Types of Assistance Available for Cancer Epidemiology Consortia
- Overview
- Types of Support Available for Cancer Epidemiology Consortia
- Requesting Meeting Support
- Contact
Overview
The National Cancer Institute (NCI) sees consortia as providing unique opportunities for advancing cancer epidemiology by virtue of the large sample size of study participants and the synergy resulting from the interdisciplinary expertise of the membership.
The Epidemiology and Genomics Research Program (EGRP) has the following operating definition of a Consortium in cancer epidemiology:
An epidemiology consortium is a group of scientists from multiple institutions who have agreed to cooperative research efforts involving, but not limited to, pooling of information from more than one study for the purpose of combined analyses and collaborative projects. The consortium group is able to address scientific questions that cannot otherwise be addressed through the effort of a team of investigators at a single institution due to scope, resources, population size, and need for an interdisciplinary approach. The cooperation usually involves multiple projects over an extended time. Groups participating in a consortium may partner in the writing of research grant applications, but consortia activities are not limited to a specific grant/project.
EGRP is committed to fostering consortia from their initial formative stage through all the phases of development. It also will evaluate existing epidemiology consortia.
Types of Support Available for Cancer Epidemiology Consortia
The creation of a cancer epidemiology consortium is independent from funding mechanisms and does not indicate definite funding support. However, investigators may request EGRP suppport as follows for emerging and established cancer epidemiology consortia:
- Conceptualization of consortia.
- Assistance in identifying possible partners and in linking groups with similar interests.
- Hosting of teleconferences to aid in the coordination and creation of consortia.
- Providing scientific and programmatic consultation and assist in the development of policies and procedures that have proven useful and successful with other consortia (i.e., publication policies, tools and questionnaires, biospecimen policies, etc.)
- Programmatic and scientific involvement, as needed, in all phases of the implementation and conduct of a scientific consortium, with enhanced participation in the case of cooperative agreement-supported consortia.
- Providing liaison to facilitate communication and collaborations between consortia.
- Identifying overlaps and synergisms among different consortia and working at maximizing resource utilization and scientific output with them.
- Hosting of Web pages through the cancer epidemiology consortia pages on EGRP’s Website* and hosting secure web portals to aid in logistic coordination of scientific and other activities.
- Programmatic and scientific involvement, as needed, in all phases of the implementation and conduct of a scientific consortium, with enhanced participation in the case of cooperative agreement-supported consortia.
- Serving on steering/executive committees/participate in working groups.
- Providing scientific and programmatic consultation and assist in the evaluation of ongoing activities.
- Advising intramural investigators regarding cooperative agreements and roles and responsibilities.
- A fundamental EGRP role also is to provide visibility for consortia scientific accomplishments throughout NCI.
- Providing limited meeting support.
* In order to be listed on EGRP’s Website, all consortia are asked to provide the following information:
- Scientific rationale and justification of need for a consortium and identification of the scientific questions that only the consortium can uniquely address.
- Preliminary rationale that large numbers are needed to address scientific questions outlined above (i.e., preliminary power calculations).
- Outline of proposed initial internal leadership and organizational structure (i.e., steering committee, secretariat).
- Statement of commitment to sharing of data and specimen resources and developing written publication policies.
- Tabulation of similarities and differences in design, data variables, and specimen acquisition and storage, if applicable, across studies.
- Proposed plan to address informed consent issues.
- Roster of consortium members/participants.
Requesting Meeting Support
Due to new regulations pertaining to federally sponsored meetings, the Epidemiology and Genomics Research Program (EGRP) has changed the deadline for applying for cancer epidemiology consortia meeting support and revised the guidelines for the period of January 2013 to July 2013. The deadline for submitting meeting support requests for meetings to be held between January 1 and July 31, 2013, is December 31, 2012. Applications should be sent via e-mail to Mrs. Felicia Tabron.
Established Consortia
Applications to request meeting support for an established consortium (defined as a consortium that has a lifetime of more than two years), should be sent by close of business on December 31, 2012, to Mrs. Felicia Tabron. For scientific or programmatic questions, please contact the assigned EGRP Consortium Liaison or the EGRP Scientific Consortia Coordinator.
Please use the Consortia Task Initiation Request Form to apply. Information that is required (see below) but does not fit on the form must be sent as an additional attachment.
- Name of meeting.
- PI or contact person.
- Meeting location. If the meeting will be held outside the NIH Campus, provide the rationale for the location, especially if it is to be held outside the United States.
- Meeting date(s).
Note: Changes in the meeting date(s) or location will require submission of updated information and if the meeting was previously approved, the funding may be delayed. - Scientific rationale for the meeting, its relevance to EGRP's and NCI's scientific and public health priorities, and a description of the anticipated scientific outcomes. If the support requested would be used to support an annual meeting, please include a justification of the need to meet annually.
- Expected number of attendees. Please specify the number of attendees who are federal employees versus non-federal employees. Include a roster of attendees that lists participants' role and affiliation.
- Specify the international and domestic travelers for whom support is requested, what city and state or country (for international travel) they are traveling from, and why it is necessary for EGRP to support travel costs for these individuals to attend. Include a current e-mail address for each attendee for which travel support is requested.
- Number of years the cancer epidemiology consortium has received meeting support from EGRP and, if available, evaluation and achievement at previous meetings.
- Any cost-saving measures taken - suggestions below.
- Proposed meeting agenda.
In addition, please provide a brief update on the consortium activities since its last meeting, an updated list of ongoing projects (with funding sources), and publications.
Emerging Consortia
If meeting support is being sought for an emerging consortium (defined as a consortium that has a lifetime of fewer than two years), please provide the following information to Mrs. Felicia Tabron. For consultation on scientific and/or programmatic questions, please contact Dr. Daniela Seminara. Please use EGRP's Consortia Task Initiation Request Form to apply. Any information that does not fit on the form must be sent as an additional attachment.
Regarding the emerging consortium:
- Scientific rationale and justification of need for a consortium and identification of the scientific questions that only the consortium can uniquely address.
- Outline of proposed initial internal leadership and organizational structure (i.e., steering committee, secretariat).
- Statement of commitment to sharing of data and specimen resources and developing written publication policies.
- Roster of proposed consortium members/participants.
Regarding the proposed meeting:
- Name of meeting.
- Meeting location. If the meeting will be held outside the NIH Campus, provide the rationale for the location, especially if it is to be held outside the United States.
- Meeting date(s).
Note: Changes in the meeting date(s) or location will require submission of updated information and if the meeting was previously approved, the funding may be delayed. - Scientific rationale for the meeting, its relevance to EGRP's and NCI's scientific and public health priorities, and a description of the anticipated scientific outcomes. If the support requested would be used to support an annual meeting, please include a justification of the need to meet annually.
- Expected number of attendees. Please specify the number of attendees who are federal employees versus non-federal employees. Include a roster of attendees that lists participants' role and affiliation.
- Specify the international and domestic travelers for whom support is requested, what city and state or country (for international travel) they are traveling from, and why it is necessary for EGRP to support travel costs for these individuals to attend. Include a current e-mail address for each attendee for which travel support is requested.
- Any cost-saving measures taken - suggestions below.
- Proposed meeting agenda.
Complementary Support
NCI encourages cancer epidemiology consortia to seek complementary sources of support for their meetings (e.g., grants, non-profit organizations). Priority will be given to new and emerging cancer epidemiology consortia, and to existing consortia that have received EGRP meeting support for fewer than two years.
Suggested Cost Savings
Cost-saving measures to consider include, but are not limited to:
- Using meeting space on the NIH campus. Priority will be given to meetings that use NIH space. Justification for not using NIH facilities should be provided with the meeting support request. Learn more about NIH conference facilities.
- Holding meetings in conjunction with other, larger scientific meetings.
- Explored funding from other sources. These may include foundations, non-profit associations and/or coalitions, other federal agencies, and NIH Institutes and Centers. Additionally, it is expected that successful cancer epidemiology consortia will build meeting support funds into collaborative research grants.
Beside the above suggestions, cancer epidemiology consortia are encouraged to consult with EGRP Consortia Liaisons or the EGRP Scientific Consortia Coordinator for additional advice.
Contact
To discuss potential consortia arrangements, contact:
Daniela Seminara, Ph.D., M.P.H.
Consortia Coordinator, EGRP
phone: (301) 594-7347
fax: (301) 435-6609
e-mail: seminard@mail.nih.gov