2024 Spring Clinical Pilot and Feasibility Award

Eligibility

• United States residents and applicants from outside the United States are welcome to apply.
• International applicants and institutions are required to submit additional information in accordance with USA Patriot Act and the U.S. Department of Treasury Anti-Terrorist Financing Guidelines (refer to the grant guidelines section IV.10.L for more information).
• Applicants must be independent investigators. An independent investigator is an individual who is out of fellowship training and whose institution allows them to submit applications for research funding as a Principal Investigator.
• New or established investigators with no previous work in cystic fibrosis research who wish to apply their expertise to a problem in this area.
• Candidates who are clinical fellows should apply to the CFF Clinical Fellowship program for the appropriate year.
• Candidates who are postdoctoral fellows should apply to the CFF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship program. Industry-sponsored research projects are not eligible to apply through this program and instead should consider applying to the Therapeutics Development Awards program.

Summary

The 2024 Spring Clinical Pilot and Feasibility Awards are offered to support projects involving human subjects  that will develop and test new hypotheses and/or new methods (or those being applied to the problems of cystic fibrosis for the first time), and to support promising new investigators as they establish themselves in research areas relevant to cystic fibrosis. The intent of these awards is to enable investigators to collect sufficient preliminary data to determine the best strategies and methods for approaching a major question that ultimately will require assessment through a larger-scale research and/or multi-center, collaborative trial. Special consideration will be given to those projects that pursue new approaches, study under-researched topics, or investigate more creative avenues of research to address the problems of CF. Applications for continued funding of existing projects, or for long-term support of an investigator, will not be considered.

The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation regularly assesses its key research priorities to ensure we are on track to accomplish our mission to cure CF and to provide people with CF the opportunity to lead long lives. Applicants are encouraged to align submissions to these priorities to maximize their potential for being funded. Key research priorities for applicants are outlined in further detail in Applicant Resources.

Areas of Encouragement
Areas of Encouragement are research topics that are considered gaps in our knowledge in the detection and monitoring, diagnosis, or treatment of a CF complication. A complete list of the Areas of Encouragement can be found in section VI of the Program Guidelines.

Submission Process

The application process involves two stages: Letter of Intent and Full Application.

1. Letter of Intent (LOI). The LOI application is prepared online at https://awards.cff.org (refer to section IX and X of the Program Guidelines for specific submission instructions). When all the documents have been uploaded to https://awards.cff.org, the system will compile them into a single PDF file. You may preview this file by selecting “LOI Application Full Print”, as well as exporting the compiled PDF file.

Applicants must also obtain institutional approval from the University of Calgary prior to submitting their LOI to CFF. Initiate required University of Calgary internal approvals by completing a Pre-Award/Letter of Intent record in RMS (https://my.rms.ucalgary.ca/)/.

Attach a copy of your compiled PDF file and submit for internal academic approvals from your department head and/or faculty Associate Dean (Research). Please ensure that you allow time for academic approvals prior to the Research Services Office internal review deadline of 12:00pm MT, September 18, 2023.

2. Full Application. If the LOI submission is approved to proceed to a full application submission, please contact chantal.lemire@ucalgary.ca for additional submission instructions. The timeline for results of the LOI and full application submissions is as follows:

• Applicant Notified of LOI Approval: December 2023
• RSO Internal Full Application Review Deadline: February 8, 2024
• CFF Full Application Deadline: February 13, 2024
• CFF Notification of Results: May 2024
• Earliest Project Start-Date: July 1, 2024

Overhead

12% in addition to direct costs.

Pre-application deadlines

RSO internal deadline

Pre-application program deadline

Application deadlines

RSO detailed review deadline

RSO final internal review deadline

Program application deadline

NOTE: Consult your Faculty Associate Dean (Research) (ADR) regarding Faculty-specific deadlines and submission processes.

Principal Investigators: Complete a Research Management System (RMS) record, including a copy of your complete application, and submit this for approvals in RMS.

Approvals: The University of Calgary requires that all funding applications be approved prior to submission. Approval requires signatures via either RMS or the RFAA Trainee form, in the following order:

• Principal Investigator
• Department Head
• Faculty ADR/Dean
• Research Services (on behalf of the Vice-President Research)

Read the Meaning of Grant Signatures policy to understand what your approval means. Please see the agency guidelines for details about which signatures are required on your application, as it may differ from internal requirements.

Late submissions: Late submissions will only be accepted in cases of medical or family emergencies, or other exceptional circumstances. If you submit your RMS record to Research Services after the internal deadline has passed, you must secure additional approvals. Please read: Late Applications Process.

Additional Resources

Program Guidelines

Applicant Resources