Under the 2023 Data Management and Sharing (DMS) Policy, NIH expects researchers to maximize the appropriate sharing of scientific data, taking into account factors such as legal, ethical, or technical issues that may limit the extent of data sharing and preservation. The hypothesis to be tested can be the aim of the study. References show your breadth of knowledge of the field. In our Sample Applications, you can see that both investigators and reviewers made a case for the importance of the research to improving human health as well as to the scientific field. The Practice of Nursing Research: Conduct, Critique and Utilization. Some of the evaluation committees, expect the last two questions, elaborated under a separate heading of background and significance. Your application's Research Plan has two sections: In your Specific Aims, you note the significance and innovation of your research; then list your two to three concrete objectives, your aims. Then draft the Approach section considering the personnel and skills you'll need for each step. As you develop and finalize your experiments, you will go back and check other parts of the application to make sure everything is in sync: the "who, what, when, where, and how (much money)" as well as look again at the scope of your plans. Make your title reflect your project's goals, the problem your project addresses, and possibly your approach to studying it. Write Your Research Plan | NIH: National Institute of Allergy and Will the investigators be able to get the work done within the project period, or is the proposed work over ambitious? Please reference the NIH SF424 Guide and Program Announcement for required documentation. ", After finishing the draft Specific Aims, check that. Informed consent needs to be obtained from the participants (details discussed in further chapters), as well as the research site and the relevant authorities. These sections may be small, but they're important. Enter a bold header for each Specific Aim. Dr. Jiang starts with a summary of the field of polyomavirus research, identifying critical knowledge gaps in the field. NIH Proposal Checklist. Proposal Guidelines NIH Proposal Guidelines. My Bibliography and References Cited form lists all my references. Writing in a logical sequence will save you time. Your technical proposal should be in as much detail as you consider necessary to fully explain your proposed technical approach or method. In addition, you must submit with your proposal any information reasonably required to explain your estimating process, including--. My timeline shows when I expect to complete my aims. For mostapplications, you need to address Rigor and Reproducibility by describing the experimental design and methods you propose and how they will achieve robust and unbiased results. Consider illustrating this with a flowchart. Klopper H. The qualitative research proposal. As you finalize the details of your Research Strategy, you will also need to return to your Specific Aims to see if you must revise. Scores are averaged and rounded mathematically to one decimal place, e.g., a 1.34 average yields 1.3. However, you can't count on all reviewers being able to see or hear video, so you'll want to be strategic in how you incorporate it into your application. You must clearly identify on your cover sheet that cost or pricing data are included as part of the proposal. They don't stop at the Significance section to emphasize their project's importance, and they look beyond their biosketches to highlight their team's expertise. Depending on your situation, decide which items are important for you. In the present era of digitalisation and easy accessibility, there is an enormous amount of relevant data available, making it a challenge for the researcher to include all of it in his/her review. Following the solicitation of public comment on its original proposal, the NIH is amending the NIH Guidelines to: (A) Delete the NIH protocol registration submission and reporting requirements under Appendix M of the NIH Guidelines, and (B) modify the roles and responsibilities of entities that involve human gene transfer and the Recombinant DNA. The inclusion and exclusion criteria should be clearly defined. Here is the updated NIH F31 fellowship calculator with the new rates anda line for Child Care costs. Before Summary of the importance of your findings in relation to your Specific Aims. For a modular budget proposal, investigators do not have to submit a detailed budget with categorical budget line items to the NIH. Information you put in the Research Plan affects just about every other application part. (iii) What has not been answered adequately in previous research and practice? Share By NIH Staff Posted June 28, 2019 13 Comments When writing an NIH grant application, applicants are asked to develop a Project Summary/Abstract and a Project Narrative, two sections that, if funded, are made available on RePORTER to help the public understand the value of NIH-funded research. Reviewers felt that the experiments described for Aim 1 will yield clear results. FOIA What makes a strong research proposal?-Compelling question-Clarity of thought & expression - A strong, testable hypothesis-Logical and non-interdependent steps (aims) to address that question-Rigorous experiments to answer the question - A question that is within the scope of your sponsor's funded research (ideally NIH funded) That means your writing should be streamlined and organized so your reviewers can readily grasp the information. Subcontractors must provide UMass with detailed annual budgets approved by authorizing officials of the institution. When writing your Research Strategy, your goal is to present a well-organized, visually appealing, and readable description of your proposed project. Reviewers use your preliminary studies together with the biosketches to assess the investigator review criterion, which reflects the competence of the research team. If you are applying for a new application, include preliminary studies; for a renewal or a revision (a competing supplement to an existing grant), prepare a progress report instead. While this document is geared toward the basic research project grant, the R01, much of it is useful for other grant types. Read more about your Bibliography and References Cited at Add a Bibliography and Appendix. Apre-formatted cost proposal spreadsheetis available (also available under "Business Proposal Cost Information). (4) You must show the relationship between contract line item prices and the total contract price. That's fineat this point, it's just an aid to keep your plans focused. PDF Guidelines for NIH NRSA (F31 & F30) Awards for Emory Graduate Students Saunderlin G. Writing a research proposal: The critical first step for successful clinical research. Choose evocative still images from your video to accompany your summary. Grants & Funding | National Institutes of Health (NIH) I show how my previous experience prepared me for the new project. If you leave out an important work, reviewers may assume you're not aware of it. I explicitly state my hypothesis and why testing it is important. There are many ways to create a great application, so explore your options. After you write a preliminary title, check that. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License, which allows others to remix, tweak, and build upon the work non-commercially, as long as the author is credited and the new creations are licensed under the identical terms. Various tests to be used to analyse the data for its robustness, significance should be clearly stated. Proposal Review Checklists | Office of Research You must furnish supporting breakdowns for each cost element, consistent with your cost accounting system. This form provides the effective date of relinquishment, estimated unexpended Direct and Facilities and Administrative (F&A) Costs (funds from previous budget periods should not be included in these amounts), and a list of equipment costing $5,000 or more transferring with the project. Scoring & Summary Statements | NIH: National Institute of Allergy and For KC: Sections of the Application - Massachusetts Institute of Technology I also point out the project's significance throughout the application. shall not be submitted with the initial proposal. In your Approach, you spell out a few sets of experiments to address each aim. 's alternative approaches. NIH may withdraw any application identified during the receipt, referral, and review process that is incomplete or noncompliant with instructions in the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide, the Funding . Another way to put this: the direct cost budget can exceed the annual modular cost caps by the amount of subcontractor overhead budgeted per year. (Note: there are exceptions, for example, for a renewalsee. PIs will need to use the bibliography tool My NCBIto link papers to their Progress Reports. You will have to coordinate the relinquishing date from the originating awardee institution and the start date of the grant at the new institution. NIH FORMS-H Research Proposal Review Checklist (updated November 2022) - This new checklist is created for all NIH applications due on or after January 25, 2023. Your Research Strategy is the nuts and bolts of your application, where you describe your research rationale and the experiments you will conduct to accomplish each aim. I describe the results I anticipate and their implications. While you want to be organized, how you go about it is up to you. Revise and Resubmit an Application | NIH: National Institute of Allergy In fiscal year 2022, NIH invested most of its $45 billion appropriations in research seeking to enhance life, and to reduce illness and disability. For the rest of the narrative, you will describe the significance of your research, and give your rationale for choosing the project. There should be specific mention about the methodological approaches to be undertaken to gather information, about the techniques to be used to analyse it and about the tests of external validity to which researcher is committed. If I choose that path, I: Make a very strong case for challenging the existing paradigm. The requirement applies to research grant, career development, fellowship, and training applications. If writing is not your forte, get help. Guidelines on Writing a Research Proposal. The .gov means its official. [1] Literature should include supporting data, disagreements and controversies. They describe the significance of my research to my field and state my hypothesis, my aims, and the innovative potential of my research. The details pertaining to sample size are discussed in the article Sample size calculation: Basic priniciples published in this issue of IJA. ASample Subcontracting Planis contained in the FORMS, FORMATS AND ATTACHMENTS section of this website. The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the It is also sometimes termed as need for study or abstract. In the narrative part of the Specific Aims of many outstanding applications, people also used their aims to. My narrative describes my project's potential to improve public health. I interpret my preliminary results critically. Next state your hypothesis and the innovative potential of your research. Special attention is directed to the requirements for technical and business proposals to be submitted in accordance with these instructions. Enlist others to do that toothey can look at your application with a fresh eye. Describe each aim in one to three sentences. The appendices will be specific for each proposal but documents that are usually required include informed consent form, supporting documents, questionnaires, measurement tools and patient information of the study in layman's language. Have strong evidence that I can do the work. In the top-notch applications we reviewed, organization ruled but followed few rules. Use at least half the page to provide the rationale and significance of your planned research. It is preferable to summarise each article in a paragraph, highlighting the details pertinent to the topic of interest. See the NIH Application Guide (updated August 5, 2022) and NIH Policy Changes for submission requirements for proposals. The aim of the researcher should be clearly stated in simple language that describes the research in a way that non-specialists can comprehend, without use of jargons. Instead, proposing institutions submit a Modular budget with annual total direct costs built using $25,000 increments up to the maximum annual amount and total amount allowed by funding mechanism as noted above. For an example of an experienced investigator's well-received Approach section, see the Application from Dr. William Faubion, "Inflammatory cascades disruptTreg function through epigenetic mechanisms.". Your application's Research Plan is the map that shows your reviewers how you plan to test your hypothesis. Your Research Strategy is the bigger part of your application's Research Plan (the other part is the Specific Aimsdiscussed above.). Though people generally used less detail than you'd see in a scientific paper, they do include some experimental detail. [6] The introduction should be designed to create interest in the reader about the topic and proposal. You must attach cost-element breakdowns for each proposed line item, using the appropriate format prescribed in the "Formats for Submission of Line Item Summaries'' section of this table. Giving your project a title at the outset can help you stay focused and avoid a meandering Research Plan. If you plan to send one or more videos, you'll need to meet certain standards and include key information in your Research Strategy now. https://www.2.hawaii.edu/~matt/proposal.html, http://www.libguides.usc.edu/writingguide, http://www.web.stanford.edu/~steener/gendertech/assignments/ResearchProposal.pdf. A search was conducted with keywords such as research proposal, writing proposal and qualitative using search engines, namely, PubMed and Google Scholar, and an attempt has been made to provide broad guidelines for writing a scientifically appropriate research proposal. A good way to start is with a sentence that states your project's goals. Explain how they plan to interpret data from the aims efforts. Think brief and simple: to the extent that you can, write these sections in lay language, and include appropriate keywords, e.g., immunotherapy, genetic risk factors. Alternatively, you can create a separate section with its own header. For an R01, the Research Strategy can be up to 12 pages, plus one page for Specific Aims. Coordination with the Controllers Office is needed for the generation of the relinquishing statement. Look over what you've written with a critical eye of a reviewer to identify potential questions or weak spots. RAS Checklists and Preparation Guides for NIH Grant Applications. For more information on other considerations to take into account when developing NIH budgets, see theNIH guidance on developing a budget. We then discuss how to focus the Research Plan, relying on the iterative process described in the Iterative Approach to Application Planning Checklist shown at Draft Specific Aimsand give you advice for filling out the forms. (iv) How will this research add to knowledge, practice and policy in this area? CDC/NIH Resource Gives Guidance on Biosafety Best Practices After the list of aims, some people add a closing paragraph, emphasizing the significance of the work, their collaborators, or whatever else they want to focus reviewers' attention on. Other helpful checklists: General Checklist - This generic checklist covers key elements of most proposal applications submitted through the Medical School. As NIH referral officers use these parts to direct your application to an institute for possible funding, your description can influence the choice they make. If I do not describe a method, I add a reference to the literature. Research proposal writing: Breaking the myth. Preliminary Studies (for new applications) or a Progress Report (for renewal and revision applications). After conveying the significance of the research in several parts of the application, check that. Every successful journey starts with a good foundation. Look at the example below. In that vein, writing in a logical sequence is a good approach that will save you time. This information will be requested from the offeror during the negotiation process. Start each of the Research Strategy's sections with a header: Significance, Innovation, and Approachthis you must do. NE 18-901 Is the field importantwill progress make a difference to human health? (Don't attach your files to the application.). Graphics can illustrate complex information in a small space and add visual interest to your application. See the Application from Drs. TECHNICAL PROPOSAL INSTRUCTIONS | National Institutes of Health I include fewer than 100 citations (if possible). Samples are not available for all grant programs. My title is specific, indicating at least the research area and the goals of my project. The initial proposal need only indicate from what source the proposed costs and prices are substantiated.]. NIAID program staff will check your application, and if it is not responsive to the announcement, your application will be returned to you without a review. Our applicants not only wrote with their reviewers in mind they seemed to anticipate their questions. It refers to all sources of scientific evidence pertaining to the topic in interest. However, you will need to submit it, if your renewal is not funded. This can be achieved by adopting standard and universally accepted methods and scales. The salary and associated fringeamount above the cap must be funded by non-federal sources and shown as cost-share in the institutional commitments section of Kuali. Consider adding bullets under each aim to refine your objectives. They delve into the biology of the area to make sure reviewers will grasp the importance of their research and understand their field and how their work fits into it. The objectives related to parameters or tools used to achieve the aim are generally categorised as primary and secondary objectives. For items not covered by this guide, please refer to HHS' style guide and AP. (5) When more than one contract line item is proposed, you must also provide summary total amounts covering all line items for each element of cost. I refer to unpublished work, including information I learned through personal contacts. SEED - Helping Innovators turn discovery into health Administrative Centers. Since all your reviewers read your Specific Aims, you want to excite them about your project. Not only is innovation just one of five review criteria, but there might be a paradigm shift in your area of science. and transmitted securely. Organizing Your Social Sciences Research Paper: Writing a Research Proposal. The NIH Style Guide is intended for use in writing web content, fact sheets, brochures, newsletters, and other promotional materials. DETAILED GUIDELINES FOR THE NIH PROPOSAL (NOTE: While these guidelines are specific to the NIH proposal, the principles stated here are also applicable for proposals to other major research funders) This document describes the basic sections of an investigator-initiated R01 NIH research grant application. [2] The proposal must be capable of convincing the evaluation committee about the credibility, achievability, practicality and reproducibility (repeatability) of the research design. Guidelines for NIH NRSA (F31 & F30) Awards for Emory Graduate Students PRE-AWARD: Discuss your desire to apply for a NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) Individual Predoctoral Fellowship with your Faculty Mentor. Researchers should check particular programs for requirements. Note: Policy Change Update: The NIH Data Management and Sharing Plan, which goes into effect on Jan 25, 2023, is applicable to all applications with receipt dates on . Below are the instructions for completing an NIH grant transfer from your current institution to your new institution. Organize the Approach section around your Specific Aims. Write a succinct summary of your project that both a scientist and a lay person can understand (to the extent that you can). Show reviewers you have a plan for spending the four or five years you will be funded no matter where the experiments lead. 100 Venture Way, Suite 201 Medical research introduces special moral and ethical problems that are not usually encountered by other researchers during data collection, and hence, the researcher should take special care in ensuring that ethical standards are met. Contact the NIH Grants Management Specialist (GMS) assigned to the existing award in order to confirm the next steps. Think of the one-page Specific Aims as a capsule of your Research Plan. (ii) What do we already know about the topic? (Top), The NIH has historically restricted the amount of direct salary an individual may charge an NIH grant or contract. Also, please note that the technical proposal must be organized and presented in accordance with the "Technical Proposal Table of Contents" found in the "Specific RFP Instructions and Provisions" section/attachment of an RFP. Please activate your account and populate your profile as soon as possible. If you look at our sample applications as a guide, you can see very different approaches. Compliance ContactUs, 2023 University of Massachusetts Amherst SitePolicies SiteContact, Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP), NSF Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU), Non-Profit Sponsors (Fdn, Inst, and Assoc), Consortium/contractual indirect costs (F&A) exempted from direct cost caps, See the Kualiquick guide for more information, NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA), FAQs on Change of Institution/Relinquishing Statement (Type 7), Public Access Policy and PubMed registration, Request new Organization (i.e. So you may want to launch your writing by creating a well-defined title. Start each section with the appropriate header: Significance, Innovation, or Approach. In the first sentence, state the significance of your research to your field and relevance to NIAID's mission: to better understand, treat, and prevent infectious, immunologic, and allergic diseases. As an example, see section C.1.3. Type of account needed (i.e., PI, Postdoc, Graduate Student, Assist): Subcontractor (consortium) Facilities & Administrative (i.e., indirect) costs are not included in the modular direct cost limits. Specific Review Guidelines. Any other commitment, either explicit or implied, is invalid. If I or my team has experience with a method, I cite it; otherwise I include enough details to convince reviewers we can handle it. Commonly referred as the NIH salary cap, it has, for a number of years, been linked to the Executive Level II salaries of the federal executive pay scale and adjusted whenever federal salaries were increased. Read the instructions at NIHs Format Attachments. NIH R01/R21 Proposal Research Administration Services Guidance Before you begin: READ THE PA/RFA SOLICITATION AND MAKE SURE YOU CHOSE THE RIGHT FUNDING OPPORUNTIY. Materials and services. As a library, NLM provides access to scientific literature. F Awards (Fellowships) T Awards (Training) C06, UC6 & G20 Awards. Summarize the agreements you have in place to support your project. See Draft Specific Aims. Especially if you are a new investigator, you need enough detail to convince reviewers that you understand what you are undertaking and can handle the method. Cite a publication that shows you can handle the method where you can, but give more details if you and your team don't have a proven record using the methodand state explicitly why you think you will succeed. Other sections, for example, research animals or select agents, do not have a page limit. For each element listed above, analyze your text and revise it until your Specific Aims hit all the key points you'd like to make. The researcher is expected to explain the steps adopted for coding and sorting the data obtained. I show how my proposed research is new and unique, e.g., explores new scientific avenues, has a novel hypothesis, will create new knowledge. Write yourself an insurance policy against human fallibility: if it's a key point, repeat it, then repeat it again. Singh MD, Cameron C, Duff D. Writing proposals for research funds. It's clear which data are mine and which are not. Explain Your Aims Research Strategy Instructions Advice for a Successful Research Strategy Graphics and Video Significance, Innovation, and Approach Tracking for Your Budget Preliminary Studies or Progress Report Referencing Publications Review and Finalize Your Research Plan Abstract and Narrative Research Plan Overview and Your Approach The Research Strategy is the nuts and bolts of your application, describing the rationale for your research and the experiments you will do to accomplish each aim. NIH Proposal & Award Guidelines | Office of the Vice President for Research I cite all papers important to my field, including those from potential reviewers. To write the Research Plan, you don't need the application forms. [13], This section deals with the reduction and reconstruction of data and its analysis including sample size calculation. Should it differ from the NOFO, go with the NIH Guide. I state how my research will advance my field, highlighting knowledge gaps and showing how my project fills one or more of them. To stay up to date with important changes in NIH policy and procedures, PIs and Business Managers may want to subscribe to theNIH Guide for Grants and Contractsor visitOPASswebsite. Since all your reviewers read your Specific Aims, you want to excite them about your project. Write your summary of the video carefully so the text would make sense even without the video. Notice in the sample applications how the writing keeps reviewers' eyes on the ball by bringing them back to the main points the PIs want to make. Note the use of formatting, whitespace, and sectioning to highlight key points and make it easier for reviewers to read the text. Home Grants & Funding The National Institutes of Health is the largest public funder of biomedical research in the world. Be sure to lay out a plan for alternative experiments and approaches in case you get negative or surprising results. Create a header so your program officer can easily find it and include the following information: Note: if you submit a renewal application before the due date of your progress report, you do not need to submit a separate progress report for your grant. Biosafety and the NIH Guidelines - University of Pittsburgh [9] It is crucial to structure this section intelligently so that the reader can grasp the argument related to your study in relation to that of other researchers, while still demonstrating to your readers that your work is original and innovative. Please refer to the instructions in your RFP to determine when (and if) submission of this plan is required. My aims can test my hypothesis and are logical. NIH uses two different formats for budget submission depending on the total direct costs requested and the activity code used. As much as possible, I use language that an educated person without expertise can understand. Subcontractor). Most students and beginning researchers do not fully understand what a research proposal means, nor do they understand its importance. For applications, a picture can truly be worth a thousand words. For instructions on how to complete an electronic change of institution application, please visit the NIH Parent Announcement website and scroll to the bottom of the webpage for Change of Grantee Organization (Type 7 Parent Clinical Trial Optional) currently this is PA-18-590. Start each of the Research Strategy's sections with a header: Significance, Innovation, and Approach. As a new investigator, I include enough detail to convince reviewers I understand and can handle a method. As we noted above, it's a good idea to restate the key points you've made about your project's significance, its place in your field, and your long-term goals.