The Australasian Paediatric Endocrine Care (APEC) Research Grants are awarded for the purpose of advancing knowledge in the field of Paediatric Endocrinology.

The program has been designed to promote excellence in medical research throughout Australasia. It seeks to encourage and help develop the best of our junior clinical researchers to enter or continue in the field of Paediatric Endocrinology and extend Pfizer Australia’s commitment and contribution to medicine and the health of our community.

The APEC Grant is open to medical graduates from any country who are currently residing, working, and conducting research within Australasia.

The applicant must fulfil the following criteria:

1. You must be currently registered to practice medicine in Australasia
2. The majority of your research must be conducted in Australasia
3. As of 01 January 2019 you must be:
• A current trainee in paediatric endocrinology in Australia or New Zealand; or,
• Within five years of being awarded FRACP; or,
• Within five years of having completed paediatric endocrinology training as determined by the RACP Endocrinology SAC
4. The applicant must not have held an APEC Grant within the past 5 years (ie, between 2013-2017)
5. Your application must be complete and not miss any documentation
6. Your application must be basic science or clinical research with a study protocol that has not already been initiated. Applications of either type will be treated equally
7. Applications are to be focused on the pediatric population, for children and adolescents under the age of 20 years (i.e. 19 years and younger)

Successful applicants are required to conduct their research within Paediatric Endocrinology Units within Australasia.

Please note that research whose primary objective is to investigate a product or products sponsored by another company is most appropriately supported by the sponsor(s) of those products, and thus, would not be appropriate research for receipt of an APEC Grant.

Pfizer will provide funding for each award to a maximum of AUD$50,000 (plus GST) (including direct costs, institutional overheads, and indirect costs) for one year to conduct the proposed research study. Please note that the funding proposal for each research project are not to exceed this amount. The proposal scope should reflect the funding amount awarded.

Grant recipients must notify the APEC Grant Coordinator of any other funding obtained (or applied for) during the duration of the grant. Only one APEC Grant will be allocated to a single applicant in a given year although applications will be accepted and reviewed for more than one project from a single applicant. Applicants will not be eligible to receive funding from more than one Pfizer Australia research grant in the same financial year. Funding will be available after 01 January 2019 following agreement execution.

The applicant must indicate in their grant application under the ‘budget’ section what proportion of the proposal will be covered by the APEC Grant and if other funding is being received for the proposal then details must be entered as to where from, e.g. existing NH&MRC grant or other philanthropic grants.

Applications for the APEC Grants are reviewed by two independent reviewers and by the Australasian Physicians Independent Committee (APIC), which is composed of leading clinicians and researchers from Australia and New Zealand. The APIC is responsible for independent objective evaluation and recommendations regarding funding of research projects. All decisions of the APIC are final and no correspondence will be entered into. A preliminary review of submissions will be completed by Pfizer in order to ensure proposals are within the scope of research areas, and that there are no concerns with the proposed work from a patient safety or intellectual property perspective. It is important to note that the funding is not being used to influence or reward the recipient for present, past or future use or support of Pfizer medicines or to influence the outcome of clinical trials.

All personal information provided in your application including your protocol and assessment details will be retained by Pfizer Australia Pty Ltd (and its affiliates) and will be used solely for the purposes of administering the grant application.

Pfizer Australia’s Privacy Policy is available at www.pfizer.com.au/privacy

Applicants’ personal information will be disclosed to the APIC and Independent Reviewers for the sole purpose as required for the review and selection process of the grant. Applicants have the right to access their personal information at any time. If you wish to do this please contact the APEC Grant Coordinator.

The details of all successful applications will be published on the APEC Grant website and APEC Grant promotional materials.

On completion of the eligibility questions on the Pfizer Grants website the applicant will be directed to the Pfizer Investigator Initiated On Line Portal to submit their application. The following supporting documentation must be included in the application:

• Study Protocol
  To be a maximum of 4 pages with the following headings:
  Introduction, Hypotheseis, Aims , Methods, Statistics Study Significance, References, Role of the Investigator
• Detailed budget
• Curriculum Vitae (CV) – Principal Investigator only (all personal information redacted)
• Publication list
• List research grants you have received in the past
• List grants that you or other investigators have applied for to fund this work (or variations of the study proposed)
• List your other research commitments during the study period and provide explanation of how you will split these commitments to complete your project within the timeline.
• A letter from your supervisor or department head supporting the project including confirmation that they have reviewed the application in full and required infrastructure to support the study is available at the institution.

INCOMPLETE APPLICATIONS, DEFINED AS APPLICATIONS MISSING ONE OR MORE OF THE ABOVE-LISTED DOCUMENTS, WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED ELIGIBLE FOR A GRANT

• Your supervisor reviews and provides guidance on your application
• Clear focused aims and hypothesis
• Design matches aims and hypothesis
• Clear justification of your budget
• Your role in the study is clearly defined
• Consistency across your application

Please note that the Institutional Ethics Committee approval is not a requirement at the application stage however this is a required document prior to any financial payments should the application be successful in obtaining an APEC Grant.

If you have any questions regarding the completion of the application please contact Maureen Surian, Grants Administrator or Rosie Moffat, APEC Grants Coordinator on 02 9850 3333.

APEC Grants are awarded with the expectation that timely submissions for presentation will be made at appropriate medical meetings or research forums and those papers will be submitted for publication in appropriate peer-reviewed medical journals. The grant recipients will be required to provide Pfizer with an opportunity to review any proposed publications by forwarding a copy of all proposed papers to Pfizer 60 days prior to submission for publication. The Grant Recipient will disclose Pfizer’s support of the Study in all publications.

We understand that applicants may apply for funding from other sources. Please inform the APEC Grant Administrator if you do receive funding prior to the grants being awarded.

Grant recipients will be required to provide a 500-word research summary to Pfizer 3 months after the completion of the 12 month study period.

No study payments will be made directly to the Grant Recipient. Contracting relating to the Grant will be between Pfizer Australia and the Grant Recipient’s Institution.