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Application Guidelines

1. Submission and Application deadline

Applications should be sent via e-mail to .
The Application has to be submitted all together in one single pdf.
Paper applications are not accepted and will be returned.
Applications received after the application deadline will not be considered and returned to the sender.

Caution: any application which does not respect the above and format recommendations will not be considered by the jury.

2. Format

The format of the application is as follows (with maximum number of words or pages for respective sections; some projects can fit with shorter numbers of words or pages):

Short title of research project
Abstract of proposed research (max 300 words)
Principal Investigator and main investigators (name, post, and role in project; CV must be attached for each, max 4 pages per person)
Contact information
Ethical or Internal Review Board accepted, pending or not sought
Impact of research, i.e. potential impact of findings; what will it change in clinical practice and well-being for patients seeking care (max 1 page)
Description of research environment and resources (max 1 page)
Introductory literature review (max 2 pages)
Hypothesis and model (max 2 pages)
Prior relevant studies in the field by investigator(s), if any (max 2 pages); if necessary provide in an appendix no more than 3 articles or related documents
Proposed methods (max 6 pages), respecting research standards relevant for study type (see indications on link to next page); indicate which standard was used
Limitations of study (max 1 page)
Protection of human or animal studies (max 2 pages)
Timetable for research
Budget and justification for budget (max 4 pages)
Other sources of funding (including amounts)
Institution/Authority responsible for administration of grant

3. Cover Letter for applications to EUROSPINE TFR

It is mandatory that the cover letter to the application should include the following text:

"All the applicants/investigators have read and approved the final version of the application, and signed below their agreement for the application to be made."

The letter needs to be individually signed by all involved authors.

4. Funding requested

Budget requirements are outlined in detail in the application form

5. Conflict of interest by applicant(s)

All applicant(s) must submit the EUROSPINE conflict of interest disclosure form individually

6. EUROSPINE TFR evaluation of applications

EUROSPINE TFR uses a formal review process where two independent reviewers evaluate and score the proposal following the scoring instructions Achtung Link öffnet sich in einem neuen Fenster

and using a standard evaluation form Achtung Link öffnet sich in einem neuen Fenster

. The reviewer form is modeled after National Institute of Health (NIH) and other European National Institutes for funding. When the TFR meets, each proposal is openly discussed by its two reviewers, and then considered by the other TFR members before a final score is agreed. The TFR makes recommendations for funding based on the final scores and availability of funds. These recommendations must be approved by EUROSPINE Executive Committee. Applicants are recommended to read the review form.

7. The decisions to fund a research proposal cannot be contested.

The decision of the TFR is final.

8. Rules for re-submission

Re-submission of an application is permitted twice.

Unsure how to design your study?

EUROSPINE proposes a yearly course "How to Make your Research more Relevant, Feasible and Publishable".

If you plan to apply for a research grant, this course is a unique opportunity for your research group to initiate the design of your study with help from experienced researchers who are used to review grant requests.

The purpose of the course is to provide clinicians with the fundamental concepts and tools to design clinical studies.

The course is delivered by world-renowned faculty and includes practical workshop where learners will work in groups to formulate a research question and derive a hypothesis for the evaluation of a treatment intervention.

During the workshops, learners will also be using the research question developed on day 1 and start designing their study, start planning participant selection and data collection. Groups will also start planning their sample size calculation and on the last day, the faculty will assess each project and provide personalised feed-back

For more information on the research course, please visit:

How to make your research more relevant, feasible and publishable