Eligibility Requirements
- The principal investigator (PI) must have a current rank of Instructor, Assistant Professor, or Staff Scientist in the Emory Department of Pediatrics or a member of the Pediatric Institute and be no more than 7 years into their faculty appointment. Arrangements can be made for researchers who have academic appointments in depts other than DOP, aren't members of Peds Institute, and have clinical responsibilities at Children's on a case-by-case basis.
- Please note that adjunct faculty appointments do not meet this requirement.
- The PI must have NIH New Investigator status, meaning they have not previously competed successfully as PD/PI for a substantial NIH independent research award such as an R01. Click here for a detailed definition and exclusions.
- The PI cannot be PI on any grant with more than $200,000 of direct costs per year (this limit applies to the award or sub-award for which the PI is directly responsible).
- The PI must be on a trajectory to become independently funded, meaning they expect to successfully compete as PI for career development or R level or equivalent funding (government or foundation) within the next three years. Submitting an extramural grant proposal (of any level) as PI within 1 year of the end date of a funded pilot is a firm requirement.
- The application must include a mentor, as with any career development award.
- The mentee serves as PI of the application.
- The mentor fulfills the pilot requirement for a second researcher.
- The mentor must include a statement in the application on the applicant’s likelihood of being successful as an independent researcher.
- Both the scientific plan and the candidate’s past and future productivity will be factored into the funding decision.
- The applicant’s career objectives must be clearly stated on their biosketch.
Application Process
Letters of Intent (LOIs) are required and must be submitted by April 9. Upload LOIs at the link provided when the portal opens on Feb 12.
LOIs may be a maximum of 2 pages in PDF format (not including references), and must include:
- Project title
- PI and key personnel
- Summary of project and methods (including hypotheses)
- Specify the type and timeline for the extramural grant submission being planned that will be submitted as a result of the funded pilot
- A third page devoted to Specific Aims
- For these JFF LOI’s only, a brief explanation of how the project will contribute to your research career development.
The LOIs will be evaluated based on the feasibility of the proposed science leading to the development of the applicant’s research career.
If a Letter of Intent is selected to move forward to the full application stage, the PI will receive a link before May 12 to submit a full application which will be due on June 25.
The primary component of all full applications is the research plan: a 4-page, single-spaced, Arial 11 font, .5" margin scientific plan document. Note that references should be listed but are not included in the page limit and that the Specific Aims page is also not included in that page limit. The research plan must include the following components:
- Title
- Background and Significance to Child Health
- Specific Aims (separate from the 4-page limit)
- Experimental Design and Methods
- Expected Results
- Timeline of extramural grant submission
- References (not part of the 4 page limit)
JFF applicants (upon invitation) also must include the following components:
- Career Development Plan (max. 2 pages) - Please use this Career Development Plan template.
- Letter(s) of Support from Mentor(s) (max. 2 pages each) - Describe the training and research career development plan for your mentee (i.e., the PI for the JFF). The letter(s) should specifically cover:
- Nature and extent of supervision and mentoring, including the specific resources the mentor will provide to enable the PI to complete the project
- Commitment to PI development during the award period
- The portion of time the PI has available for research
- How this project will facilitate the PIs transition from a mentored to an independent researcher
- All mentor letters must also include the following statements - please copy and paste these three bullets into the mentor letter(s):
- I have read and approved the JFF applicant’s complete research plan, career development plan and biosketch.
- The project is feasible.
- The project does not overlap with my own funded research.
Additional documents required for all applications include:
- NIH-format Biosketches for all key personnel, including the mentor. Instructions for the current format that must be used are available here. (Note that you will be required to use SciENcv after January 25, 2026 for all extramural applications, and thus we require that format here as well. You will not have to have the certified PDF, but it does need to be in the updated format that SciENcv produces.
- NIH-format Other Support pages for principal investigators and mentors. Instructions for the current format are available here. Note that for extramural grants, your Other Support document must also be generated through SciENcv, but for this grant, the word document provided to you by RAS is enough. Do request that document early in the process, as it takes time for your RAS contact to generate that report.
- Budget, budget narrative, and statements of work for consortium institutions (Required budget template is available under the FAQ and templates tab here)
- Signed Financial Letters of Agreement from the department head of every department included in the pilot budget except the Emory Department of Pediatrics or Children’s - see template provided in the templates tab of this RFA.
- (As Applicable/Available) IRB and IACUC approval/determination letters
- (Optional) Letters of Support from collaborators whose involvement is critical to the proposed project
Additional requirements for JFF Applicants:
- Attend or watch a one-hour webinar covering grantsmanship concerns related to the JFF (to be scheduled in mid-May)
- Attend at least one 30-minute one-on-one meeting with a member of the Pediatric Research Development Core to discuss their proposals before submission (to be scheduled May 20-June 20)
Proposals will be evaluated based on the feasibility of the specific aims and the proposed science leading to the development of the applicant’s research career.