CONFIDENTIAL

Multidisciplinary Project Award–Outline Application

Advice from the funders - Multidisciplinary Awards

This guidance is provided by Cancer Research UK and EPSRCand is based upon our discussions with the Multidisciplinary Expert Review Panel and its observations from previous funding rounds. It is provided to guide applicants to ensure they meet the funders shared expectations and objectives of the Multidisciplinary Award Scheme.

The purpose of the Multidisciplinary Awards is to support and encourage ambitious and novel research in the Engineering and Physical Sciences (EPS), capable of making a contribution to biological or clinical problems in cancer.Through the Multidisciplinary Awards we seek to bring ambitious new EPS thinking to deliver transformational breakthroughs in cancer.

Key requirements are therefore:

1)To demonstrate in your outline (and subsequent full application) how novel EPS research (including maths and computational science) contributes to making problems in cancer more tractable.

2)To treat both the EPS and cancer aspects of the proposal with equal priority. We seek to support applications where a strong contribution to both cancerand EPS research is clear.

3)To show how the two disciplines will be integrated and to highlight the potential for broader applicability toother cancer problems.

Applicants should also note:

  • Applicants should only act as lead applicant or co-investigator on one application per funding round.
  • Multi-institutional bids are welcomed and strongly encouraged.
  • Involvement from the broader EPS community who have not previously applied their skills and knowledge to cancer problems is welcomed.
  • The use of EPS techniques/technologies that already have demonstrated applicability to biological/ clinical problems in cancer are out of remit.
  • Proposals which requireambitious fundamental EPS research to adapt or modify an existing technique or technology specifically for a cancer context are within remit. However, while such proposals will be considered, we reserve the right to directapplicantstoward other funding modes,where appropriate.

Please complete the following outline form for the Multidisciplinary Project Award and upload it via the electronic Grants Management System (eGMS).

1. Details of the joint lead applicants
The lead applicants are responsible for the design, execution and management of the research project and should include one cancer researcher and one engineer or physical scientist. For the purposes ofeGMS, one PI acts as the lead applicant, however all lead applicants will be recognised with equal status.
  1. Cancer Researcher: Full name, title, institution
  2. Engineer / Physical Scientist: Full name, title, institution
  3. Full name, title, institution (add/delete as appropriate)

2. Proposed co-investigator(s)
Co-investigators are defined as a researcher who will provide significant intellectual input into the research and will be responsible for the day-to-day running of some aspects of the work. Co-investigators can be from any discipline
  1. Full name, title, institution (add/delete as appropriate)
  2. Full name, title, institution (add/delete as appropriate)

3. Project title
4. Project duration
This will typically be up to 36 months, but may be 48 months where a PhD student is requested
5. Funds requested
Please provide a rough breakdown of the fund to be requested, including any large items of equipment and personnel
For the next 4 sectionscombined please do not exceed 800 words, for each section a suggested word count is included.Up to three references and one figure with a caption of up to 100 words (not counting towards the word limit)may be included.
  1. Aims and objectives (150 words)
Please provide details of the aims and objectives for the project, articulating the EPS research which will be undertaken to enable a breakthrough in the cancer field. State the biological hypothesis or clinical need that will be addressed.
2.Background and rationale (250 words)
Please provide a clear, concise summary of the background and rationale of the project. This should include:
  • The importance of the question in cancer, and the biological/clinical need for a new EPS approach
  • What is the novelty of the proposed EPS approach and how will it make the cancer problem more tractable

3.Work Plan (250 words)
Please give a brief explanation of the work to be undertaken andwhere applicable, highlight the parts of the project which each applicant will lead. Please include details of how the cancer and EPS aspects will be integrated.
4.Potential Outcomes and Impact of the Project (150 words)
Please comment on BOTH of the following:
  • What are the expected outcomes of the proposed researchand how will these outcomes impact on the cancer field?
  • What novel EPS outputs will be developed and what is their potential broader application to cancer research?

CRUK/EPSRC Multidisciplinary Project Award – Outline Application