Fund to Sustain Research Excellence
OVERVIEW

The Brigham Research Institute has developed the Fund to Sustain Research Excellence designed to offer interim support to independent investigators who submitted a non-mentored NIH grant application that was reviewed but missed the funding payline. Recipients will be chosen based on need and merit.  Applications from investigators with little or no additional support outside of BWH will take precedence over established investigators with significant other support. Priority will be given to investigators judged most likely to obtain NIH funding on resubmission. Bridge funds from the BRI are not expected to be sufficient to fully support the applicant.  Therefore, the applicant’s Department Chair or Division Chief must provide a Nomination Form indicating their commitment to provide sufficient support, beyond the BRI Fund to Sustain Research Excellence award, to allow the candidate’s research program to remain functional. Women and under-represented minorities are encouraged to apply.

 

The BRI Fund to Sustain Research Excellence is proud to have helped more than 100 investigators with greater than 7 million dollars worth of interim support.

 

AWARD AMOUNTS
  • Individual awards of $50K for one year will be available to qualified, eligible applicants.

 

GUIDELINES/ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA
  • Investigators that have recently submitted a non-mentored NIH grant application that was scored (un-scored applications will not be accepted), but just missed the payline, are eligible to apply for funding.  Applicants must be in need of support and have a potentially fundable R01 or similar non-mentored NIH grant, application can not be based on an A1 submission. R03, R21, F32 and ARRA Grants will not be eligible.  PPG/P50 projects that have not been separately submitted as an R01 will be considered on a case by case basis with preference given to those in the fundable range.
  • The investigator must document the need for bridge support (see Applications for required documentation)
  • Criteria for selection will include need and scientific merit. Scientific merit will be inferred from the NIH peer-review summary statement, priority score, and other application materials.

 

PERIODICITY
  • The application process will occur three times a year. Applicants may re-apply for the BRI Fund to Sustain Research Excellence in the event that they do not receive funding the first time.  There is a lifetime cap of a total of two years of bridge funding per BWH investigator. Upcoming deadlines are:
  • April 6, 2020
  • August 3, 2020
  • December 7, 2020
 
 
APPLICATIONS

Applicants must furnish the following required materials:

  • A cover letter of no more than two pages outlining:
  • The investigator’s situation, inclusive of a statement of need.
  • The size of the research group supported by the applicant
  • How the investigator will use FSRE funds to improve re-submission
  • Details of how reviewer concerns will be addressed
  • Nomination Form from Department Chair or Division Chief (you MUST submit the BRI Nomination form provided; no exceptions)
  • Letter of support from Department Chair or Division Chief (optional, but strongly recommended). This is in additional to the nomination form.
  • NIH review summary statement (including the score and percentile)
  • BWH Insight agreement summary:
  • visit https://insight4.partners.org/
  • Click on the hyperlink to “Agreements”
  • Click “awards” section, enter the last name of the PI in the search box. Select the correct PI from the list that appears and click “search”
  • when you get the list of all the PI agreements, click on the “download” symbol in the upper right hand part of the screen
  • A box will appear with fields to select/unselect to customize report, click generate report
  • NIH Other support pages
  • Investigator’s NIH bio-sketch

 

REQUESTS FOR A SECOND YEAR OF FUNDING

If, and only if, an individual has not yet resubmitted the R01 on which the original FSRE award was based, he or she may apply for a second year of funding. In order to so do, applicants must submit a status report that includes the following information:

  • A report of how the first year funds were used, what progress has been made toward grant resubmission, and how a second year of funding would be used
  • Updated financial information, including an Insight statement
  • A letter of continued support from Department or Division chair

Applicants will be considered for a second year of support based on the review of the status report. The deadline for the submission of second-year requests is 2 months prior to the end of the first-year funding period. Requests must be submitted here: http://bwhcfdd.partners.org/Listing.aspx?courseId=484

Applications accepted from 07/11/2018 12PM to 12/06/2021 11PM.