Developmental Awards Application

Changes

Please review the following updates for this cycle of our innovation awards:

1. Postdoctoral fellow eligibility for Tier 1 awards 

The Cancer Center biannual innovation awards program has traditionally been open to all UNC faculty to promote innovative cancer research allowing groups to branch out in new directions.

To promote the ability of postdoctoral fellows to obtain future independent funding to support novel and innovative ideas, postdoctoral fellows will be eligible to submit Tier 1 ($50,000) proposals as the PI with a letter of support from their faculty mentor for the Spring/Fall 2022 cycles. The proposals should have an element of innovation and not just be to complete existing research. The proposals can be in any arena and will be reviewed by UNC Lineberger leaders in the population, basic, translational and clinical sciences.

Proposals will be evaluated on the same criteria as other awards, but postdoctoral proposals will receive special consideration to enhance chances of funding while competing against more established faculty. The purpose of the awards program remains to fund cutting-edge, innovative science that can initiate a program of future funding.

• View postdoctoral fellow eligibility for Tier 1 awards

Additional changes for postdocs: 

• Letter of Support: a letter from a UNC Lineberger faculty member who agrees to support the project and agrees not to submit a proposal for the same project in the same round. This letter should also describe how the faculty member plans to mentor the applicant. 
• Respective Contributions: a statement explaining the respective contributions that the applicant and their sponsor had in the writing and editing of the application. Please specify who wrote and edited the application (e.g., I wrote 90% of the application, which includes the specific aims and research strategy. My PI wrote 10% of the application, which includes a letter of support as well as minor edits. (150-250 words) 
• Responsible Conduct in Research (RCR): a statement describing their previous and future plans for RCR training. (150-250 words) 
• Career Goals/Professional Development: a paragraph stating their career goals and what professional development activities they plan to pursue during the course of their award. (150-250 words) 
• Mentoring Activities: a paragraph describing past circumstances where they have served as a mentor and describe how they plan to mentor others during the course of their award. (150-250 words) 

2. PI names and project title Letter of Intent 

3. Access to research and healthcare

The UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center recognizes addressing health equity and reducing health disparities in access to research and healthcare—in North Carolina’s rural, low-income, uninsured, disabled, elderly, veteran, and racially/ethnically diverse populations—as top priorities within our cancer research programs.

For submissions in Clinical Science and Population Science, we are piloting a new requirement whereby applications will include a new section that addresses these priorities.

This section (less than 1 page maximum) should state how the proposal will demonstrate potential impact to reduce disparities in cancer research access, cancer care and/or cancer outcomes in one or more of the aforementioned populations by addressing at least one of the following two points:

• How the proposal will contribute to improving access to research on cancer prevention, early detection, diagnosis, treatment, supportive care and/or survivorship in diverse patient populations. For example, through simplifying research enrollment processes, reducing barriers to research participant recruitment and retention, including representative patient populations in the study.
• How findings from the proposal will accelerate efforts in North Carolina’s rural, low-income, uninsured, disabled, elderly, veteran, and racially/ethnically diverse populations to improve access to healthcare and reduce cancer burden in these groups. Examples include focusing on modifiable determinants of cancer health disparities, addressing the psychosocial and economic burdens of cancer, improving access to high quality care, enhancing quality of life, and/or saving more lives in populations with a disproportionate burden of cancer.

4. New application portal (registration required)

This cycle, we are implementing a new online application portal to improve the submission and review process. This portal, called Foundant, is currently used by NC TRaCs for their intramural program.

This system requires that you create an account with a username and password. Please create an account following the listed instructions. Your assigned pre-award specialist is available to assist with questions about this process.

Application Guidelines

View PDF of the UNC Lineberger Developmental Funding Program general guidelines

Submission Requirements

To be eligible for review, each applicant must complete the following:

1. Non-Binding LOI: To expedite our review process and get final decisions to a submitter sooner, we are now asking for a non-binding LOI be submitted one month prior to the application due date. We request only the PI names and a project title. Please submit LOI to lccc-dev-awards@office.unc.edu.
2. Register Online: All applicants must register and then submit their proposals at the UNC Lineberger Developmental Funding website. The site will be announced and opened approximately one week ahead of the deadline. Both registration and submission must be completed by 5 p.m. on the deadline date.
3. Submit Online: Submit your application through the Foundant portal.
4. Applications missing one or more of the required components (registration, uploaded single PDF electronic copy with the PI’s name in the file name) will be considered incomplete and will not be reviewed.
5. Extensions of the deadline will not be Supplementary or additional materials will not be accepted after the submission deadline.
6. Former Awardees must submit progress report: If you have received a UNC Lineberger Developmental Award since 2014 (inclusive) you must include a progress report attached to the end of your single PDF, before your new proposal will be reviewed. Report on: Title/year of funding; team; accomplishments (details of new external grants, publications, etc.); and UNC resources
7. Questions? Please email lccc-dev-awards@office.unc.edu

Application

The application portal website will be announced and opened approximately one week ahead of the deadline.

Both registration and submission must be completed by 5 p.m. on the deadline date.

Please refer to update #4 above regarding the new application portal for this cycle. Registration is required.

Additional Information

• Study sections chaired by UNC Lineberger Associate Directors will review all Tiers of proposals.
• Applicants are allowed to re-submit once. If your proposal is not funded, you may submit the same idea again (revised or not) one time. Reviewers will not necessarily know if you’ve submitted before and will not see the former review comments. This limitation in resubmissions is in the interest of stimulating innovation and limiting the burden on reviewers.
• Please note: Former awardees must submit progress report. If you have received a UNC Lineberger Developmental Award since 2014 (inclusive), you must include a progress report attached to the end of your single PDF, before your new proposal will be reviewed. The report must include Title/year of funding, team, accomplishments (details of new external grants, publications, etc.), and UNC resources utilized.

Support

If you have questions, please contact our team at lccc-dev-awards@office.unc.edu