Call for Proposals: Research Project Grants – New Zealand

Their funded projects span many different fields including biomedical, clinical, public health, epidemiology and psychosocial research. Their goal is to fund the best quality science with the highest potential for impact.

They fund Research Projects Grants across themes as diverse as immunology, drug discovery, basic cancer biology, clinical trials and applied clinical research, cancer prevention, risk factors, health policy, and peoples’ lived experience of cancer.

Funding Information

• Maximum value is $80,000 + GST, awarded over a maximum of two years.
• Up to ten project grants are awarded each year, depending on the available funds and quality of applications.

Eligible Costs

• Salary costs for named investigators can be included in the budget if the individual is dependent on external funding sources for salary support (so-called soft money). Salary buyout for permanent staff is not an eligible expense.
• Salary costs for post-doctoral research fellows, research assistants and/or technicians that are dependent on external funding are also eligible budget expenses.
• Only actual costs for ACC and superannuation should be included in salary associated costs.
• Working expenses should be itemised in the budget by adding a new line for each item and providing sufficient detail about the item (e.g. cost of the item and quantity needed).
• Travel costs that are essential to the project may be included in the budget.
• Publication costs can be included in the budget, but will be paid out retrospectively and require a copy of the submitted publication.
• Cancer Research Trust does not fund capital costs but small items of equipment can be a valid budget expense if well justified and accompanied by a quote.

Eligibility Criteria

• In order to provide the broadest possible support to the cancer research sector, the Trust caps the number of applications any individual investigator can submit:
  • Each applicant can only submit one proposal as Principal Investigator. They may also be named as Associate Investigator on one other application. In addition to this they can be a mentor on a Fellowship or Scholarship application. This caps applications at a maximum of three per researcher.
  • Cancer Research Trust expects that an individual will only be a Principal Investigator on one active Research Project Grant at a time. The individual may also be named as a coinvestigator on one or more active grants at the same time.
  • Research projects must be based in New Zealand.
  • When a proposal has been declined, applicants can resubmit their proposal in a subsequent grant round. Only one resubmission of a previously unsuccessful project grant application is permitted. It is an expectation that the applicant addresses all concerns raised by the referees and Assessment Committee in their re-submission.
  • An applicant who has been unsuccessful twice may submit further proposals in their chosen field of research, but these proposals will need to be based on a new or substantially revised hypothesis. Resubmissions are included in the application cap.
• Principal Investigators:
  • The named Principal Investigator should be the researcher with the main responsibility for design and preparation of the proposal, and overall management of the research project. If intellectual leadership of the research is shared, there can be two named Co-Principal Investigators.
  • Principal Investigators need to meet the minimum formal qualification requirements. A graduate degree is expected, and most applicants will have a PhD or equivalent research experience.
  • The Principal Investigator should be a member of staff of a New Zealand academic institution or New Zealand cancer-care organisation. The head of the facility or clinic, or academic department must approve the application.

For more information, visit Cancer Research Trust.