The UM ORSP Division Research Development and the UMMC ORSP Pre-Award Division seek candidates for nomination to The Brain Research Foundation’s (BRF) Fay/Frank Seed Grant Program 2020[1].

BRF seed grants provide $80,000 over a two-year period in direct costs for new, two-year research projects in neuroscience, ideally resulting in a successful proposal to NIH or another agency. These seed grants are intended to support assistant or associate professors working in new research directions on innovative projects. BRF Seed Grant awards are not intended to supplement existing grants. See program guidelines[2].

This is a limited funding opportunity. The University of Mississippi, including UM and UMMC, can submit only one nomination in total. Assistant Professors and Associate Professors from either campus wishing 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 12/02/2019. 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 12/09/2019.

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 by the January 7, 4pm CST deadline.

In mid-February, the Brain Foundation will invite a subset of LOI providers to submit a full application, which will be due to the sponsor on March 27.

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).