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Research Bridge Funding

Description:

The purpose of bridge funding is to allow continuation of a focused research program that: (a) has recently lost, or is about to lose, extramural funding despite efforts by the applicant to renew or replace this funding; (b) has a strong likelihood of being refunded. Financial support by CCOM is provided in collaboration with the faculty member’s department and the VPR’s office.

Deadlines: August 1, December 1, April 1

 

Eligibility:

Investigator Eligibility:

• Must be a CCOM faculty member. In most cases, the applicant should be on the tenure track. Those on other tracks should communicate with the Dean’s office (com-research@uiowa.edu) to confirm eligibility.

Grant Eligibility:

• The applicant needs to be the principal investigator (PI) on the grant to be bridged.

• There must already be a grant submitted to competitively renew or replace the grant to be bridged. The submitted grant must have undergone review by the sponsoring agency within 1 year of the bridging request.

• Grant to be bridged must have provided significant funding for research (e.g., NIH R01 or R21, K-awards, or subprojects on U- and P-series; DoD; VA).

• Grant to be bridged needs to have ended or be in no-cost extension or be close to termination.

• PIs that have received R56 funding from the NIH to bridge a grant near the payline are eligible for support provided the revised application was submitted during the period of R56 support, and has undergone peer review.

Award and Budget Information:

•  Applicants can request up to the following amounts for 12 months of support:

$100,000 per request for R01 or equivalent

$50,000 per request for R21

$250,000 for program project grants on which the overall PI is a University of Iowa faculty member; otherwise bridging will be limited to $100,000 for a component project conducted at the University of Iowa

$50,000 for a K award transitioning to an R award

•  Allowable budget items include

Salary support for graduate students and/or P&S employees who have been paid from the grant to be bridged and are included on the budget for the grant(s) to be submitted.

Limited animal costs

Limited supplies

Excluded budget items include

Faculty salaries

Tuition for graduate students

Stipends for undergraduate students

Equipment

Travel

Stipends/salaries for increased personnel to a research program.

Compensation for past deficit spending

 

Application Materials:

Supplied by Applicant:

• A summary letter (1 page) from the applicant addressing need and eligibility for the bridging request

• Testament from the applicant’s mentoring committee indicating willingness to help review/critique proposal prior to submission

• A list of all current personnel, including graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, in the requestor’s program, and their sources of funding.

• Categorized budget. Include full name of key personnel to be supported.

• The applicant’s CCOM-formatted CV or NIH-formatted Biosketch

• ORCiD identifier with all publications up to date within ORCiD

• A detailed description of the applicant’s plans to increase the likelihood of regaining funding (1-3 pages).

  • Include efforts to address the concerns raised in the summary statement,
  • Outline a timeline for work and the target date of next submission.
  • Describe an advisory committee of internal or external faculty who will review grant application outline at least 8 weeks before submission. The applicant may request additional funds to support the involvement of an external member of the committee (https://medicine.uiowa.edu/research/funding-opportunities/ccom-support-external-review-grant-applications).
  • Describe efforts to enhance clarity or the application itself. The CCOM strongly encourages bridge funding awardees to use the resources of the COM Scientific Editing and Research Communication Core (SERCC) in preparing their resubmitted grant, and adhere to their recommended timeline (https://medicine.uiowa.edu/sercc/file/266). Note that the services of the SERCC are sometimes cost shared by various departments, institutes, and centers (https://medicine.uiowa.edu/sercc/pricing-1 ).

Supplied by Department Administration:

• A letter of recommendation from the DEO including Department’s commitment to at least 1/3 of the budget. The DEO or a designee (e.g., division director and/or center director) is expected to critically evaluate the merit of the bridging request prior to submitting a recommendation.

• List of funds available in existing research accounts.

Supplied by CCOM administration:

• Publications from ORCiD

• List of all grants submitted (funded or not) during the past 10 years.

EVALUATION CRITERIA

• The PI should have a consistent record of publication productivity.

• There should be a strong likelihood of renewing or replacing the bridged grant. Assessment will be based on based on the critiques in the summary statement of the un-funded grant proposal and a detailed plan for how the PI will strengthen a revised or new grant application.

EVALUATION PROCESS

An internal CCOM faculty will evaluate the bridge request and make recommendations for funding. Members with a  conflict-of-interest will recuse themselves from the evaluation. The committee will meet three times each year (August, December, and April) to review requests. Recommendations of the committee for bridge funding will be considered by the Executive Associate Dean and Dean of the CCOM. Those deemed meritorious will be forwarded to the Vice President for Research for further consideration. The applicant and DEO of the applicant’s department will be notified of the funding decision.

 

Application Deadlines:

August 1, December 1, April 1

Apply here:  https://uiowa.infoready4.com/#competitionDetail/1850248

Questions should be directed to Erin Brothers

 

Updated 3/30/22