Seed Grants
The Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute is requesting proposals for its sixth round of Seed Grants. Seed grant research projects should involve at least two independent co-PIs who combine their expertise in an innovative fashion to address important problems in basic and clinical neuroscience.
We encourage applications from teams forming unique connections between neuroscience and other bastions of disciplinary strength at Stanford: 1) engineering and the quantitative sciences, 2) chemical and molecular biology, and 3) the social sciences, humanities and professional schools of education, law and business. Applicants must demonstrate clearly how this funding mechanism would allow the project to move forward.
Successful proposals, selected by the Seed Grants Review Committee in consultation with the Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute leadership will be awarded for a two-year period in the total amount of $300,000 ($150,000 per year). The second year of funding is dependent on the submission of a progress report and progress made in year one.
Each proposal should engage teams of a minimum of two (2) independent co-PIs.
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All applicants must be Stanford faculty with PI eligibility. Stanford PI-eligible faculty include those with the following types of faculty appointments:
- University Tenure Line (UTL) / Academic Council Faculty
- University Medical Line (UML)
- Non-Tenure Line Research (NTLR)
- Clinician Educator (CE) at the rank of clinical assistant professor and above who are full-time Stanford employees with 100% CE faculty appointments. No waiver is required.
Note: Clinical Instructors in the Clinician Educator (CE) line are not PI-eligible.
- Applicants must also be Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute Affiliates at the time of submission. Any interested applicants are invited to join the Institutes’ affiliate programs: Join the Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute Faculty network.
- Each applicant may participate in only one (1) proposal.
- Each application must have one (1) Communicating PI, who will submit the letter of intent online and will serve as the point of contact for the application. Please note that all faculty applicants are co-PIs and are called “applicants” in the application portal. Because it is expected that all PIs contribute robustly to the project, there is no “lead PI”.
The Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute Seed Grant Committee will review proposals based on:
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Creativity / Innovation. Does this project balance a highly creative idea or an innovative way to address a problem with the likelihood of success?
- The proposed project should be new, and should have the potential to generate data that can be used for grant applications to extramural funding sources in neuroscience fields.
- The research advances knowledge, proposes novel solutions, or opens new avenues of exploration in neuroscience.
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Research Rigor. Does the research uphold the highest standards of excellence in STEM?
- Soundness of Methodology, Rigor and Reproducibility. The research employs rigorous, well-designed methods that are appropriate for answering the research question. This includes clear experimental design, valid data collection techniques, and proper statistical analysis, ensuring that results are reliable and reproducible.
- Ethical Standards. The research adheres to ethical standards in all aspects of research, from data collection and analysis to collaboration and publication.
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Collaborative potential of the project. It will be important to document how the novel collaborative effort of the co-PIs will be stronger than the sum of independent projects. The collaborators should innovatively combine their expertise to address important problems in basic and clinical neuroscience.
- Projects led by two or more senior faculty are required to be highly interdisciplinary. All other proposals are encouraged to be interdisciplinary. Applicants' interdisciplinarity can be demonstrated by any of the following: being affiliated with different departments, using different methodologies/approaches, and/or working in different disciplines, even if affiliated with the same department.
- Proposals that involve disciplines outside traditional basic and clinical neuroscience (e.g. law, education, business, public policy) are strongly encouraged.
- Demonstrated efforts of each applicant to build an inclusive training and work environment.
In addition to these criteria, the selection committee will take into consideration previous funding from Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute as well as current available resources/funding.
The funds can be used for personnel (undergraduate, graduate, or postdoctoral students, research assistants or associates), supplies, equipment, travel, or seminar and symposia needs. Faculty salaries are not allowed.
