Novo Nordisk-BBDC New Investigator Award 2024-2026

Description

This award is intended to support an independent scientist or clinician-scientist in the early stage of their career.  One Novo Nordisk-BBDC New Investigator Award will be made available for this competition.

Eligibility Requirements

  • Faculty who have held an $80,000 BBDC-Sun Life Financial New Investigator Award or a $90,000 Novo Nordisk-BBDC New Investigator Award previously are not eligible to apply.
  • Faculty are eligible for this funding within five years of their first academic or research appointment. (The appointment must have been received on July 1, 2019 or later.) An academic or research appointment is defined as an appointment that allows an individual to apply for research grants as an independent investigator. This includes but is not limited to full and part-time academic or research appointments at a university, university or hospital-affiliated research institute, independent research institute, or government organizations. Those who have experienced a career interruption must provide an explanation with their application.
  • The applicant must be a scientist or a clinician-scientist (by official job description and with minimum 75% time protected for research) who holds or will hold a faculty appointment with the University of Toronto at the level of assistant, associate or full professor. Applicants who have not yet taken up their faculty appointment at the University of Toronto must do so by July 1, 2024.
  • The applicant must be conducting diabetes-related research at the University of Toronto or an affiliated institution at the time of award commencement.
  • The applicant should be a registered member* of the Banting & Best Diabetes Centre, although membership is not required for those who do not currently hold a U of T faculty appointment but expect to by July 1, 2024. (*Faculty who are new to the field of diabetes research and are not members of the BBDC can request free membership by contacting the Centre prior to submitting an application.  For more information about BBDC membership, please view the Membership section of this website).

Questions regarding eligibility should be directed to the Banting & Best Diabetes Centre before submitting an application.

Relevance to Diabetes

This funding program supports original discovery-based fundamental or clinical research in diabetes that would be published in peer-reviewed scientific journals. Research proposals can include any aspect of laboratory, animal, human, or clinical or health services research. Areas of research which are considered relevant to diabetes include the pathogenesis of diabetes or its complications, homeostatic or pathological pancreatic islet function, or metabolism, pharmacological mechanisms of drug or hormone action, biochemical or molecular aspects of biological or pathological processes, or research in population health or health services.

Amount

One award of $90,000 is available.

Duration of Support

Two-year funding period begins July 1, 2024 and ends June 30, 2026.

Use of Funds

  • Funds may be used for diabetes research support (examples: supplies; materials; services; salary support for research staff, technicians, and trainees such as graduate or summer students and postdoctoral fellows).
  • Funds may be used for trainee and investigator travel to conferences or attendance of virtual conferences.
  • Up to $10,000 may be used for the purchase of equipment.
  • Requests from clinician-scientists for full or partial use of funds for personal salary support will be considered but must be accompanied by a letter confirming that a minimum of 75% of the applicant’s time will be protected for research for the duration of the award. The letter must be signed by the Department Chair and Division Director.
  • Requests from non-clinical faculty for personal salary support will not be considered.
  • Use of funds for multiple purposes is acceptable.
  • Use of the funds must be fully justified.
  • Use of funds for institutional overhead fees is not permitted.

Judgment Criteria

Applications will be evaluated on the following criteria:

  • The applicant (contributions to the field; research accomplished to date; future potential)
  • The research proposal. Innovative, original research will be highly ranked.
  • Relevance to diabetes
  • The proposed use of funds and ability to justify proposed use of funds.
  • A minor component of the evaluation will be based on other factors that the reviewers consider relevant to this competition.

Application Process

Submit a completed application form to the Banting & Best Diabetes Centre by the application deadline date. See the application form for submission instructions.

Download the 2024-2026 Novo Nordisk-BBDC New Investigator Award application form and submission instructions (PDF)

Application Deadline

Applications must be received by 4 p.m., October 24, 2023.  Late or incomplete applications will not be considered.

Notification

All applicants will be notified in February 2024. Funding decisions will also be posted on our website.

Other Terms

Ethics Approvals and Certifications: If this research involves human subjects, animals, biohazards or stem cells, the principal applicant will be required to obtain approvals from their institution by the time of funding commencement on July 1. Approvals are not required to be submitted with this application; however, funds will not be released to successful applicants until all approvals have been obtained and forwarded to the BBDC.

Acknowledgement: Support from the “Novo Nordisk-BBDC New Investigator Award” must be acknowledged in all publications, presentations and communications that arise from this funding. Failure to acknowledge this support will result in future ineligibility for BBDC funding programs.

Reporting Requirements

The successful applicant is required to provide the BBDC with a detailed written report and financial statement within three (3) months of the end of the funding period.

Written Report must include the following:

  • A description of how the money was spent.
  • A description of the research project and results to date.
  • Whether or not any publications were generated as a result of this funding.
  • If so, was support from the Novo Nordisk-BBDC New Investigator Award acknowledged in the publications?
  • If applicable, a copy of all relevant manuscripts published and submitted must be attached to the report.

Financial Statement:  A detailed financial statement must be forwarded to the BBDC directly from the institution’s finance department itemizing all expenses and showing the final balance. All unspent funds must be returned to the BBDC within three months of the end of the funding period.

Failure to provide either the written report or financial statement will result in future ineligibility for BBDC funding programs.

Inquiries

Rose LaBarbera
Phone: (416) 978-4656
E-mail: [email protected]