Description of Program and Purpose of Funds
The CASH-KY Small Project Award provides small (˂$5000) and brief (˂ 6 months) awards to complete a single, well-defined experiment or project. The Small Project Program supports basic, clinical, implementation, innovation, and commercialization research in biological rhythms (circadian, diurnal, seasonal, annual rhythms) and sleep. The goal of this project is to complete a well-defined experiment or project that will immediately lead to the submission or resubmission of a manuscript or grant proposal. Examples include experiments requested during manuscript peer review and validation studies or key feasibility data for grant proposals.
Eligibility
- UK Faculty at any rank are eligible to serve as Principal Investigators for CASH-KY Pilot Projects.
- Postdoctoral Scholars are not eligible.
- There is no specific citizenship requirement.
Budget Guidelines
- The suggested budget is $5,000 for a project period of up to 6 months. Larger budgets will be considered with appropriate justification.
- The budget must align with a focused, near-term experiment or project.
- Allowable expenses include supplies, core facility charges, animal costs, participant remuneration, and other direct research costs necessary to complete the proposed project
- Salary support is not allowed.
- Travel to scientific meetings and workshops is not allowed.
- It is expected that the Grantee will use the full amount of funding awarded during the project period.
Review
Applications are evaluated by faculty members of CASH-KY. Proposals will be reviewed based on:
- Relevance of the project to chronobiology and sleep research and to the CASH-KY mission.
- Clarity and rigor of the proposed experiment or experiments.
- Feasibility of completing the work within the requested budget and project period.
- Strength of the plan for scientific impact, including how the project will strengthen a specific manuscript, grant application, or other product.
- Likelihood that results will lead to peer-reviewed publications or competitive extramural funding.
Application Instructions
All materials should be combined into a single PDF document. Margins should be at least 1/2 inch and the font size should be 11 or 12 point. Proposals should be emailed to CASH.KY@uky.edu. Questions may be directed to CASH.KY@uky.edu.
Applications should include the following documents compiled into a single PDF:
- Title page that includes:
- Experiment Title
- Principal Investigator or Co-PIs (please indicate one corresponding PI)
- Co-Investigators
- Total budget requested
- Research Strategy (2 pages) that includes:
- Description of the experiment(s) to be completed with this funding.
- Brief background and Significance that links the work to circadian and/or sleep research.
- Approach described in sufficient detail to assess rigor and feasibility, including key methods, sample size or power justification as appropriate, and anticipated outcomes.
- Description of existing data or progress and how the proposed experiment will complete or strengthen the project.
- Clear plan for dissemination (for example, target journal) or plans for extramural grant submission.
- Appendix (not included in 2 page limit): Applicants are encouraged to attach Reviewers comments on a manuscript submission and/or summary statements to demonstrate the necessity of the proposed project.
- References (no page limit)
- Budget and Justification for 6 months of funding (see Budget Guidelines above).
- Biosketches for each PI and Co-Investigator (NIH or NSF Common Form).
Reporting
Award agreements will include expectations for follow-up reporting on the activities and outcomes supported by this funding. It is expected that awarded investigators will provide a final report describing the impact of this funding, including publications, subsequent grant proposals, external grant awards, intellectual property disclosures, patents, etc.
In addition, any publication resulting from the funded research must acknowledge support from Circadian and Sleep Health for a Healthy Kentucky (CASH-KY).