BIH Excellence Award for Sex and Gender Aspects in Health Research 2021

To be eligible for participation in this competition, applicants must:

• be a (clinician) scientist in the field of biomedical research from outside BIH/Charité
• develop and provide a concise research program proposal for a joint research project with a partner (scientist, core facility etc.) from the BIH, that is of relevance to the BIH mission and has a clear focus on sex and/or gender aspects
• the proposal clearly has to show how the consideration of sex/gender improves the robustness of project and increases the translational relevance and the benefit for the patients.  

The winner will each receive 25.000 € to support and accelerate a joint research project with the partner at BIH. Only projects or parts of a bigger project, which are not already funded by another institution and have not started yet, are eligible for application. The funds are available for a period of 2 years from the date of approval.

The award money can only be spent at BIH, for example to supervise and co-fund a scientist in Berlin together with the Berlin partner, to use services at the BIH Core Facilities or to support the joint publication of the project. You can also use the funding for travel costs and joint meetings with the Berlin partner. The costs have to be reimbursed via BIH; general rules according to the German Federal Travel Expenses Act apply.

Applications for the BIH Award must be submitted electronically via the BIH application portal at https://portal.bihealth.de/portal/. The portal will be open from May 7, 2021.

The application deadline is July 23, 2021

You will be asked for the following information:

1. Project description of the planned research project with scientific partners from BIH. For details of the project plan, please follow the instruction in the application portal. The project plan should include the following information:
   • title of the research project, description of the project (objectives, relevance, scope, relation to the BIH mission), planned activities, working group, position of the project in the international research context, description of already existing cooperation (if applicable)
      
   • Information on robustness and transparency criteria related to your research question[1] (unmet medical need, status of the project, hypotheses or assumptions, methods and statistical planning, strategies to reduce the risk of bias, strategies for transparent and comprehensible communication of results, e.g open science strategy, data sharing, complete communication of expected and unexpected results, stakeholder engagement)
      
   • Detailed information on how sex and/or gender aspects are considered carefully throughout the research project, e.g. derivation of the research question, choice of study design and setting as well as the analysis and for the interpretation of the results.
2. A short overview how you plan to use the 25.000 € in personnel and consumables during the 2-year funding period.    
3.  Your CV (max. 5 pages) as a PDF upload including:
   • Self-selection of your 5 most relevant publications with a description of your own contribution
   • Relevant grants and awards
   • Orcid ID
4.  A confirmation letter of your partner at BIH as a PDF upload.

The application will be evaluated regarding:  

• Added benefit to the research project gained through the covered sex/gender aspects
• Translational relevance and fit to BIH mission and research foci (www.bihealth.org)
• Quality of the research proposal: Robustness and transparency criteria (so called QUEST criteria, see project template)
• Sustainability of the project and long-term added value in terms of the BIH mission objectives

The evaluation committee for the award is composed of internationally recognized experts in translational medicine with a focus on sex and/or gender aspects and will meet in August.

All committee members receive a short intervention on (unconscious) bias ahead of the selection process. An independent good evaluation practice officer accompanies the selection process to ensure the highest standard of a robust and fair competition.

To increase the robustness of the evaluation, all committee members use a structured evaluation guide that directly and only refers to the above-mentioned evaluation criteria. To increase accountability, all evaluating committee members will provide you with a short feedback (narrative) to outline their evaluation. Regardless of the outcome of the selection process, all applicants whose project proposal receive a feedback.  Project proposals are anonymized for evaluation.