QBIN Pilot Project Competition 2023-2024

2023-2024 Pilot Projects competition

This program offers funding in the amount of $20,000 to support pilot projects related to multi-center and multidisciplinary bio-imaging projects in humans and/or animal models. Applicants must be Regular, Regular-Clinician, Emerging or Emerging-Clinician QBIN members (refer to our membership directory or become a member).

The objective of the Pilot Project program is to enable QBIN members to collect and/or analyze preliminary bio-imaging data in preparation for grant applications to provincial, federal and international agencies.

Submission opening: August 21, 2023
Application deadline: September 22, 2023, 4:00 PM

Funding objectives

The funding should be used for at least one of the following purposes:

• Generate knowledge and data that can lead to a concrete clinical or health care application;
• Acquire preliminary data to allow the team to submit competitive applications for further project funding to granting agencies;
• Serve as leverage for larger grants from partners to conduct a long-term research agenda;
• Help Quebec researchers to become leaders in bio-imaging at the national and international levels;
• Contribute to the development of an activity or product dedicated to the transfer of knowledge to users or target populations.

Award funding and duration

Pilot Projects will be funded at the level of $20,000 starting December 1^st, 2023 for one year. Expenditures must be made in Quebec during this period and must comply with FRQS policies. The grant may be extended by up to one year (without budget increase) if adequately justified.

Eligibility criteria

The following eligibility criteria must be met by each application:

• Applicants must be Regular, Regular-Clinician, Emerging or Emerging-Clinician QBIN members (refer to our membership directory or become a member).
• Projects must include bio-imaging data acquisition and/or analysis and be tied to at least one of the above objectives.
• The project must include a minimum of two principal investigators from different research centers or institutions in Quebec. The project may involve other centers in Canada or internationally; however, the funding may not be transferred outside of Quebec.
• At least one of the principal investigators must be an early career researcher, as defined by the FRQS Research scholar - Junior 1 & 2 categories.
• Only one application as a principal investigator can be submitted to this competition. There is no limit as a co-investigator.

Application instructions

Applicants will be required to complete the online application form and upload the following three documents as a single PDF file.

1. Project proposal
5 pages in English or 6 pages in French, including figures and tables, excluding references.
Required format: Times New Roman font, 12 pt font size, black font, 2 cm margins, single line spacing.
Please include the following subsections in your proposal:
- Potential impact and significance
- Inter-center collaboration
- Research team and training environment

2. Budget
1 page, same format as project proposal.

3. FRQS CCV
PDF for each principal investigator, including detailed contributions.

Evaluation criteria

The pilot projects will be evaluated using the following criteria:

Project 50%
Clear motivation 10%
Clear and testable hypothesis 10%
Methodological approach (including considerations of sex, gender, and ethnocultural background in project design, when applicable) 15%
Scientific or clinical project deliverables / realistic objectives feasible within one year 10%
Knowledge translation and open science practices in project design 5%

Inter-center collaboration 10%
Complementary expertise of the investigators from different centers.

Potential impact and significance 10%
Capacity for pilot results to lead to external funding

Quality of the research team 10%
Publications and grants over the last 5 years; impact in their respective field (relative to seniority/career stage); equity, diversity and inclusion within the research team and training environments; open science practices in the labs.

Quality of the training environment 10%
Training of highly qualified personnel; training opportunities for students and postdocs.

Budget 10%
Realistic and well justified budget.

A scientific committee will be formed to evaluate all applications submitted. Competition results will be announced by the end of November 2023.

Submission deadline

The deadline for submitting applications is September 22, 2023 at 4:00 PM.
Requests submitted late, that are incomplete, or that do not meet the eligibility criteria will not be considered.

Obligations of researchers towards the program

Successful applicants commit to:

1. Acknowledge QBIN support as an initial funding agency in any publication (e.g. conference proceedings and peer-reviewed articles) or poster or oral presentation resulting from this research;
2. Produce and submit a progress report at the end of the year and funding period summarizing the status of the research project, including copies of abstracts and articles published as a result of this research;
3. Participate in QBIN’s annual scientific day in order to keep all members informed of the results of the funded project;
4. Notify the network of any positive decision of granting agencies related to the subsidized project.

Requests for additional information may be directed to the QBIN network coordinator, Martine Dallaire rbiq@usherbrooke.ca.