Call for Applications: 2025 Faculty Innovation Fund Awards
- June Burke
Dear Colleagues,
The Faculty Innovation Fund supports the research of full-time, early-stage faculty with a primary appointment in the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The goal of this fund is to stimulate innovative, preliminary data-driven research projects that will strengthen the faculty member’s research trajectory and support future funding applications.
Assistant professors, both in the tenure and non-tenure tracks, and assistant scientists who are the primary investigator on their projects are eligible. As these are research-focused awards, assistant professors in the practice or teaching tracks and assistant scientists must articulate their current level of support and how this award will impact their individual research career trajectory. The deadline for this round of Faculty Innovation Fund applications is March 24, 2025 at 11:59 p.m. Application information and other details are provided below.
The 2024 Faculty Innovation Fund awardees are Ashley Song (Mental Health), Katherine Miller (Health, Policy and Management), Astha Ramaiya (Population, Family and Reproductive Health), and Dongqing Xu (Biochemistry and Molecular Biology). A listing of previous awardees is available here.
What are the Faculty Innovation Fund awards?
These awards are for up to $50,000, and generally two to four applications are awarded annually. Project budgets can range from $25,000 to $50,000. Please only apply for the amount your project needs – recognizing our goal to support the best projects while funding as many investigators as possible and that we can fund two $25k awards compared to one for $50k. Pilot, formative and development studies that can be leveraged into competitive grant applications are the focus of these awards. Applications for collaborative projects are permitted if both PIs fulfill eligibility criteria. Awards can be used to purchase equipment or supplies, pay student or staff salaries, and support other research needs. Salary support is permitted for up to 10% effort for faculty. Ten percent is allowable for faculty effort in total, which in most cases will be to support the principal investigator. This could also be apportioned to other early-stage faculty, but only up to 10% total effort for salary of faculty. Effort for senior faculty members at the associate to professorial rank is not allowed.
Awards are for one year of support. Individuals can receive only one Faculty Innovation Fund award per career. Applicants for a Faculty Innovation Fund award cannot receive overlapping funding from other internal awards focused on similar projects (e.g., Center for Global Health, Bloomberg American Health Initiative).
All areas of scientific inquiry are eligible for this award. However, two sources of funding are specific to cancer research; please specify if you would like your application to be considered for either of these:
Ho-Ching Yang Memorial Faculty Award. Supports projects involved in cancer research that have particular importance to improving the health of populations.
The Richard L. Gelb Cancer Prevention Fund. Supports research efforts in cancer prevention that assist in translating those findings into practical strategies and programs.
The Gustave Martin Award for Faculty Innovation in HIV Research is provided annually through a BSPH endowment. However, this award is administered through the Center for AIDS Research (CFAR) as a Faculty Development Award, with funding of up to $50,000 and due dates annually in August. While HIV-focused research will still be considered in this current call for applications, investigators should briefly indicate the rationale for applying for this award as opposed to CFAR’s award.
How do I apply?
Please email a .pdf with your name as the file name with all materials compiled into a single document, to BSPH.research@jhu.edu by Monday, March 24, 2025 at 11:59 p.m. EST.
What is the application format?
The body of the application can be no longer than five single-spaced pages (11-point Arial font with narrow 0.5-inch margins) and contain the following: abstract, introduction, specific aims, methods, and impact. Preliminary data is not required for this application, but, if available, relevant preliminary data may be included in the introduction section. The significance section should include how this work will aid in your career development as an independent investigator, what is novel about it, how it will serve to move your field forward, and its relevance to supporting your research trajectory and future grant submissions.
The application should also include an NIH-format biographical sketch, a brief proposed budget, other support page (including pending applications), tables/figures (two-page limit), and references as appropriate. A letter of support from the department chair should indicate that the faculty member is supported by the department toward a career development trajectory to advance their research contributions. The Department chairs should specifically address the current level of support for the faculty member and how this application would facilitate their career trajectory as a funded PI. These latter materials are not included in the limit of five pages.
If you are submitting a revised application from a prior round, please clearly indicate how the application was modified. If the proposal is part of a larger grant, there should be a clear explanation of the larger grant and how this proposal fits into it. In writing your application, don’t try to collapse the description of an R01 into five pages. Avoid jargon. Instead, target your application to a broader audience than your specific field so that reviewers, who span the breadth of expertise in the School, can understand what you plan to do and why.
How are awardees selected?
Applications will be reviewed by a committee of senior faculty members. Notably, reviewers come from diverse disciplines and will review all applications together. Award recipients and non-selected applicants will be contacted shortly after the review meeting anticipated to occur in April or May. Funded awards can begin as early as July 1, 2025.
Please email BSPH.research@jhu.edu with any additional questions.