Microsoft word - guidance notes for 2014 final.doc

Trustees
APPLICATIONS FOR 2014 SCHOLARSHIPS
GUIDANCE NOTES
You must read these notes carefully. A major reason for rejection is failure to provide the necessary
information by the required deadline.

Note: “Home institution” means the place where you are currently working
“Host Institution” means the place you wish to visit
The HIV Research Trust Scholarships are awarded each year in open competition. The aim of the
Scholarships is to enable investigators, in particular those who are in the early to mid stages of their
career (from doctoral students to group leader level) working in resource-poor countries, to travel to
other centres to acquire skills necessary to conduct their research more effectively when they return
to their home institution.
All areas of research related to HIV are supported including laboratory methods, epidemiology,
clinical and therapeutic research and research into psychological, social, nursing and other aspects of
daily care of patients.
The Scholarships are not awarded for routine clinical training in management of patients. They can,
however, be awarded for training in research methodology in taught courses, provided that such
training is necessary to develop a defined research programme.
The Scholarships provide support for travel, living expenses including accommodation, and may
provide support for laboratory expenses at the institution to be visited. The preference is for
applicants to receive training in recognised centres in other resource-poor countries but travel to
other areas is not excluded. The usual period of support is 2-6 months but exceptionally support for
one year may be given. The maximum sum awarded is £10,000 or equivalent value. We expect the
budget request to be justified by the programme being presented.
The Scholarships are awarded competitively by independent assessment by a scientific panel. You
are strongly advised to consult with your supervisor and others in your field of interest before
making this application, especially if you have no experience in applying for research grants. These
Guidance Notes provide you with the information you need to submit the application. They should
be read in conjunction with the Application Form.
The sections below correspond to the different sections of the Application Form.
1. Applicant details
Please complete all your personal and contact details (including a valid e-mail address so that
confirmation of your application can be sent upon submission).
Registered office: Marie Higginbotham, HIV Research Trust, c/o KnowledgePoint360 Group, Victoria Mill, Windmill Street, Macclesfield, Cheshire, SK11 7HQ, UK
E-mail: hivresearchtrust@gcc-global.com The HIV Research Trust is a charity registered in England and Wales, registered charity number 1123611, registered company number 06020633. Trustees
2. Current employment
Qualifications and date obtained
Give the title of the qualification, the awarding body and the date.
Current post duration and funding source
Give the post start date, end date and salary details in either Pounds Sterling or the equivalent US
Dollar or Euro equivalent.
3. References
Please supply details of two referees. These should be individuals who know you, who can provide a
reference as to your suitability for the Scholarship and have an understanding of what you hope to
achieve in your research programme. One of these referees can be the person from your home
institution who can provide the necessary letter of support outlined in the ‘Supporting
documentation’ section below.
4. Proposed placement
Centres of excellence throughout the world have hosted HIV Research Trust Scholars in all aspects of
HIV research including laboratory investigation, clinical care, clinical trial and data management,
epidemiology, opportunistic infections, social science and nursing research. We encourage applicants
to select host institutions from their own continent but recognise that this is not always possible. If
you do wish to attend a host institution farther afield, you should provide us with the reason why
this is necessary to provide the relevant training.
5. Statement of purpose of visit
You should give a clear account, in no more than 500 words, of your current and proposed research
and how the Scholarship will help you make progress. This must include a description of the research
methods you wish to acquire and the use to which they will be put on your return. You must explain
why this training is necessary and cannot be achieved in your current position. For laboratory
projects you must show that the period of support requested will be adequate for the acquisition of
the techniques or data you need. If the request is for funding for a taught course you must explain
why this course is necessary for the research you propose to undertake.
6. Financing
A major cause of rejection is imprecision in budget statements and rounding up of sums to an
overall figure
Give all costs in either Pounds Sterling or the equivalent US Dollar or Euro amount. Costs must be clearly presented and broken down into travel, accommodation, subsistence, research costs, costs of taught courses, etc. You should explain and justify the basis of each of the costs you propose and how these costs have been calculated. You should consult with the institution to be visited that will have local knowledge in relation to some of these costs. Airfares must be based on competitive economy class prices and you must give details that Registered office: Marie Higginbotham, HIV Research Trust, c/o KnowledgePoint360 Group, Victoria Mill, Windmill Street, Macclesfield, Cheshire, SK11 7HQ UK,
E-mail: hivresearchtrust@gcc-global.com
The HIV Research Trust is a charity registered in England and Wales, registered charity number 1123611, registered company number 06020633.
Trustees
We do not pay taxi fares to airports unless there is no alternative means of transport. If you ask for finances for laboratory consumables you must give the reasons for the costs and you should show that these have been agreed by the host institution. We will not provide funds for purchase of computers except under exceptional circumstances. Personal expenses such as telephone, Skype and internet costs which are unrelated to the scholarship are not covered by the scholarship. Other sources of support
Give details of additional supporting funds and the dates when you will know if you have received
them. Scholarships may be awarded if partial funding has been obtained from other sources but it is
important to be clear what these are. We expect that your current salary will be continued while you
are away and you should indicate that this is so.

7. Supporting documentation
Applications will not be considered unless the supporting documents are supplied by the deadline.

Letters of support are required from your department head or supervisor and from the head of the
laboratory to be visited. You are strongly advised to show them these Guidance Notes and the
document so that they can provide you with an appropriate letter of support.
These letters should be signed, dated and, where possible, stamped by the author.
The letter from your supervisor must explain:
the advantage or added value for the home institution after you have completed your scholarship the suitability of the intended host institution the probable added value to your career after you have completed the scholarship your suitability to participate in the suggested programme the appropriateness of the proposed course/techniques that the reason for the visit can be accomplished in the time requested. The letter from the host institution should explain: what can be offered in the way of training how it will help you to achieve your research goal whether the proposed programme can be successfully completed in the timescale proposed A current CV and a list of your publications must be included. 8. Agreement to accept terms and conditions
You must sign the application indicating that you accept the terms of the Scholarship. These include:
a.
Acknowledgement of the contribution of the HIV Research Trust support in any future publication directly arising from the work supported by the Scholarship That at the end of the period you will provide: Registered office: Marie Higginbotham, HIV Research Trust, c/o KnowledgePoint360 Group, Victoria Mill, Windmill Street, Macclesfield, Cheshire, SK11 7HQ UK,
E-mail: hivresearchtrust@gcc-global.com
The HIV Research Trust is a charity registered in England and Wales, registered charity number 1123611, registered company number 06020633.
Trustees
a report of 300-500 words on what you have achieved as a result of the award receipts for items of significant expenditure That you agree to us contacting the supervisor who hosted your visit in order that a report from them can be requested That the responsibility for the integrity of the research findings is yours and not that of HIV Research Trust. 9. Future contact with HIV Research Trust
These Scholarships are aimed at researchers in many countries. They are unique in helping young
investigators to get the training they need. Although we do not award a Scholarship twice to the
same person, we rely on our Scholars to make their colleagues aware of the Scholarship scheme. For
this reason we would like to keep your name on our confidential email list so that we can notify you
that the annual awards are open and to let you know of new opportunities for funding when these
arise. Please indicate if you are willing for your name to remain on this list. It will be kept securely
and will not be used for any other purpose or shared with any other party.
If you are successful we would like you to become one of our alumni. This means that we can keep in
touch with you and learn of your future career and you can provide us with suggestions concerning
our scholarship programme; for example concerning how it might be improved or expanded.
Registered office: Marie Higginbotham, HIV Research Trust, c/o KnowledgePoint360 Group, Victoria Mill, Windmill Street, Macclesfield, Cheshire, SK11 7HQ UK,
E-mail: hivresearchtrust@gcc-global.com
The HIV Research Trust is a charity registered in England and Wales, registered charity number 1123611, registered company number 06020633.

Source: http://www.hivresearchtrust.org.uk/scholarships/guidance-notes-14.pdf