The American Migraine Foundation’s Dodick Lighthouse Research Award

Eligibility

● Investigators at any career stage are eligible
● Early-career investigators and clinician-scientists are strongly encouraged to apply
● Multidisciplinary and cross-institutional collaborations are welcome and encouraged
● Applicants must demonstrate access to appropriate patient populations, data, or infrastructure

Summary

The American Migraine Foundation (AMF) in partnership with the American Headache Society (AHS) invites Letters of Intent (LOIs) for the David Dodick research awards, a competitive two-year research awards that advance high-impact, patient-centered headache and migraine research with clear near-term implications for clinical care and management. This RFA is intentionally aligned with research priorities identified by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) with the American Headache Society (AHS), and an international multi-stakeholder expert panel, particularly those that:

● Address unmet clinical needs
● Improve diagnosis, stratification, and treatment selection
● Accelerate translation from discovery to practice
● Reduce disability, inequities, and care gaps in headache medicine AMF seeks to catalyze innovative research that can realistically inform clinical decision-making, guidelines, care delivery models, or therapeutic strategies within a short time horizon.

Application Process Phase 1: Letter of Intent (LOI)
● Length: Maximum 1 page, single-spaced
● Purpose: To assess alignment with AMF priorities, feasibility, and potential impact before inviting full proposals
● LOIs will be reviewed for strategic fit, innovation, feasibility, and clinical relevance.
● Applicants selected from the LOI phase will be invited to submit a full application.

Phase 2: Full Application (By Invitation Only) 
Invited applicants will submit a full 5-page proposal including:
● Detailed research plan
● Timeline and milestones
● Data sharing and dissemination plan

Additional information that must also be included are:
● Budget and justification
● Investigator biosketches
● Letters of support
● References

Overhead

10% 

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.

Postdocs, students, and trainees: For fellowships and externally-sponsored research training awards or opportunities, you must complete the Research Funding Application Approval (RFAA) Trainee PDF form, and submit it, along with a complete copy of the application, to Research Services at rsotrainee@ucalgary.ca. Trainees should not use RMS at this time.

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.

RESOURCES

Reminder: The sooner the researcher engages with Research Services, the more help we can be!

Contact the following Research Service units for support with:

Projects Involving Indigenous Research:

Support with incorporating wise practices in Indigenous research, community engagement, and Indigenous data management is available through the Indigenous Research Support Team (IRST).

Applicants can reach out by email to IRST at IRST@ucalgary.ca in advance of the RSO internal deadline. For more information about IRST, please visit the IRST webpage.

Knowledge Mobilization, Research Impact Assessment, DORA:

Support for knowledge mobilization/engagement/translation, community partnerships, research impact, responsible research assessment (DORA), and open science, is available through the Knowledge to Impact team.

Applicants can reach out by email to the KI team at knowledge.impact@ucalgary.ca.

For more information and access to resource archives, please visit the KI team webpage.

Research Data Management:

For information on research data management plans, processes, or best practices for your research program, please contact research.data@ucalgary.ca.

EDI in Research:

RSO can provide resources and support to research teams on the integration of equitable and inclusive practices in research design and research practice.

Contact edi.rso@ucalgary.ca for more information.

Research Security:

The Research Security Division is available to ensure researchers adhere to research security guidelines and policies, including the National Security Guidelines for Research Partnerships (NSGRP) and the policy on Sensitive Technology Research and Affiliations of Concern (STRAC).

Visit the Research Security website to learn more or contact researchsecurity@ucalgary.ca.

Pre-Award Submissions:

RMS: Creating a Pre-Award LOI
RMS: Creating a Pre-Award Application