EFSD/Novo Nordisk Foundation Precision Diabetes Medicine Award Programme

Deadline Date: 15 May 2023

About the EFSD

The European Foundation for the Study of Diabetes (EFSD) was created by the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) to provide funding initiatives in all areas of diabetes research. The aims of EFSD are to encourage and support research in the field of diabetes, to rapidly diffuse acquired knowledge and to facilitate its application.

EFSD operates on a strictly non-profit basis under the control of the relevant authorities for charity and taxation in order to support diabetes research.

Since its inception, EFSD has committed over Euro 100 million to diabetes research in Europe by various funding means. In the last five years, the Foundation has become a significant European funding agency for diabetes research, and is continually striving to enhance awareness in Europe of the severity and magnitude of this devastating disease.

About the Novo Nordisk Foundation

The Novo Nordisk Foundation is an independent Danish foundation with corporate interests. The Foundation has two objectives: 1) to provide a stable basis for the commercial and research activities of the companies in the Novo Group; and 2) to support scientific, humanitarian and social causes.

The vision of the Foundation is to contribute significantly to research and development that improves the lives of people and the sustainability of society. Since 2010, the Foundation has awarded grants totalling more than DKK 20 billion (€2.7 billion), primarily for research at public institutions and hospitals in Denmark and the other Nordic countries as well as research-based treatment and prevention of diabetes.

Despite being around for one hundred years, insulin and other means of treatment, as well as prevention and prediction, still fail to minimize morbidity and premature mortality in people with diabetes. Precision Diabetes Medicine, the tailoring of healthcare based on an individual’s genetics and other biomarkers, lifestyle and environment, aims at doing just that; to show “who to treat, with what, and when”.

Programme and Research Focus

To achieve the goals and objectives of this Programme, EFSD and Novo Nordisk Foundation invite applications by issuing this “Request for Applications” (RFA).

The EFSD/Novo Nordisk Foundation Precision Diabetes Medicine Award Programme will accept applications based on scientific quality, innovation potential and a clear translational focus; bringing basic knowledge to use at the patient level in terms of e.g. disease prognosis, treatment prediction or patient stratification.

Mechanism of Support and Review

The EFSD and NNF Precision Diabetes Medicine Award is honouring 1) the discovery of insulin in 1921, 2) its first use in humans in 1922, and 3) its Nobel Prize in 1923. The award is expected to accelerate important fields of translational research and to improve the speed of innovation implementation in diabetes care.

Translating knowledge from basic science to patient care is an area that is typically underfunded. This has led to a horrifying average of 17 years from the time an innovation is realised until it is deployed in clinical practice. Supporting Precision Diabetes Medicine is expected to shorten this lag time and improve the lives of people with diabetes. Precision Diabetes Medicine refers to attempts of tailoring diagnosis, prediction, prevention and treatment of diabetes to specific subgroups, and ultimately to the individual. This requires novel approaches by clinical and combined basic + clinical research as well as integration of multidimensional data. To support such approaches, we have established a research programme which highlights the visions for the future of the research community. Applications should state clearly how the proposed project relates to Precision Diabetes Medicine.

Awards

Three research proposals will be awarded grants annually.

Awards (to both clinicians and basic scientists) will be made in a total amount of Danish Krone (DKK) 1 awardee 2 million (~ €268,000) and 2 runners-up 500,000 DKK (~ €67,000) each to be paid to the awardee’s institution.

Grants may include up to 5% direct administrative expenses, which can cover non-scientific, administrative expenses in relation to the project, such as accounting, administration related to payment of salaries and purchasing, hiring, as well as auditing and financial reporting on the project. It cannot cover administrative expenses that are not directly related to the project. No Overheads will be granted.

The Awards will be paid in full amount at the start of the award, according to individual grant agreements to be entered into between the NNF and the EFSD and the individual Awardees.

All pay-outs take place from the NNF to a bank account belonging to the host institution of the Awardee.

Associated Activities and Recognition

All Awardees will be expected to serve as ambassadors for the Programme throughout the course of their award. This includes:

• Awardees will be invited to submit an article to Diabetologia, which will be subject to the normal peer-review process implemented at the journal.
• Awardees will be invited to a 2-day open invitation hybrid symposium on Diabetes Precision Medicine arranged by NNF/EFSD in Copenhagen, in November 2023. Here, they will give award lectures.

Research Grant Applications

In spirit of the Insulin 100 celebration, applications for this EFSD grant are invited from single non-profit institutions or groups of such institutions throughout the Funding Period.  

Applications can be made by any paid-up member of EASD.

Applications will be subject to scientific review by a specialised and independent ad hoc committee.

Applications for research grants may be subjected to a pre-review (or triage) procedure by the committee. In this event, any application rejected at pre-review will not be subject to a complete scientific review, and no feedback report will be provided to the applicant. 

Prior to any final decision on funding, and in order to offer applicants the opportunity to benefit from the review process, EFSD reserves the right to request revision of applications in accordance with the recommendations of the Review Committee.

The deadline for receipt of applications for funding this year is 15 May 2023.

All budgets are to be prepared in DKK. Awards will be payable in this same currency and will NOT be adjusted for any alteration in the exchange rate between DKK and the local currency in the place of the award. The exchange rate (between DKK and the local currency) used for calculating the DKK budget must be mentioned under “Budget Justification”. Awards will be payable in DKK and for internal accounting purposes converted to EURO at the prevailing rate of exchange.

Application forms may be downloaded here:

Application Form

All applications must be prepared on the official EFSD application form and completed in strict accordance with the detailed instructions to be found there. Applications which do not comply with the instructions given will not be considered for review.

Please send your application as one complete PDF email attachment to Foundation@easd.org by 12:00 midday (CET) on the deadline date 15 May 2023.

Review Considerations

Completed applications will be evaluated in accordance with the criteria stated below for scientific/technical merit by an appropriate scientific committee.

The applications will be scored based on scientific quality, innovation potential and vision with a clear translational focus; bringing basic knowledge to use at the patient level in terms of e.g. disease prevention and prognosis, treatment prediction or patient stratification.

Review criteria are as follows:

• Significance: Is the study relevant to the programme? If the aims of the application are achieved, how will scientific knowledge be advanced? What will be the effect of the proposed studies on the concepts or methods that drive this field?
• Approach: Are the conceptual framework, design, methods and analyses adequately developed, well integrated, and appropriate to the aims of the project? Does the applicant acknowledge potential problem areas and consider alternative tactics?
• Innovation: Does the project employ novel concepts, approaches or methods? Are the aims original and innovative? Does the project challenge existing paradigms or develop new methodologies or technologies leading to rapid translation?
• Investigator: Is the investigator appropriately trained and well suited to carry out this work? Is the work proposed appropriate to the experience level of the principal investigator and other researchers (if any)?
• Environment: Does the scientific environment in which the work will be done contribute to the probability of success? Do the proposed experiments take advantage of unique features of the scientific environment or employ useful collaborative arrangements? Is there evidence of institutional support?
• Budget and feasibility: Is the requested budget appropriate for the proposed study? Is the requested duration suitable for completion of the project?
• Contribution towards a larger research project: Is the work described in the application intended as part of a larger project? If so, is there any overlap? Is there a clear explanation of how the new work will significantly contribute towards the overall success of that larger project? Can financial feasibility be assessed (is a clear description given of the total costs of the whole project, the funding from other sources and the amount and purpose of the requested EFSD funding)?

Reporting Requirements

Investigators must provide EFSD with copies of papers accepted for publication, and must acknowledge the support of the Programme in all written material by use of the phrase: " Supported by an EFSD/Novo Nordisk Foundation Precision Diabetes Medicine Award research grant".

Each Awardee is required to submit a final scientific report at the end of the project period to the EFSD. Each Awardee is asked to report outcomes of their award annually to EFSD and the NNF through the NNF’s web-based reporting system, currently researchfish® and this report may continue for up to five years after the project has finished or as long as reporting is relevant.

The annual scientific report shall include information on the activities in the previous project year and the overall status and results of the project.

By the end of each individual programme, the Awardees shall submit a financial report to the NNF and the EFSD, covering the annual accounts and the budget for the Awardee’s project.

The accounts shall be structured in accordance with the structure of the budget in the application. The accounts shall also comply with current legislation and regulations and the usual recognised standards.

Competitive Renewal

Applications for a grant renewal will be accepted on a competitive basis, with the same review process as described in this Announcement. Such applications will therefore be considered in the same fashion as all other new applications received for review and without any special priority.

Administration and funding

The Programme will be administered by EFSD, including the application, review and yearly evaluation processes.

Awards will be paid to the awardee’s institution by the Novo Nordisk Foundation.

Schedule

Enquiries should be directed to: foundation@easd.org