1. The Portuguese Society of Ophthalmology supports clinical research projects developed in partnership between several national ophthalmology centers (at least 3).
2. The monetary support will be determined annually by the SPO's board of directors and will be allocated gradually, preferably in the form of support services for submission, raising funding, resolving the bureaucratic process of implementation in the various research centers, conducting and analyzing results following a selection process, in accordance with the following rules:
- Submissions must be made through the access provided on the SPO portal.
- The aim of the grant is to create the conditions for the progressive scientific and financial autonomy of the projects.
- Clinical research projects resulting from partnerships between at least 3 national clinical centers (in the field of ophthalmology) may apply; the additional presence of international centers or centers from other scientific fields in the partnership is not a condition for exclusion. The 3 national clinical centers must be independent of each other - a clinical center and an academic linked to the same institution only count as one center.
- Research projects with a maximum duration of 3 years will be accepted.
- Applications must be submitted to the Clinical Research Section portal by 11:59 p.m. (Lisbon time) on October 15th of each year, and must contain:
- Applicant's name
- Candidate contact (email and phone)
- Project Title
- Project area
- Institutions where the project will take place (coordinator and partners)
- Principal Investigator's Resume;
- Project goals (200 words maximum);
- Detailed description of the project (including material and methods);
- Sample Calculation or Required Sample Expected
- Results obtained previously (if it is an ongoing project);
- Project timing;
- Description of skills of the researcher or team of researchers (clarify the role of the proposer in the various stages of the project);
- The way in which the team's knowledge enables the achievement of objectives
- Financial plan for the research project (this plan should be as detailed as possible with financial information for Missions, Human Resources, Goods and Services, Dissemination, and other parameters that you think are relevant; you should specify in each field what the funding is for. Indicate if previous funding has been obtained or if applications are in progress). Funding dedicated to human resources may be included if justified, as a provision of services (e.g. software development). There can be no funding for working hours of researchers or people directly involved in the project, nor for patents.
- Contingency plan (steps designed to overcome steps that are unsuccessful or delayed)
- Institutional conditions to realize the project (equipment, human resources, infrastructure);
- Ethics committee approval (may be submitted later)
- Curricular summary of the co-responsible co-investigators (1 for each partner institution; SPO members).
- List how many publications are planned and what are the content/project objectives thought for each one
- Most relevant publications made by the proposed team related to the scope of the project
- Abstract (maximum 500 words; this abstract must be easily understood by sponsors/general public, and will be taken into account for the final valuation of the project; it must have the fields Introduction, Objective, Relevance)
- All the above points are mandatory
3. Payment method: SPO will make the first transfer of 25% within 30 days of the project being approved. Invoices must always be issued with SPO's NIF (501364676). Invoices should be sent to geral@spoftalmologia.pt. The 25% tranches will be advanced upon receipt of invoices for the total amount previously transferred. All invoices must be issued with the SPO's NIF (501364676).
4. Oral presentation of the project: applications considered by the jury to be potential winners of the grant will have to be presented orally at the national congress of the same year. Applicants will be contacted in good time with the schedule for their presentation. The presentation will take place during the congress, and the winning applications will be announced at the congress gala dinner. These times can be adjusted whenever the Board deems it necessary.
5. The use of existing national or international databases within the scope of societies will be valued.
6. The award of the grant will be formalized through a protocol with the Principal Investigator and Co-Principal Investigators.
7. The winning project must submit annual follow-up reports (scientific and financial) and a final report, which will monitor the development of the project, as well as the needs and type of support to be provided at each stage. These reports must be sent by December 1st of each year for the duration of the grant to geral@spoftalmologia.pt.
8. All documents produced with the results of the project must include a mention of "Sociedade Portuguesa Oftalmologia" in the acknowledgements and sponsorships.
9. The constitution of the Jury:
- a) Chairman: Chairman of the Board of the SPO.
- b) Members: 4 to be appointed by the board.
10. It is up to the President of the Jury to schedule the meeting of the Jury, which will analyze the applications according to the following criteria:
- Scientific merit of the project;
- Institutional conditions for the realization of the project;
- Impact on improving health care in ophthalmology;
- Merit of the scientific background of the principal investigator and co-investigators
- Quality of the expected scientific indicators (namely Master's and Doctoral theses and creation of patents)
- Merit of the composition of the established multicenter network, namely in its capacity for project implementation and dissemination of clinical research in Ophthalmology
11. The Jury's decisions will be taken by majority vote and there will be no appeal. In the event of a tie, the Chairman has the casting vote.
12. The selected candidates will be announced at the national congress in December of the same year, and the scholarship will start the following calendar year.
13. No candidate may submit a new application if they have been awarded an ongoing SPO clinical research grant. No candidate may submit the same project again if that project has already been funded by the SPO clinical research grant.
Approved by the SPO Board on 30.6.2025
