2017 Call for Projects on ALS Research

Guidelines for the “Pilot Grant” Full Proposal submission

2017 AriSLA Call for Research Projects: PROMOTING RESEARCH EXELLENCE IN THE FIGHT
AGAINST ALS

Deadline: 1.00 pm, August 3rd, 2017

1. Framework
This document is an operational guide to compile the Pilot Grant Full Proposal (FP) for the participation to the
“2017 AriSLA Call for Research Projects” launched by AriSLA Foundation. Before starting please read thoroughly the
following documents published on the AriSLA website.

1. 2017 AriSLA Call for Research Projects

The document supplies the framework and operative information about the Call, the objectives and themes,
eligibility and selection criteria.

2. AriSLA Foundation Privacy Policy

The document contains all information about policies of personal data protection and their use according to the
Italian Law (art. 13 of Law decree n. 196/2003); (La Policy AriSLA sulla Privacy).

3. AriSLA Foundation Intellectual Property Rights Policy

The document contains all information about the protection of intellectual properties that could arise during the
research activities financed by AriSLA Foundation (La Policy AriSLA sulla proprietà intellettuale.pdf).

4. AriSLA Foundation Dissemination Policy

The document contains detailed information about results dissemination and communication of the activities
performed during AriSLA Foundation financing period (La Policy AriSLA sulla comunicazione e disseminazione.pdf).

5. AriSLA Foundation Projects Adoption Policy

The document contains all information about the possibility that a project financed by AriSLA Foundation could
be adopted by other funders (enterprises, associations, private people, public bodies, other foundations) (La Policy
AriSLA su adozione progetto.pdf).

All Policies have to be signed with the contract if the submitted Application will be financed.

Guidelines Full Proposal 2017 Pilot Grant

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 2. How to present an Application

2.1 Online Registration

Application Forms for “2017 AriSLA Call for Research Projects” must be completed online at the following URL:
http://proposals.arisla.org

You must login to the Application form (hereby Form) entering in the “Already a member?” box the same
credentials (Username and Password) you used for the submission of the Letter of Intent.

Please note that only one user at a time is allowed to enter information in the proposal.

Applicants should pay careful attention to the instructions, because applications failing to meet the requirements
will be rejected. An accurate application will facilitate the review process.

If you have forgotten your Password, please click on “Forgot your Password”: enter your Username (e-mail) and
you will then receive an automatic e-mail with your new password. Once you have logged in, the system will ask you
to change your Password.

If you have forgotten both Username and Password, please contact AriSLA Scientific Office at [email protected].

2.2 General instructions for completing the Full Proposal

Use English language only. Since an International Scientific Committee is in charge to perform the selection of the
FPs, only Forms filled in English can be evaluated.

The FP must be only electronically submitted once completed in all its Sections.

Please note that in order to submit the Full Proposal you must attach in the Signature Section the scan (in PDF
format) of the completed General Information page signed by the Principal Investigator and bearing signature and
stamp of the Legal Representative of the Research Institute or by his delegate. If the project will be funded, the
contract has to be completed with the original page signed.

Please remember to click the “Save changes” button in order to save the data inserted in the Form.

The Application Form is organized into Sections, which can be completed in any order.

You do not need to complete your Application Form in one session: remember to click on the "Save changes"
button to save your data before leaving the page.

You can download a PDF of your Application at any time by clicking on the link “Download Proposal” at the upper
right of the page.

In the Submit Section you can check the status of each Application Section. When you are completely satisfied with
your Application click on the "Submit" button. Please verify that:
- you have completed all Sections (mandatory to submit your Application);
- you have attached the signed General Information page;
- you have downloaded the project PDF and verified that all Sections are correctly filled.

Once you confirm by pressing the button “Confirm Submit”, the Form will be then formally closed by the system.
An automatic message will appear to you acknowledging that you have completed your Application. You will also

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 receive an e-mail confirming the submission. You can download the PDF of the submitted Application any time by
logging in at http://proposals.arisla.org

As reported in the “2017 AriSLA Call for Research Projects”, the Applications must be submitted within the
rd
deadline (1.00 pm, August 3 2017).

Applications not completed in all the following Sections cannot be submitted:

 General Information;

I. Project Information;

II. Work Plan;

III. Impact on ALS;

IV. Budget;

V. Applicant;

VI. Lay Summary;

VII. Revision Process;

VIII. Privacy Statement;

 Signature;

 Submit.

If the PI and/or the Legal Representative of the Research Institute will not authorize AriSLA Foundation to use
personal data, as required in the Section Privacy Statement, the Application cannot be submitted.

Once you have submitted the Full Proposal you are no longer able to modify your Application. Please note that
you are responsible for the contents and quality of your Application in its final version.

2.3 How to fill the Full Proposal

The Application Form contains eleven Sections where the PI will insert all information useful for a correct peer-
review process. In every Section there are many fields that have different compilation characteristics.

General Information Section is precompiled with the information previously entered in the Letter of Intent. You are
allow to modify only “HOST INSTITUTION” and “KEYWORDS” boxes. Please fill in “PROJECT DURATION” and “AMOUNT
REQUESTED”.

Drop down menu have a selection of options. You can choose one option.

Text boxes can be filled by a limited number of characters. The maximum number of characters (including spaces)
is indicated at the bottom right of each box. The indication of the maximum number of characters is mandatory.
Text boxes can be enlarged or narrowed at any time by dragging the bottom right corner of the box.

All fields marked with an asterisk are required to be filled in order to submit the project Application.

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 3. Sections Contents

General information
This Section gives brief information about the project and will be used for AriSLA Foundation register and archive.
 PROJECT TITLE and ACRONYM – precompiled with project title and acronym and uneditable;
 PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR – precompiled with name and surname of the Principal Investigator of the project and
uneditable;
 HOST INSTITUTION – precompiled with data of the research Institution of the PI where the project will be carried out
as in the Letter of Intent (please use the complete Italian name);
 RESEARCH AREA – precompiled and uneditable;
 RE-APPLICATION – precompiled and uneditable;
 KEYWORDS – precompiled with keywords selected in the LOI; these will be used for reviewers matching;
 PROJECT DURATION – fill with the months of project duration (maximum 12 months);
 AMOUNT REQUESTED (€) – fill with the financial amount requested to AriSLA (maximum 60000 euro). Please enter
values without dots or commas. Please note that this value must correspond to the amount indicated in the
Budget Section in the OVERALL BUDGET box.

This compiled Section has to be downloaded in the Signature section, printed, stamped and signed by the PI and
the Legal Representative of the Host Institution. A PDF file of the page has to be attached in the Signature Section.
The original document has to be archived by the PI.

All fields of this Section are mandatory to submit the project Application.

Section I: Project Information

This Section gathers technical and scientific information about the project.
 SUMMARY (2.500 CHARACTERS MAXIMUM) – please organize the summary in different section specifying:
 RATIONALE,
 BROAD OBJECTIVES,
 PROJECT DESIGN AND METHODS,
 ANTICIPATED RESULTS.

 WORKPLAN CHANGES DUE TO LOI PEER REVIEW PROCESS (1.000 CHARACTERS MAXIMUM) – indicate a summary of changes
done to the project design after LOI revision:
 RATIONALE (2.000 CHARACTERS MAXIMUM) – give information about context and rationale of the project proposal. You
can insert a limited number of images and/or tables about your rationale in the box “FIGURES ATTACH”;
 FIGURES ATTACH (MAX 5MB) – insert figures you consider relevant for the project (i.e. rationale, work plan flow
chart, etc..);

 GENERAL OBJECTIVES AND SPECIFIC AIMS (4.000 CHARACTERS MAXIMUM) – indicate project general objectives and the
specific aim the project intends to achieve;

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 EXPECTED RESULTS, POTENTIAL CRITICAL ISSUES AND POSSIBLE ALTERNATIVE APPROACHES (2.000 CHARACTERS MAXIMUM) – clearly
describe which results are expected from the projects, which potential critical issues may arise and possible
alternative approaches to overcome them;

 ORIGINALITY AND ADVANCEMENT ON STATE OF THE ART SCIENCE (1.000 CHARACTERS MAXIMUM) – describe the originality of the
project and novelty of objectives/methodologies/expected results;

 REFERENCES – report references relevant for the project.

All fields of this section are mandatory to submit the project Application.

Section II: Work Plan

In this Section PI has to detail project activities, intermediate and final expected results, timing, techniques and
methodologies that will be used performing research activities. This Section outlines the project work plan.

In the Section II.1: WORK PACKAGES - present and detail work plan divided into Work Packages (WPs) following the
logical phase of the project implementation. The WPs can be considered as interconnected units of the project
activities.

Indicate the WPs number necessary for the project and the corresponding boxes will appear automatically.

For each WP the following information are requested:

 WP TITLE: insert a title for each WP;

 START DATE and END DATE: for each WP report the month of start and end of activities consistently with the
Gantt chart;

 DESCRIBE AIMS AND STRUCTURE: describe specific aims, structure and operative management of the WP
activities;

 TASKS AND METHODS: describe the activities to be performed that allow to achieve the goals outlined in the
previous paragraph and the corresponding methods; if the project need animal models please clearly indicate
number of animals, age and gender, and the treatments that should be performed.

At the end of Section II the GANTT CHART (II.2), reporting the activities chronology for each WP, will be
automatically compiled with the information entered in the Work Packages Section once you click on the “Save
Changes” button.

The following chart has to be filled:

- LIST OF DELIVERABLES AND MONTHS (II.3): summarize and list in chronological order deliverables (the expected
results for each task previously listed) of all WPs and report the delivery date as in the Gantt Chart.

All fields of this Section are mandatory to submit the project Application.

Section III: Impact on ALS

In the following box describe potential impact of the project on the knowledge of the disease in the short, medium
and long-term and the potentiality of the expected results to be attractive for larger scale funding; define if the
expected results may be eligible for intellectual property protection.

Guidelines Full Proposal 2017 Pilot Grant 5

 The fields of this Section is mandatory to submit the project Application.

Section IV: Budget

This Section gathers project financial information. Proponent has to fill with a detailed and reliable projection of
the project budget for each cost item.

The management of AriSLA contribution will be performed by AriSLA Foundation by a “direct management”:
following the approved Integrated Economic Plan, the contribution will not be transferred to the research Institution
but the PI will make use of AriSLA Foundation offices for the management.

Eligible Costs
A correct use of funds can be defined when expenses are consistent with the proposed activities, hereby criteria
for costs are reported.

Non eligible costs

 Salary of structured staff;

 Salaries, travel and other expenses related to sabbatical leave;
 Membership in Scientific Societies;
 Organization of meetings and workshops;
 Construction and/or renovation of space, furniture, rental of space or rooms, call charges and/or fax;
 Setting up and maintaining animal facilities;
 Purchase and depreciation of scientific equipment;
 Purchase of computer equipment (hardware).

Eligible costs:

DIRECT COSTS

Personnel

Costs for unstructured staff are allowed, following rules of the research Institution.

Partial or total coverage of the remuneration of the PI is allowed if, at the moment of the contract signature with
AriSLA, he does not hold any employment contract and he has not reached 40 years of age. The PI is obliged to report
every staff change that will occur during the project implementation. Personnel cost details have to be reported in
Section IV.3 - Cost Justification - PERSONNEL.

Material and supplies

Reagents, consumables and lab materials: are considered eligible costs considering necessities and consistency to
the project.

Details of the costs must be indicated in Section IV.3 - Cost Justification – MATERIALS AND SUPPLIES.

Services and Sub-contracting

Provision of external services or supplies are eligible costs depending on the need for the execution of the project
and cannot exceed 20% of the total amount requested. Costs have to be reported in Section IV.3 - Cost Justification -
SUB-CONTRACTING (SERVICES).

Guidelines Full Proposal 2017 Pilot Grant 6

 Please note that costs allocated in this category do not follow the AriSLA direct management but they will be
reimbursed upon expenses report.

Other Expenses

In this category of expenses different costs are included: expenses for scientific publications, reprints, software
(specifying the need for the project) etc. In addition, and only if Overheads have not been required, can be included in
this item also small commitments for stationery, office supplies, postage incurred for the exchange of
documents/materials related to the project. Under this item, trips or visits to project collaborators or partners are also
included. Expenses related to participation in Congresses are eligible up to a maximum of € 3.000/year. Higher costs, if
justified, can be negotiated and approved in advance by AriSLA. In the costs related to travels are included the
following cost categories:
 Transportation (train/plane/car etc..);
 Accommodation;
 Meals;
 Conference Fee;
 Costs for the production of communication materials (posters related to participation in conferences, leaflets,
etc..);
 Fee for abstracts submission or communications.

In the production of any material or scientific publication related to the financed project has to be acknowledged
AriSLA Grant (as indicated in AriSLA Foundation dissemination Policy). Moreover please remind that the Principal
Investigator of a funded project should adhere to the Open access Policy (as indicated in AriSLA Foundation
dissemination Policy). For this reason is recommended to include in this category of expenses the fee costs for Open
Access publications not lower than 3.000 €.

Costs have to be reported under the item OTHER EXPENSES (Section IV.3 – Cost Justification).

INDIRECT COSTS

Overheads

Overheads are eligible and can be required. The general expenses incurred by the Host Institution, including
administrative and maintenance costs and expenses for any machinery and equipment as part of the project activities
are comprised in the Overheads category. These costs are calculated as a lump sum and allowed to a maximum of 5%
of incurred direct costs.

Budget Section
The OVERALL BUDGET TABLE (Section IV.1) has to be filled with the project total costs for each cost item. Personnel
cost will be automatically compiled from values inserted in the “PERSONNEL TABLE (REQUESTED TO ARISLA)”. Costs will be
considered by AriSLA Scientific Committee during evaluation, in order to judge their consistency with the project.

OTHER FUNDS - It is mandatory that the Principal Investigator lists in this Section all financial resources available in
direct support of his/her research endeavours, including, but not limited to, research grants, cooperative agreements,
contracts, and/or institutional awards. Please specify title and duration of the project. It is compulsory to indicate: the
relative period; gross amount; granting agency; brief description of the project. If applicable, specify possible overlaps
with the proposed project.

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 In the first PERSONNEL TABLE (Section IV.2), fill with the personnel employed for the project and REQUESTED TO ARISLA,
specifying job title, months of employment, average of the monthly cost and the calculated total cost of each figure
needed.

In the second PERSONNEL TABLE (Section IV.2), fill with the other personnel working on the project, comprehensive of
scientific responsible (PI), whose salary is NOT REQUESTED TO ARISLA, specifying job title, months of employment and by
whom their salary is granted.

COST JUSTIFICATION (SECTION IV.3)

In this Section PI has to detail project costs, for each cost item, as follow:

- PERSONNEL: eligible personnel costs;

- MATERIALS AND SUPPLIES: justify reagents and consumables costs detailing each subcategory (i.e. plasticware,
reagents for molecular biology, biochemistry and cell cultures, animal costs, kits/arrays, etc). If the project
needs animal model, indicate the cost in this category;

- SUB-CONTRACTING (SERVICES): services acquired through sub-contracting;

- OTHER EXPENSES: costs for further expenses such as results dissemination, travels, congress participation, etc.

Section V: Applicant
This Section contains information about the PI. It is necessary to detail name and contacts. PI’s “HOST INSTITUTION”
(in Italian) is automatically pre-compiled with the information entered in the General information Section.

You must declare that the PI’s Host Institution is an eligible subject as reported in the “2017 AriSLA Call for
Research Projects”.

Research experience, publications relevant for the project to demonstrate scientific competences of the PI and a
brief description of the Host Institutions are required.

Section VI: Lay Summary

LAY SUMMARY (2.500 CHARACTERS) – please summarize the project (in English and Italian) using terms of ordinary
language, avoiding acronyms and technical terms.

If the project will be funded, this description will become public. Therefore, do not include confidential
information (not already published or disclosed) which may influence a potential patent application.

Organize the lay summary in different parts specifying:

- TITLE - it may be different from the project title, rather has to clearly explain the topic of the project;

- STRUCTURE - should contain the following elements:

o Background containing the research focus and how it is linked to ALS;

o Project aims;

o Impact on ALS.

Note that AriSLA reserves the right to amend the lay summary before publishing it.

All fields of this section are mandatory to submit the project Application.

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 Section VII: Revision Process
In this Section the applicant has the chance to suggest a list of reviewers of proved experience, that could be
included in the AriSLA International Scientific Committee.

Furthermore there is the possibility to indicate an undesirable reviewer adding the reasons of the request.

Section VIII: Privacy Statement

In this Section the PI authorizes AriSLA Foundation to use personal data. Unauthorized Applications are not eligible
and cannot be submitted.

Signature
In this Section the completed General Information page must be downloaded by clicking on “Download General
Information” link, printed, stamped and signed by the PI and the Legal Representative of the Host Institution or by
his delegate.

A PDF file of the signed and stamped General information page has to be uploaded. The original document has
to be archived by the PI.

4. How to submit the Application

Submit
In this page you can check the status of each Section. When you are completely satisfied with your Application
click on the "Submit" button. Please verify that:
- you have completed all sections (mandatory to submit your Application);
- you have attached the printed, stamped and signed General Information page;
- you have downloaded the project PDF and verified that all Sections are correctly filled.

An automatic alert will inform you about the completeness of the Application. Once you confirm the submission by
pressing the button “Confirm Submit”, the Application will be then formally closed by the system. An automatic
message will appear to you acknowledging that you have completed your submission. You will also receive an e-mail
confirming the submission. You can download the PDF of the submitted Application any time by logging in at
http://proposals.arisla.org

5. Peer-review process

After the peer-review process performed by the International Scientific Committee, as described in the Call for
Proposals, the ranking of selected projects will undergo for the financial approval of AriSLA Foundation Board of
Directors.
To start the management of the financed project, PI has to take into account the rules and suggestions of “AriSLA
Regulation” and its attachments.

As explained before, for the service of “direct management” of financed projects of the “2017 AriSLA Call for
Research Projects”, following the approved Integrated Economic Plan, the contribution will not be transferred to the
host Institution but the PI will make use of AriSLA Foundation offices for the management.

Guidelines Full Proposal 2017 Pilot Grant 9

 For further details about the peer-review process please refer to the “2017 Call for Research Projects”.

6. Assistance

For any information about the Call or about the Application Form compilation please contact:
1. E-mail Help Desk: [email protected];

2. Phone Help Desk: from 9.00 am to 5.00 pm (Mon-Fri) it is possible to contact AriSLA officers at the phone
numbers +39 02.29.52.85.30 - 02.20.24.23.90.

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