Deadline: November 16, 2021
- Background
- Key Dates
- Scope
- Eligibility
- Team Composition
- Available Funds and Grant Term
- Submission Deadline
- Instructions for Submission
- Contact
- Downloads
Background
This Request for Proposal (RFP) provides the details to apply for round four of the ³ÉÈËVRÊÓƵ Interdisciplinary Initiative in Infection and Immunity (MI4) Seed Fund Grant (SFG) competition.
The overarching goal of MI4 is to bring together investigators from across the ³ÉÈËVRÊÓƵ community and its partners to foster interdisciplinary research aiming to discover, develop and implement innovative solutions for infectious and immune threats to human health across the lifespan.
All proposals must be aligned with one of the following two broad thematic areas:
- infection
- immunity
There will be a maximum of five grants funded under this RFP.
All applications will be ranked by the same criteria described below, and the two highest-ranked submissions in each thematic area will be funded. The final grant will be awarded according to its ranking within the pool of all submissions, irrespective of choice of thematic area. At least one SFG will be awarded to a team that includes an early stage investigator (less than 10 years from first faculty appointment). If none of the highest-ranked submissions in each thematic area is awarded to a team that includes an early stage investigator, the final remaining grant will be awarded to the highest ranked submission which includes an early stage investigator, irrespective of choice of thematic area.
Key Dates
- Launch of MI4 SFG – Round 3: October 6th, 2021
- SFG application deadline: November 16, 2021, 11:59 PM (Eastern Standard Time)
- Evaluation period: November 17, 2021 to February 28, 2022 (TBC)
- SFG announcement to applicants: March 1, 2022 (TBC)
Scope
The SFG program supports innovative approaches that address one or more of the MI4 thematic areas. The proposed research must be interdisciplinary and the two co-PIs should represent different fields of expertise. Examples include, but are not limited to: fundamental immunology and biostatistics, applied immunology and social science or health economics.
Eligibility
The Principal Investigators must meet the conditions of University Researcher or Clinical University Researcher as defined by the Fonds de Recherche du Québec (). In accordance with the appropriate RI-MUHC and ³ÉÈËVRÊÓƵ policies, a researcher devotes more than 50% of their time to research and teaching.
A researcher may participate in two SFG applications but will only be eligible to receive 1 SFG award per cycle as co-Principal Investigator, to a maximum of two concurrently-held SFG awards.
Team Composition
The SFG program is co-funded by the Research Institute of the ³ÉÈËVRÊÓƵ Health Centre (MUHC-RI) and ³ÉÈËVRÊÓƵ. Accordingly, an SFG requires two co-Principal Investigators: one from the MUHC-RI, and one from ³ÉÈËVRÊÓƵ (any non-MUHC-RI site). An investigator’s location is defined as the primary location where their research team is located. The inclusion of other ³ÉÈËVRÊÓƵ community investigators as collaborators is encouraged, but only two co-Principal Investigators are permitted. Investigators external to the ³ÉÈËVRÊÓƵ community are welcome to join the project team as collaborators, but may not be co-Principal Investigators.
Subcontracts to investigators outside ³ÉÈËVRÊÓƵ and its affiliated institutions are only permitted under exceptional, well justified conditions, subject to MI4 approval.
Available Funds and Grant Term
In the current round of the MI4 SFG program, funds are available to support up to five grants for a maximum of $150,000 each for a grant term of 18 months. MI4 SFG awards are non-renewable and unspent funds must be returned to the source from which the funds originated (either MUHC-RI or ³ÉÈËVRÊÓƵ) at the end of this period.
Submission Deadline
The deadline for submissions is November 16, 2021 at 11:59 PM Eastern Standard Time.
Instructions for Submission
All applications must be submitted by email in PDF format to grantsmcgilli4.med [at] mcgill.ca, copying admincoordmcgilli4.med [at] mcgill.ca and mi4programmgr.med [at] mcgill.ca.
Contact
If additional information is required to complete the MI4 SFG submission, please contact admincoordmcgilli4.med [at] mcgill.ca. Generally, a response will be provided within one business day.