Making a Research Application

This scheme is jointly funded by the Jennifer Trust and the SMA Trust.

Research proposals will initially be considered in outline (summary) form and not all applicants will be invited to submit a full application.

Applicants must make an initial application by submitting a 2-3 page summary to according to the guidelines below.

The deadline for submitting summary applications is 3 October 2008

Please note: there is no proforma for summary applications.

There is a limit on summary applications to two per institute.

The Principal Investigator making the application must be UK based, but collaborative projects with international partners are eligible for funding.

Further information is included in the criteria of these grants.

Guidelines for submitting summary applications

Research proposals will initially be considered in outline (summary) form and not all applicants will be invited to submit a full application.

The initial summary application should utilize 2-3 pages to address the following:

Aim(s) of the research
Relevance to SMA community. Other conditions will only be considered if a case for the potential benefit to SMA can be demonstrated
Potential clinical and/or translational relevance of the research
Outline of the proposed work plan
How the study fits in with other work within the laboratory/institute
Proposed cost, study duration and anticipated timeline

The Process

Summary applications are due on the 3^rd of October. In the likely case that more than six summary applications are received, the Jennifer Trust and the SMA Trust will operate an internal triage system for the purpose of narrowing the applicant pool to 6 projects. The selected summary reports will be reviewed by an established peer review board.

The Motor Neurone Disease Association has kindly offered the use of its Research Advisory Panel (RAP) to assess these projects, at a maximum of six applications. At this time, the RAP will invite selected applicants to submit a full application for full peer review in December of 2008.

Award notification will be available shortly after the RAP meeting scheduled for Friday, April 17, 2009.

For further information, a timeline of the entire process is available.

Making a Research Application

Guidelines for submitting summary applications

The Process

See Also