GUIDELINES for BIH translational Ph.D. grants The BIH aims at training a new generation of translational scientists and will establish different interlinked training programs. This includes funding of Ph.D. students from different fields that work at the interface of basic and clinical research. Thus, the BIH will award annually up to 10 Ph.D. project grants to support cross disciplinary training and education. This funding will cover 3 years salary for a Ph.D. student and annual consumables/travel allowance of 3000. BIH translational Ph.D. grants aim to fund newly designed translational projects for students beginning their Ph.D. rather than for bridging funding gaps in current projects. The minimal requirements for project proposals will include twinning whereby a team of 2 supervisors, one from MDC and one from Charité, conceive a joint project which involves aspects of translational research and systems medicine. Project proposals will be selected for funding by an internal peer review process. Accepted proposals must be internationally advertised and students must be transparently and competitively recruited through one of the partner schools (see below). Students are required to join a recognized Graduate or Research School and/or sign a supervision agreement with the supervisor team. The main supervisor should be (or become) affiliated with a recognized Graduate or Research School. An active teaching contribution to the BIH core training series by the team of supervisors is required in the first and the second year of the Ph.D. project (minimum of 2 hrs. teaching per year). Training BIH students main training will take place within the school they are affiliated to. In addition, a mandatory BIH core training series will complement this by addressing BIH specific themes, taught by both the involved supervisor teams as well as external teachers. The training will be set up as teaching blocks of two back-to back sessions or two hours each. Each team of supervisors is responsible for a session (ideally, 2 teams join forces to organize a full teaching block). Each team s contribution should contain at least a teaching lecture but can also include a journal club, a clinical visit, a (methods) workshop, etc. March 28, 2014 BIH Translational Ph.D. Project Grants Call/ BIH Academy Page 1/10
The content for the core curriculum lectures/workshops is still being developed and may include but is not restricted to: Fundamentals in Genomics, Proteomics and Metabolomics Statistics/Bioinformatics/ Working with Large Data Sets Clinical Workshops in Systems Medicine Clinical Trials, Epidemiology etc. Selection procedure Prior to review, all applications are examined at the BIH head office to ensure completeness and eligibility. The selection of project proposals will be carried out through a process of internal peer review. All faculty members of MDC and Charité that are eligible to supervise Ph.D. students will be invited to volunteer for assessing 3-5 project proposals. Selection of reviewers with relevant expertise for all submitted proposals will be done by the BIH head office. The assessment will consist of a brief online scoring and commenting procedure. Applications are evaluated based on 1. Novelty and significance of the proposed project 2. Contribution of the project to translational and system medicine 3. Appropriateness of the host laboratories and relevance of collaboration 4. Contribution to translational core training activities Faculty who volunteer to be a reviewer will only be asked to review appropriate proposals in years where they are not themselves participating in a project proposal. Each proposal will be scored by 3 reviewers. The sum of the scores will determine the final ranking. The top 10 ranked proposals will be funded after confirmation by the BIH board. Scores and comments will be made known to the applicants but the identity of the reviewers will be anonymized. Applicants can list up to four faculty members that are to be excluded as reviewers. March 28, 2014 BIH Translational Ph.D. Project Grants Call/ BIH Academy Page 2/10
Associated schools In the table below, currently affiliated schools are listed. Schools are expected to fulfil the following minimal requirements: - Reviewed and approved externally, e.g. Excellence Initiative/DFG, Helmholtz, etc. - Transparent international competitive recruitment procedures - Annual project/progress committees - Credit point system or similar - Scientific and complementary training activities - Recognition of the BIH training series - Secured capacity for teaching, training and mentoring students for at least 3 more years Currently recognized schools are: - Berlin-Brandenburg School for Regenerative Therapies (BSRT) - Berlin School of integrative Oncology (BSIO) - German-Israeli Helmholtz Research School 'Frontiers in Cell Signaling and Gene Regulation (SignGene) - International Graduate Program Medical Neurosciences (MedNeuro) - International Helmholtz Research School 'Molecular Neurobiology (MolNeuro) - International Helmholtz Research School 'Translational Cardiovascular & Metabolic Medicine' (TransCard) - International Research Training Group for Myology (MyoGRAD) - MDC - NYU Exchange Program in Medical Systems Biology (MDC NYU) - MDC International Ph.D. Program/ Helmholtz Graduate School - DFG Graduate College 1208: "Hormonal Regulation of Energy Metabolism, Body Weight and Growth" On fulfilling BIH requirements, additional Ph.D. programs may become associated (please contact the BIH head office for this). March 28, 2014 BIH Translational Ph.D. Project Grants Call/ BIH Academy Page 3/10
ANNEX 1: Dates and deadlines Date Activity/announcement March 13, 2014 Pre-Call for Ph.D. projects March 28, 2014 Call for Ph.D. projects online April 24, 2014, 18:00 Deadline for Ph.D. project proposal submissions at 18:00 April 25-May 6, 2014 Internal peer review May 7, 2014 Ranking of proposals and confirmation by the BIH directorate May 8, 2014 Announcement of successful projects on BIH website and start of recruitment through affiliated schools: BSRT, MDC, etc. September 2014 and onwards Interviews at affiliated schools October 2014 May 2015 Start of Ph.D. projects March 28, 2014 BIH Translational Ph.D. Project Grants Call/ BIH Academy Page 4/10
ANNEX 2: Guidelines for project submission Projects should contribute substantially to the understanding of basic mechanisms of disease processes and deliver viable solutions to unmet clinical needs following a systes medicine approach. Projects have to be interdisciplinary, supervised by scientists from different research fields and exchange knowledge between basic research and clinical application. The project must be supervised by one PI from MDC and one PI from Charité. Each PI can take part in a maximum of two BIH translational Ph.D. projects, one as first and one as second supervisor. At any time, a PI can have no more than one BIH Ph.D. student as main supervisor and one as second supervisor recruited through this funding instrument. Students count towards this quota until they have successfully submitted their Ph.D. thesis. Please note that the project proposal will be used for the recruitment of Ph.D. student candidates unless an updated recruitment text is provided to the BIH and the recruiting school. Timeline for project submission and implementation The deadline for submission of project proposals is April 24 th, 2014 at 18:00. The results of the project proposal selection procedure will be announced on May 8 th, 2014. Ph.D. project proposals that have been awarded funding are expected to recruit and employ a Ph.D. student within 12 months after award of funding. Ph.D. student candidate eligibility The recruitment of candidates for awarded projects will be done in association with the Graduate or Research School in which the Ph.D. candidate will later enrol. The timeline and regulations of this particular graduate program for the further recruitment procedure will apply. Candidates who have been involved in a previous project with either of the two supervisors who wish to compete for funding during the internationally advertised competitive recruitment are eligible to do so provided their previous involvement does not exceed 12 months at the start of the new project. March 28, 2014 BIH Translational Ph.D. Project Grants Call/ BIH Academy Page 5/10
Funding of the project Candidates who will be recruited for the project will either receive a stipend of 1365 + 103 Sachzuschlag in the first year or a 50% TVÖD-Bund contract. In the second and third year the candidate will receive an employment contract 65% TV-Charité or 65% TVÖD-Bund, respectively. The Ph.D. project grant includes 3000 consumables per year for three years. The 1 st supervisor will be responsible to fund the candidate after three years in cases where the Ph.D. project is not yet finished. March 28, 2014 BIH Translational Ph.D. Project Grants Call/ BIH Academy Page 6/10
ANNEX 3: Application details required During the online application via https://application.mdc-berlin.de (online from March 28 th, 2014), you will be asked to provide the following documents: - Ph.D. project description *. Please provide a pdf file with a maximum size of 4 MB which includes: Title of the Ph.D. Project Name & affiliation of the supervisors Please list one supervisor from MDC and Charité each. Short description of the Ph.D. Project The project description may include images. If the project is selected for funding, this document may be used as project description during recruitment procedures (you will be asked if you prefer to provide an updated text). (Max. 4.000 characters including spaces and figure legends, excluding references.) Relevance to Translational Research & Systems Medicine Please describe the relevance of this project with respect to translational research and systems medicine. (Max. 2.000 characters including spaces.) Teaching Each team of PIs who supervise a Ph.D. project funded by the BIH must contribute a teaching session (involving 2 hours teaching in the first and second year of the project). Please indicate if you could provide one of the sessions listed for the core training series (as listed in the pre-call document) or, if you prefer, what alternative teaching session you would suggest. Teaching must be done by one or both supervisors and cannot be delegated. (Max. 2000 characters including spaces.) Supervision Please describe the role and responsibilities of both supervisors in this project. Which scientific, technical and/or other input is provided by each? (Max. 1000 characters including spaces.) March 28, 2014 BIH Translational Ph.D. Project Grants Call/ BIH Academy Page 7/10
- CV & References* Please include a 1-page CV including a list of the 5 most relevant publications for each PI. as a pdf-file. - Confirmation of graduate or research school Please include a written statement by the speaker/coordinator of the graduate or research school you intend to associate the student that they agree to host the student recruited for the project with in case this application is successful. March 28, 2014 BIH Translational Ph.D. Project Grants Call/ BIH Academy Page 8/10
ANNEX 4: Evaluation by internal peer review All faculty members of MDC and Charité that are eligible to supervise Ph.D. students will be invited to volunteer for assessing project proposals. Reviewers with relevant expertise for the submitted proposals will be selected by the BIH head office. Reviewers are asked to rate the following questions in accordance with the NIH-based scoring scale (from 1 (exceptional) to 9 (poor), see next page). The weighted cumulative rating of all questions results in a score between 1 and 9. Evaluation Questions: - How do you rate the scientific quality? Rate from 1-9 points (weight 40%) - How do you rate the relevance to translational systems medicine research? Rate from 1-9 points (weight 30%) - Is the collaboration between both supervisors convincing? Rate from 1-9 points (weight 20%) - How do you rate the contribution of the supervisor team to the BIH training series? Rate from 1-9 points (weight 10%) - Do you consider this project proposal suitable for funding? Y/N Please provide comments: When commenting on the project proposal, please avoid any direct comparison with other proposals. March 28, 2014 BIH Translational Ph.D. Project Grants Call/ BIH Academy Page 9/10
Table I: NIH-based scoring chart Please score each question in accordance with the NIH-based scoring scale below with an impact score ranging from 1 (exceptional) to 9 (poor). Please base your assessment on the highest international standards in the relevant research field. Each question has a weighted scoring range where the total cumulative score of all questions result in a score between 1 and 9. Please base your assessment on the highest international standards of the relevant research field. We strongly encourage you to use the entire range of scores, to facilitate a distinct ranking of the submitted proposals. Impact Impact score Descriptor Detailed explanation 1 Exceptional Exceptionally strong with essentially no weaknesses high 2 Outstanding Extremely strong with negligible weaknesses 3 Excellent Very strong with only some minor weaknesses 4 Very Good Strong but with numerous minor weaknesses moderate 5 Good Strong but with at least one moderate weakness 6 Satisfactory Some strengths but also some moderate weaknesses 7 Fair Some strengths but at least one major weakness low 8 Marginal A few strengths and a few major weaknesses 9 Poor Very few strengths and numerous major weaknesses Definitions: Minor: addressable weakness that does not substantially lessen the impact of the project. Moderate: weakness that lessens the impact of the project. Major: weakness that severely limits the impact of the project. March 28, 2014 BIH Translational Ph.D. Project Grants Call/ BIH Academy Page 10/10