CALL FOR PROPOSALS 2011
INSTRUCTIONS FOR PREPARATION OF APPLICATIONS
Before completing an application, you must consult these “Instructions for Preparation of Applications” and follow the directions.
CONTENTS
1. Forms (applications, submissions, types of financing)
2. Information relative to the evaluation of a project and its contractual engagements
3. Information about financing
4. Specific cases
5. Preparation of the application and list of documents to include
6. Criteria for evaluation of applications
7. Annex: Letter of Agreement, in French and in English
1. Forms (applications and submissions)
APPLICATIONS:
The application forms (research project, research project renewal, Trampoline grant, PhD or postdoctoral fellowship, PhD or postdoctoral fellowship renewal) are revised each year. Before completing an application it is imperative that you verify that you have the current version (2011), which is available on the AFM Website, or you will risk inadmissibility of the application.
SUBMISSION OF APPLICATIONS:
APPLICATIONS MUST BE IMPERATIVELY ADDRESSED:
1/ By e-mail, to: and
2/ By regular mail (! ATTENTION, address has changed), to:
Mme Claire LEGRAND-TABARY
Responsable du Secrétariat Permanent du Conseil Scientifique
A.F.M. / SPCS
1 rue de l’internationale
91002 Evry BP 59
France
Phone number : 33 1 42 16 96 60 – Fax number : 33 1 42 16 96 65
For more information, please contact:
The applications must be sent, at the latest (according to the postmark):
-October 8, 2010 for the first session
-March 4, 2011 for the second session
INCOMPLETE APPLICATIONS WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED
TYPES OF FINANCING:
F Research projects for one year, renewable for a second year.
F Trampoline grants: This one-year award is intended to support -new investigators entering the field of neuromuscular diseases, - investigators early in their science careers and – established neuromuscular researchers who will propose innovative projects which do not require preliminary data. This award is available for a maximum of one year for a total amount up to 50,000 euros maximum.
F PhD fellowships for 1 year, renewable.
F Postdoctoral fellowships for 1 year, renewable for a second year.
2. Information relative to the evaluation of a project and its contractual engagements
a. Your application for financing will undergo a procedure of a priori scientific expertise (submission of your project to external experts and to members of the Scientific Council of AFM). After this phase, your project will be submitted to the Board of Directors of AFM, who will either refuse or accept to finance your project.
b. You could be informed of the decision of the Board of Directors of AFM.
For Deadline October 8, 2010, decisions are expected mid-February 2011
For Deadline March 4, 2011, decisions are expected mid-July 2011.
As a general rule, and with the exception of Fellowships, a Letter of Agreement will accompany acceptance letters, based on the model included as an annex to the present document, which must imperatively be signed by the legal representative of your organization (i.e. your employer or his representative) before any disbursement of funds by AFM.
Very exceptionally, AFM may wish, based on certain criteria (e.g. major strategic importance of your project for AFM, notably in terms of development of therapeutics, amount of AFM financing, etc.), to manage your financing as a contract negotiated and signed by AFM and your organization. In this contract, in return for the financing granted for your project, AFM will notably request the granting of intellectual property rights on the results of the project, as well as return on investment if results of the project generate exploitation revenues.
c. We would like to draw your attention to the duration of this procedure and the fact that no disbursement of funds will be made until AFM receives this Letter of Agreement duly signed by the legal representative of your organization.
d. To expedite this process and shorten the time frame for signature of the above-mentioned documents, we strongly encourage you to inform and transmit the following documents to your employer or his representative (e.g. Technology Transfer, Intellectual Property, Patents, Partnership, Legal departments) as soon as possible:
1- -A copy of your Application for Financing submitted to AFM
2- -A copy of the “Instructions for preparation of applications”
It is not necessary to send us the "Lettre d'Engagement" (in Annex) at this time, since this has no legal value at the moment.
3. Information about financing’s request
(For additional information about financing’s request, you can contact Catherine Hivart, 33.1.69.13.21.48, )
Direct project costs: Direct project costs should be related to the realization of the project for the duration of the project.
The amounts should be in euros.
If the taxes related to the costs of the projects are recoverable by the organization financed, the amounts should be indicated without tax; if not, indicate the amounts including taxes.
Definitions for the number of person-months and salaries:
*1 person-month (PM) corresponds to the work performed by one full-time person for one monthExamples:
12 PM = 1 person working full-time for 1 year
12 PM = 1 person working 50% of full-time (half time) for 2 years
12 PM = 2 persons working half-time for 1 year / Salary: gross salary/employer contributions
Contributions (unemployment, pension, health insurance, etc.) of the employer are calculated on the basis of the gross salary.
Salary cost: gross salary + employer contributions
The total cost paid by the enterprise is the salary cost.
The date when the research project is considered to begin is the date of signature of the Letter of Agreement.
4. Specific cases
REFORMULATION AND REVISED APPLICATIONS OF A PROJECT
If your request is a reformulation or a revision of a preceding project which was not accepted by AFM, append a point-by-point response to the remarks and questions of the experts (in English) - you need not agree with all points, but you must address them. Use page numbers and other identifiers so reviewers can easily find where you have added new data or revised experimental approaches. A bar in the margin is a good way to show where revisions are. Highlight new sections with indenting, bracketing, underlining, or change of type. If you disagree with the reviewers, explain why and provide additional information if needed. An angry rebuttal letter is unlikely to be well-received, even by a new committee member. Maintain as positive a tone as possible
Please note that even if you respond adequately to the criticisms, you are not guaranteed an award. This may happen because a summary statement is not meant to be an exhaustive critique; some problems discussed by the reviewers may not appear in it. Instead, it hits the highlights of the review discussion, providing general feedback Also, when you make changes, you risk introducing new problems. Finally, membership in scientific review groups changes. Your application may be seen by some new reviewers who may have different views of your project.
This additional document should be sent 1/ as one paper copy appended to the application, and 2/ as one electronic version at the same time as you send the electronic version of your application.
PROJECT INCLUDING MORE THAN 1 TEAM
For applications for financing which include at least 2 groups (collaborative network project): the application should be completed in the following manner:
-The request should be sent in the name of the coordinator of the network; the co-ordinates of this person should be indicated on page 1, and the notation “(et coll.)” should be placed in parentheses next to the name. Example: DUPONT (et coll.)
-The summary (in English and in French if possible) should mention each of the teams implicated, as well as the name of the applicant representing each of the teams.
-The description of the research project should include a section explaining the interactions and complementarity between the groups . The investigator from each team should explain his own role in the research project.
-The participants in the programme (page 13) should be listed team by team.
5. Preparation of the application and list of documents to include.
ELIGIBILITY FOR THE VARIOUS TYPES OF FINANCING) (If these conditions are not fulfilled, your application will be automatically rejected):
F Application for research project : In the academic sector, only tenured faculty may apply.
F Application for research project renewal: In the academic sector, only tenured faculty may apply. You have previously applied to AFM for a research project for a duration of 2 years on the same topic, and your acceptance letter mentioned financing for a second year subject to submission of a renewal application before one of the deadlines announced in our Call for Proposals.
F Application for Trampoline grant: This one-year award is intended to support -new investigators entering the field of neuromuscular diseases, - investigators early in their science careers and – established neuromuscular researchers who will propose innovative projects which do not require preliminary data. Please note that aside from presenting outstanding science, a Trampoline grant application should be “high risk/high yield”, i.e. does not need preliminary data but the idea should be extremely innovative and if correct has the potential of being groundbreaking. This grant is in no way a mean to allude the more demanding regular research program.
F Application for PhD fellowship: Master’s degree (M2 in France) or equivalent must be acquired. Please note that it is mandatory for students who have been supported by AFM for their thesis work to participate in an annual «Young Researchers forum» organized by AFM. An unjustified absence from this “Young Researchers forum” will lead to an unfavorable recommendation in case of application for renewal.
F Application for PhD fellowship renewal: Candidates who have previously received PhD support from AFM for the same subject in the same laboratory as in this application. The application should be submitted within the 6 months following the end of AFM support at the latest; any extension of this deadline must be justified in a letter accompanying this application. Please note that it is mandatory for students who have been supported by AFM for their thesis work to participate in an annual «Young Researchers forum» organized by AFM. An unjustified absence from this “Young Researchers forum” will lead to an unfavorable recommendation in case of application for renewal.
F Application for Postdoctoral fellowship: Be in possession of a PhD degree on the date when the financial support is due to start. Postdoctoral candidates must demonstrate mobility in their career path. Any exceptions to this rule must be clearly argued, and the duration of support will be reduced to one year.
F Application for Postdoctoral fellowship renewal: Candidates who have previously received postdoctoral support from AFM for the same subject in the same laboratory as in this application. The application should be submitted within the 6 months following the end of AFM support at the latest; any extension of this deadline must be justified in a letter accompanying this application.
FOR ALL TYPES OF APPLICATIONS:
-The “original” document will include original signatures and stamps
-Each copy should imperatively be stapled. Recto-verso documents are preferable. No cover page should be placed before page 1 of the application form.
- For the electronic version of the complete application (to be sent by e-mail): We will no longer accept more than 3 electronic files per application; each file should not exceed 2.0 Mb. Your files should be named in the following manner:
Ø For the application form: FAMILY NAME-First name-Project
Ø For any annexes (figures or other): FAMILY NAME -First name-complementary information
Ø For the CV (Only for Fellowships): FAMILY NAME-First name-CV. Please DO NOT include date of birth, age, place of birth, citizenship, marital status, sex, religious affiliation and do not use photograph.
FOR RESEARCH PROJECTS OR TRAMPOLINE GRANTS:
q 1 signed original application form. The signatures of the Laboratory Director (page 1) and of all the participants (page 13) must appear on this application.
q 20 copies of pages 1-7 (Table of request for financing included), each set stapled
q 1 electronic version of the complete application (to be sent by e-mail to )
FOR RESEARCH PROJECTS RENEWAL:
q 1 signed original application form. The signatures of the Laboratory Director (page 1) and the signatures of all the participants (page 6) must appear on this application
q 20 recto-verso copies of the complete application
q 1 electronic version of the complete application (to be sent by e-mail to )
FOR FELLOWSHIPS (PhD, PhD renewal, Postdoctoral, or Postdoctoral renewal):
q 1 signed original application form. The signature of the Laboratory Director (page 1) must appear on this application.
q 20 copies of pages 1-6 (Abstract in English included), each set stapled
q 21 copies of your CV in English (2 pages maximum). Each CV should be stapled at the end of each of the 21 copies aforementioned (1+20).
q 1 electronic version of the complete application (to be sent by e-mail to )
6. Criteria for application evaluation
Each project will be evaluated according to the following criteria:
1. Relevance and significance for AFM
2. Project quality and scientific soundness;
3. Innovation;
4. Feasibility (i.e., Investigator, environment, approach);
5. Economic reasonableness of the proposed budget;
1- Relevance and significance for AFM: How is this research relevant to a better understanding of neuromuscular or other rare diseases, their causes, cures and/or prevention? Does this study address an important problem? Is there a sufficient body of high quality fundamental, preclinical or clinical research evidence that supports the rationale for the proposed study?What is the potential impact of the proposed intervention on health care and quality of life?
2- Project quality/ scientific soundness: Are the rationale and experimental design adapted to the study objectives?
3- Innovation: Are the aims of the study original? Does the proposed study design represent advancement in the field?
4- Feasibility: Are the conceptual framework, design, methods, and analyses adequately developed, well integrated, and appropriate for the aims of the project? Does the applicant acknowledge potential problem areas and consider alternative strategies? Is the principal investigator well suited to carry out the proposed study? Is the scientific environment adequate? Is there evidence of institutional support? Have appropriate agreements with collaborators been established?