Team Science Grant

Project Award Amount $75,000
CTSI Team Science Program only sponsors Spring Cycles

Description

The goal of this award is to spark innovation by stimulating new collaborations between researchers from diverse fields and/or between researchers and community partners. For the purposes of this funding opportunity, ‘Team Science’ is broadly defined, including multiple scientific disciplines, and encouraging but not requiring non-traditional investigators from community-based settings as co-investigators. This award will provide funding to facilitate cross-disciplinary research projects concerning any subject area in biomedical, population health, and health services research. Proposals will be evaluated based upon the strength of the proposed science, the qualifications of team members, and the perceived value of the new collaboration in generating novel research findings. Awards are for one year and are not renewable.

Scientific discipline diversity is required, and diversity in terms of gender and race/ethnicity of scientists on the team is encouraged. Projects require teams with at least two PIs who have not previously worked together, as documented by lack of prior shared research grants or co-authored publications. Full teams can consist of up to 4 PIs. All PIs will share equal responsibilities for the project, but the PI1 will be assigned as the contact PI. In addition to PIs, the team can include traditional and non-traditional co-investigators and other personnel. Non-traditional co-I’s may include stakeholders who are expected in the longer term to benefit from research outcomes, such as representatives of patient and community groups, healthcare organizations, or policy makers. The role of each team member should be clearly defined. Non-traditional co-I’s included in the proposal must bring special expertise to the research team that will contribute to and enhance successful attainment of the stated goals of the project. Please maintain consistency when listing team members’ roles in the body of the proposal, the team table, and the budget.

Eligibility

Eligibility requirements need to be met as of the date of submission - no waivers will be accepted.

Who’s Eligible as a PI?
UCSF Faculty in any Series (Ladder Rank, In Residence, Clinical X, Health Science Clinical, Adjunct) in all ranks (Instructor, Assistant, Associate, Full Professor) and Without Salary Faculty from affiliated organizations may apply. Appointees in the Professional Research Series and Librarian Series may also apply.

Who’s Not Eligible as a PI?
Graduate students, Post-doctoral trainees, Residents, Fellows, Specialists, non-USCF faculty, and non-traditional investigators.

Submission Rules

Criteria for Review/Evaluation of Applications

The proposal will be evaluated based on the following criteria: click here to view the review form for this grant mechanism.

In addition to responsiveness to the RFA, preference will be given to proposals that demonstrate the following:

  1. Strength and especially breadth of scientific disciplines represented in the newly formed team; there must be representation by investigators from diverse fields.
  2. A clear description of the responsibilities and unique contributions of each team member and of the organization of the team, relative to the aims of the project.
  3. Strengths of the proposed study design and goals.
  4. Likelihood of follow-on extramural funding for a new multidisciplinary project.
  5. A clear description of the deliverable(s) at the end of the funding period.
  6. Funder specific focus:
  • The Academic Senate encourages projects in all scientific areas.
  • REAC also encourages projects in all scientific areas. REAC can only fund projects in which the contact PI has an appointment in the School of Medicine.
  • CTSI/CCE only sponsors Spring Cycles and will only fund projects that include at least one non-traditional investigator from community-based setting as a co-investigator.

Selection of Awardees
Funding decisions are made independently by each funding agency based on several factors – scientific review score, alignment of proposal to funder’s strategic goals, proposal research area of focus, and specifically called-out eligibility or other requirements like membership in a center, affiliation with a specific school or relevance to a stated auxiliary topic. Final scores will be a combination of a Team Composition assessment and a project scientific content review.

TO APPLY:

STEP 1) Complete the electronic application formPlease note there are several pieces of information that need to be provided directly via the electronic application form (selecting the appropriate grant mechanism, providing demographic information, uploading an abstract, etc.).

Click here to preview an inactive template of the electronic application form.

STEP 2) Upload your proposal as a SINGLE PDF that includes all the things listed in numeric order in the instructions below.


INSTRUCTIONS FOR PROPOSAL PDF

Please write your proposal following the instructions listed below and create one single PDF file. Do not include form fields in your PDF document.

Proposal Length: Scientific Proposal: Maximum 6 pages, including figures and tables, excluding table of contents and literature cited. Team composition: no page limit.
Format Requirements: Arial font; 11 pt; minimum 0.5 inch for all margins; no appendices; include page numbers and table of contents.

RESUBMISSIONS
Definition: same research topic with an amended application or research plan rather than a new research topic and new research plan.
Requirements: Please use up to one extra page to introduce your revised proposal, addressing the issues raised in the review, and any additional changes to your proposal. Make sure the new edits are highlighted in bold or italic font so the reviewers can easily see where and how the proposal has changed. Do not use "track changes". A new letter of support from the Department Chair or other Unit Head is required in all cases.

1. P.I. Name(s) - PIs need to have UCSF faculty appointments. If funded, PI1 will be the primary contact for the award set up and management. Only one application is permitted per cycle from a given named PI, where a PI is any of the PIs from the multi-PI team of the Team Science proposal.

2. Project Title

3. Scientific Proposal (maximum 6 pages, including figures and tables, excluding Diversity Statement and literature cited)

  • Specific Aims: Do not submit an application that describes an idea that is the same or similar to one used in a previously funded RAP grant. If it is a similar idea, describe how the new proposed research is uniquely different.
  • Feasibility: Describe what steps you are taking to ensure the proposed project can be completed within the one-year project period for this grant (approximately 300-word max).
  • Background and Significance
  • Preliminary Studies
  • Experimental Design and Methods (include timeline)
  • Diversity Statement (up to 1 page): Describe how the project will support diversity or address disparities based on gender, race/ethnicity, or other characteristics. Diversity can be represented through team composition and/or through project activities. If diversity is not included in the team composition, it could also be reflected in an alternate diversity plan, such as a mentoring program or presentation to minority students.
  • Explain how this pilot project will lead to extramural funding (government, foundation, or industry)

It is recommended that PIs with projects involving human participants prepare an IRB application concurrently with the application for funding. Please refer to the UCSF Human Research Protection Program to determine if your research requires IRB review and if your research meets the definition of human subjects research.

4. Team Composition

(Complete the Team Composition form and include it in your submitted proposal). You can edit this form in PDF format if you have the software capability or you can export it to a Word doc format and then edit. You will need to convert the completed form to a pdf document before combining with the Scientific Proposal and submitting.

  • Multiple PI(s): min. 2 and max. 4 (PI1 is the Contact PI). PIs need to have UCSF faculty appointments: Enter Name, Title, & Department on the Team Composition form (In the electronic application form only PI1 and PI2 can be entered).
  • Co-Investigators(s): max. 5. Enter Name, Title, & Department/Affiliation (or community organization) on the Team Composition form
  • Please describe any funded or pending collaborative multidisciplinary research projects you have with multi-PIs or Co-Investigators on this application.
  • Please provide a 1-2 sentence description of the roles for each member of the proposed team.
  • Please describe how the members of the team complement each other and why they are uniquely qualified to address the research question.
  • Please describe the methods you will use to ensure that your multidisciplinary collaboration will be successful.
  • Please describe any multidisciplinary, team science and/or diversity training that has or is occurring within your team.
  • Please indicate whether any investigators are underrepresented group members based on gender, race/ethnicity, or other characteristics.
  • If applicable, please describe how your proposal meets the definition of broadly engaged team science with non-traditional co-investigators from community-based settings.  Describe how the non-traditional co-investigators contribute to and enhance successful attainment of the stated goals of the project.

UCSF Profiles has research information on over 6,300 postdocs, residents, fellows, and faculty. Visit profiles.ucsf.edu to find potential new members for your Team Science grant application.

5. Detailed Budget $75,000 maximum per proposal; round up to the nearest thousand (i.e. instead of $74,866 list $75,000).

Use the following form: PHS 398 Form Page 4, "Detailed Budget for the Initial Period":
http://grants.nih.gov/grants/funding/phs398/phs398.html

   Budget Preparation Resources:

 

Allowable

Not Allowable

PI Salary *

X

 

Co-Investigator(s) Salary

 X

 

Post Doc Salary

X

 

Network Recharge Rates

X

 

Administrative Support

X

 

Supplies

X

 

Equipment

 

X

Software

 

X

Personal Computers

 

X

Mailing

X

 

Network Recharge Rates

X

 

General Automobile and Employee Liability (GAEL)

 

X

Tuition

 

X

Travel (Domestic only)

X**

 

Research Staff Support (e.g. RSA; Lab. Technician)

X

 

Patient Care

 

X

Indirect costs on subcontracts at other universities

 

X

Publication fees; max $5K X  

General Guidelines:

*The NIH base salary cap applies.  PIs are required to list their effort whether it is paid or in kind.

PI partial salary support should be well-justified with respect to project activities. Due to their small size, RAP grants are designed for project support and are not intended to provide PI salary support unrelated to the project.  PI salary amounts greater than ~10% of the requested award amount (e.g., $5,000 of a $50K award proposal, not 10% FTE) must be well justified and it should reflect work done by the PI to conduct specific scientific tasks on the project (e.g. data collection, computation) and not merely general supervision of project goals and personnel. Multiple PIs can decide how to distribute the 10% salary support among themselves (e.g., 5%/5% or 6%/4%).

  • The 10% limit on salary support is a guideline and includes SALARY & FRINGE BENEFITS.
  • Update: General Automobile and Employee Liability (GAEL) are NOT allowable costs.
  • The award amount is DIRECT COST ONLY

**REAC can only fund travel required as part of the specific research project and should be clearly described and justified. Travel to scientific meetings is not an allowable expense.

6. Budget Justification: Clearly and fully justify all costs. Budget Overlap - If the proposed study is closely related or a sub-study of existing funded research listed in the applicant’s bio sketch, clarify the relationship between the two projects and confirm that there is no overlap in funding.

For all personnel, clearly identify any discrepancies between the actual effort (i.e. real percent time) the individual will contribute to the project, versus the amount of salary effort they are requesting.  This is particularly important for personnel/PI's who expect to contribute project effort with little or no salary, such as those whose salary is above the NIH base salary cap.

Recall: PI salary amounts greater than ~10% of the requested award amount must be well justified.

NOTE: If your Other Support references projects that may appear to have scientific or budgetary overlap with this proposal, please clearly identify and explain why this proposal is unique and non-overlapping.

7. NIH BioSketch of Principal Investigator and Co-Investigator(s) and UCSF Faculty Mentor(s) (if applicable), (5 page format):

·         Use Form Version H at https://grants.nih.gov/grants/forms/biosketch-blank-format-rev-10-2021.docx
·         Include bio sketches for both PIs of a multi-PI application
·         Only NIH Bio sketch version H will be accepted with RAP applications this Spring 2024 Cycle.

Other support pages of Principal Investigator(s) and Co-Investigator(s) and UCSF Faculty Mentor(s)  

8. Letter(s) of Support: Provide a letter of support from the department chair or other unit head. In addition, for early-career investigators, department chairs/unit heads should comment on the independence of the applicant and availability of research space and other resources for the proposed research. Include the letter of support at the end of your PDF proposal and address it to the RAP Committee. A letter of support is required for each PI. The chair/unit head can vouch for multiple PIs from the same department/unit in a single letter.