Funding for community-based research

1. Funding for community-basedresearch Michael L. HechtDistinguished ProfessorCommunication Arts and SciencesPenn State University Presentation at Arizona State University March 25, 2011

2. Types of Grants • Internal Grants • Contracts • Foundations • Federal Grants

3. Why NOT to Get Grants • Time commitment • Modify research focus • Jealousies & obstacles • Assistant Professors and grad students • Lack of department culture (see Parrott & Hecht, 2002, JACR) • DO NOT CHASE MONEY • Be careful what you ask for, you may get it • But, if you still want one …

4. What Grants Can Do • Allow you to do work you want to do – more, faster, better • University administrators love them – promotion, tenure, merit, jobs • Impact on and service to the community • Support students and colleagues • Prestige and resources of program, department, college, university • Financial benefits – direct/indirect costs (52.5% at ASU) • Research instead of teaching, other activities • Gain power and status • Allow you to do work you want to do!

5. Infrastructure for Grants • Training, mentoring, reviewing • Staff for grant writing (budgets, editing, graphics) • Grants Administration (budget, supplies, billing) • Methodologists • Graduate Assistants • Policies (promotion and tenure, annual reviews, team research) • Material support (seed funds, equipment) • Community connections

6. NIH Organization • Department of Health and Human Services • National Institutes of Health • 25 Awarding institutes/centers • Also known as ICs • Program Officers • Center for Scientific Review • Scientific Review Officers • Office of the Director

7. NIH Grant Application Cycle Investigator Institution NIH InitiatesResearch Peer Review Submits Application Council Review Allocates Funds Funding Decision ConductsResearch

8. NIH Grant Mechanisms • Pre-doctoral and post-doctoral training awards (F awards) • Career Awards (K awards) • R03 ($50k/2 years; pilot/feasibility data, 6 pages) • R15 ($150k/3 years; stimulate research, 12 pages) • R21 ($275k/2 years; exploratory or developmental, 6 pages)

9. More Grant Mechanisms • R34 ($450k/3 years, development of clinical trials, 6 pages) • R01 ($500k per year/5 years, large scale research projects, 12 pages)

10. BUT, New & Early Stage Investigators Have Edge • New Investigator has not previously received a NIH-supported research project other than small, developmental or research training awards • Early Stage Investigator (ESI) is within 10 years of completing his/her terminal research degree, or is within 10 years of completing medical residency

11. Grant Writing • A skill like any other… • But not the same skill as article publication - problem-based writing • Particularly true for community samples

12. Getting Ready to Write • Decide on the problem - important & novel but simple enough to explain in 6 or 12 pages • Communicate with NIH Program Official • Decide on right target (Institute, review group) • Assemble the team • Know what has been done • Know what has been funded (NIH Website) • Consider who is likely to review your grant (review the rosters) • Recognize that funding 1st time is rare (7%)!

13. Components of an NIH Grant Application Title Table of Contents Abstract/Summary Specific Aims: 1 page Research Strategy: Significance Innovation Approach Assurances Human Subjects Vertebrae Animals Literature Cited Environment (project specific) Consultants Contractual Arrangements Public Health Statement Budget & Justification Biosketches

14. Essentials of an NIH Grant Proposal • Good idea • Team’s ability to execute • Tight methodological design that is aware of public health methods • Grant CLEARLY communicates the above - can reviewers readily get the essence of the grant?

15. What is a ‘Good’ Idea? • What are we going to learn? • Significance and innovation • Theoretical/practical contribution • Why is it worth knowing? • Broad significance and impact on theory, methods, and/or practice • Timely • A step forward • Increasingly, a focus on public health “It hasn’t been done yet" is NOT a good reason to do it.

16. Key Sections • Summary Statement/Abstract • Specific Aims • Significance (and innovation) • Approach (methods)

17. Community Research Issues • Community-based participatory research -- very strict about how this is done. • Lab versus field • Focus groups, interviews, analyses • Collaborations – evidence, type, agreements

18. Grant Reviews • Center for Scientific Review (CSR) • Assigned to Scientific Review Group (SRG) • Non-federal scientists with relevant expertise • Led by a Scientific Review Officer (SRO) and Chair • Proposals read by at least 3 reviewers prior to meeting • Only top 50% of proposals are even discussed. • NIH Institute & Center (IC) • advisory council • director

19. Overall Impact: probability the project will exert a sustained, powerful influence on the field(s) 1. Significance: important problem or critical barrier; how will this improve scientific knowledge and practice 2. Investigators: skills appropriate to all tasks 3. Innovation: the work challenges and seeks to shift current research or practice paradigms; utilizing noveltheory, approaches or methods, instrumentation, or interventions; the work is novel Score Criteria

20. 4. Approach: strategy, methodology, analyses are well-reasoned and appropriate; potential problems & alternative strategies thought through 5. Environment: the environment will contribute to the project’s success; institutional support, equipment, & other resources sufficient; unique features of the environment, subject population, collaborative arrangements Score Criteria (continued)

21. Review Criteria: Human Subjects Review Considerations: Budget and period of support Select agent research (infectious agents) Applications from foreign organizations Resource sharing plans Additional comments to applicant Additional Review Aspects

22. Criteria Scoring System HIGH • Exceptional: Exceptionally strong with essentially no weaknesses • Outstanding: Extremely strong with negligible weaknesses • Excellent: Very strong with only some minor weaknesses MEDIUM • Very Good: Strong but with numerous minor weaknesses • Good: Strong but with at least one moderate weakness • Satisfactory: Some strengths but also some moderate weaknesses Low • Fair: Some strengths but with at least one major weakness • Marginal: A few strengths and a few major weaknesses • Poor: Very few strengths and numerous major weaknesses

23. Criteria Scoring System (continued) • Minor Weakness: An easily addressable weakness that does not substantially lessen impact • Moderate Weakness: A weakness that lessens impact • Major Weakness: A weakness that severely limits impact

24. Receiving the Summary Statements: The Hardest Part! • Reviews critical, even harsh • Reviewers usually focus on weaknesses, while also recognizing strengths • Many investigators experience a mixture of rage and depression and easily lose “perspective” • Take a day or two (or more!) and then read again with a “cooler head”

25. Most Common Reasons for a Poor Score (in priority order) • Lack of impact – significance and/or innovation • Hypothesis ill-defined, superficial, lacking, unfocused, or unsupported by preliminary data • Methods unsuitable, not feasible, not rigorous or not likely to yield results • Design not logical, inappropriate instrumentation, poor timing or conditions • Data management and analysis vague, not rigorous • Inadequate expertise or knowledge of field for PI, or too little time to devote to the work • Poor resources or facilities; limited access to appropriate population

26. Receiving the Summary Statements: Bouncing Back! • Have experienced colleague read it • Don’t interpret criticism as hopeless • Talk to Institute Project Officials • Talk to your community partners • If “discussed” has a chance of funding in next round • The lower the initial score, the fewer problems and more likely to be successful after revision

27. Not fixable or more difficult problems • Work is not significant or innovative • Hypotheses not sound • For fatal flaws and weaknesses in method • Rethink your idea and start over

28. When to Revise • Basic idea was significant and innovative or these can be bolstered • Design problems can be clarified (more information) or fixed • Need preliminary data • Problem is poor writing

29. Resubmission: Resilience and Flexibility! • Persistence pays off in the grant process!! • Second submission must respond to the critiques though revision or clearly defend reasoning • Same reviewers may or may not review resubmission, but will see critique

30. Revise, Get Funded, and • DO THE WORK!

31. Links of Interest Enhancing Peer Review Criteria http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/not-od-09-025.html Page Limits: http://enhancing-peer-review.nih.gov/page_limits.html Human Subjects: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/policy/hs/index.htm SF424 guidelines for submission: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/funding/424/index.htm Glossary http://grants.nih.gov/grants/glossary.htm#C23

32. Web Resources: Institutes National Institutes of Health - http://grants1.nih.gov/grants/ Grants and funding opportunities home page National Institute of General Medical Sciences - http://www.nigms.nih.gov/funding/tips.html Tips for new NIH grant applicants; First steps; Start work; Start writing; and After review National Institute of Child Health and Human Development - http://www.nichd.nih.gov/about/cpr/dbs/LeapingHurdles/index.htm Powerpoint slide presentation on “Leaping the Hurdles and Navigating the Maze: How to Get Funding from DBSB/NICHD.” National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases - http://www.niaid.nih.gov/ncn/grants/write/index.htm How to write a grant: Focus your application; Writing a strong application; Organizing, writing, and formatting; the NIH grant application: Section by section; Send NIH your application; What to do if you did not succeed; and links to other resources. National Cancer Institute - http://deainfo.nci.nih.gov/extra/extdocs/gntapp.htm Quick guide for grant applications: Introduction; Planning your application; Abstract; Research plan; Budget and justification; Assurances; Resources and environment; and Overall considerations. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke - http://ninds.nih.gov/funding/grantwriting.htm Helpful information for preparing a federal research grant application: Common mistakes in NIH applications; Writing a grant application: A technical checklist; Links to more information on writing grants; and General information and tools from the NIH Office of Extramural Research website. National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine - http://nccam.nih.gov/research/instructions/quickguide/index.htm Quick guide for the preparation of grant applications: Submission and review of your application; Planning your application; and Preparation of your application. The National Human Genome Research Institute - http://www.nhgri.nih.gov/Grant_info/Funding/apply.html Brief information on applying for a NIH grant.

33. General Resources Weekly NIH Updates http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-09-023.html New vs. Revised Applications http://enhancing-peer-review.nih.gov/policy_announcements.html NIH Grant Writing Tip Sheets http://grants.nih.gov/grants/grant_tips.htm Getting an RO1 http://sciencecareers.sciencemag.org/career_development/previous_issues/articles/1190/getting_an_nih_r01

34. More general resources NSF Proposal Writing http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~sfinger/advice/advice.html Other Proposal Writing Guides http://fdncenter.org/learn/shortcourse/prop1.html http://www.learnerassociates.net/proposal/ http://research.uiowa.edu/dsp/main/?get=gwtguides Reasons Proposals Fail http://sciencecareers.sciencemag.org/career_development/previous_issues/articles/2310/nsf_grant_reviewer_tells_all/ (see end) http://www.clarku.edu/offices/research/pdfs/NSFProposalWritingTips.pdf http://www.ams.org/notices/200709/tx070901153p.pdf http://grants.nih.gov/grants/oer.htm (forms, grant search, etc.)

35. New Investigator Resources Early Stage Investigators http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-09-034.html New Investigators http://sciencecareers.sciencemag.org/career_development/previous_issues/articles/1260/funding_for_fledglings http://www.nida.nih.gov/researchtraining/traininghome.html

36. Shorter Page Limit Guide *Page limits may vary for other funding mechanisms. Check Funding Opportunity Announcement: http://enhancing-peer-review.nih.gov/page_limits.html