INFORMATION FOR RESEARCHERS

Funding will commence, as will the project, on 1 July of the upcoming financial year unless an extension request is submitted and approved for a later start date.

These are excluded from word counts.

The OCRF works to strict timelines to run the Grant Scheme, unfortunately this means all submissions must be received by the due date and time.

The OCRF funds grants between one and three years. Funding can be spread across years but does not have to be of an equal amount year on year. The budgeted amount per year should depend on what research processes need to be carried out at various stages of the project.

No. The applicant should use the Budget Justification section to discuss their budget rationale.

At the latest, all applicants will be notified of the outcome of their application by the third week of December.

Yes. There isn’t an upper limit of the number of applications a single CI/AI can be involved in. However, if several are submitted, it is recommended that resourcing be considered within the application. It should be discussed, in the application’s Team section, whether investigators are involved in other applications and whether they have capacity to complete all responsibilities for all applications submitted.

Strongly addressing all criteria will set an application apart. The below points highlight areas that are often overlooked:

• Statistical Analyses:Thorough inclusion of statistical analyses with justifications for samples sizes and power calculations.
• Considered scope of the study:Ensure that the scope presented is feasible and thoroughly resolved in the application. If an application wishes to address multiple OCRF priorities, such as early detection and treatment, then it should ensure that the design of the study is resolved in both areas or select the strongest area of study and narrow the scope of the application. In essence, have specific aims and clear research questions (don’t try to do too much!)
• Outcomes:Strong applications will discuss the expected outcomes, and alternative approaches under consideration, should outcomes be other than what was expected.
• Also ensure the below to set your application apart:
• Clear and solid hypothesis with strong supporting evidence
• Provision of preliminary data which support the hypothesis and the feasibility of the project
• Clear focus on design, including timelines and methodologies
• Clear outline of experimental design/methods and rationale for their use
• Clear outline of the significance/potential impact of the project
• Clear argument that the procedures are appropriate, adequate and feasible for the research
• Ensure that key literature relevant to the proposed research is reviewed and addressed

• Consumer Involvement: discuss not only who the consumers involved in the project will be, but exactly how they will contribute to the project strategically.
• Milestones and deliverables: These should be addressed in detail and in lay terminology to give the Panel a clear understanding of what will be achieved and how at each phase of the project, not only what the project hopes to achieve overall.
• Explain terminology, don’t omit it: Throughout the Consumer Review section, the best applications are detailed and explain scientific terminology rather than omitting it all together, which can dilute the explanation and overall understanding of the project.
• Ovarian Cancer Statistics and Landscape: Our CRP represents people who have had an ovarian cancer diagnosis, cared for ovarian cancer patients, or are family of those affected by ovarian cancer. Please exercise sensitivity and avoid using ovarian cancer statistics. The consumer review section should be focused on the rather articulating clear consumer input and planning, relevant to the project proposal.