UICC Technical Fellowships in Cancer – Official Notification

UICC Technical Fellowships (UICC-TF)
International rapid transfer of cancer control knowledge and technology

Since its inception in 1976, the UICC fellowships have contributed to the development of the professional capacity of over 2500 UICC Fellows from over 110 countries by facilitating appropriate person-to-person training in specific areas that are relevant to cancer control activities and clinical management being conducted in the Fellows’ home countries.

The aim of the UICC technical fellowships is to allow the international exchange of knowledge and to enhance skills in cancer control, prevention and treatment and to allow the acquisition of diagnostic and therapeutic clinical expertise that can be applied in the fellows’ home organizations upon their return.

Eligible Candidates

• The applicant may be of any nationality and may reside in any country at the time of
  the application.
• The applicant must hold a minimum of a Master’s degree. Qualified medical doctors
  may be considered in the absence of a higher degree if they hold or are within a year
  of holding board certification (or equivalent) in a cancer related specialty.
• Registered nurses who have an RN qualification with documented experience of
  working with cancer patients.
• Medical and PhD students are not eligible to apply, even if they already hold a
  Master’s degree.
• To permit effective communication at the host institute, the candidate must have
  adequate fluency in a common language.
• The candidate must also be on the staff payroll of a university, research laboratory or
  institute, hospital, oncology unit, registry or cancer society to where they will return at
  the end of a fellowship.
• Candidates attached to commercial entities or associated to the tobacco industry are
  not eligible.

Duration : 1 month

Extension : Up to 2 months with funding secured by the Fellow from the home or host organization and at no cost to the UICC

Available : 50-60 per year

Average value : US$ 3,400 (as monetary contribution towards the least expensive international travel and living costs)

Application closing date : None. Applications are accepted at any time during the year

Notification of results : Generally within 60 days of registration

Objectives:

• To facilitate rapid international transfer of cancer control techniques
• To exchange knowledge and enhance skills in all areas of cancer control (including research, clinical and public health interventions)
• To ensure the effective application and use of the newly acquired skills in the home organization upon return.

Target candidates

Investigators (especially those performing implementation and translational research),
clinicians and public health professionals working in the field of cancer.

Application Review Criteria

• Applications are evaluated by an independent Scientific Review Board according to a peerreview process.
• Proposals not meeting UICC’s funding guidelines set out in this document
  will not be considered by the panel.
• The competitive selection is made on the basis of expert evaluation of the application and the proposed course as set out by the applicant in the project description. Reviewers of the highest international standing in their respective fields
  carry out this task.
• Their assessments are strictly confidential and cannot be divulged outside of UICC and its selection committees, or to the applicants themselves. The reviewers’
  decisions are final and cannot be appealed.
• All applications are reviewed for their completeness and compliance with the guidelines
  described here.
• Any incomplete application or non-compliant with stated guidelines will be disqualified.
• The Scientific Review Board co-chairs will determine if an application does not
  qualify as content of the proposal is too basic.

Disciplines:

• Etiology: the causes or origins of cancer – genetic, environmental, and lifestyle, and the interactions between these factors
• Cancer Prevention: interventions which reduce cancer risk by reducing exposure to cancer risks (including tobacco control) and increasing protective factors. Interventions may target lifestyle or may involve drugs or vaccines
• Early Detection, Diagnosis, and Prognosis: Identification and testing of cancer markers and imaging methods that are helpful in detecting and/or diagnosing cancer as well as predicting the outcome or chance of recurrence
• Treatment: Identifying and testing treatments administered locally (such as radiotherapy and surgery) and systemically (treatments like chemotherapy which are administered throughout the body) as well as nontraditional (complementary/alternative) treatments (such as supplements, herbs). Research into the prevention of recurrence is also included here
• Cancer Control, Survivorship, and Research into Outcomes: Patient care and pain management; tracking cancer cases in the population; beliefs and attitudes that affect behaviour regarding cancer control; ethics, education and communication approaches for patients and health care professionals; supportive and end-of-life care; and health care delivery in terms of quality and cost effectiveness
• Advocacy and Health Policy: Study of advocacy and health policies relevant to cancer control.

Conditions

UICC Fellowships are conditional on awarded Fellows returning to the home
institutes/country at the end of the fellowship period. Fellowships are not granted for basic
training, courses, lectures, meetings, conferences, congresses, etc. or for visiting institutes.
They are granted subject to adequate funds being available. Fellowships cannot be granted
to candidates who are already physically present at the proposed host institute whilst their
applications are under consideration ie the period between the application closing date and
receipt of the countersigned Letter of Award by the UICC.

The original Fellowships cannot be prolonged, or run concurrently with other awards, even
those funded by other agencies. They can however, be extended after the original 1 month
by a maximum of 2 months subject to the written approval of home and host supervisors and at no additional cost to UICC. These Fellowships may not be financially supplemented by agencies other than the home or host institutes or the Fellows themselves. Should return of the Fellow to their home country be delayed past these three months, 50 per cent of the travel award must be reimbursed to UICC.

Fellowships that are terminated prematurely must be notified promptly to UICC and appropriate funds reimbursed. The UICC requires an end-of-project report in English within 1 month of the end of the project. The reports of all members of the Association of UICC Fellows (AUF) are available on line in the AUF Directory.

Awards

The awards are based on candidates’ estimates for travel and living costs, published fares
and UICC scales but are only a contribution towards least expensive international travel and living costs. They are not intended to completely cover all travel or normal salary or income levels. They are for the initial travel from home to host countries but do not include internal travel within the home and/or host countries. Costs for visa, passports, airport taxes etc. are the responsibility of the Fellows. The awards do not cover medical care, insurances or taxes; none of which UICC or the Sponsors are liable for. They also do not provide support for accompanying dependents. Stipends are limited to 1 month.

Application Guidelines

The completed application along with all documents must be submitted online in English and are accepted at any time during the year. Electronic signatures are acceptable. For abstracts and reprints, the specific report PubMed url or manuscript in electronic format is to be provided.

Applications will be acknowledged promptly and candidates advised by email if items are missing. Upon request, applications may be considered for the next selection if these were received after the closing dates or were found to be incomplete. New release and invitation letters with new project dates as well as reprints would be required. However, those that have undergone a review and selection process and were not approved for funding cannot be resubmitted. Candidates are encouraged to submit new applications for new work projects.

Electronic Submission

• Applicants must submit proposals electronically through proposalCENTRAL, an
  electronic grant submission system provided by Altum, Inc.
• Access proposalCENTRAL at: https://proposalcentral.altum.com.
• If you are a ‘new’ user in proposalCENTRAL, click the ‘Register’ button under ‘First
  Time Users’ and complete the registration process.
• If you are already registered in proposalCENTRAL access the site and log in with
  your user ID or e-mail address. If you have forgotten your password, click on the
  ‘Forgot Password?’ link. Supply your e-mail address or your user ID in the space
  provided; your password will be sent to you by e-mail.
• After you log in, complete your Professional Profile (second tab from the left) before
  starting an application.
• To start an application, select the Grant Opportunities tab (gray tab furthest to the
  right). A list of applications will display. Find the UICC program that you wish to apply
  for and click the ‘Apply Now’ link (second to last column) to ‘create’ your application.
• If you have any difficulties registering, logging in, or creating your application, contact
  proposalCENTRAL Customer Support immediately: phone: 1-800-875-2562 or (703)
  964-5840, and/or e-mail: [email protected].

Application Submission

The application process is conducted online only. In addition, several documents are to be
uploaded as appendix to the application form:
• A Biosketch of the applicant (template provided online)
• An Attestation on Headed Paper from Home Supervisor (template provided
online)
• Hand-Signed Host Attestation (template provided online)
• Hand-Signed Letter of Invitation on Headed Paper from Host Supervisor

Overview of the Application Form

The application process is comprised of 13 steps:

1) Fellowship Summary
2) Download Templates & Instructions
3) Enable Other Users to Access this Proposal
4) Applicant
5) Host Location
6) Supervisors
7) Project Description
8) Abstract & Disciplines
9) Application Attachments
10) Certification
11) Validate
12) Signature Page(s)
13) Submit

Know More Details on Application Process Here

Apply Online Here

Contact Information

All communication regarding the Grant and Fellowship Program should be directed to the
following address: [email protected]

For technical assistance regarding the application system, contact proposal CENTRAL at 1-
800-875-2562 or 001 (703) 964-5840. You may also email Customer Support at
[email protected].

UICC Fellows’ Testimonials

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