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Seed Grants
AHC FACULTY SEED GRANT PROGRAM: 2009
The Academic Health Center (AHC) is requesting applications for seed grants to fund faculty research. These funds will be distributed through a competitive peer review process. 15 awards will be funded. One Seed Grant for Alzheimer’s or other neurodegenerative diseases will be funded by the Harold Soine Alzheimer’s Research Fund. The maximum award per project is $25,000.
Purpose:
Seed grants are designed to support new initiatives in a faculty member's research. The purpose of these grants is to provide support for faculty who want to initiate a substantially new direction in their research or to help develop innovative projects that will allow faculty to expand into new research areas. These grants are not intended to provide support for established areas of research or previously funded projects or to substitute for faculty start-up funding. New faculty are eligible if the subject of the Seed Grant represents an area of research different from that performed while training.
Eligibility and Evaluation Criteria:
1) Seed grants are available to any faculty member in the AHC with an N, P, I, J, or K appointment and employment through the University (or A or W at the Minneapolis VAMC). They are not restricted to junior faculty. Questions of eligibility should be discussed with and are determined by the associate dean for research in the applicant’s college.
2) Seed grants are available only to support new initiatives in a faculty member's research. Applications to support established research or previously funded projects or to expand currently funded projects will not be accepted. Applicants may resubmit a previously unfunded Seed Grant application once, but would need to clarify what relevant work had been performed in the intervening year. “New initiative” excludes the same work if previously or currently funded. Seed Grants will not be awarded if the Graduate School, MMF, UMF, or any outside funding agency has previously or is currently supporting the same research.
3) Proposals are sought in all areas of research within the AHC.
4) A faculty member may apply for only one grant per cycle on which he/she would be the PI or co-PI. There is no limitation to the number of grants on which a faculty member would participate as an investigator or other role.
5) The primary criteria for funding will be innovation and the quality of the research approach. The potential for future funding is a secondary criterion, which would strengthen an application.
6) The project may be interdisciplinary or from a single investigator. There will be no preference for interdisciplinary projects.
7) The maximum award per grant is $25,000, although smaller budgets are acceptable. The funds must be designated for the direct support of the research. No funds will be available to support faculty salaries. Given the size of the awards, only small equipment purchases that are directly required for the research are appropriate. In general, funds should be primarily used for supplies and partial support of research personnel (graduate students or technicians). Funding may be used over an extended period (longer than one year) if necessary, but there should be no expectation of recurring funds.
Application Process:
1) Interested faculty members are asked to submit a three-page proposal that describes the rationale for the research, details the research aims and plan, and justify why this is a new area for the investigator. The application should be written for a general scientific audience. The three-page limit includes references.
2) A biographical sketch for the principle investigator and each key co-investigator (NIH format; must include all Current Research Support). Applicants must also show past, current, and relevant pending applications. For other support that appears to overlap the Seed Grant application, precise justification must be provided. Applications may be submitted to other agencies concurrently, but this must be explicitly indicated.
3) A budget page (with budget justification) should also be included.
4) If a similar or related proposal has been reviewed but not funded by an outside agency, please attach the reviews (“pink sheets”)
Applications may be single-spaced, must be Arial or Helvetica typeface of font size 11 or larger, and must have adequate margins (use NIH standards). Additional pages and attachments not requested above will be discarded.
5) A Proposal Routing Form (PRF) should be completed and signed by the department head and dean. (DO NOT SEND THE PROPOSAL TO SPONSORED PROJECTS ADMINISTRATION).
All applications must include a cover page with the following information listed: Title of grant, name of PI, highest degree(s) and academic title of PI, contact information for PI, college of PI, as well as the total amount requested.
6) Submit an electronic version of the grant (a SINGLE pdf [preferred] or Word document) to. dole0025@umn.edu . Send the original proposal to Mark S. Paller, MD, MS, Assistant Vice President for Research, Academic Health Center, Room 485 Children’s Rehabilitation Center, 426 Church Street, Minneapolis, MN 55455 (Mayo Mail Code 501, CAMPUS MAIL).
7) The deadline for receipt of the applications is April 3, 2009 (4 pm). Awards will be announced in June 2009. Funds will be released after July 1, 2009.
Review Process:
The review panel will include at least two faculty members from each school or college (four from the Medical School). Additional members may be added depending upon the number of applications submitted and the areas of proposed research. The AHC Council of Research Deans will select the reviewers. Recommendations of the review panel will be submitted to the Senior Vice President for Health Sciences and the Deans Council for final approval.
Brief written reviews/score sheets will be sent to all applicants.
Reporting Requirements:
Principal investigators of funded projects will be required to provide a final report and an accounting of all funds expended at the completion of the project. If the project extends beyond fiscal year 09-10, a progress report will be required at the end of each year of the project. Reports are to be submitted to the Assistant Vice President for Research, Academic Health Center.
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