2008 CRC Call for Concept Papers
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a PDF version of the CRC Call for Concept Papers (2.86MB)
Deadline
Concept papers are due October 29*, 2007. * The deadline for concept papers has been extended because of the Southern California fires.
Table of Contents
About the California Breast Cancer Research Program (CBCRP)
About the CRC Awards
Who Can Apply
Available Funding
Kinds of Projects We Fund
Getting Started
CRC Application Timeline
How We Evaluate Concept Papers and Applications
For More Information
About the California Breast Cancer Research Program (CBCRP)
Breast cancer advocates played a leading role in passing the 1993 legislation that established the California Breast Cancer Research Program (CBCRP). Funded by a tobacco tax, taxpayer donations, and private contributions, the CBCRP is under the administration of the University of California, Office of the President. The program remains committed to the vision of the CBCRP’s founders.
About the Community Research Collaboration (CRC) Awards
The CBCRP believes that communities affected by breast cancer can take a leading role in research into the disease. Since 1997, our Community Research Collaboration (CRC) awards have funded community organizations—such as breast cancer advocacy organizations, community clinics, and other organizations serving women with breast cancer—to work in teams with well-trained, experienced research scientists. Together, the teams decide which breast cancer questions are most important to them, determine how to study these questions, gather and interpret data, and communicate findings to other community members, scientists, and the public. These teams have carried out sound and reliable research with results that can be applied to other communities. By combining the knowledge and interest of communities with the expertise and resources of research scientists, CRC teams are realizing the CBCRP’s vision of funding innovative and important research that will reduce the suffering caused by breast cancer.
We invite you to become part of this innovative community-based participatory research by applying for a CRC award.
Who Can Apply
A team must include individuals representing:
- At least one California-based community organization, formal or informal:
- Community members, including patients, clients, or interested people
- At least one experienced scientific researcher working in an appropriate discipline or setting
Each team must have one person designated as the “Community co-principal investigator (co-PI)” and one as the “Research co-PI.” The co-PIs take leadership on the research project and ensure adequate representation of both community and scientific perspectives.
The team must work collaboratively in all phases of the research project, including:
- identifying the problem and formulating the research questions
- writing and submitting the concept paper and application designing and carrying out the research
- analyzing the research findings
- preparing reports to the CBCRP
- disseminating the results to both community and scientific audiences
Teams MUST present evidence of broad community involvement throughout the entire proposal and proposed project. This can be accomplished by having community members on the research team or by having an informed and empowered community advisory board.
Available Funding
The CBCRP makes three types of CRC awards: Pilot awards, Full awards, and Implementation and Dissemination awards.
The CRC Pilot award is for a maximum of $150,000 in direct costs for an 18-month project. The Pilot award supports the initial phase of the project, which includes strengthening collaborations, developing feasible methods and tools, and collecting pilot data.
The CRC Full award is for a maximum of $600,000 in direct costs for a three-year project. The Full award funds projects with a fully developed research plan and supporting preliminary data, carried out by a well-integrated, experienced team of scientists and community members. Typically, a CRC Full application is for support of the completion of a research plan successfully carried out with a previous Pilot award.
The CRC Implementation and Dissemination
(I&D) award is for a maximum of $150,000
in direct costs for an 18-month project. Teams
must have successfully completed their CRC
Full award research to be eligible. The I&D
award funds research into the implementation,
dissemination, and translation of successful
results.
For all three types of awards, indirect costs, over the direct cost limit, are also available (note: indirect costs are not awarded to University of California institutions).
Kinds of Projects We Fund
You may apply for an award addressing any breast cancer question identified by your community as important, as long as it is consistent with CBCRP priorities (see CABreastCancer.org), and will add to knowledge about impacting breast cancer. You must be able to express the issue you have identified as a well-defined research question. For example, you could test whether a certain health service improves a breast cancer patient’s quality of life. However, you could not evaluate whether you provide that service in a timely, efficient manner. The CBCRP also does not encourage proposals that focus on increasing primary screening (i.e., mammography).
Examples of past research we have funded include:
- The San Joaquin Valley Health Consortium and the California State University, Fresno, is designing a breast cancer navigation service that responds to diversity within the community and health system. The pilot will prepare for a larger project that tests health and cost impacts of this navigation service.
- The Mendocino Cancer Resource Center, the Humboldt Community Breast Health Project, and the University of California, San Francisco, are studying a treatment decision-making aid previously used in an urban hospital setting, among a mostly white population. The team is determining whether it can succeed as a telephone intervention for a diverse rural community.
- The Northern California Cancer Center and Asian Health Services are collecting information on Vietnamese American women working in nail salons in Alameda County. The study examines health care access and utilization, behaviors relevant to breast cancer risk such as smoking and exercise, and occupational exposures to substances that may cause breast cancer.
- University of California, San Francisco, and the Charlotte Maxwell Complementary Clinic are examining the beliefs, values, concerns, expectations, and goals about end-of-life from the viewpoints of underserved women with breast cancer, their physicians, complementary and alternative medicine practitioners, and informal caregivers.
For a compete description of previous CRC awards, please see our website, www.CABreastCancer.org.
Getting Started
I. Find a Research Partner
If you are a community member or represent a communitybased
organization:
A. Meet with other members of your community to identify and
prioritize your research questions about breast cancer. These
may arise from a program you are involved in, or problems that
might be common in your community.
B. Interview researchers with the potential to start a research partnership. Preferably, look for someone who has experience working collaboratively with communities and understands that community collaborations take time, sharing of power, and willingness to compromise. Proposals go through a rigorous scientific review process. Therefore, it is important that the researcher you choose has experience researching your question of interest. The CBCRP may be able to assist you in finding an appropriate researcher.
If you are a research scientist:
A. Contact breast cancer organizations or individuals with
whom you have worked or who might be interested in research
topics in your area of expertise.
B. Be prepared to spend a lot of time communicating with the
community group. The CBCRP’s CRC award is designed to develop
true partnerships between researchers and community
groups. These take time and require working together from
conceptualization all the way to research dissemination. This
effort has many potential personal and professional rewards,
including funding that can extend six years or more through the
Pilot, Full, and I&D award continuum.
II. Attend a CRC Information Workshop
The CBCRP offers workshops and teleconferences each year
throughout California to give community members, communitybased
organization representatives, and researchers an overview
of our CRC awards. Our in-person workshops provide an
introduction to community-based participatory research and an
orientation to the research and grant application process.
While workshops and teleconferences are not requirements for submitting a concept paper, they are strongly encouraged (especially for new applicants). Please check the www.CABreast- Cancer.org website in the spring of each year for information about the workshops and teleconferences.
In addition, where possible, we make archived workshops available on the web. You will need the Adobe Reader to view the slides and an appropriate media player (Windows Media Player, QuickTime, etc.) to hear the audio. These are available on the CBCRP website.
III. Prepare Your Concept Paper
The first step in the application process is to submit a concept
paper. Concept paper instructions are available on the CBCRP
website after July 1. Concept papers must be written jointly by
the community and experienced scientific research collaborators.
We evaluate your concept paper based on the clarity and adequacy of the information you present. You need to clearly present your knowledge of the background of research on the disease, as well as your plan for the methodology, analysis, and implementation of the research project. Be concrete and specific. Statements such as “appropriate analysis will be used” or “a community advisory board will be appointed,” for example, do not convey enough information for us to judge the intended data analysis and the involvement of the community in the research project. Since we limit the length of the concept paper, you need to summarize concisely, rather than leave things out.
CRC applications are due each year in February. All teams who have submitted a concept paper will be allowed to submit an application.
Past successful research teams have found it important to:
- Meet often, in each other’s locations, throughout the planning and conducting of the research project.
- Focus on the process of the partnership, not just the outcomes of the research project. Take time to discuss members’ visions and goals for the partnership and project, communication styles, and how you will deal with conflicts or disagreements.
- Include education and capacity-building for all members of the partnership.
- Integrate the knowledge of both the research and community members in all phases of the research project.
How We Evaluate Concept Papers and Applications
CRC concept papers are evaluated by a peer-review committee of individuals from outside California. All applicants receive the committee’s evaluation, with suggestions for improvement, several months before the application due date. The CBCRP staff is available to explain the evaluations and assist applicants in understanding how to use the evaluations to improve their applications. All concept paper applicants are eligible to submit a formal application.
The review committee evaluates each concept paper (and subsequent applications) by equally balancing scientific merit (quality of research and feasibility) and collaboration elements (partnership and community benefit).
CRC Application Timeline
For more information and technical assistance, please contact:
Natalie Collins, M.S.W.
phone: 510 987-0646 | Email: natalie.collins@ucop.edu
Walter Price, Dr.P.H.
phone: 510 987-9886 | Email: walter.price@ucop.edu
California Breast Cancer Research Program
phone: 510 987-9884
toll free: 888 313-2277
