Bloomberg School Guidance on the Life Sciences Research Initiative
We were very excited when the University announced two opportunities to offset the impacts of changes to federal funding: the Research Resilience Fund (RRF) and the Life Sciences Research Initiative (LSRI).
The LSRI includes two different programs. The high-impact individual awards support individual faculty or small teams with funding from $100K to $250K per year for a two year period. The transformational team science awards will be in the range of $2.5 million per year over a four-year period. Full applications for the individual awards and letters of intent (LOI) for the transformational team awards are both due July 15.
In support of Bloomberg School faculty applying for the transformational team awards, we are requesting interested teams to submit a brief description of their proposal along with their team members. We also ask teams to identify any disciplinary expertise that would be beneficial to incorporate into their proposal, for which they have not identified an appropriate collaborator. We are requesting this information for two purposes:
First, the Vice Dean for Research office in collaboration with the Office of the Vice Provost for Research (OVPR) will attempt to connect teams with potential collaborators throughout our University based on identified need.
Second, if we identify proposals with overlapping themes, we may put those teams in touch to discuss whether a collaborative approach may be preferred to competing applications.
Through these efforts, we hope to enhance collaborative expertise, consolidate efforts which may strengthen applications, and enhance likelihood of funding for investigators at the School. This request is not mandatory and is not part of the review process.
Application Process
If you are interested in providing this information, please fill out this simple LSRI Concept Summary Form providing a brief abstract of your project and team members. We will review your submission as promptly as possible and will offer our recommendations for collaboration, including facilitating introductions and arranging meetings as appropriate. We will accept these submissions on a rolling basis, recognizing that with such a short timeframe until applications are due that there is limited time to connect with collaborators and adapt proposals.
In parallel with your submission to the VDR, upon your request we will also submit your information to the LSRI advisory group as part of their pre-LOI process. They will review and make suggestions regarding program fit and alignment with this initiative.
If you have any questions on this process, please contact us at bsph.research@jh.edu.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is there a template for the LOI budget document that is required? Or can we cover this in broad strokes?
A full budget is not required at the LOI stage, so simple descriptive text of what the overall projected amount and broad categories will be adequate. The advisory group anticipates many coming from basic science, so identification of investments in equipment will be pertinent. Also, if you were anticipating shaping the proposal into cores like a program project grant, it would be reasonable to give some apportionment by the cores.
Should F&A be budgeted for these grants? And if so, is that included or on top of the $100K-$250K per year published amount?
Consistent with other internal awards, no indirect costs should be included in proposed budgets.