About these Awards

The International Network for Orofacial Pain and Related Disorders Methodology (INfORM): A consortium focused on clinical translational research (hereafter, International Network) in conjunction with Quintessence Publishing and Journal of Oral & Facial Pain and Headache provides an award for early career clinical researchers/scientists. Each of the awards will be given to investigators for an outstanding clinical or translational research abstract and project pertaining to Orofacial Pain and Related Conditions submitted to the IADR General Annual Session & Exhibition. 

Definition of clinical and translational research for the purpose of these awards 

Applicable clinical research pertains to diagnostic criteria, management guidelines, statistical or design methodology, or findings relevant to any of those categories. Applicable translational research addresses the first or second translational gap, as defined by the Cooksey report diagram (2006) here or NIH roadmap here. The first gap pertains to “translating ideas from basic and clinical research into the development of new products and approaches to treatment of disease and illness” and the second gap pertains to “…implementing those new products and approaches into clinical practice”. Basic, discovery, or laboratory science that does not fit within these two translational gaps is outside the scope of this competition. In short, demonstrating relevance of the research to the mission of the International Network is essential.

Those considering applications based on basic or laboratory science pertaining to orofacial pain and related conditions are recommended to first refer to the IADR Neuroscience Group’s Wiley-Blackwell Investigator award description and determine if their research would better fit eligibility criteria for that award and, if so, then the research will not likely fit the criteria for this award. If individuals still have queries about the eligibility of their research after referring to the Neuroscience Group’s award criteria they should contact the Chairperson of the International Network’s award (listed at the end of this announcement) with a brief abstract (<250words) of their research in order to ascertain if it is eligible for inclusion in the International Network’s competition.
 

Applying for the award

Potential applicants should note that applications for this award cannot be submitted to other Group or Network competitions at the same IADR annual scientific meeting. Award panels will confer as necessary on entries for the forthcoming meeting.

The International Network and Quintessence Publishing awards consist of two categories:

1. IADR INfORM Samuel F Dworkin Predoctoral Award. A pre-doctoral student attending a higher academic institution will be eligible to apply for this award. The winner will be awarded with 500 USD and a certificate of award.
2. IADR INfORM Barry J Sessle Postdoctoral Award. A post-doctoral researcher working within a higher academic institution will be eligible to apply for this award. The winner will be awarded with 1,000 USD and a certificate of award.

Eligibility

The category for competition is based on applicant status at the time of submission of the application:

• Pre-doctoral applicants must currently be enrolled within an academic institution in a pre-doctoral B.D.S, D.D.S., D.M.D., M.D., or PhD program or other similar degree program.
• Post-doctoral applicants must be within 5 years of graduation of a higher doctoral degree and no longer enrolled in a degree-granting program.

In addition, the following criteria must be met for both categories:

• The applicant must submit his/her abstract for the IADR General Session, but the submission may be to any of the research Groups or Networks within the IADR.
• The applicant must not submit the abstract to a competition of another IADR Group or Network.
• IADR membership is required, but International Network membership is NOT a requirement.
• The applicant must not be a 1) current officer of the International Network or 2) previous award winner in the same category.

Application Process

1. Applicants must submit their abstracts to the IADR General Session & Exhibition, and adhere to the normal IADR abstract format. Please visit https://www.iadr.org/2020iags for more information.
2. Applicants must check the box on the IADR online abstract application form to specifically apply for this Award. This step when you submit your abstract at https://www.iadr.org/2020iags is essential in order for your abstract to be considered for this competition.
3. In addition to the abstract submission on the IADR web site, applicants must email the following 3 documents (and adhering to stated page limits) to the Award Chairperson (listed at the end of this announcement): 
   1. A one-page biography or CV (1 page maximum) containing the following information: name, date of birth, undergraduate and postgraduate studies completed, principal investigator or supervisor name, and research publications.
   2. A one-page letter of recommendation (1 page maximum) submitted by the principal investigator, supervisor, or the head of the research department at the applicant’s school or university, as determined by which competition the applicant is applying for. The letter should provide detail appropriate to the stage of career development of the applicant and that the applicant is the principle researcher of the submitted research abstract.
   3. A document with a detailed Project ( 5 pages maximum, double-spaced A4 or US letter-sized pages at size 12 point Arial font with standard word document page margins [2.54cm superior/inferior, and lateral]) saved as a PDF with a descriptive project title and the following 6 sections:
      Section 1. Abstract (same as submitted through the IADR website);
      Section 2. Introduction: literature review, rationale/hypothesis, goal;
      Section 3. Methodology: sample collection (if present), randomization procedure (if present), test/control groups (if present), assays, and statistics; sample size and power computations should also be provided, as appropriate, and provide rationale if sample size cannot be calculated;
      Section 4. Results: main findings, statistical data;
      Section 5. Conclusions: impact/innovation on clinical sciences within the scope of the International Network and specifically outline the current position of the work on the translational research pathway/road map and plans for its onwards translation; and
      Section 6. Bibliographic references.

Please note if applicants exceed any of the page specifications or include additional information this additional information will be disregarded and applicants run the risk of their application not being further considered for the competition. The applicant is responsible for insuring that the application process is correctly followed. Feedback regarding the application will not be provided to those who do not progress to the competition.

Selection of Applicants for the Judging Competition

Applications that better fit within the scope of the award competition hosted by the IADR Neuroscience Group will be transferred to that group competition. Similarly, the Neuroscience Group can transfer applicants to the INfORM competition which better fit this award. In the case of a competition transfer, the applicant will be notified of the transfer, and the applicant retains the right to withdraw the application if participation in the transferred-to competition is not desired.

Each award category will require a minimum of three applicants for that part of the competition to take place. Applicants will be selected by a judging panel nominated by the Award Chairperson in consultation with the officers of INfORM and is further described below. Among applicants for each category, a final set of competitors will be selected based on scientific quality, scope, and relevance of the submitted research to the goals of INfORM, as described in this announcement. The final number of applicants that can be selected for a given award category is not fixed, but is determined based on application quality.

Applicants will be informed within 6-8 weeks after submission deadline regarding selection.

Judging Panel

• The judging panel will be appointed and coordinated by the Award Chairperson.
• The judging panel will consist of a minimum of three additional members comprised of the following: the Secretary/Treasurer of the International Network or his/her designee, the editor or designee from the Journal, and 1-2 additional officers or senior members of the International Network. selected based on scope of the submitted research applications. Potential conflicts of interest by a potential judge with award applicants will be appropriately considered.
• The Award Chairperson will be a non-voting member of the panel during the competition; his or her roles will include hosting the event, facilitation of final scoring by the judges, and post-session debriefing with each candidate. The Award Chairperson may also serve as the designee from the Journal (but still non-voting), depending on overall requirements for the judging committee.

Judging Rules, Principles and Criteria

The judging panel will select the candidates as finalists for the main poster competition based on the following rules and principles applied to the submitted written documents:

• Clarity of presentation, scientific strength, relevance, and potential impact.
• Data presented should be original and unpublished.
• At the IADR meeting, applicants are required to present their findings twice: 1) during the designated Award competition session to the judging panel in the form of a poster presentation, and 2) during a regular session (General Session or Exhibit Hall) in the form of an oral or poster presentation, depending on the mode of acceptance of the abstract, and which is not judged for this competition. If the abstract is accepted as an oral presentation, a poster will be created for the competition presentation. If the abstract is accepted as a poster presentation, the same poster should be used for both the competition presentation as well as the regular session presentation. The poster format recommended at www.iadr.org should be followed.
• In the session with the Award judging panel, the applicants will be called in alphabetical order (by their last name as stated in their submitted abstract) to enter a conference room where the Award poster competition will take place. Mentors will wait outside.
• Judges will spend approximately 15 minutes at each poster: a 5-minute presentation by the candidate to the judges, followed by approximately 10 minutes of questions.

CRITERIA for judging and rating the finalists:

1. Novel impact on the field of methodology for clinical translational research in orofacial pain and related disorders.
2. Goal of the study and hypothesis is clearly stated.
3. Methodology is appropriate to the study goal and hypothesis.
4. Innovation with the study design.
5. Statistics are appropriately used to analyze the data.
6. Conclusions are based on the presented data.
7. Well-organized poster presentation (which includes the poster itself and the oral performance).
8. Applicant is knowledgeable regarding the study being presented.
9. Adherence to allocated presentation time.

Award

The applicants for the Award will be invited to attend the International Network business meeting taking place during the IADR General Session, during which the winners will be announced and a temporary award certificate provided. The cash Awards and permanent certificate will be sent to the winner at a later date (usually 3-4 weeks after the meeting) by Quintessence.

APPLICATION DEADLINES

Abstracts must be submitted through the IADR abstract submission process by March 12, 2021 and the supporting application documents must be sent no later than March 26, 2021 to the Award Chairperson Richard Ohrbach at ohrbach@buffalo.edu and to INfORM secretary Flavia Kapos at kapos@uw.edu .