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD), myocardial infarction with non-obstructive coronary arteries (MINOCA), ischemia with non-obstructive coronary arteries (INOCA), Takotsubo cardiomyopathy, and heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF)
- Contribution of sex-specific or sex-associated risk factors, for instance pregnancy-related cardiovascular complications or effects of female hormonal transitions on cardiovascular disease
- Factors that impact women’s cardiovascular health experiences, such as social determinants of health (e.g. gender, ethnicity, culture, age, language, disability, access to care, socioeconomic status, remote/urban habitation).
PLEASE NOTE
Sex-related differences in cardiovascular disease must be the core focus of the proposed research project and directly relate to the research hypothesis.
Eligibility
The project must be clearly defined, scientifically well-founded, and within the relevant thematic scope, with an appropriate and justified budget.
The research project must involve international collaboration. Projects that involve main applicants and co-applicant(s) anchored at research institutions only located in the same country will not be eligible. See details below for specific requirements for main applicants and co-applicants.
The main applicant:
- The main applicant must be anchored and have their primary employment and research group at a university, hospital, or other non-profit research institution in a Nordic country (Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Iceland)
- The main applicant must be employed at the institution they are applying from and must be guaranteed their own salaries for the entire project period.
- The main applicant must be an established researcher within their own line of research.
The co-applicant(s):
- The co-applicant(s) can be anchored and have their primary employment and research group at a university, hospital, or other non-profit research institution that can be located anywhere in the world.
- At least one of the co-applicant(s) must have their primary employment and research group at a university, hospital or other non-profit research organisation outside of the country of the main applicant.
- The co-applicant(s) must significantly contribute to the scientific advancement of the project and receive a significant part of the grant budget (to be detailed in the application). Further, it must be clear from the application how the project collaboration is ensured, and the work is distributed.
The co-applicant(s) must be employed at the institution they are applying from and must be guaranteed their own salaries for the entire project period. There are some limited exceptions to this – see 1.4 I guidelines for further detail.
Funding
A total of up to DKK 75 million is available for grants between DKK 10 million and DKK 15 million for projects lasting for a minimum period of three years and a maximum period of five years.
Application process
The application process is divided into two phases.
Phase 1:
The application for Phase 1 consists of a brief concept note describing the proposed research project and a high-level budget. This is evaluated internally in the Novo Nordisk Foundation and selected applicants will be invited to Phase 2. The Foundation will not provide feedback in case an application is declined in Phase 1. Applicants will be notified in April regarding either rejection or invitation to submit a phase two full application.
Phase 2:
Applicants will be asked to submit a full application which will be evaluated by external peer review.
The peer review will be conducted by international experts in the research area, and a summary of the anonymous peer review feedback will, in writing, be shared with the applicants post granting decision, regardless of the outcome of that decision. The peer review is meant as valuable feedback regarding the projects. It will not be possible to submit objections to the funding decision nor the peer review.
The applications will primarily be assessed based on the following criteria:
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- Fit within the outlined research area and scope of the call
- Originality and feasibility of the research and scoping of the project in relation to the challenge to be solved
- Scientific quality, state of the art, and methodologies in the project
- Merits and past performance of main applicant and co-applicant(s) relative to age and current career stage, as well as the research team’s ability to perform the proposed project
- Synergies and scientific potential with regards to the international collaboration in this research field between main applicant’s and co-applicant(s)’ institutions.
If you have an active grant from the Foundation, this may be taken into consideration in the evaluation of your application for a new grant. In general, it is recommended that the main applicant has delivered results on the active grant(s) before submission of a new application to the Foundation. If you apply while having an active grant from the Foundation, you must describe how the project you propose in this application is different from and/or coherent with the project(s) already funded and briefly describe the progress of the already funded project(s). This information should be included in the Applicant Details section.
It is very important, that the applicant carefully reads the guideline, before initiating the application process. This document contains the complete call as well as detailed instructions for the application process.
