Research Scholar Program
Preparation of the Research Proposal
Letter of Intent
In order to estimate the potential review workload and plan the review, Applicants are asked to submit a letter of intent no later than August 5, 2011. The letter of intent is highly recommended, but not required, is not binding and does not enter into the review of a subsequent application. The letter of intent should include the following:
- Descriptive title of proposed research
- Name, address, and telephone number of the Applicant
- Name, address, and telephone number of the Mentor(s)
- Participating institutions
- A brief project abstract (no longer than one paragraph)
There is no approval process for the letter of intent. The applicant may assume that they have permission to apply but are not bound to do so. The letter of intent should be submitted by e-mail or fax to:
Rodney Cotten
Research Programs Manager
American Urological Association Foundation
1000 Corporate Boulevard
Linthicum, MD 21090
(866) 746-4282 x3750
(410) 689-3750
(410) 689-3850 (fax)
grants@auafoundation.org
Application Agreement Form
The Applicant must download an Application Agreement Form from the AUA Foundation Research Scholars Program website at www.UrologyHealth.org/researchscholars. The form must be completed in its entirety, including all necessary signatures as part of the application package. While the Mentor may assist with preparation of the application, it should be readily apparent that the Applicant performed a significant amount of the work in preparing the application package. The Mentor is required to state such on the Application Agreement Form.
The deadline for submitting applications is 5:00 p.m. LOCAL time on Thursday, September 8, 2011.
Letters of Support
- A letter of support from the Mentor describing the training program and his or her commitment to the Scholar’s training, career development, and Mentorship in urology research. The Mentor should address the following:
- The Scholar’s potential for an independent career in urology research
- The Mentor’s history of training postdoctoral fellows and residents
- The training environment, including ongoing urology disease research and how that will promote the development of the Scholar
- How the Mentor will support the research project and guide the Scholar
- Two letters of support from individuals other than the Mentor (does not count towards the application page limit)
If preferred by the writer, letters of support may be sent under separate cover directly to Rodney Cotten by mail, e-mail or fax. However, all letters of support must be received by the application deadline.
Writing the Grant
* Note that 10 pages (approximately 5,000 words) is the limit for all four sections combined. The page limits noted with each section are a suggested distribution.
Section 1: Specific Aims (1-2 pages*)
Introduce the problem being addressed, define the major hypothesis being tested and then list the specific aims proposed to test the hypothesis. Include in this section the major problem intended to be addressed and provide the major reasons why this is an important problem to study. List, in summary form, the experiments proposed and explain how they address the aims of the proposal.
Section 2: Background (2 pages*)
Describe the background of the problem being addressed, citing the appropriate literature. Introduce the subject area of the research in this section. This should include sufficient background material to place the project in scientific perspective so as to allow the reviewers to appreciate the significance of the scientific problem to be addressed.
Section 3: Supporting Data (2-3 pages*)
Provide any preliminary data pertinent to the proposed experiments. Depending upon the Applicant’s position when applying, present either research data that the Applicant has generated or data that has been generated by the laboratory of the sponsor and is related to the Applicant’s proposal. Unpublished data or published data (with references) may be included; however, these figures and tables are subject to the total page limitations.
Concerning figures and /or tables: It is recommended that not more than three figures be used. The data in this section should support the major hypothesis of the proposed work.
Section 4: Experimental Plan (2-4 pages*)
Describe each experiment in enough experimental detail so that the reviewers can determine how the methods will address the hypothesis and how feasible the experiments are. For each specific aim, it is recommended that the experiments that will be used to achieve the aim be described. For each experiment, outline the rationale for doing the experiment, possible anticipated results, the mechanisms for data analysis and statistical interpretation, including data as appropriate. If possible, briefly describe alternative experimental approaches should the initial experimental approach prove unsuccessful.
Fellowships are evaluated by an independent review panel according to a peer review process similar to that used by the National Institutes of Health. Please note, however, that the AUA Foundation is a private organization. It is not federally funded. Priority scores will be given to each application based on the following criteria.
