Transcript Preparing Grant Applications - The College of St. Scholastica

Preparing Grant Applications
Chandra M. Mehrotra, Ph.D.
The College of St. Scholastica
NIH Review Criteria
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Significance: ability of the project to improve
health.
Approach: feasibility of your methods and
appropriateness of the budget.
Innovation: originality of your approach.
Investigator: training and experience of
investigators.
Environment: suitability of facilities and
adequacy of support from your institution.
Developing Your
Research Plan
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Creating a top-quality research plan is
critical to your application’s success in peer
review.
Your plan describes what you are
proposing to do, why it is important, and
how you will do it.
Developing Your
Research Plan (continued)
a.
b.
c.
d.
Your research plan will have four main
sections:
Specific Aims
Background and Significance
Preliminary Studies/Progress Report
Research Design and Methods
Developing Your
Research Plan (continued)
The following page limits apply only for items a-d:
R01: 25 pages
RO3: 10 pages
R15: 25 pages
R21: 15 pages
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Read the PHS398 grant application kit carefully
to make sure you are including all needed
sections and are complying with formatting
requirements.
Content
1.
2.
3.
The research plan should answer the
following questions:
What do you intend to do?
Why is it worth doing? How is it
innovative?
What has already been done and what
other researchers have done in this field?
What will this new work add to the field of
knowledge?
Content
4.
5.
(continued)
What have you done to establish the
feasibility of preliminary studies you are
proposing?
How will the research be conducted?
Suggestions
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Make sure that all sections are internally
consistent and they dovetail with each other.
Show knowledge of recent literature and explain
how the proposed research will further what is
already known.
Make sure you reference all the methods and
concepts you have used in the Literature Cited
section of the research plan.
Suggestions
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(continued)
Consider getting a statistician involved
early on to advise you on sample sizes
and the amount of data you need to
collect.
Well-designed statistical methods impress
reviewers favorably.
Suggestions
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(continued)
Use consultant(s) with an established track
record. Clearly indicate how the
collaborators or consultants will fit into the
proposed project.
List consultants as key personnel and
provide biosketches for each of them.
Research Plan Part A:
Specific Aims
PURPOSE: To describe concisely and
realistically what the proposed research is
intended to accomplish.
CONTENT: The specific aims should cover:
 broad, long-term goals.
 the hypothesis or hypotheses to be tested.
Specific Aims
(continued)
SUGGESTIONS:
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Begin with a brief narrative describing the longterm goals of the project and the hypotheses
guiding the research. This is followed by a
numbered list of Aims.
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State each hypothesis clearly. Make sure it is
understandable, testable, and adequately
supported by citations in the Background and
Significance section and by the data in the
Preliminary Studies section.
Specific Aims
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(continued)
Be as brief and specific as possible.
Each aim should consist of only one
sentence. Most applications have 2-4
specific aims.
Be certain that all aims are related.
Focus on aims where you have good
supporting preliminary data and
scientific expertise.
Research Plan Part B:
Background and Significance
PURPOSE: The purpose of this section is to
state the problem to be investigated, the
rationale for proposed research, the current
state of knowledge relevant to the proposal,
and the potential contribution of this
research to the problem addressed.
Background and Significance
(continued)
CONTENT: This section should cover:
 the rationale for the project.
 the state of existing knowledge.
 gaps that the project is intended to fill.
Background and Significance
(continued)
SUGGESTIONS:
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Make a compelling case for your research
project.
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Establish familiarity with recent research.
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Make sure citations are specifically
related to the proposed research and
include them in the Literature Cited
section.
Background and Significance
(continued)
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Stress any innovations in experimental
methods (e.g., new strategies, research
methods used, interventions proposed).
Tell the reviewers how your work furthers
the NIH mission to improve health through
science – just moving the science forward
is not enough.
Research Plan Part C:
Preliminary Results/Progress Report
PURPOSE: This section should include prior
work by the investigator(s) relevant to the
proposed project. Preliminary results are
important to establish the experience and
capabilities of the applicant and to provide
experimental support for the hypothesis
and the design.
Preliminary Results/Progress
Report (continued)
CONTENT: This section should include:
 a description of recent studies by the
applicant that established the feasibility and
importance of the proposed project.
 a brief description of older studies by the
applicant that provide important
background information relevant to the
project.
Preliminary Results/Progress
Report (continued)
SUGGESTIONS:
 Do not dwell on results already published.
Summarize the critical findings in the text and
include reprints in the appendix.
 Include tables and figures, if necessary.
 Include enough information to show you know
what you are talking about.
 Tell the reviewers how your early work has
prepared you for the new project.
Research Plan Part D:
Research Design & Methods
PURPOSE: This section should describe
experimental design and procedures – how you
will perform the proposed research. When
reviewers judge your application, your research
design and methods section has the most weight.
CONTENT: This section should include:
 An overview of the research design.
 Specific methods to be employed to achieve the
proposed goals.
Research Design & Methods
(continued)
Content:
 A detailed discussion of the ways in which you
will collect, analyze, and interpret data.
 A projected sequence or time table (work plan)
 Expected results and alternative approaches
that will be used if the unexpected results are
found.
Research Design & Methods
(continued)
CONTENT:
 A description of new methodology used and why
it represents an improvement over the existing
ones.
 Include both genders, minorities and their
subgroups, and children as appropriate to the
research goals.
 Note that reviewers will also assess your plans
to recruit and retain subjects.
Research Design & Methods
(continued)
SUGGESTIONS:
1. Number the sections to correspond to the
specific aims.
2. Give sufficient detail. Do not assume that the
reviewers will know how you intend to
proceed.
3. Create a graphical timetable showing how and
when you will accomplish your aims, including
any overlap of experiments and alternative
paths.
Research Design & Methods
(continued)
SUGGESTIONS:
4. If relevant, explain why one approach or
method will be used in preference to
others.
5. If only international subjects are used,
describe how the sample will be
selected.
6. Cite references whenever possible.
Abstract
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The primary purpose of the abstract is to
describe succintly every major aspect of
the project except the budget.
The abstract is used in the grant referral
process to determine what study section
is appropriate to review the application
and to what institute it is most relevant.
Abstract
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(continued)
Members of the study section who are not
primary reviewers may rely heavily on the
abstract to understand your proposal.
The abstract is allocated only half a page
and is confined to the designated space
provided in the application.
Write the abstract last so that is reflects
the entire proposal.
Modular Budget
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The NIA pilot grant program will allow
modular budget procedures for application
and award.
The modular grant concept establishes
specific modules in which direct costs may be
requested as well as a maximum level for
requested budgets. Only limited budgetary
information is required under this approach.
Modular Budget
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(continued)
DETAILED BUDGET FOR THE INITIAL BUDGET
PERIOD - Do not complete Form Page 4 of the
PHS 398. It is not required and will not be
accepted with the application.
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BUDGET FOR THE ENTIRE PROPOSED PERIOD
OF SUPPORT - Do not complete the categorical
budget table on Form Page 5 of the PHS 398. It
is not required and will not be accepted with the
application.
Modular Budget Justification
NARRATIVE BUDGET JUSTIFICATION
Prepare a Modular Grant Budget Narrative
page. (See
http://grants2.nih.gov/grants/funding/phs3
98/modbudgetsample_same.doc for
sample pages.) At the top of the page,
enter the total direct costs requested for
the award.
Modular Budget Justification
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Under Personnel, list all project personnel,
including their names, percent of effort,
and roles on the project. No individual
salary information should be provided.
However, the applicant should use the NIH
appropriation language salary cap and the
NIH policy for graduate student
compensation in developing the budget
request.
Biosketch
The Biographical Sketch provides
information used by reviewers in the
assessment of each individual's
qualifications for a specific role in the
proposed project, as well as to evaluate
the overall qualifications of the research
team.
Biosketch
(continued)
A biographical sketch is required for all key
personnel. No more than four pages may be
used for each person. A sample biographical
sketch may be viewed at:
http://grants2.nih.gov/grants/funding/phs39
8/biosketchsample.doc
Some Useful Web Sites
Description of NIA Research Support:
http://www.nia.nih.gov/funding/researchsupport/respro.html
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Receipt Dates:
http://grants.nih.gov/grants/funding/submissionsche
dule.htm
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Forms and Instructions:
http://grants1.nih.gov/grants/forms.htm
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Useful Web Sites
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(continued)
FAQ Page : http://grants1.nih.gov/grants/forms_faq.pdf
General NIH Guide Notice:
http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/index.html
For Modular Grant applications see:
http://grants.nih.gov/grants/funding/modular/modular.htm
For other grants, such as R03 see:
http://grants.nih.gov/grants/funding/r03.htm
Helpful site at Northwestern for R03s:
http://nuinfo.nwu.edu/orsp/mod.html
Human Subjects Clearance?
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NIH now requires PIs and major personnel
associated with a project to complete an NIHapproved course on human subjects before the
grant is awarded.
It will take about an hour or so to go through
the site and complete the course and you will
get a certificate with a number
See: http://cme.nci.nih.gov/