Pilot and Feasibility Project Grants

The Yale Diabetes Research Center is pleased to announce the availability of pilot and feasibility project grants commencing February 1, 2025 for one year to fund collaborative research projects in the amount of ~ $30,000 to 40,000. Please review the notice below!

The DRC Pilot and Feasibility Study Award is intended to provide support that will allow an investigator to obtain preliminary data for an application for independent research support. Pilot and Feasibility Study support is not intended for large projects by established investigators which would otherwise be submitted as a separate research grant application. Pilot and feasibility funds are also not intended to support or supplement current ongoing funded research by an investigator.

Those eligible to apply fall into three categories:

1) New investigators without current or past non-mentored NIH research project support as a principal investigator.
2) Established investigators with no previous work in diabetes related areas who wish to apply their expertise to a problem in this area.
3) Established investigators in diabetes research who propose testing innovative ideas that represent a clear departure from ongoing research interests.

All eligible investigators must have faculty appointments at the time of the award.

POSTDOCTORAL ASSOCIATES AND POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWS ARE NOT ELIGIBLE FOR THIS AWARD.

Priority will be given to new collaborative investigations.

Collaborative projects, particularly with new investigators to diabetes, are encouraged.

Individuals who have received a Pilot and Feasibility Award in the past 5 years are discouraged from applying.

Each pilot and feasibility study proposal should clearly state the justification for eligibility of the investigator under one of the above criteria. The proposed pilot and feasibility study should present a testable hypothesis and clearly delineate the question being asked, detail the procedures to be followed and discuss how the data will be analyzed. The proposal must be on a diabetes-related topic and be submitted using the NIH research project application (RO1) format (PHS398). Projects should be well focused since funding for these studies is limited to two years or less. Applications can be obtained by emailing Johanna Json-Toft.

Pilot project applications should not exceed 7 typewritten pages, excluding: title page, abstract, budget, budget justification, most recent version of the NIH biographical sketch, other support page (list diabetes-related support first, followed by nondiabetes-related research support), and resources and environment. These shorter write-ups for new pilots will facilitate both internal and external reviews. Please be certain to include an abstract.

• Specific Aims
• Background and Significance (up to one page)
• Research Description and Methods (6 pages or less)

You can download the application here.

In the fall of each year, the oversight committee selects 2 external reviewers for each Pilot and Feasibility submission and then subsequently meets to discuss the merits of each pilot project, taking into account the critiques provided by the two external ad hoc reviewers and the recommendation of the assigned committee member to determine a priority score (in accordance with the NIH system) and to determine the level of funding for each proposal. Once a priority score and budget has been determined for all of the applications under review, the Executive Committee gives final approval of the level of funding for the program in the subsequent year. The Oversight Committee, chaired by Dr. Kevan Herold, also reviews the progress reports submitted if a second year of funding is requested and makes recommendations to the Director.

Applications must be received by Johanna Json-Toft by November 1, 2024. These applications will then be sent to external reviewers and we will announce the results by late February 2025.

Please email your application in both word and pdf to Johanna Json-Toft.