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Instructions for Applications

Face Page (see fund form #1)

The face page should include the following:

  1. Title of Project:
  2. Principal Investigator(s) or Candidate:
    1. Name:
    2. Title: (Indicate professional position most relevant to the proposed research).
    3. Degree: and the Institution granting it.
    4. Address: where the PI can usually be reached.
    5. Telephone:
    6. Fax:
    7. E-mail address:
    8. Institution: This is the institution that will assume financial responsibility for the project (university, hospital, psychoanalytic institute, etc.). If the research is not to be under the administrative auspices of either an institution at which the applicant holds a position, or the psychoanalytic institute or society with which the applicant is affiliated, this should be clearly indicated. In certain cases, when special justification can be provided, the Central Office will assume administrative responsibility. For these instances, please contact the Chairman of the Fund for further discussion
  3. Type of grant requested (check one of boxes on the face page):
  4. Research Grant Pilot Data Grant Consultation Grant Career Support Grant Other (describe):_____________________________(Any entry in the other category should be approved by chairman of the Fund)
  5. Funds Requested:
    1. Total amount requested in U.S. dollars. This amount should be itemized by year on the separate budget page.
    2. Dates of the beginning and end of the support period.
  6. Human Subjects Approval. Indicate most recent approval, and duration of approval.
  7. Institutional Signature: If the research is to be conducted under the auspices of an institution, the signature of an authorized official of the applicant's institution is required to indicate the agreement to accept administrative and fiscal accountability for the project including agreement with the Fund's policy of not providing payment for indirect costs. Please provide the name of the person authorized to sign for the institution, their telephone, fax, e-mail and mailing address, their institutional title, and the date of their authorization.
  8. Certification of responsibility: This is to be signed by the principal investigator.

Curriculum Vitae and Other Grant Support: (maximum four pages)

Provide a Curriculum Vitae for the Principal Investigator(s) and for all consultants who will be included in the proposed project. CV should include professional title, data of birth, educational history (e.g., baccalaureate degree, post-graduate, post-doctoral, and psychoanalytic training), professional and occupational history, present research support, if any (include the amount and the funding organization as well as pending support), major research interests, publications and major presentations, if relevant. Note that under other grant support the candidate should include all past support from the Fund even if the award period has been completed. (see fund forms #2 and #3 below that may also be downloaded)

If career award or consultative grant, include a four-page CV for primary mentor and/or senior investigator with whom PI will be consulting. This CV should follow the same guidelines as above and should also include other grant support (may use the same form (see fund forms #2 and #3 below that may also be downloaded)

For Revised Resubmissions

Applicants should provide a detailed introductory letter indicating how the previous reviewers' critiques have been addressed. Applicants should provide page numbers for the specific revisions in response to the previous critiques and also indicate by a change in font (e.g., italics) or underlining where in the research plan substantive revisions have been made.

Research Plan

This section should provide a clear account of no more than 12 (14 if a resubmission) single spaced pages (no less than 6 pt character height) with R, L, top and bottom margins minimally 0.5 inches and font no more than 15 characters per inch. Except where noted, this page limit includes all sections detailed below. Tables and figures are included in the page limit. The name of the applicant should appear in the top R hand corner of every page and pages should be consecutively numbered with the face page as page #1. Applications failing to meet these formatting criteria will be returned without review.

The research plan should use the following outline and include these major categories as sectional headings:

  1. Abstract of the proposed project: On one page or less provide a succinct summary of the proposed project (300 words or less). This summary should also address the significance of the project for psychoanalysis. Note that this summary will be posted on the website and circulated in published materials from the Fund for those applications awarded grants so please be sure the abstract clearly conveys the scope of the research or career, consultative request.
  2. Response to previous reviews (if applicable): If this application is a resubmission to the Fund, the applicant should provide a detailed statement regarding responses to the previous critiques and indicate where in the research plan these revisions may be found. Also indicate in the research plan through underlining, bold or italic types where major revisions have been made. Note that reviewers will have available the previous critiques and the previous applications. Applicants may take up to two pages to respond to the previous critiques. Please note that these two pages are not included in the 12 page maximum for the research plan but are rather in addition. Resubmitted applications failing to include this section will not be reviewed.
  3. Specific Aims of the project (suggested one page maximum): Include the broad goals as well as the specific goals of the project. For research proposals, the specific aims are a section in which applicants may indicate their primary study hypotheses. For career/consultative award applicants, this is the section to succinctly state goals for further career development or for the specific consultation.
  4. Background (suggested two pages maximum):
    1. For research proposals and requests for small consultative grants: Include a documented brief review of the relevant literature and the current status of the proposed research in terms of this literature.
    2. For career award applications: Include here a scientific/psychoanalytic investigative biography that details the candidate's investigative career, themes of interest, and future goals. For details of ongoing research include in next section labeled preliminary studies or progress report.
  5. Preliminary studies/progress report (suggested two pages maximum): If relevant preliminary studies have been completed or are in progress, please describe. If this is a competing renewal application (e.g., an application for another one to two years of funding), a detailed report of the accomplishments for the prior period supported by the Fund is required. Competing renewal applications not containing this progress report will not be reviewed.
  6. Methods or Scientific Plan:
    1. For research or consultative grants: Give a clear and sufficient account of how the project will be carried out, including the research design, sample selection and recruitment, procedures, measures (if relevant), a time schedule for completion. For consultative grants, be explicit regarding the goals of the consultation and how this will facilitate a research plan. For small pilot data grants, also be explicit how the small amount of funding will facilitate the proposed research. It is crucial that this section include a plan for data analysis that is more detailed than "data will be submitted to appropriate statistical procedures". Details, preferably linked back to the study goals or hypotheses, regarding specific data analytic strategies should be addressed.
    2. For career-award applications: Outline here the details of the educational, mentoring plans to enhance the candidate's career. These plans may include seminars, working in another investigator's research program, learning a particular method, helping analyze data, co-teaching a research seminar, etc. Note that applicants may also propose a research project as a part of their career development award. The research should be feasible given the time and amount of funding. The candidate also needs to be clear in this section how this award will free up the candidate's time to further his/her research career. A simple statement such as "see fewer patients" or "have fewer administrative duties" will not suffice; the applicant needs to be clear about the exact details of what he/she will be able to replace or "buy out of" with this award.
  7. References Cited: This section is not included in the 12/14 page maximum and should include all relevant literature cited in the application. No page limit is given for this section.
  8. For Career and Consultative Applications Only: Applicants are asked to provide letters from their identified mentors and/or the investigators with whom they will be consulting regarding their agreements to serve in these capacities. For career award, the mentor letter should also address the candidate's promise as an independent investigator. These letters are not included in the 12/14 page limit.
  9. Letters of Support from Collaborators: While these are not required, applicants may wish to have collaborators document their support and knowledge of the application. For example, an applicant may have made arrangements to recruit children from a particular clinic or school. A letter documenting the clinic's agreement to that arrangement is useful. Or an applicant may have arranged to have interviews scored in another investigator's laboratory. A letter documenting this agreement suggests that the applicant has definitively moved ahead on working out details of their research design.
  10. Human Subjects: All applications involving research with human subjects must document human subject review board approval. A narrative should provide details about how data will be safeguarded, how subject confidentiality will be protected, and how subjects may withdraw from the study as well as request their individual data. A signed statement from a human subjects review board indicating oversight on the submitted proposal is required. (Career award applications may not require this if no research with human subjects is proposed as a part of the award.) Applications without human subjects documentation will not be reviewed.

Environment

In one page or less applicants should provide details about their investigative environment. If a university or psychoanalytic institute, these details should describe space available for the research, computer and data analytic facilities, etc. If the applicant is not connected with an institution, these details should include a description of where research subjects will be seen, how data will be stored securely, and whether or not the applicant has access to research consultants and facilities.

Budget

The maximum budget for a research grant is $20,000 annually for a two year period, for a consultation grant $2500 for a one year period, for a pilot studies grant $5000 for a one year period, and for a career development award $15,000 for a two year period. The Fund does not support overhead and indirect costs.

There is no page limit for the budget which should include the following information (see fund form #4 that may also be downloaded):

  1. Personnel: List by name the staff (professional and support) who will be employed or used as consultants on the project and the amount of time or percentage of time to be spent on the project. List separately the amounts each person will be paid.

    Note: The Fund does not support:

    • Fees paid for psychoanalytic treatment even if such treatment is undertaken as part of a research project
    • Private-practice salary levels
    • Payment for released time of a full-time practicing clinician unless this time is for the limited period covered by a career-award and the applicant defines clearly how many patient hours he/she will supplant with research/career development time
    • Salary support for completing manuscripts

    Note: The Fund does support:

    • Academic and institutional salary levels; and,
    • Pro-rated salary for PI's who are academic or institutional employees, and who ordinarily supplement part of their salary from research grants. A statement of explanation should be included in such cases and may be further supported by statements from a departmental business office or departmental chairman.
  2. Consultant Fees: Include any costs from individuals serving as consultants; for example research design consultations, scoring of assessments, statistical consultation
  3. Equipment: List the cost of and justify the need for each item of equipment requested. Note that because the awards the Fund can grant are small, requests for large pieces of equipment or for computers are typically not granted unless the PI can make a strong case for why a given computer is absolutely critical to the proposed research and cannot be obtained in any other way.
  4. Supplies: List costs by main categories (e.g., floppy diskettes, audio or video tapes, duplicating costs, office supplies).
  5. Other expenses: List separately main categories (e.g., computer networking costs, equipment repair and maintenance, subject fees, necessary travels).
  6. Travel costs: These might include funds for the PI to travel to consult with another investigator or to support an on-site consultation from a research advisor. Applicants are advised to use this category with some judgement given the overall small amounts of the awards. A budget for a research grant that predominantly supports travel for the PI or a consultant might warrant reconsideration as a consultation application.

Budget Justication

Provide a narrative justification for each of the items listed in the budget. For personnel provide details for their role in the project and their expertise. For items such as subject fees, provide individual amounts (e.g., $50 per subject or $5000 for 100 subjects total). There is no page limit on this section.

Appendices

Applicants may include relevant material that could aid in evaluating the proposal such as reprints, preprints, and copies of key measures that will be used. However, the appendix should not circumvent important detail that is necessary for a clear and concise account of the research plan. Comments such as "see appendix for more details" are not acceptable while comments such as "questionnaire included in the appendix" are.

Note for Non-Competing Continuation Applications

All applicants holding a two year funding award are expected to submit a narrative progress report to the Board two months before the beginning of their second year of funding. The second year of funding is contingent on receipt of this progress report and will not commence until the progress report has been submitted and reviewed by the Board.

Suggested Outside Reviewers

Applicants may submit a request for an outside reviewer and also suggest names for reviewers. The committee also maintains a list of outside reviewers whose consultation is routinely sought.