The European Society of Veterinary Dermatologists

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Research

The ESVD Research Awards

Introduction

ESVD wishes to encourage high standards in all aspects of veterinary dermatology and to promote the development of related research. Therefore, research grants will be awarded by the ESVD for basic or clinical research in veterinary dermatology. Ordinarily projects are expected to be of one to two years duration. Applicants will be expected to propose a project of scientific merit that is applicable to veterinary dermatology.

Preference will be given to novel proposals including the development of pilot studies, but applications for support of some identifiable component of ongoing research work will be considered. It is not the intention to provide funds for single items of capital expenditure. All applications will be subject to peer review and must include background information, project aims and objectives, project design and specific methods and budget together with an explanation of the relevance of the proposed work to veterinary dermatology.

Successful applicants may wish to submit their results for publication in the journal Veterinary Dermatology and to present their findings to ESVD members at the annual congress. The funds cannot be used for travel and accommodation at the meeting but purely for research. However, the principal awardee is entitled to one free registration at any annual ESVD congress at which he or she will present data generated as a result of the grant. Payment of the grant will be made into a special account and a budget report will be required by the ESVD Treasurer at the end of the study. Any funds not spent must be returned to the ESVD. Any use of experimental animals must conform to local and national animal welfare regulations.

Proposals should be submitted by April 1 each year for consideration by the grant awarding committee. The successful applicant(s) will be informed as soon as a decision has been reached and the successful project applications announced at the following AGM of the Society. Annual progress reports are required and should be submitted to the current secretary at least 30 days before the Society’s AGM. Research proposals (four copies) should be sent to the current ESVD publications and grant secretary. An acknowledgement will be sent.

Proposals should be prepared according to the following guidelines. Grants are evaluated on scientific merit, feasibility, and usefulness. Please note that the Society is not in a position to support the costs of institutional overhead. Submitted along with the body of the proposal, as a separate document, should be one copy of the curriculum vitae of each of the principal investigators.

The ESVD wishes to promote the development of research in veterinary dermatology.

From 2012 funding will be offered for three types of grant:

  1. A major grant of up to 20,000 euro for an outstanding advanced research project.
  2. A training grant of up to 5,000 euro for a researcher seeking to get established in the discipline and carry out a research project.
  3. A practitioner grant of up to 5,000 euro for veterinary practitioners working exclusively in private practice with an ambition to carry out research.

Projects should be completed within two years. Applicants are expected to propose a project of scientific merit that is applicable to veterinary dermatology.

Applications will be evaluated on the basis of scientific merit, feasibility and usefulness.

Guidelines for preparation of the grant application are given below and are also available from the ESVD Grant Secretary and on http://www.esvd.org/research.html

Applications not adhering to these guidelines may be excluded from consideration.

  1. Applications will be allowed from persons within a research group even if a fellow researcher obtained the grant the year before. (max 1 grant/ year/ research group).
  2. Number of pages listed are maximum numbers. Shorter proposals are acceptable and welcomed.

Section 1 (one page maximum)
Title page should include the project title, the name and title of the investigator, the institute at which the research will be performed, and the dates of the proposed project period.

Section 2 (one page maximum)
i) Provide a brief abstract with clearly stated objectives and the importance of the research, the experimental design and the methods used for achieving the stated objectives.
ii) Specific aim(s): State in general terms the long term objective(s) and the hypothesis to be tested.

Section 3 (two pages maximum)
Background and significance: In this section, briefly review the background for the present proposal, and the gaps in knowledge that the proposed project will fill.

Section 4 (two pages maximum)
Preliminary studies: If there are preliminary data to support the hypothesis or to demonstrate that the investigator is familiar with the proposed methods, they should be included. If there are no preliminary results, then this section can be omitted.

Section 5 (four pages maximum)
i) Experimental design and methods: This section should contain a concise discussion of the experimental design and the procedures to be used to accomplish the specific aims listed above. This section should be sufficiently detailed so that feasibility may be judged. This section should list a brief description of resources available to investigators. It is important to discuss the means by which the data will be collected, analysed and interpreted, and the controls that will be required to allow a proper analysis. The type of statistical evaluation to be used for data analysis should be briefly detailed. Investigators should justify the sizes of experimental groups.
ii) Animal use: Projects must fulfil the requirements of legislation in force in the country in which the work is to be performed. A statement to this effect should be included in the application. Any project proposal involving animals must be evaluated by the applicant's institution animal use committee and a statement to that effect should also be included in the proposal. If pets are to be used in the project, a permission form for the owners to complete should be appended to the proposal. Unless animal care and use has been carefully addressed, a proposal can not be considered for funding.

Section 6 (one page maximum)
A one page detailed budget should be included. The ESVD will not subsidise professional veterinary fees incurred by clients in the investigation of animals involved in clinical projects.

Section 7 (one page maximum)
References should be provided for Section 3 (background information) and section 4 (methods).

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The ESVD-ECVD PhD Scholarship:

The PhD Scholarship will be offered in 2014

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE

The European Society and European College of Veterinary Dermatology wish to make funding available for a PhD scholarship for up to 3 to 4 years. The ultimate goal is to contribute to populate European Veterinary Faculties with highly competent and motivated scientists with a particular interest in Veterinary Dermatology.

The Institution, the potential scholar and the intended mentor and programme of research must all be named in the application, as all will be evaluated as part of the selection process.

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CRITERIA APPLICABLE TO APPLICATIONS

1. Institutions Eligible
Applications will be welcomed from any European Veterinary School or College. As interdisciplinary research is to be encouraged, applications from non-veterinary institutions will be accepted provided a formal link with a European Veterinary Institution would be developed or maintained. A previously selected institution will only be able to compete for another scholarship every two cycles to enable the possibility to spread this award among different universities.

2. The ESVD-ECVD PhD Scholar

3. The Research Supervisor
It is expected that the successful applicant will join a team whose supervisor(s) has/have a well-funded laboratory with an established track record of scholarly publications and previous graduate student(s) or research scholar(s) training. Ideally, one or more of the research supervisor(s) should already hold a research doctoral degree.

4. The Research Project
The project must aim at developing research skills in a basic science that is relevant to veterinary dermatology. The chosen research topic must be relevant to this specialty and priority will be given to projects studying the mechanism of an animal skin disease which could later result in a better understanding of this disease, the development of novel diagnostic tests or an improvement in treatment modalities.

 

CONDITIONS PERTAINING TO THE AWARD

1. Stipend
The scholarship will carry a stipend of €35,000 per year, increasing by €1000 each year for the duration of the award, together with a yearly allowance of up to €5,000 to cover applicable tuition and/or fees. The award is made normally for three years, dependent upon satisfactory annual progress reports.

2. Travel Allowance
There will be an additional travel allowance of up to €600 per year for three years to attend the annual congress of the ESVD-ECVD or the World Congress of Veterinary Dermatology where abstracts covering the research project are expected to be presented.

3. Research Funding
The ESVD and ECVD will not be paying for research expenses as part of this agreement. The research supervisor is expected to provide research funding via grant application and/or institutional support.

4. Institutional Overhead
The ESVD and ECVD will not be paying for institutional overhead associated with the payment of this scholarship.

5. Annual Report
Within one calendar month of each anniversary of the commencement of the scholarship, a progress report, detailing both the academic status and the research project should reach the ESVD research officer, who will transmit it to the chairperson of the ESVD/ECVD PhD committee. It should consist of two parts, namely a factual report completed by the scholar, and a confidential report submitted by the research supervisor(s). In addition, if allowable by the institution and the funding agency, copies of grant progress reports should also be forwarded.

6. Scholarly Publications and Presentations
It is anticipated that the research will lead to publications in high quality refereed journals in the English language. To support the associations’ journal, it is expected that at least one of the papers reporting research funded by this stipend be submitted for publication in Veterinary Dermatology. It is a condition of the award that the support of ESVD/ECVD be acknowledged in all publications reporting research funded by this stipend with the mention that the candidate is the current “ESVD-ECVD PhD Scholar”. As mentioned above, presentation of results are expected to be submitted for presentation at the annual ESVD-ECVD congresses.

7. Termination
If there is a failure to submit the required reports in a timely manner, or if, in the opinion of a majority of the ESVD/ECVD PhD committee, such reports reveal unsatisfactory progress, the ESVD/ECVD reserve the right to terminate the scholarship with a 3-month written notice.

SELECTION PROCESS

The ESVD and ECVD delegated the selection process to its ESVD/ECVD PhD committee, which comprises six members, three of them being chosen by the ESVD and three by the ECVD. A member of this committee cannot submit an application for this scholarship.

APPLICATION PROCEDURE

The application should follow the attached guidelines below and should reach the ESVD Research officer (Sandrine Herbelet: publications-grants@esvd.org) by the closing date of April 30, 2011.
Late applications will not be considered.

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GUIDELINES FOR PREPARATION OF PhD SCHOLARSCHIP APPLICATIONS:

INSTITUTION

RESEARCH SUPERVISOR(S)

PROPOSED SCHOLAR

RESEARCH PROJECT
Append a proposal respecting the following format:

Letters of support
Letters of support are required from the proposed research supervisor(s) and from two other individuals who are able to comment on the suitability of the proposed scholar for a research career. Please indicate the names of those who you have asked to supply such letters. Please note that it is the candidate’s responsibility to ensure that they are sent directly to the ESVD research officer by the closing date of April 30, 2011 (mail to: Sandrine Herbelet: publications-grants@esvd.org).

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