Research Grant Funding Process

The process of funding research projects begins with the Association announcing a new Call for Research Grant Proposals. This announcement, which usually takes place in May, is broadcast to more than 4,000 medical professionals worldwide via website, email and regular mail.

Grant Application Submission

Upon receiving the announcement, interested parties can download the official Application for Research Grant Funding from the Association’s website. The application details the requirements for submitting a proposal, or request, for funding; it also cites the deadline for doing so. While a list of current areas of interest within the field of histiocytic disorders is presented, all projects focusing on these rare diseases are encouraged and welcomed.

Applications will vary in length, scope and topic; however, they must all include the following information:

Problem Formulation - a basic description of the question the project seeks to answer.
Specific Aims - the detailed data for the research project, including background and significance, preliminary work and findings, the precise research plan and the significance of such research.
Lay Summary - a synopsis explaining the research plan in ordinary, non-scientific terms; the Association uses this narrative to report to their non-medical Board members, as well as its membership.
Budget - a financial plan describing how each dollar of the requested funding would be utilized.
Bibliographical Sketch - a detailed history of the work and employment of the applicant or applicants.
Other Support - any other forms or sources of financing that will or might support the project.

Grant Application Evaluation

The process by which the most worthy applications are chosen follows the model employed by the United States National Institutes of Health (NIH), which consists of two, independent stages of reviews.

The first stage is performed by the Scientific Committee of the Histiocyte Society. This panel evaluates and grades the applications based on scientific merit, relevance and feasibility. Applications are then placed in ranking order according to that stage of review.

The second stage in the review process is conducted by the scientific members of the Association’s Board of Trustees. This level of review involves analyzing the applications for several, additional criteria:

Assessment of other funding already awarded and potentially capable of supporting the proposed work, as well as overlapping funding, if any.
Provision of seed funding for work that subsequently could be competitive for major funding by other organizations such as the NIH or equivalent agencies in Europe, etc.
Maintenance of the balance between new applicants and applicants who have previously received support from the Association, in order to encourage the entry of new investigators and ideas into the field of histiocytic disorders.
Observance of a balance of strategic priorities, specifically among the various histiocytic disorders.
On the occasion where a member of either the Histiocyte Society Scientific Committee or the Histiocytosis Association of America Board of Trustees in associated with any of the applications for funding, he/she is excluded from the entire review process for that particular year. This practice helps to ensure an unbiased approach to the grading and granting of applications.

Resolution to Fund Research

Following the evaluation process, the Association Board of Trustees creates and then passes a formal resolution to award research funding for that fiscal year. The number of projects awarded by the Association varies each year. That number is determined by a variety of factors including the quality of eligible applications received and the availability of funds.

Occasionally, other histiocytosis-related organizations, like that in Canada, collaborate with the Association to provide funding to a specific year’s program. The goal is to ensure funding for the projects identified as having the highest priority, and the Association is proud to have been able to achieve this each year since the program’s inception.

Funding Acceptance and Compliance

Once the Association Board of Trustees passes the Research Funding Resolution, applicants (hereafter referred to as investigators) are notified of their proposal’s acceptance or denial. The investigator must then sign a formal Funding Acceptance Agreement that stipulates the terms and conditions of the grant award, which include the following:

Funds received from the Association must be used specifically as defined in the original Application for Research Grant Funding; should the nature or scope of the project alter from its original intended use, the investigator must submit the proposed changes, in writing, to the Association for approval.
A written progress report must be submitted to the Association six months after the project’s start (based on the date funding is received), and then again at the conclusion of the project (anticipated to be one year after the project’s start). If, for any reason, the report can not be submitted, the investigator must petition the Association, in writing, for an extension to submit the report at a later date.
Any and all results, findings and/or conclusions culminating from Association-funded research must be made public.
Any published material or presentations referring to the information resulting from Association-funded research must acknowledge the support of the Association.
The funding period for a grant is one year. However, at the completion of the grant, upon review of the results, and provided the investigator can substantiate the need for and value of further scientific inquiry into the results of the project, then he/she is encouraged to submit an application for further funding, upon announcement of availability of Association grant funds.
While not mandatory, investigators are strongly encouraged to present the project’s conclusions and findings at an Annual Meeting of the Histiocyte Society.

Once the Funding Acceptance Agreement is signed by the project investigator and returned to the Association, an award check is issued and disbursed to the institution in which the research will take place. This entire process, from announcement of the Call for Research Grant Proposals to the writing of the checks, takes approximately eight months, with funding being distributed at the end of December.