The Region of Southern Denmark's Programme for Clinical Centres of Excellence 2027 - prequalification

Applicant group and requirements

All clinical research environments in the Region of Southern Denmark are eligible to apply.

The following requirements apply:

• The centre manager must be a professor employed at a clinical unit (including Præhospital Syd) in the Region of Southern Denmark and be well-established in both national and international scientific and clinical networks, based on a strong research and clinical profile.
• The applicant team must include at least three professors, of whom at least one must be affiliat-ed with another hospital in the Region of Southern Denmark. The applicant team shall repre-sent strong competencies within both clinical practice and research.
• The centre shall involve practical, real and academic collaboration with at least one other hospi-tal in the Region of Southern Denmark.
  • In addition, it is an advantage if the centre collaborates with several hospitals, clinical functions/professional groups and/or the primary sector – e.g. general practitioners – at regional, national and international level.
• The proposed centre shall have a robust governance structure that helps ensure the develop-ment, implementation and consolidation of research and clinical functions at a high interna-tional level. It shall be clearly described who has the overall responsibility for research and management of the centre, including the various proposed WPs

Purpose and content of the prequalification

The purpose of the prequalification is to identify the most qualified applicants for the second application round.

The application must, at an overall level, describe:

• the proposed centre’s research area and scientific ambitions

• the clinical relevance and the expected impact on patient care

• the competencies and organisation of the applicant team

• existing and planned collaborations

• the potential for achieving international excellence

Selected applicants will be invited to submit a full application.

What can funding be applied for?

Funding can be applied to cover the following research-related expenses:

• Salaries for research-related staff, including the centre manager and other staff affiliated with the centre, e.g. postdocs, PhD students, administrative/technical staff, etc.

• Operating costs related to the centre’s research activities.

• Research support services, e.g. from the GCP unit, Clinical Genome Center or OPEN, for example for project coordination, approvals, data, statistics, etc.

• Regulatory approvals, e.g. from the Danish Medicines Agency, the National Committee on Health Research Ethics (NVK) and the Regional Committees on Health Research Ethics (VMK).

• Registry data from public authorities (e.g. the Danish Health Data Authority).

• Research infrastructure, e.g. equipment, laboratories, experimental facilities and IT support.

• Clinical training/education in recognised national/international environments.

• IT equipment.

• Meetings, conferences and related travel costs.

• Stays abroad and related travel costs.

• Costs for catering in connection with centre-related meetings.

• Costs for patient transport in connection with the research project.

• Publication costs.

• Overhead (maximum 5% of the requested amount).

What language should the application be written in?

As the entire application process and subsequent evaluation involves international participation, the application must be written in English. By exception, the lay summary of the application must be in Danish.

For the entire application and its appendices 1 A4 page corresponds to 2,400 characters including spaces, using font size 12 in Times New Roman or similar font.

Content of the application to be completed in the application system GrantOne

The application shall include a description of the proposed centre with the elements listed below and shall be submitted in accordance with the specified requirements.

• Information about the centre manager, including name, e-mail and place of employment.

• Brief description of the collaboration partners (max. 1,200 characters).

• Information about co-applicants, including name, e-mail and place of employment.

• Description of the centre’s research area, including specification of the patient population (max. 7,200 characters).

• Description of the centre’s future governance structure, including who will be the daily lead for each WP (max. 2,400 characters).

• Description of how the centre plans to engage and involve patients and/or relatives, both in the centre’s governance structure and in research projects (max. 2,400 characters).

• Relevant literature references for the centre (max. 4,800 characters).

• Description of the centre’s collaboration partners and of the expectations for future collaborations, including their regional, national and international partners (max. 2,400 characters).

• Lay summary of the centre, well written and in Danish (max. 2,400 characters).

• Description of why the proposed portfolio of research projects are qualified for obtaining status as clinically excellent (max. 4,800 characters).

• Description of why the applicant and the team are qualified to apply for this funding scheme (max. 2,400 characters).

• Description of the centre’s ambitions and goals for research, education and clinical practice (max. 4,800 characters).

• Description of the five most important expected clinical outcomes (max. 1,200 characters).

• Estimated overall budget for each work package (the budget template in GrantOne must be used).

• Contact details for the international reviewers, including name, e-mail and research area.

The following must be uploaded as PDF files together with the application:

• CVs for the centre manager and co-applicants.
  • The CV shall include FCWI and ORCiD/SCOPUS link.
  • The CV shall be maximum 5 A4 pages for the centre manager and 2 A4 pages per co-applicant.
• Signed consent forms from each co-applicant, confirming their participation in the centre.
• Signed consent forms from each international reviewer, confirming their role as reviewer and their impartiality.

Applications that do not comply with the abovementioned requirements regarding collabora-tion, consent from international reviewers and/or correct completion of the application includ-ing language requirements, will be rejected on administrative grounds.

What are the requirements for the international reviewers

All applications to the funding scheme are assessed by both international reviewers and a regional assessment committee. The prequalification application must therefore include the names and contact details of three international reviewers.

The international reviewers must be professors and/or research leaders with experience in peer review. They must be contacted in advance and have expressed their interest in participating in the assessment prior to submission of the application.

The prequalification application is assessed by two of the three proposed international reviewers. If the prequalification application proceeds to the second round, all three proposed reviewers will assess the full application.

The international reviewers are expected to allocate at least 1.5 hours per round for reading and as-sessing the application. In addition, the international reviewers are expected to allocate 1.5 hours for online participation in the assessment day, which will be held on 16 April 2027. The international reviewers receive a fee of EUR 1,500 per round.

In connection with the assessment of the applications, the international reviewers must be able to engage in the process according to the following timeline:

Evaluation

Applications that meet the formal requirements will be assessed by international peer reviewers as well as a regional review committee.

The assessment will be based on an overall academic evaluation with emphasis on:

• scientific quality and originality

• clinical relevance and expected impact on future patient care

• organisational strength and feasibility

• existing and planned collaborations

• potential for international impact

Confirmation of involvement - co-applicant

Signed confirmation of involvement letter with consent from each co-applicant must be uploaded as a PDF file in GrantOne.

The following template must be used for this purpose: Confirmation of involvement letter - co-applicant

If the template is not used and completed correctly, the application will be rejected. 

Confirmation of involvement - reviewer

Signed confirmation of involvement letter with consent from each international reviewer must be uploaded as a PDF file in GrantOne.

The following template must be used for this purpose: Confirmation of involvement letter - reviewer

If the template is not used and completed correctly, the application will be rejected.