Spring 2020 COVID-19 Grant Program

Submission Deadline: April 13, 2020 by 11:59 p.m., with a rolling deadline until all funding is allocated.

The College of Health Solutions (CHS) announces the COVID-19 grant program for faculty. The purpose of the program is twofold: 1) to develop and foster transdisciplinary and translational team research collaborations within CHS, across ASU, and with external partners related to COVID -19; and 2) to generate pilot data for subsequent proposals for external research funding related to COVID-19. Applications should strive to address one or more of the following topics (including their inter-relationships):

1. Behavioral Health - including mental health, exercise, diet, drug use, etc
2. Biomedical – Immunology (cellular response) and Virology
3. Communication - including social media, risk/crisis communication, emergency notification, disinformation, news)
4. Economic and Policy Outcomes
5. Education and Training (including emergency management and preparedness, physical
6. Epidemiology - including transmission, environment, climate, waterborne/airborne particles
7. Health Care Services - quality of care, training, workforce, health systems)
8. Health Informatics, Data Analytics, and Visualization
9. Social Systems and Social determinants - including underserved, homeless, legal
10. Mathematics, Statistics, and Modeling
11. Population and Public Health

Proposals are also encouraged to support the implementation of the COVID-19 Translational Team goals. Groups of investigators are permitted to submit more than one proposal. Only quality proposals with solid science will be funded. Proposals must meet all criteria described below.

If awarded, it is anticipated that the COVID-19 grant will lead to the successful submission of a large proposal (e.g., 7-10x the budget of the pilot) to a federal sponsor, foundation or other funding entity, as well as at least one peer-reviewed publication.

Awards

The COVID-19 grant program will support 12-month pilot research awards described below.

 Pilot Research of up to $20,000. You may request an exception and must provide a justification for that exception. The research award should generate preliminary data for future submission of applications with a larger scope and larger budget (e.g., NIH R21, NIH R01; NSF; PCORI; DOEd, DOD, national not-for-profit).

There will be $100,000 available for funding. We anticipate approving approximately 5-7 Research awards. All funded grants will be expected to collaborate with other teams as part of the COVID-19 Translational Team initiative.

Eligibility

 All CHS faculty (including tenured, tenure-track, research, and clinical) are encouraged to apply, but must be eligible and willing to apply for external funding as indicated above.
 Co-PIs are required. At least one of the PIs must have a primary academic assignment in CHS. The other PIs can be from another discipline within or external to CHS indicating the transdisciplinary nature of the project and research team and that the proposed scope of work represents new research for the team. Other Co-Is may also be included. Inclusion of Co-Is at different career stages in a team which create opportunities for mentoring is encouraged.

Criteria for Award

 Significance to a COVID-19-related problem or challenge
 Innovative
 The approach implements appropriate design, methods, and analyses
 Project/Research Team (indicate expertise of the Co-PIs and Co-Is and how they will work together; describe any mentoring opportunities)
 The one-year timeline is doable and feasible
 Plan for future funding with names of potential sponsors and specific grant mechanisms
 Budget is adequate to complete project in the timeline presented.
 The following proposal characteristics will have the highest priority for funding:
1. Proposals from Translational Teams, that is collaborative teams that include researchers, community partners and students. Examples of community partners include health care systems, government organizations, schools, non-profit organizations, businesses, etc. Students can be post-doc, pre-doc, undergraduate and high school. 
2. Projects that include collaboration between academic programs within the college, and those that incorporate Affinity Networks and Cores
3. Projects that address the needs of underserved populations

Application

A letter of intent (LOI) is NOT required. Use Arial 11pt font with at least 0.5’’ margins, single-spaced. Please also include a title page and references (these are not included in the page length limitations). Specific application details are below.

 Title page; title, investigators, affiliations, contact email and signature acknowledging that they are part of the team.
 Specific Aims and hypotheses; maximum of one page (hypotheses may not be applicable for Engagement/Capacity Building applications)
 Research Plan (all included in page limitations; maximum of 4 pages for Pilot Research application)
o Significance
o Innovation
o Approach
o Project/Research Team (indicate multidisciplinary expertise of the Co-PIs and Co-Is and how they will work together; describe any mentoring opportunities)
o Timeline
o Plan for future funding with names of potential sponsors and specific grant mechanisms
 References
 Budget (use template at the end of this document)
o Funds cannot be used to support faculty salary. Allowable expenses include project-related travel, software, student/staff support, biostatistics consulting, participant incentives, supplies, and minor equipment. Please add 8.5% of the total direct costs for the administrative service fee that ASU charges internally.
o If you do not put a budget, it is automatically disqualified.
 Budget Justification: One page only.
 If funded, IRB/IBC/IACUC approval is required within 1 month of award notification. Funds will not be distributed until documentation is received by CHS Research Success personnel.
 NIH formatted biosketch for all PIs, Co-Is, or other key personnel https://grants.nih.gov/grants/forms/biosketch.htm
 Letters/email of support from key personnel and site representative (required).

No supplemental content is allowed (e.g., appendices).

Submission

Send a PDF application to CHSPilotGrants@asu.edu

Applications received after the date will accepted, although those received first will receive priority. Rolling deadline will extend until funds are allocated.

Review

All submissions will be reviewed by members of an ad hoc committee that includes CHS faculty (faculty from other academic units may also be asked to review applications as needed). The NIH scoring system (1-9) will be utilized for each criterion: Significance; Innovation; Approach; Environment; Investigators. In addition, we will review for future funding potential.

The transdisciplinary and collaborative nature of the work and plan for future funding will also be considered and scored. Budgets will be reviewed, but not scored.

A summary of reviews will be provided for all submissions.

Final Report

All awardees are required to submit a midterm report at 6 months and a final report no later than 30 days after the end of the award. The one- to two-page report must include a brief update on progress and/or results, any unforeseen challenges, completed, draft or planned publications or presentations, and plans for submission to a larger funding source. If you have submitted a grant, please provide the agency, specific title, when submitted, investigators, and amount requested. If awarded, please provide full details.

Awardees are expected to participate in CHS research poster days and/or seminars, publish their results in peer-reviewed journals, and submit larger sponsored research proposals.

Important Dates

 Submission deadline: April 13, 2020, by 11:59 p.m.
 Application review: April 15—April 23rd, 2020
 Notifications of awards: April 25th, 2020
 Earliest start date: May 1st, 2020

DETAILED BUDGET FOR INITIAL BUDGET PERIOD DIRECT COST ONLY

Principle Investigator (Last, First, Middle): 

Budget Period: 

PERSONNEL – 
CONSULTANT –
COSTS –
EQUIPMENT –
SUPPLIES –
TRAVEL/CONFERENCES –
PARTICIPANTS COST –
FOOD –
OTHER EXPENSES –

SUBTOTAL –

TOTAL –

Total Direct Cost for Initial Budget Period: 

Administrative fee 8.5%:

TOTAL –