The UM ORSP Division Research Development and the UMMC ORSP Pre-Award Division seek candidates for nomination for The Brain Research Foundation’s (BRF) 2021 Scientific Innovation Award (SIA)[1].

The SIA program provides funding for innovative science in both basic and clinical neuroscience. This funding mechanism is designed to support creative, exploratory, cutting edge research in well-established research laboratories, under the direction of established investigators. SIA awards will support projects that may be too innovative and speculative for traditional funding sources but still have a high likelihood of producing important findings resulting in major grant applications and significant publications in high impact journals.

An SIA award provides $150,000 over a two-year period in direct costs only, for new/unique research projects through which senior investigators will stretch their imagination into areas that can substantially change an area of research.

This is a limited funding opportunity, to which the University of Mississippi, including UM and UMMC, can submit only one nomination in total. The nominated candidate must hold a full-time faculty position as a professor or associate professor at UM or UMMC; must be working in the area of studies of brain function in health and disease; and must have received major NIH or other peer-reviewed funding for a different project in the last three years. See program guidelines[2] for additional eligibility requirements.

Individuals from UM or UMMC who meet eligibility requirements and wish to be considered for this nomination are invited to download the Letter of Intent (LOI) form[3], complete sections I-IV, and submit the form, along with an NIH-style biographical sketch, via the Ole miss InfoReady Review Portal^[4], no later than 05/26/2020. UM applicants should login with their UM WebId; UMMC applicants using this portal for the first time will need to self-register for an InfoReady account using their @umc.edu e-mail address.

The UM ORSP Division Research Development and the UMMC ORSP Pre-Award Division will consult with the leadership of Brain Wellness Flagship Constellation to choose the UM or UMMC faculty member with the most compelling LOI. Once the selected nominee has been notified, all those who were NOT selected will be notified as well. Our goal is to complete these notifications by 6/02/2020.

The nominee will then need to work with the sponsored programs office at their respective institution (UM/Oxford or UMMC) to get the LOI finalized, institutionally signed, and submitted to the sponsor well before the June 25, 4pm CST deadline.

If the pre-proposal receives a favorable review from the Brain Foundation, they will invite the PI to submit a full application, which will be due to the sponsor on Sept 22.

For questions about the internal application or selection process, please contact Jason Hale, UM ORSP Director of Research Development (jghale@olemiss.edu) or Josh Clark, UMMC Director of Sponsored Programs Pre-Award (jtclark2@olemiss.edu).