Research Roundup:
November 2017
Welcome Message
We are pleased to announce the launch of the TSANZ 50th Anniversary Benevolent Grant!
The 50th Anniversary TSANZ Benevolent Fund was established in 2011 when the Thoracic Society became a Health Promotion Charity. Through this fund the TSANZ can contribute to worthwhile causes by supporting philanthropic activities which improve respiratory health care delivery locally and around the world. Thank you to all of our wonderful TSANZ members who have been donating to the Benevolent Fund. This grant is only possible because of your generosity.
Whilst the TSANZ 50th Anniversary Benevolent Grant does not target research, this is an exciting grant which we have had the privilege in sharing with you. Please find more information on this grant below. We have partnered with Thinkable.org and you are invited to visit this platform and see our grant online.
We also have the good fortune of announcing the TSANZ / AstraZeneca Respiratory Research Fellowship is back and open for applications. This award will support one early-career researcher and one mid-career researcher with $60 000 each for one year. The research fellowship must be in asthma and/or COPD. More information can be found online.
Please be reminded, the Thoracic Society Awards for Research and Career Development are open until the 13th of November. We also have more awards opening soon, so please keep in touch as the year draws to an end.
Enjoy the November edition of your research roundup.
Prof Phil Hansbro
Prof Sandra Hodge
Co-Chairs, Research Sub-Committee
TSANZ 50th Anniversary Benevolent Grant
The Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand Ltd (TSANZ) Ltd became a Health Promotion Charity in 2011. With this, the 50th Anniversary TSANZ Benevolent Grant was established to help TSANZ contribute to worthwhile causes intended to improve respiratory health care delivery within Australia and New Zealand, and internationally. There is opportunity to raise funds for such special projects by receiving donations from TSANZ members.
Thanks to the generosity of TSANZ donors, the organisation is now able to make available two award categories to support philanthropic activities aimed at improving respiratory health care. This is not a research program. Funding must be used for philanthropic activities to improve respiratory health care in settings where resources and delivery are poor. For example, the purchase of equipment, the implementation of training for health care professionals or patients, or direct patient programs would qualify for this funding.
Visit the TSANZ 50th Anniversary Benevolent Grant online!
There are two award categories:
- People’s Choice Award valued at up to $10,000 AUD
- Directors Choice Award valued at up to $10,000 AUD
There is up to $10,000 funding available for each category which may be provided to one or multiple awards. TSANZ reserves the right to not issue any funding.
Winners will be announced at the TSANZSRS ASM in Adelaide, 2018.
The following articles will take you to thelimbic.com
PBS restrictions on COPD medicines a step towards best practice
Lifestyle, rehab should go hand in hand with NIV in people with OHS
Asthma, hay fever and eczema share hundreds of genetic risk factors
IPF symptoms seen years before diagnosis
No urgency to bring in early palliative care for mesothelioma
Open Awards
Thoracic Society Awards
TSANZ Research and Career Development Awards
TSANZ / AstraZeneca Respiratory Research Fellowship
TSANZ Peter Phelan Research Award
TSANZ / National Asthma Council Australia – Asthma and Airways Fellowship
Boeringher Ingelheim COPD Research Award
Maurice Blackburn Grant-in-Aid for Occupational Lung Disease
TSANZ Rob Pierce Grant-in-Aid for Indigenous Lung Health
TSANZ/LFA CSL Behring Research Award for Alpha-1 anti-trypsin deficiency
Deadline extended until allocation exhausted: TEVA Scholar Award for APSR
Closing 21 January 18: TSANZ Indigenous Respiratory Nursing Award
For more information visit https://www.thoracic.org.au/researchawards/tsanz-awards
More coming soon!
Lung Foundation Australia Awards
Lung Foundation Australia / Cochrane Airways Australia Scholarship 2018
Closing soon: 13 November 17
Lung Foundation Australia and Cochrane Airways Australia invite applications for the Lung Foundation Australia/Cochrane Airways Australia Scholarship 2018 valued at $2,500. This scholarship is intended to assist with the completion, update and/or presentation of a Systematic Review. Cochrane Review Scholarships have been awarded on an annual basis since 2001, and have been highly productive.
A Cochrane review is an ideal topic for an advanced trainee in any health profession, or when initiating a PhD program, as most reviews can be completed within a year. Completed reviews are published on the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (Impact Factor 6.124 effective July 2016) and indexed in Medline. Conducting a review provides experience in critical appraisal of the literature, and other aspects of Evidence-Based Medicine.
How to participate
Follow the links above to access each award application form and download the information sheet.
Please email the TSANZ Awards Coordinator with any questions, comments or enquires.
Watch this space for more award announcements…
Respirology
Editor’s Choice – Respirology Issue 22.8
Natural history and clinical characteristics of multiple pulmonary nodules with ground glass opacity
Yuki Sato, Daichi Fujimoto, Takeshi Morimoto, Keiichiro Uehara, Kazuma Nagata,Ichiro Sakanoue, Hiroshi Hamakawa, Yutaka Takahashi, Yukihiro Imai and Keisuke Tomii
DOI: 10.1111/resp.13089
The Research team at the Kobe City Medical Center General Hospital in Kobe, one of two research sites in Japan where this study was performed.
Simon A. Joosten, Shane A. Landry, Scott A. Sands, Philip I. TerrilL, Dwayne Mann, Christopher Andara, Elizabeth Skuza, Anthony Turton, Philip Berger, Garun S. Hamilton and Bradley A. Edwards
DOI: 10.1111/resp.13108
Melbourne (Australia)-based research team members from left to right: Christopher Andara, Shane Landry, Anthony Turton, Bradley Edwards, Simon Joosten and Garun Hamilton. Absent are Philip Berger, Scott Sands, Elizabeth Skuza, Philip Terrill and Dwayne Mann.
New NHMRC grant program public consultation on peer review
NHMRC invites submissions to its consultation paper on peer review in the new grant program. Submissions close 5:00pm (AEDT) on Monday 4 December 2017.
To complement the consultation paper, NHMRC is hosting a series of public forums across Australia between 29 September and 24 November 2017 on elements of peer review. Registrations are currently being accepted.
TSANZ will submit a response to this consultation on behalf of the society and you are encouraged to send in your opinion to the office to ensure our response is representative of our membership. Please tell us your opinion on the NHMRC peer review paper by the 17th of November by responding to hayley.see@thoracic.org.au
Grant Bulletin
This grant bulletin contains direct-to-researcher grants and awards due in 2017:
Integra Underground Community Investment – closes 01/12/17
Funding is provided for the following focus areas: Capacity Building, including education/training, enterprise development, and economic diversification; Health; Environment.
Pro Bono Australia – Impact 25 Awards (2017) – closes 01/12/17
Award to name the year’s most influential people who have made a significant and positive impact. Nominees should embody the principles of integrity, initiative, foresight, and collaboration.
Auswide Community Grants Scheme – closes 01/12/17.
Supports local activities, organisations, events and projects covering a wide range of sporting, cultural and community interests and endeavours. Includes community services, events and celebrations, buildings, public spaces and facilities, research, and organisational development.
Australian Respiratory Council Harry Windsor Research Grants Scheme – closes 07/12/17
For projects which address research in tuberculosis, respiratory diseases due to other infections, or respiratory diseases related to tobacco use. Within these categories, projects examining TB/HIV, community issues or the health of disadvantaged groups that relate to the work that the ARC undertakes within Australia and the Pacific Region are particularly encouraged. The proposals can encompass clinical research, public health research or basic scientific research. Grants are available for projects submitted to the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) which are considered fundable but which do not reach the cut-off mark for funding in any one year.
Perpetual Trustees 2018 IMPACT Philanthropy Application Program – closes 08/12/17
Perpetual distributes to all sectors including social welfare, health, medical research, conservation and environment, education, and arts and culture. As is consistent with Perpetual’s IMPACT Philanthropy Application Program process, an organisation’s submission will be assessed against Leadership, Capability, Strategy and Outcomes. Further 2018 information will be released later in 2017.
Allen Foundation Grants (2018) – closes 31/12/17
Priorities are: to fund relevant nutritional research; to support programs for the education and training of mothers during pregnancy and after the birth of their children; to assist in the training of persons to work as educators and demonstrators of good nutritional practices; to encourage the dissemination of information regarding healthful nutritional practices and habits; in limited situations to make grants to help solve immediate emergency hunger and malnutrition problems.
Rolling Grants
John Templeton Foundation
Interest areas are: science and the big questions; character virtue development; freedom and free enterprise; exceptional cognitive talent and genius; genetics; voluntary family planning.
Boehringer Ingelheim Fonds Travel Grants
Grants for non-European researchers to travel to Europe for up to three months to pursue an experimental project in basic biomedical research.
Baxalta Bioscience Grants – Medical Education & Fellowship Grants
Baxalta provides Medical Education & Fellowship Grants to support accredited or unaccredited educational symposia, seminars, web-based sessions, or fellowship programs directed at certified healthcare professionals. They are currently interested in supporting the following areas: Immunology; Hematology; Oncology.
The Balnaves Foundation
The Balnaves Foundation supports organisations that aim to create a better Australia through education, medicine and the arts with a focus on young people, the disadvantaged, and Indigenous communities.
Vertex Cystic Fibrosis Circle of Care Grants
The CF Circle of Care program is a competitive grant initiative to fund innovative patient-centric programs within the CF community. Since launching the program in 2015, we have awarded 50 grants globally, with projects covering a wide variety of topics including transition, psycho-social care, and caregiver support.
Every fall, ahead of NACFC, awardees are invited to share their work at the CF Circle of Care colloquium, an inspiring event which serves as a forum to exchange ideas and meet others within the CF community.
The program encourages both individual and collaborative efforts with grant awards of up to $100,000. This year, we will be extending the deadline to submit proposals in order to allow for more time to generate and discuss ideas within your community. The deadline to submit is midnight AEDT 30 November 2017.
Further details of the program, eligibility criteria, and application process can be found on the Vertex grants website. In need of some inspiration? Check out the 2016 posters from the 2nd annual colloquium here.
Personal Special Request
Dear TSANZ Members,
We are currently conducting a survey of Australian clinicians involved in the care of patients with severe asthma, and are seeking your opinions on the Utility of Biomarkers for the Management of Corticosteroid Treatment. This is the first round of a Delphi process to reach a consensus and there will be follow-up questions based on the answers we receive from round one.
Professor Peter Wark and I at the University of Newcastle, Australia are looking at an algorithm to adjust corticosteroid dose using exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO), and peripheral blood eosinophils. This survey is being conducted in conjunction with this project, and understanding the current sentiment on the use of biomarkers in this patient population is crucial to furthering the future development and implementation of biomarkers, and the treatable trait approach in general. In addition, this is being done as a larger international effort to gauge opinions on the use of biomarkers across Europe and Australia.
If you are currently involved in the management of patients with severe asthma, we would sincerely appreciate if you could take the time to complete the survey (link below) that has been sent out as part of the Asthma SIG this week.
http://selectsurvey.hnehealth.nsw.gov.au/TakeSurvey.aspx?SurveyID=l6M2m5m3
Thank you,
Professor Jodie Simpson
Research Project and Survey Requests
‘Usual’ antenatal asthma management
Our research team at the Hunter Medical Research Institute (HMRI) and University of Newcastle is conducting a nationwide survey to determine what ‘usual’ antenatal asthma managementconsists of. Gaining this knowledge will help to form a foundation on which to build improved antenatal asthma management across Australia.
If you are a health professional who provides antenatal care within Australia then we invite you to participate in a survey. This survey should take approximately 10 minutes to complete.
Ethics approval has been granted for this study (NSW HREC Reference No: HREC/16/HNE/394). All responses will be anonymous and confidential. Further information about the project and request for consent is outlined once you click on the survey link. If you have any questions regarding this research, please do not hesitate to contact Vanessa Murphy at Vanessa.Murphy@newcastle.edu.au or Karen McLaughlin on 0425277200.
Please click on the link below to proceed to the survey. If the link fails to load automatically, please cut and paste it into your internet browser:
https://redcap.hmri.org.au/surveys/?s=NR78PWYW49
Thank you,
Dr Vanessa Murphy, Vanessa.Murphy@newcastle.edu.au
Ms Karen McLaughlin, Karen.McLaughlin@hnehealth.nsw.gov.au
Case Management of Venous thromboembolism
Many thanks for your time in completing this short survey, which should take no longer than 5 minutes. At St. John of God, we are exploring the management of VTE in patients with or without malignancy and in the perioperative setting.
We appreciate there are a large number of guidelines, many of which can be contradictory in their recommendation. Irrespective of this, we would greatly value your feedback on how you would manage the following cases, recognising that several answers may be appropriate.
This survey consists of 4 short cases which will cover a range of clinical scenarios with regards the management of VTE in the immediate post-operative and preoperative period, as well as the management of VTE in the setting of suspected and confirmed solid organ malignancy.
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/IVCFilter
All results are completely anonymised and your participation is greatly appreciated.
Kind regards,
Prof Eli Gabbay egabbay@respiratorywest.com.au
Dr Philip Craven
Australian Society for Medical Research National Scientific Conference
Held in Sydney, at the Charles Perkins Centre, from November 14th to 15th, 2017 the NSC has an exciting new design all packed up in a shorter format.
In these highly competitive times, the NSC 2017 will fulfil an important yet unmet need for early to mid career health and medical researchers.
Entitled “Science and Survival – equipping you with the tools to further your research career” the aims of the conference are:
- To empower and inspire our present and future scientific leaders.
- To provide a springboard for early to mid-career researchers to showcase their research.
- To promote scientific excellence, collaboration and transdisciplinary research.
- To upskill in grantsmanship and understand the promotion process.
We are very excited about the new format of NSC 2017 with both scientific presentations and visionary professional development workshops.
Conference highlights
Mock GRP session with all the elements of a GRP and the perspective of a narrator.
Inside the scientist studio – Norman Swan interviews Nobel Prize Winner Professor Peter Doherty.
Politics of promotion to provide invaluable insights into the intricate and necessary journey to Associate Professorship.
The Edwards Orator is Distinguished Professor Jagadish Chennupati from ANU. A stellar transdisciplinary researcher and a nanotechnology pioneer. He is also a charismatic leader and mentor who will inspire our participants.
Dr Bon-Kyoung Koo from the University of Cambridge will deliver the Firkin Oration. Dr Koo is an ascending star in stem cell research and a world leading researcher in the experimental dissection of human stomach development – all generated from stem cells.
ASMR Peter Doherty Leading Lights Award. This year ASMR will launch a new award aimed at recognising the outstanding contributions of Australian mid-career researchers.
The Networking and Mentoring Breakfast. A unique opportunity for students in particular to share their concerns and ask questions of experienced mentors.