CAPS Research Award: Innovative Pilot Study (non-mentored)

Project Award Amount $50,000

The CAPS Research Awards (formerly known as the CAPS-HIV Innovative Grants) is designed to support either the development of an Innovative Pilot Study (non-mentored) or a Mentored Science Award in innovative HIV prevention, treatment and care, or policy research. This funding announcement pertains to the Innovative Pilot Study (non-mentored) only. Please see the Career Development section of the UCSF RAP website for information on the CAPS Mentored Science Award.

All proposals should involve social, behavioral, and public health-related topics in some capacity. The CAPS Research Award prioritizes funding innovative projects that will have the promise of leading to future NIH grant proposals, including K- and R-level awards or other extramural funding; as such, it is recommended that applicants refer to the funding priorities of the NIH’s Office of AIDS Research. We welcome research proposals involving human subjects. We are not able to fund studies involving animal or tissue cultures.

The CAPS Research Award program particularly welcomes applications addressing the following topics.

  • Social, behavioral, and public health-related approaches to:
    • Reduce the incidence of HIV;
    • Develop innovative strategies for the next generation of HIV therapies;
    • Address HIV-associated comorbidities, coinfections, and complications; or
    • Make progress toward HIV cure.
  • Populations and regions of disproportionate impact (e.g., young men who have sex with men, people experiencing housing insecurity, populations residing in high prevalence areas such as Southern US)
  • Vulnerabilities and protective factors associated with the intersection of identities based on race, sexual orientation, class, gender, mental health, geography, socioeconomic status, drug use, and other social factors that interact to affect HIV and its co-occurrence with other health conditions
  • Science to ensure that the most effective prevention and care strategies can be successfully implemented, scaled up, adapted, packaged to reach the populations most in need, and optimized for delivery 

The CAPS Research Award: Innovative Pilot Study (non-mentored): These awards will support the work of established investigators who are developing research in new topics that represent a departure from their prior work. These awards are intended to provide seed money to conduct preliminary studies and/or secondary data analyses that will support future extramural grant applications in the new area of study. 

Funding decisions will be based on merit, responsiveness to this call for proposals, feasibility of completing the project in a timely manner, and availability of funds. The maximum award amount per project is $50,000. Proposed research projects should be completed within one year of receipt of funding.

Due to the limited size of the awards, the CAPS Research Award generally discourages subcontracts.

At the recommendation of the CAPS Community Advisory Board, the following guidelines are also considered in the selection of projects:

  • The proposed study should be innovative rather than something that is already well-studied.
  • The application should explain how the proposed study fits into the larger body of published knowledge in the area.
  • The "So what?" question should be addressed. That is, the application should highlight the practical implications of the proposed project. The proposal should answer these questions: "To what will this study lead?" "Why is the proposed project a crucial step?" and "What does the study (or the line of research of which it is a part) add to the HIV research puzzle?"

Eligibility

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

The PI on the CAPS Research Award: Innovative Pilot Study must:

1. Hold a doctoral degree (PhD, PharmD, MD, etc.) or equivalent educational credential.

2. Have a UCSF home accounting department.

Who's Eligible: Faculty in all series (Ladder Rank, In Residence, Clinical X, Health Science Clinical, Adjunct) in all ranks (Instructors, Assistant Professors, Associate Professors, and Professors) are eligible. Appointees to the Professional Research Series and Librarian Series are eligible. Research specialists and principal statisticians are also eligible but need a letter from the Division Chief or Department Chair stating the person is working toward independent funding for promotion to the faculty. Two PIs are able to apply as multiple PIs (MPIs) and should include a brief leadership plan in line with NIH guidelines. Use the biosketch personal statement to present the MPI leadership plan between the two PIs. PI1 is the contact PI.

Investigators from backgrounds underrepresented in their fields (i.e., underrepresented minority [URM] backgrounds) are strongly encouraged to apply. See this link for guidance.

Who's Not Eligible: Medical Residents, Fellows and Postdocs.

Funding Restrictions: Postdoctoral fellows receiving federal funding are not eligible to receive salary support under this mechanism. Current policies regarding concurrent funding for NIH K awardees apply. Current K awardees are advised to seek guidance from the assigned NIH Program Official and Grants Management Specialist overseeing their K award. Written authorization for concurrent salary support may be required prior to funding.

Submission Rules

Research Resources
CAPS offers multiple core resources for the design, conduct, and analysis of pilot research, and PIs are encouraged to use them when preparing proposals for this submission. Details about the CAPS cores can be found at https://prevention.ucsf.edu/about/caps-structure-and-cores.

Criteria for Review/Evaluation of Applications
Proposals will be reviewed based on innovation in HIV prevention research, quality, feasibility, and potential to lead to NIH R01-funded research.

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

Award Administration
Projects are for one year and are not renewable.

All awardees are required to submit a brief progress report at the end of 6 months and a final report after 12 months. Awardees may also be asked to deliver a presentation about their research findings at a CAPS Town Hall. Funds are awarded with the expectation that the pilot studies will lead to extramural funding, and progress reports should be written with this in mind. Brief annual surveys will document the longer-term impact of the awards.

Selection of Awardees
Funding decisions are made independently by each funding agency based on multiple factors, including scientific review score, alignment of proposal to funder’s strategic goals, proposal research area of focus, and agency-specific eligibility or other requirements like membership in a center, affiliation with a specific school or relevance to a stated auxiliary topic.

IRB Approval
All studies that involve human participants require approval by the UCSF Institutional Review Board (IRB) prior to conducting the research. However, IRB approval is not a prerequisite for submission. If a project is selected for funding, proof of UCSF IRB approval must be supplied before funds can be released. If IRB approval is not obtained within 90 days of the preliminary award offer, the offer of funding may be withdrawn. Per the requirements of the National Institute of Mental Health (which supports CAPS and the CAPS Research Award), projects that are conducted in international locations must also obtain approval from an appropriate foreign Institutional Review Board and secure U.S. State Department clearance prior to commencing research activities in the foreign location. Details on the process for securing State Department clearance will be provided, as appropriate, to applicants selected for potential funding. Please note that application timelines for international research should account for typical delays in UCSF IRB, international-based IRB, and state department approvals.

TO APPLY:

STEP 1) Complete the electronic application form. Please 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. See the following link for tips on successful applications.

Proposal Length: Maximum six pages, including figures and tables, excluding table of contents, protection of human subjects (if applicable), and literature cited.

Format Requirements: Arial font; 11 pt; minimum 0.5 inch for all margins; no appendices; include page numbers and table of contents.

RESUBMISSIONS
Definition: The same research topic with an amended application submitted in response to comments from a RAP scientific review committee rather than a new research topic and new research plan.
Requirements: Please use up to one extra page to introduce your revised proposal, address the issues raised in the review, and make 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. PI Name(s). Only ONE application per MPI is permitted per cycle.

2. Project Title (up to 200 characters, including spaces and punctuation).

3. Proposal (maximum six pages, including figures and tables, excluding protection of human subjects and literature cited)

  • Responsiveness to the call for proposals: Brief explanation of how the proposed application is responsive to the interest areas of the CAPS Research Award: Innovative Pilot Study. The Program supports innovative new directions in HIV research.
  • Describe how the proposed study is innovative and represents a departure from the PI’s prior work. Please note: the intention of this type of award is to support scientists who are beginning to study research topics that are significantly different from the topics of their prior work. It is important for the PI to explain clearly why the proposed research represents a fundamentally new direction.
  • Aims: Brief description of the goals and objectives of the project, including a description of its 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, advances the science, and addresses a remaining gap.
  • 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 words max).
  • Background and significance: Description of the relevant background literature and of how the proposed study would advance knowledge about HIV prevention, treatment, morbidity, and/or mortality, and description of how this project is innovative or will lead to an innovative approach in HIV prevention research.
  • Preliminary studies: Discuss the PI’s preliminary studies, data, and/or experience pertinent to this application. Applicants are not required to have extensive preliminary data and/or experience as long as they justify how this application will lead to future funding and research career goals.
  • Experimental design and methods: Description of the research design, specific research methods, and data analysis procedures to be used.
  • Project timeline: Outline of when project activities are expected to occur. Many investigators choose to display this information in a table. It is important in this section to demonstrate the feasibility of completing the proposed work in one year. Applicants, particularly those proposing to conduct international research, should also use this section to describe any existing resources and infrastructure that will facilitate the timely completion of the work. It is expected that the project, once all approvals have been obtained, will take one year. Important to note: After IRB approval is obtained, all projects must then be approved by NIMH with respect to the topic under study and methods, as well as the budget itself. If this is an international project, both UCSF and the international IRB must approve the project prior to it being submitted to NIMH for review.
  • Explain how this pilot project is important for your career goals (e.g., lead to major funding, etc.)
  • Inclusion criteria, including a Planned Enrollment Table (not included in page limit) NIH policy, to which all grants must adhere, specifies that funded research should be open to all individuals regardless of race/ethnicity or gender unless there is a compelling scientific rationale for exclusion. Furthermore, research must include children unless there is a compelling scientific rationale for their exclusion. Please remember that, for purposes of NIH federal grants, children are considered to be individuals ranging in age from birth through age 18. Adults are individuals 18 years of age or older.
  • Briefly describe and justify inclusion criteria based on race/ethnicity.
  • Briefly describe and justify inclusion criteria based on gender.
  • Briefly describe and justify inclusion criteria based on age, with particular attention to any criterion that systematically excludes children.

As is required for proposals submitted directly to the NIH, grant applications should complete a Planned Enrollment Table. Use the following form: "Planned Enrollment Report": https://rap.ucsf.edu/sites/g/files/tkssra4646/f/wysiwyg/PlannedReport-V1.0.pdf

  • Literature cited (not included in page limit)
  • Protection of human subjects (not included in page limit). If the proposed work involves human subjects (see this link for details), you must address the topics detailed in sections 4.1.1 through 4.1.5 in section II of the NIH guide found here (pages II-8 through II-11). Note that it can usually be covered in less than two pages.

4. Detailed Budget - The maximum award amount per proposal is $50,000; round up to the nearest thousand (i.e., instead of $49,869, list $50,000). 

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

 

Network Recharge Rates

X

 

Post Doc Salary

 

X

Administrative Support

X

 

Supplies

X

 

Equipment

 

X

Software

X

 

Personal Computers

X

 

Mailing

X

 

Tuition

 

X

Travel

X

 

Research Staff Support

X

 

Patient Care

 

X

Indirect costs on subcontracts

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. A PI appointed as a Postdoctoral Scholar on a federal training grant such as a T32 or F32 may not receive salary support from a CAPS Research Award: Innovative Pilot Study (non-mentored).

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. If there are two PIs, the 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.
  • ​For all personnel listed on the grant, please describe their qualifications, roles, and responsibilities on the project, as well as the proposed effort. This includes descriptions for “To Be Hired” positions.
  • Please remember that most faculty and staff cannot “donate” time to a project. They must assign some percent effort to the grant (a minimum of 1% effort is required, but more is preferable). An exception occurs when a faculty member has a discretionary source of funding that permits effort donation (in general, grants and contracts are not discretionary sources of funding). A second exception occurs for postdoctoral fellows already supported full-time on NIH training grants (i.e., grant numbers that begin with T32 or F32) and faculty members on NIH early career K awards (e.g., K01, K08, K23). They cannot be paid for their effort, as stipulated by the rules of these training grants. Individuals who cannot be paid on the CAPS Research Award should still describe the percent effort they intend to dedicate toward the project. A note should also be included in their description to explain why no salary support is requested. (For example, “Dr. XXX has not requested salary support because they are currently funded on an NIH postdoctoral training grant (T32 MH12345).”
  • Other (non-personnel) expenses: Please describe the specific nature of the costs and how total expenses for the item were estimated. (For example, “Participant incentives, $1750. Thirty-five participants will each be provided with a $50 cash payment for completing a key informant interview.”) If an expense will be incurred in a foreign currency, please convert the expense to US dollars. 
  • IMPORTANT NOTE: In general, the CAPS Research Award discourages subcontracts. Executing subcontracts is labor intensive for CAPS administrative personnel and results in only small amounts of money being moved to the subcontractor. However, the CAPS Research Award also recognizes that subcontracts are sometimes unavoidable. Applicants who believe that they will need a subcontract should contact the CAPS Research Award in advance and receive approval to include a subcontract in their proposed budget. Subcontracts will only be approved for projects that are viewed as being feasible to complete in a one-year time frame. At the time of approval, specific directions will be provided for how to present the subcontract in the application. Please note that it is not considered appropriate for a PI to assign the majority of research effort to a subcontractor and then to be minimally involved in the collection of the data.

5. 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/PIs who expect to contribute to project effort with little or no salary, such as postdocs or 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.

6. NIH Biosketch of Principal Investigator(s) and Co-Investigator(s), (5-page format):

7. Other support pages of Principal Investigator(s) and Co-Investigator(s)

8. Letter(s) of support: Provide a letter of support from the department chair or other unit head. Research specialists and principal statisticians need to provide a letter of support from the Department Chair or Division Chief stating the person is working toward independent funding for promotion to the faculty. Please include the letter of support at the end of your PDF proposal and address it to the RAP Committee.