Apply now: Cross-site research projects on rare diseases
Funding objective
Alliance4Rare is an initiative of the Eva Luise and Horst Köhler Foundation for People with Rare Diseases. It combines the expertise of research-oriented university children’s hospitals with the civil society commitment of supporting foundation partners and is primarily aimed at promoting young scientists. A central element of the projects will be the development of targeted prevention and therapy approaches for rare diseases that manifest themselves in childhood. The aim is to promote innovative and promising research approaches that address the most urgent medical needs of patients. The focus is on the large number of congenital diseases that lead to early mortality or severe impairments in children. Projects on oncological diseases, unless they are rare predisposition syndromes with manifestation in childhood, and infectious diseases are excluded from funding.
The participation of one of the following locations as an applicant university pediatric hospital is obligatory: Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Universitätsmedizin Göttingen, Universitätsklinikum Carl Gustav Carus Dresden. Cooperation with other locations is strongly encouraged.
Sponsorship objectivee
Thanks to funding from the Friede Springer Foundation, Alliance4Rare is once again inviting tenders for up to three projects along the following program lines:
PREVENTION
In this program track, Alliance4Rare promotes research into diagnostic procedures for the early detection of rare diseases where there is the possibility of preventing the onset of severe symptoms. Applicants must demonstrate that the project can establish a diagnostic procedure for the early detection of one or more rare diseases.
RARE2COMMON
Common diseases such as osteoporosis, cardiac insufficiency or obesity can now be categorized into specific subtypes that are amenable to targeted therapy. Similarly, through specific research into rare diseases, further disease mechanisms of common diseases can be discovered, making it possible to develop innovative therapeutic approaches for common diseases. Research projects on mechanisms that affect rare diseases and may also be relevant to the pathomechanisms of common diseases are eligible to apply.
The allocation of project applications to one of these two program lines must be clearly indicated in the application documents.
Beneficiaries
The Alliance4Rare project funding prerequisite for this tender is the concrete scientific activity of the applicant in pediatric and adolescent medicine at one of the following locations: Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Universitätsmedizin Göttingen, Universitätsklinikum Carl Gustav Carus Dresden. Cooperation between these university paediatric clinics in the project and with other national and international institutions such as state and state-recognized universities and university clinics, non-university research institutions and other health care institutions and providers (e.g. hospitals, medical practices) is strongly desired. The applicant location is responsible for the administration of funds.
The cooperation between the aforementioned locations and institutions must be described in the application and a letter of intent from the participating institutions should be enclosed.
Funding period and grant amount
The maximum funding period is 3 years.
The funding framework amounts to a maximum of 150,000 euros per year. Funding is mainly provided for personnel resources and to a limited extent for material resources. In particular, positions for Clinician Scientists/Advanced Clinician Scientists are considered eligible for funding. If the project is managed by a Clinician Scientist/Advanced Clinician Scientist, the position of a Medical Scientist can also be funded if there are justified exceptions. The funding of a Clinician Scientist, or in exceptional cases a Medical Scientist, can take place at one of the three Alliance4Rare locations mentioned above as well as at a cooperating partner locationThe funding ensures protected time for research for physicians who have already completed two years of specialist training as a pediatrician and adolescent physician and can demonstrate a scientific interest in rare diseases. Advanced Clinician Scientists are applicants with specialist qualifications and proven clinical activity as well as documented scientific activity in the field of rare diseases.
How to apply
The application must be submitted by May 31, 2024 exclusively via the portal of the Biomedical Innovation Academy of the Berlin Institute of Health. The funding decision is expected to be made in September, and a project start by the end of 2024 is desirable.
Applications by e-mail or post will not be considered.
If you have any questions, please contact Dr. Franziska Krause: krause@elhks.de.
The applications are assessed by external experts using a points system. The decision on funding is then made by the Alliance4Rare steering group with the involvement of the Scientific Advisory Board.
Application documents
The curriculum vitae (incl. publications, third-party funding etc.) of the applicant as well as a brief English and German summary of the proposed project will be requested via the Biomedical Innovation Academy portal. If you are applying for personnel funds for Medical Scientists instead of Clinician Scientists, please also provide detailed reasons in the corresponding field of the Biomedical Innovation Academy portal.
Please also submit the following documents on the Biomedical Innovation Academy portal:
- Project description (please use the appropriate form)
- Milestone plan (please use the appropriate form)
- Financial plan (please use the appropriate form)
- Assurance from the employer (please use the appropriate form)
- Certificates and documents (please summarize in one PDF)
- Short CV of the cooperation partners (please summarize in a PDF and use the corresponding form)
- Letter of Intent of the cooperation partners
Formulare können hier heruntergeladen werden: