News

The purpose of this funding announcement is to support collaborative research activities between PReS and CARRA early career investigators. Early career investigators are defined as faculty (not fellows) less than 10 years from completion of training.   Funds may be used to convene meetings, generate preliminary data and/or to support collaborative pilot studies. The goal is to provide seed funds that allow PReS and CARRA investigators to successfully plan and apply for funds to support larger-scale collaborative research activities.

Project submissions are encouraged to leverage infrastructure of PReS and CARRA, address priority research topics for both communities, engage patients and extend expertise that would otherwise not be possible working with either group alone.

Applications will be evaluated based on: 1) the extent to which the proposed project leverages the infrastructure of PReS and CARRA, 2) topic’s interest and relevance to both PReS and CARRA; 3) Patient-centeredness; and 4) potential to lead to future collaboration(s) between PReS and CARRA.  It is the hope of both organizations that this opportunity will lead to additional funding and a larger initiative!

Funding Amount: €25,000 EUR or ,766
Application Deadline: December 1, 2020
Funding/Project Period: March 1, 2021--February 28, 2022

SUBMIT APPLICATION

PReS-CARRA Collaborative Research Award Required Submission Materials:

• Project Summary/Abstract (300 word max)
• Lay Summary (150 word max)
• Specific Aims (limit 1 page) (Download template: WORD)
• Project Timeline (limit 3 pages) (Download template: WORD)
• Research Plan (limit 3 pages).  Plan should include any plans/goals for larger initiative and potential future funding mechanisms. (Download template: WORD).
• References (no page limit) (Download template: WORD)
• Budget Table (2 page limit) (Download template: WORD)
  • All Principal Investigators (PI) are required to dedicate effort on their projects which must be noted on the budget table. Requesting salary support is optional. A letter of support from a division chief documenting that the % effort is available, and confirming investigator salary (if applicable) must be submitted with each application. If the PI is the division chief, a letter from the Department Chairperson is required.
• Budget Justification (Download template: WORD)
  • Up to 8% F&A (indirect/overhead) costs can be requested, which must be incorporated into the project budget below. Applicants should aim to allocate approximately half of the budget to CARRA member expenses and half of the budget to PReS member expenses, or justify why this is not possible.
• NIH-formatted Biosketches for all Principal Investigator(s), Co-Principal Investigator(s), and all Co-Investigator(s) (limit 5 pages per biosketch; please combine all biosketches into one PDF with the PI(s) biosketch listed first.)
• Letters of Support
  • Required for budgets that include investigator salary/effort. Letter should be from division chief documenting that % effort is available, and confirming investigator salary. (If PI is the division chief, a letter from the Department Chairperson is required.)
  • Letters of support from collaborators are required.
  • Letters of support from mentors and institution(s) are highly recommended.
• Research Assurances
  • Submit documentation of an Institutional Review Board (IRB) review, if applicable. Funds will not be released until either 1) IRB approval letter or 2) IRB waiver/documentation that IRB has determined your project is exempt from IRB review is received.
• Appendix (limit 1 attachment)

Applicants must use the templates provided when submitting their final applications.

APPLICATIONS NOT FOLLOWING THESE GUIDELINES WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED

Important Information for CARRA-PReS Collaborative Research Award Submissions

Read the CARRA-PreS Collaborative Research Award instructions carefully. Be sure to be compliant with formatting instructions and page limits. Use of the document templates provided above is REQUIRED. Submit your completed CARRA-PreS Collaborative Research Award application via the online application.

• If you are requesting infrastructure support from PReS or CARRA, you must email pres@mci-group.com with a brief summary of your request no later October 25, 2020 to arrange a phone call to discuss your request.
• Funds will be provided to the awardee’s institutions to be used by the principal investigator’s according to the project budget. PReS and CARRA will arrange to provide funds to their respective members’ institutions.
• If the PI’s are unable to complete the project, any unexpended balance must be returned.
• Awardees are expected to submit an abstract(s) and ensure that the work is presented annually at the PReS and CARRA Annual Meeting(s) until the project is complete.
• Budgets may not include travel required to present abstracts at PReS and CARRA Annual Meetings.
• Publication and presentation costs are not allowed.
•  8% to cover facilities and administration fees (indirect/overhead costs) will be provided in addition to the award
• Applicants will be notified of funding decisions by mid-February 2021.
• If the project is not completed within the project period, the award recipient may request a no-cost extension (NCE) for up to 12 months.  Requests for NCEs can be made up to 90 days prior, but no less than 30 days prior, to the project period end date. An interim progress report must be submitted with the NCE Request Form.  NCE requests will be considered by the review committee but are not guaranteed.
• Awardees must submit a final progress report no later than 45 days after the project period end date.
• All awardees must acknowledge the support from this funding mechanism in all presentations and publications related to this project by including the following language: “The authors wish to acknowledge CARRA, and the ongoing Arthritis Foundation financial support of CARRA and PReS for this work.”
• Recipients must abide by PReS’s and CARRA’s relevant organizational policies and guidelines regarding publications.

Eligibility

• The application must name two co-PIs, one current PReS member from outside North America and one current CARRA member from North America
• MD applicants must be at a faculty level (not trainees) to be eligible to submit proposals.
• Applicants must be PReS or CARRA members in good standing.

Review criteria specific to this RFP

• Extent to which the proposed project leverages the infrastructure of both PReS and CARRA
• Addresses topic of interest to both PReS and CARRA
• Patient-centeredness
• Potential to lead to future collaboration between PReS and CARRA
• Preference will be given to early career investigators (as determined by each organization)

Email pres@mci-group.com with any questions.

Contact persons:

• PReS Council – Tadej Avcin
• PReS Working Parties 2.0 Chair – ‘Ram’ Ramanan

Visit CARRA website