MGH ECOR Fellowships for Postdocs: How to Write a Competitive Application Iain Drummond, PhD Associate Professor of Medicine, MGH Renal Unit Kristin White, PhD Associate Professor of Dermatology, MGH Cutaneous Biology Research Center September 17, 2015
Tosteson & Fund for Medical Discovery (FMD) Postdoctoral Fellowship Awards (15-3) Application Deadline: Thursday, October 1, 2015 5:00 PM DESCRIPTION OF THE AWARDS The Executive Committee on Research (ECOR) is now accepting applications for the Tosteson and Fund for Medical Discovery (FMD) Postdoctoral Fellowship Awards for fellows at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). Please note: while applications for this call are due on October 1, 2015, ECOR hasthree selections of FMD awards per year with deadlines of February 1, June 1 and October 1. Applicants are only eligible to apply once per year for any of the three calls. The Tosteson and FMD call for proposals due in June and October do not have any areas of research restriction, whereas the FMD call for proposals due in February are restricted to Clinical applications only. Click here for a summary of the FMD fellowship awards and deadlines. The Tosteson & FMD Awards are for one year and include a stipend of $40,000. The awardee s salary must be supplemented by the mentor to the appropriate stipend level under the new postdoctoral salary guidelines (for further information on the new postdoctoral salary guidelines, go to:http://mghresearch.partners.org/ecor/postdocsalaries.aspx). As a reminder, ECOR will accept only one application per applicant for MGH ECOR Fellowship Awards per calendar year (two general calls and one additional call focused on clinical research are posted each year as noted). AWARD EXPENDITURES AND START DATE Awards are not transferable to any other institution The funds may be used only for salary and fringe benefits The awards are unrestricted to the area of study The awards are for $40,000 plus applicable fringe benefits and 15% indirect costs Awards will begin January 1, 2016 ELIGIBILITY Applicants and their Fellowship Supervisors/Mentors must both have full- time primary appointments at MGH during the entire award period These Postdoctoral Fellowships are only for MD and PhD Fellows/Post Docs who are working at MGH Fellows pursuing either fundamental (basic) or clinical research are eligible No more than two fellows from the same laboratory may apply in the same cycle, and no more than one applicant from the same laboratory will be funded in a given cycle The awardees salary must be supplemented by the mentor to the appropriate stipend level under the new postdoctoral salary guidelines (for further information on the post doc salary guidelines, go to http://mghresearch.partners.org/ecor/postdocsalaries.aspx). Internal MGH department/sundry funds and other sponsored funds may be used to supplement the postdoc fellow's stipend. If the applicant already has or subsequently receives other fellowship awards: o The applicant's total stipend should not exceed an annual salary appropriate for his/her experience o In addition, the receipt of this support must be allowed by the other sponsors o o Applicants must notify ECOR at ecor@mgh.harvard.edu if they accept another award during the funding period If the other award duplicates the purpose and funding of the MGH Tosteson/FMD award, the unused MGH Tosteson/FMD funding will be returned to the central ECOR pool for further Tosteson/FMD awards. White, Kristin PhD MGH 2015 1
TOSTESON & FMD AWARDS REVIEW PROCESS Applicants are reviewed by the ECOR Subcommittee on Review of Research Proposals (SRRP), including a panel of diverse reviewers from across the institution. The SRRP recommendations are reviewed for final approval by ECOR Leadership. In evaluating applications, SRRP will consider the candidate, the training environment, and the quality and relevance of the proposed study. Candidates will not be provided with critiques for their application. SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS Applications must include the following 13 items: 1. Title of the Research Proposal 2. Faculty Supervisor Contact Details, ie name, email address, telephone number 3. Post- doctoral Training information, ie applicant's total number of post- doctoral years andapplicant's total number of post- doctoral years with current mentor 4. Stipends and Awards, ie list of stipends and awards currently held (type and amount of award) 5. Summary of Research Project (500 word limit) 6. Research Plan (5- page limit, excluding references), including: o Specific aims o Background and significance o Preliminary data o Experimental design and methods o References 7. Applicant s description of long- term career plans (1 page limit). Include a statement of why/how this award will contribute to the applicant s achievement of these goals. 8. Biosketches of both the applicant and the fellowship supervisor. The biosketch of the applicant and fellowship supervisor must be in the the new NIH General Biographical Format found here. 9. Complete Publications List White, Kristin PhD MGH 2015 2
10. Other Support, a list of other current and pending support sources, with amounts for both the applicant and the fellowship supervisor, in the NIH format. If the applicant does not have other current or pending support sources, please indicate none when applicable. Click here for a sample Other Support list in the NIH format. 11. Two Letters of Support: one from each category below, (address letters to ECOR Review Committee). I. Fellowship Supervisor: This letter should specify the contributions of the applicant to the hypotheses, preliminary data, and research plans described in the proposal and indicate the respective roles of the supervisor and applicant in preparing the application. Include a statement of why this candidate should receive this award. II. Previous supervisor [or colleague]: This person should be familiar with the applicant s prior research. This individual must be from outside the applicant s current laboratory. The above letters can be submitted as confidential files, however submitting the letter confidentially is not required. For more information on confidential uploads, please see section 3 of the How to apply section below. 12. Training Plan, Environment, Research Facilities Please include a training plan for the applicant. This may be based on the NRSA application guidelines (SF424) paraphrased below: Training Plan, Environment, Research Facilities Describe the research training plan that you have developed specifically for the Fellowship applicant. Include items such as classes, seminars, and opportunities for interaction with other groups and scientists. Indicate the relationship of the proposed research training to the applicant's career goals. Describe the skills and techniques that the applicant will learn. Relate these to the applicant's career goals. Sponsor's/Co- Sponsor s Previous Fellows and Trainees Give the total number of predoctoral and postdoctoral individuals previously sponsored. Select up to five that are representative and, for those five, provide their present employing organizations and position titles or occupations. 13. Unit, Service/Department Chief Signed Statement. Click here to obtain the form. FORMAT GUIDELINES Use margins of 1.0 inches or greater for the Summary of Research Project, Research Plan, Description of Long- term Career Plans and Complete Publications List, Use 12pt font size or greater for the Summary of Research Project and Description of Long- term Career Plans. Upload PDF documents only. Limit characters to A- Z, a- z and 0-9 when naming PDF documents. Do not use periods, commas or dashes, in the file name. For a guide to help make your application more competitive, click here. HOW TO APPLY ECOR accepts all applications online via the ECOR Online Grant Management Portal. The system has been designed to allow users to: Create a personal profile, which will auto- populate your future ECOR applications White, Kristin PhD MGH 2015 3
Assign a delegate to submit applications on your behalf (optional) View current calls and apply to open opportunities Save and edit current applications in progress Submit completed applications View all your ECOR applications that have been submitted via the online grants system Instructions for Applying Online 1. Create your account: Login using your Partners credentials and fill out the profile information. 2. Complete the application: Once your profile is complete, you will automatically progress through the online application. If you cannot complete the application at one time, save the application and return to it at a later time to finish. Before submitting your application, you will have the ability to make changes to the application. 3. Confidential submission process: The ECOR Online Grant Management Portal now has the means of incorporating confidential files. (optional) In section eleven of the online application - check the box labeled Will be uploaded confidentially only if files are being submitted confidentially by someone other than the applicant. Do not check this box if the applicant is uploading files themselves to this section. Confidential letters should then be emailed directly to ECOR@mgh.harvard.edu with the subject line: applicant s name- FMD letter (e.g. Smith- John- FMD- letter). 4. Submit your application: Once you have completed the application click on the submit button at the bottom of the page. Once you submit it, you will not be able to make further changes unless you send a request to ECOR (note that once the deadline passes, request to make changes will not be accepted). Useful tips: To avoid losing your work, remember to save frequently You can only upload PDF documents If you previously created a profile, please ensure your information is current Click "Apply" below to begin the application. QUESTIONS Please visit the ECOR website http://ecor.mgh.harvard.edu/ and review the FAQ page for the Tosteson and Fund for Medical Discovery. If you still have questions remaining, please submit your questions via e- mail to ECOR. White, Kristin PhD MGH 2015 4
How to write a competitive FMD proposal The FMD fellowship process is highly competitive. We average around 140 applications over the year for 23 awards (~15% success rate). To prepare the best application, it may be helpful to understand that the reviewers consider every part of the application to select the top proposals. Reviewers critically assess the scientific quality of the proposed research plan, the applicant's track record and their trajectory towards independence, and the applicant's environment or lab and the support from their mentor. Below we summarize the guidance we provide for reviewers, and provide some suggestions on how to craft your proposal to allow for the best review. Reviewers consider these factors in ranking your application: Scientific quality of the proposal Is the proposal designed to address an important question and have a significant impact? Is the proposal well written and clearly organized? Is the proposal innovative or has the applicant developed a new system to make discoveries? Can the work reasonably be done in a year? Are pitfalls and alternative approaches adequately considered? Is the preliminary data convincing? Trajectory Do their publications, proposal and the mentor s letter indicate that they are formulating their own research ideas? Does the applicant have an appropriate number of publications from their graduate and postdoc years? Are the publications important to the field? Is there an indication that the applicant is on a pathway to independence? Mentorship Does the applicant have strong support from their mentor? Is the mentor committed to developing the applicant s independent career? Does the mentor provide a comprehensive training plan for the applicant, including opportunities to learn new techniques, present their research data, and interact with other researchers? Does the training plan fit with the applicant s career goals? Has the mentor successfully trained other fellows? Here are some suggestions to increase the competitiveness of your proposal: General suggestions Make sure that you are eligible to apply, based on the information provided in the call for applications. Consider whether this is the best time for you to submit a proposal. Only one application per year is allowed, so if you will be in a better position in terms of publications or preliminary data in a few months, it is best to wait. White, Kristin PhD MGH 2015 5
Please carefully proofread all sections of our proposal. Prepare well in advance and ask your mentor to read the entire proposal. If you need help with grammar, please have a colleague read a final proof. Research plan: Make your proposal understandable to a broad range of scientists. It is rare that more than one reviewer will be expert in your area of research. In the last round we had 12 reviewers from a broad range of departments. The proposal must be written so that it can be understood by investigators from many research fields. Avoid jargon and overuse of acronyms. A well- constructed figure is good, but don t paste in figures without an explanation of what they show and why the data is important. You must convince the reviewers that your research is important. The best research has an irreplaceable influence on a field. Tell us what previous findings underlie your work, what the current gap in knowledge or research capability may be, and how the field will be influenced by what you propose to do. Why are you the best person to do the research? How are your skills and background best suited to the proposed work? What is your contribution to the preliminary data? Do you understand the scope of the work? Can it be done in a year? How will the work be extended in the future? How will it contribute to your future career goals? Long term career plan: Briefly describe your career path so far, and how you see your independent career in the future. How will this award help to make that happen? This is a good place to include information about additional funding opportunities you are applying for (K awards etc.) that will support your career development. Biosketch: Letters: Your biosketch should be carefully prepared, listing your previous positions, awards and references in chronologic order. The statement section of the biosketch can be used to highlight your unique qualifications for the proposed work or to explain unusual aspects of your career path. Your supporting letters are extremely important. They should be informative about you as a developing investigator and research colleague, not just about the results of your research. The postdoc and the mentor should discuss these letters well in advance. We are now asking the mentor to provide a training plan for each postdoc. This section should explain how the mentor will further the independent career of the postdoc, and how previous postdocs from the lab have moved on in their careers. Please discuss the training plan with your mentor, and make sure a comprehensive plan is included in the final application. For further guidance please look at the instructions on the Call for Applications. The second letter should be from your graduate advisor unless this is not possible. If this is lacking, the reason should be explained in your personal statement. Please do not include letters from junior faculty who trained with you, as this suggests that you have not made an impression on more senior faculty. This should be avoided for all types of applications. White, Kristin PhD MGH 2015 6