Project Support Eligibility
Specific eligibility criteria for the Next Generation Therapies, Safer Therapies and the Survivorship and Living Well Impact Programs.
Project support eligibility
Project support programs refer to funding for projects and initiatives that advance scientific knowledge, develop new treatments, or address critical gaps in paediatric cancer research. Relevant Impact Programs include Next-Generation Therapies, Safer Therapies and Survivorship and Living Well.
In-scope activities
- Research must demonstrate clear relevance and impact for paediatric oncology, ensuring that the research outputs and outcomes are applicable for the unique biology and challenges of paediatric oncology.
- Research project with a clearly defined scope and objective, a strong rationale demonstrating the project’s significance and relevance, well-formulated hypothesis, and a defined approach with milestones for testing.
- Discovery and translational research that supports the development of novel treatments, or repurpose of currently approved treatments, for paediatric oncology.
- Clinical research that aims to improve patient care on new or existing interventions in paediatric oncology.
- Implementation science research with clearly defined research questions and appropriate outcome measures, such as health economic analyses, to build an evidence base that can inform future health service funding.
- Salaries for individuals who are directly involved in delivering research activities and contributing to the project’s outputs and deliverables. Salaries will be covered in accordance with their standard institutional rate. Compensation is determined by each individual’s experience and qualifications and includes on-costs, capped at a maximum allowable rate of 20%.
- Salary support for individual is subjected to the condition that each individual's total Full-Time-Equivalent (FTE) commitment, inclusive from this funding opportunity and all other funding sources, must not exceed 1.0 FTE (equivalent to 100% effort) during the grant funding period.
In-scope activities, but deprioritised
- Investigator-initiated national or international early-phase clinical studies not led by Victorian sites.
- Large, multi-stage project that may be more appropriate for other traditional funding mechanisms (e.g. NHMRC or MRFF)
Out-of-scope activities
- Research that may be applicable to paediatric oncology but does not include any testing or validation with paediatric cancer models or paediatric patients.
- Research that lacks a clear hypothesis and defined expected outcomes.
- Activities where the primary goal is to develop resources or platforms for hypothesis-driven research activities.
- Activities that have already received funding for the same outputs and outcomes from other funding source.
- Research that comprises multiple initaitves with distinct goals and aims.
- Industry-sponsored national or international clinical studies. However, support may be considered for investigator-led, non-drug evaluation that leverage an exisitng trial platofrm but is independent from the industry sponsor.
- Salaries for individuals who are not directly contributing to the research outputs and deliverables.
- Indirect / overhead cost such as infrastructure, utilities and administration costs.
- Activities that are considered as clinical care or services. Whilst research may assist in building the evidence base (e.g. health economic analysis) to advocate and seek approval for reimbursement for clinical care or services, establishment or delivery of these are not eligible for Children's Cancer CoLab funding. Research projects may focus on demonstrating the efficacy and safety of new treatments, optimising care protocols, and developing best practices for integrating innovative therapies into routine clinical practice.
- Direct delivery of family support services that are designed to assist families facing challenges. These services may include, but are not limited to, practical support (e.g. financial assistance for bills, accommodation, and other expenses or provision of goods), emotional support (e.g. counselling or other services for family members of childhood cancer patients to cope with stress and emotional challenges), and therapeutic support (e.g. access to allied health support not covered through the standard clinical care service).
Process
For project-support Impact Programs, the application process involves two stages: an Expression of Interest (EOI) and a full application.
EOIs are reviewed by our Scientific Advisory Panel and Patient and Family Advisory Committee (PFAC) members, who shortlist applicants to be invited for the full application stage.
The full applications are then evaluated by the Scientific Advisory Committee and PFAC members, who make the final funding recommendations.
The evaluation criteria remain consistent across both stages and are based on the quality, novelty, and potential impact of the project, the proposed budget, and the qualifications of the applicant. Additional assessment criteria specific to each funding call can be found in the respective guidelines.
Committee members score applications individually before meeting to discuss and reach consensus on the highest-ranking submissions. Some funding calls may also include further expert peer review as part of the evaluation process.
Grant Funding
Our program funding is allocated through a competitive process underpinned by robust expert review. We adopt scientific rigour to evaluate each proposal’s potential for impact and alignment with identified childhood cancer research and care priorities.
