Regional Centers of Research Excellence in Non-communicable Diseases in LMICs FAQs

Planning for Regional Centers of Research Excellence in Non-communicable Diseases in Low and Middle Income Countries (P20)

 

Research Program Requirements
Each application must contain at least two research programs, three shared resources to support the research programs, and appropriate research enhancement activities for the staff of the RCRE center.

 

1. What is the basic requirement for NCD research programs for this grant?

•     At least one cancer-focused NCD research program, and
•     At least one non-cancer-focused NCD research program

2. How many NCD research programs does your application need to contain?

•     Two or more

3.Does one of the NCD research programs have to be cancer focused?

• Yes

4. Can all NCD research programs be cancer focused?

• No, at least one research program must focus on another NCD

7. What are some examples of other NCDs?

• Allergies
• Asthma
• Cardiovascular disease
• Chronic respiratory disease
• Depression
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
• Schizophrenia
• Sickle cell disease and other hematological diseases
• Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes

8. Is bench science a requirement for these applications?

• No

9. Is direct cancer treatment a requirement for these applications?

• No

10. Can the plans include lifestyle modification instead of treatment?

• Yes 

11. What is a research enhancement activity?

• P20 planning grants do not directly support planning for training activities. Research enhancement activities provide the skills and education needed to conduct the research and support the shared core facilities.

12. Is there an expectation that a training core would be part of the Center’s infrastructure?

• Instead of including a training core, consider proposing shared core facilities that support the science in technical ways, such as informatics cores or biospecimens.

13. What is the Coordinating Unit?

• The Coordinating Unit focuses on the administrative functions needed in a Center. Required elements are listed under the Coordinating Unit's Research Strategy Section. They include: Coordinating Unit, Needs Assessment and Community Engagement, and Evaluation.

14. What is the Planning Unit?

• The Planning Unit focuses on the science that will drive your Center of Research Excellence. Required elements are listed under the Planning Unit's Research Strategy Section. They include: Planning for Research Activities, Planning for Research Enhancement Activities, and Planning for Research Shared Core Facilities.
  

Eligibility*
Please refer to the World Bank categorization to determine your country’s income group.

• LMIC includes Low-income economies and Lower-middle-income economies and Upper-middle-income economies
• UMIC includes Upper-middle-income economies
• HIC includes High-income economies

*Eligibility example: Peru is defined as a UMIC, so researchers at institutions in Peru could partner with investigators at institutions in an HIC or in other LMICs. Alternatively, a RCRE could be planned among two or more institutions within Peru.

 

1. What is the basic requirement for participating countries for this RFA?

• At least one institution from a LMIC, and
• At least one institution from a HIC or a UMIC

2. Does an institution in the United States have to be included in the RFA?

• No, an institution in the United States does not have to be involved. LMIC institutions must partner with an institution in a UMIC or HIC.

3. Can an institution from a HIC partner with an institution from a UMIC? 

• Yes, for the purposes of this RFA, LMIC includes upper-middle-income countries; therefore, a partnership between institutions in a UMIC and a HIC is welcome.

4. Can an institution from a UMIC partner with an institution from a UMIC?

• Yes, for the purposes of this RFA, LMIC includes upper-middle-income countries; therefore, a partnership among institutions in UMICs is welcome.

5. Could a RCRE planning grant include institutions from more than one HIC/UMIC?

• Yes, collaborations across HIC/UMIC are welcome. RCRE planning grants must include investigators from at least one HIC or UMIC institution and investigators from at least one LMIC institution.

6. Could a RCRE planning grant include institutions from more than one LMIC?

• Yes, collaborations across LMIC are welcome. RCRE planning grants must include investigators from at least one HIC or UMIC institution and investigators from at least one LMIC institution.

7. Could a RCRE planning grant include multiple institutions from within one LMIC?

• Yes, collaborations within LMIC are welcome. RCRE planning grants must also include investigators from at least one HIC or UMIC institution.

8. Could a RCRE planning grant include multiple institutions from within one HIC?

• Yes, collaborations within HIC are welcome. RCRE planning grants must also include investigators from at least one LMIC institution.

10. What resources exist to help me locate potential research partners in LMICs?

• The Global Cancer Project Map is an online tool to that depicts where, and who is conducting research globally. http://gcpm.globalonc.org/map/?limit=10. The map is continually being updated. Sign up if you are interested in including projects to the map: http://gcpm.globalonc.org/register/create-project.

 

Technical
1. If we submit this round, can we resubmit in the summer if not funded?

• Yes, if you submit in December and your application is not accepted for funding you can resubmit in August.

2. Are we supposed to create a separate, overarching aims page for the whole grant or just do the aims for each of the three sections?

• Applications contain one project summary/abstract which is located as part of the Overall Component. For each component (Overall, Coordinating Unit, and Planning Unit), please include a set of specific aims.

3. What elements should be included in the coordinating unit?

• Applicants should clearly include their plans for the organization and general operation of the RCRE. Additionally, applications should include a plan for thoughtfully designing the needs assessment and community engagement activities. Lastly, applicants must include a description of metrics for monitoring and evaluating the quality, value, and scientific impact of the planned RCRE on LMICs in the region.

8. Can I include an abstract or brief description of goals in the Letter of Intent?

• Yes, an abstract describing your research is welcome.

9. Can one organization/ institution participate in more than one application for this RFA?

• Yes, one organization/ institution can participate in as many applications as they can demonstrate that their pool of faculty, potential trainees, and resources are robust enough to support

11. Does a “Regional Center of Research Excellence” refer to a research center in a particular country or in a larger geographical area?

• The size of the catchment area is flexible by intention. This is to allow investigators to define the catchment area in a way that is best suited to their specific research questions.

16. If we submit a Letter of Intent on November 10, 2015 for the December 10, 2015 deadline, can we reschedule to submit the application on the second due date of August 23, 2016? If so, do we need to put a second Letter of Intent by July 23, 2016?

• Yes, if you think your application will be stronger in August, the Letter of Intent you submit in November is not binding. If you chose to submit an application in August, please submit a second LOI in July.
  

Other
1. Is an NCI employee not involved with the grant review allowed to be an advisor for the project?

• Yes, NCI employees may serve as unpaid consultant/advisors for these RCRE center P20 planning grants.

2. Is NCI more interested in applications that show partnership with one LMIC or with several LMIC in a region?

• This depends on your individual research questions. If you have a series of partners across the region, perhaps it makes the most sense to propose a regional center. If your research question and population are concentrated in a single country, consider using that as your catchment area.

3. Our group thinks that the summer deadline for the grant will better for us, but we are concerned that if we do that and another proposal submitted now will be funded for the same region. Will this substantially reduce our chances to even compete based on merit?

• We recommend that you submit your application when you feel it will be the strongest. We believe that will put you in the best position for success. 

4. Will this P20 RFA be followed up with additional Funding Opportunity Announcements? If there are follow up FOAs, do you know approximately when they might be?

• The Center for Global Health is hopeful that the current P20 planning phase for these Centers of Research Excellence will go well. Following this phase, we plan to use the U54 mechanism to build the Centers and then various RPG mechanisms to support research that uses these Centers. If we are able to secure funding for the U54 phase, we tentatively plan to release the FOA late summer of 2017.