Big Data & Health

Early detection and prevention of cardiovasculair diseases

Interdisciplinary consortia consisting of scientists and public/private partners can apply for funding to study the use of big data for the early detection and prevention of cardiovascular disease. Participation of endusers (citizens, patients and/ or (health)professionals) is mandatory.

Purpose

NWO, ZonMw, the Netherlands Heart Foundation, the top sectors of Life Sciences & Health (LSH), ICT and Creative Industry, and the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport (VWS) and the Netherlands eScience Center have jointly taken the initiative to develop a public-private research programme in the field of big data and health. The programme promotes collaboration amongst relevant scientific disciplines and with the business community, in consultation with citizens, patients and (care) professionals.

The focus of the Big Data & Health Research Programme is the use of big data for the early detection and prevention of cardiovascular disease, within the frameworks of the Knowledge and Innovation Agendas (K&I Agendas) for ICT, Creative Industry and LSH. The research programme will support the ambitions of the Netherlands Heart Foundation, the Ministry of VWS and the Netherlands eScience Center, as well as those of Commit2Data for the top sectors of ICT, LSH and Creative Industry, as set out in those sectors' 2018-19 Knowledge and Innovation Contracts with NWO.

Who can apply

An applicant must hold a Master’s degree or equivalent qualification and must participate in the project. The main applicant, and a co-applicant who is not actually involved in the Research, must have a doctorate from or be a professor at a Dutch university. The Applicant must have a permanent employment contract with or hold a Tenure Track Appointment at a Knowledge Institute recognised by NWO. If the Applicant is not employed by a Dutch university, (s)he must demonstrate sufficient experience in the relevant field of Research and in overseeing scientific Research.

Applications are submitted on behalf of a consortium by a main applicant. The main applicant has a paid permanent position, or a paid temporary position at a Knowledge Institute recognised by NWO for at least the duration of the application procedure and the research project for which the grant is requested. The main applicant holds final responsibility for the project.

An application can involve multiple co-applicants from Knowledge Institutes that are eligible to receive funding: Knowledge Institute recognised by NWO and TO2-institutes. Care(R&D) institutes based in the Netherlands can, under specific conditions, request funding and participate as cofinancer.

Consortia consist of:

1. at least three research groups - including at least two research groups at Knowledge Institutes recognised by NWO
2. at least one enterprise
3. 2-3 FTE eScience Research Engineers

End users should also participate in the project. End users are citizens, patients and/or (care)professionals.

Knowledge Institutes that are not eligible to receive funding, can be included in a consortium and can contribute to the knowledge development in a project in this way. Their financial contribution is also allowed and encouraged, but this contribution does not count as cofinancing.

Enterprises are not eligible to receive funding, but make in cash and/or in kind contributions to the research project. Foreign knowledge institutes or enterprises may participate in the consortium if the results of the research project benefit the Dutch knowledge infrastructure and economy.

What to apply for

The overall requested budget for a research project can be, depending on the type of research (industrial or fundamental), between M€ 1 (50% co-funding) up to a maximum of M€ 2,25 (25% co-funding) and between 2.0 and 3.0 FTE eScience Research Engineer capacity. At least half of the cash resources available to each project is intended for the appointment of temporary scientific personnel to an NWO-accredited research organization.

The following forms of expenditure qualify for grant funding: temporary academic personnel (PhD student/ postdoc); non-academic personnel, such as software developers, lab technicians; TO2 and Care (R&D) co-applicants; participation by citizens and patients; other scientific personell; project-specific expenditure on materials, travel, equipment and other project-related cost items; costs for knowledge utilisation; and costs for international collaboration.

When to apply

The closing date for preregistration is 1 October 2018 14.00 CE(S)T and the closing date for submission of full applications is 8 January 2019, 14.00 CE(S)T.

Assessment

Criteria

1. Scientific quality (40 per cent)
2. Quality of the consortium (40 per cent)
3. Knowledge utilization (20 per cent)

Procedure

Preregistration is a mandatory part of the application process. The first step in the appraisal of the preregistrations involves checking whether the preregistration meets the aims of the call; wether it satisfies all procedural conditions; and any options for connections that could be made between individual preregistrations and with relevant consortium partners.

Consultation of end users

After the closing date for preregistrations, principal applicants will be asked to present their project ideas to a group of citizens, patients and (care) professionals. This group of endusers will be asked to respond to the project ideas and to give advice from the perspective of the end users. The end users' observations will be taken into consideration by the committee that appraises the full applications.

The first step in the appraisal of the full application involves checking whether the application satisfies all procedural conditions and whether it meets the aims of the call. All admissible applications will be sent for appraisal by external advisors. The principal applicant has the opportunity to submit a written response to the anonymized referees' reports.

The Appraisal Committee meets to discuss and rank the applications and submits its recommendations to the Programme Steering Committee. The complementarity and collective coherence of the projects is considered in the prioritization process. Decision-making The Programme Steering Committee makes recommendations to the NWO Domain Board Science regarding the allocation of available resources. The NWO Domain Board Science decides how the available resources will be used.