Research, Discovery & Innovation

Microgrants

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Amount: $2,500

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Background

The Brigham Research Institute (BRI) and Office for Research Careers (ORC) are pleased to support the microgrants/personal expense defrayment grants pilot program. Requests that fall into the categories below will be considered:

  • Scientific project (basic, translational or clinical)
  • Training/career advancement
  • Special circumstances

Applications will be evaluated by BRI & ORC staff on a rolling basis with input from the BRI Executive Committee (EC) as needed.

Typical awards will range from $500 – $1,500 for a single investigator. A maximum of $2,500 may be awarded in the following special circumstances:

  • The project is a new collaboration with another eligible BWH PI
  • The investigator is URiM or a woman
  • The project is aimed to address health equity or health disparities

Process

  • Applications will be reviewed monthly by BRI & ORC staff. Applicants will be notified within three months as to the status of their request.
  • Eligibility questions will be resolved by the BRI Executive Committee.

Eligibility

  • Post-docs, residents, clinical fellows and junior faculty (ranking assistant professor or below) who are BWH employees are invited to apply. Individuals may only be the recipient of one microgrant every three years.
  • Applicants must apply in advance of the event requiring support and may not receive support for events that have already occurred.
  • In order to support as much of our research community as possible, the BRI/ORC reserve the right to cap the amount of funding going to any individual lab or group within a short period.
  • This award is only open to full-time BWH/BWPO employees. The Recipient (the Principal Investigator submitting the proposal) must maintain a BWH profession staff appointment and remain a full-time BWH employee throughout the duration of the funding period. The award and any capital equipment purchased with the award funds may not be transferred to any other institution during the funding period. Capital equipment and any funds that may remain if the Recipient leaves during the funding period will be returned to the BRI.
  • All purchases must adhere to the MGB Expense Policy with no exceptions. If you are unsure about policy compliance, reach out to your department administrator.

Review Criteria

  • Scientific projects must be meritorious; requests that promote collaboration will receive special consideration. These microgrants are not intended to simply defray the cost of work that is already ongoing in the lab or be an extension of existing work. Compelling requests will address a new collaboration, a new area of research, advance the applicant’s career and/or lead to additional funding.
  • Training/career advancement requests should not be for routine professional or clinical training activities. Rather, the proposed activity should increase the applicants qualifications or add a new skill set or facet to the recipient’s research expertise/repertoire.
  • Applications that do not fall under the previous two categories will be considered under the special circumstances category with appropriate justification
  • Travel to standard scientific/medical conferences is not permitted within this mechanism.

Reciprocity

  • Recipients will be obligated to provide a written report of activity to the BRI within six months and an oral presentation if requested by the BRI
  • Grantees will notify the BRI if other grants are received as a result of microgrant funding.
  • Grantees will acknowledge the BRI in publications resulting from microgrant support and will notify the BRI when such papers have been submitted.

Submission Requirements

Applications should be submitted electronically using the online application.

 

The following information will be collected:

  1. Applicant’s full name, Department and Division, email, BWH and HMS professional appointments, office or laboratory address, telephone number, BWH employee ID
  2. Category of microgrant request (scientific project, training/career advancement, special circumstances)
  3. Specific description of request including any relevant event dates and a clear delineation of how the request will benefit the applicant (example – will obtain preliminary data for a grant, allow a new collaboration, begin a new area of research, advance the applicant’s career, etc) (limit 500 words). Please begin with the title of your proposal.
  4. Detailed budget – typically awards for a single PI will not exceed $1500 but compelling or collaborative requests for a maximum of $2,500 may be considered
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