CHAD Pilot Grant Application Information

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
College of Applied Health Sciences
219 Huff Hall, MC586
Phone: 333-4995

Application must contain the following information in a single Microsoft Word document or PDF file.

Include in application

  • Investigator Name(s) (First Name, Middle Initial, Last Name), ranks and highest degrees
  • Note about Investigators

For multiple applicants, put the name of the primary investigator at the top, followed by other investigators. For multiple investigators, the primary investigator is responsible for the administration of funding. The PI must be a tenured or on the tenure track faculty member of the College of Applied Health Sciences.

  • Telephone Number(s)
  • E-mail Address
  • Campus Address including Mail Code
  • Note: In the case of a joint appointment, enter only the name of the department or unit in which the project research will be conducted. Do not use the street address unless there is no building name.
  • Investigator's Department/Unit Name
  • Date submitted
  • Project Starting Date
  • Project Title (topic specific)
  • Proposal Summary (100 words or less)
  • Budget Request
  • For Research Assistants: $ amount requested
  • For Research Support (non RA): $ amount requested
  • Total Funding Requested: total funding $ requested
  • Budget Justification (100 words or less)
  • How does your proposal support your career goals? (100 words or less)
  • What is the focus of your current research projects, whether or not they are related to the proposed project? (200 words or less)
  • Include attachments—see instructions for more details:
  • NIH or NSF style vitae for each investigator
  • Proposal Narrative
  • IRB or IBC approval for human or animal subjects (approval not necessary for submission, but must be secured before data collection)

Submission Checklist

  • Yes | No Are you a tenure or tenure-track professor in the College of Applied Health Sciences?
  • Yes | No Will this project include the use of human subjects? See below.
  • Yes | No Do you have other funding for this project. If so, please list amount, source, and percent effort of funds in the space provided below along with the reason you are applying for additional funding.

Allowable and Non-allowable Expenses

The CHAD Pilot Grant program funds are intended for direct research costs (e.g. hourly wages for RAs and non-RAs, supplies, travel, equipment).

The following expenses are NOT allowed:

  • Salaries for faculty, post-doctoral research associates, research technicians, or computer programmers are not supported.
  • Full-time appointments of any kind
  • Graduate research assistantship appointments for greater than 50% time, more than two months in the summer session, or persons not currently enrolled as graduate students at Illinois
  • Ordinary research supplies and materials of the kind usually available in departmental laboratories, storerooms, and libraries
  • Certain forms of travel: to meetings, conferences and symposia, to principal sabbatical leave destinations
  • Book publication subventions for non-refereed or commercial press
  • Preparation of an index for a publication
  • Funds for computer time on Illinois computers
  • Dissertation project research costs which are not clearly also faculty research costs
  • Construction and remodeling of facilities
  • Non-research costs

Human Subjects

If the proposal will involve the use of human or animal subjects, the principal investigator must obtain approval from the UIUC IRB Committee or Animal Care Committeesand funding is contingent on their approval. Approval is required prior to data collection but not prior to submission of proposal.

Narrative Proposal

A narrative proposal must be submitted with the application. The length of the narrative will vary with the project, but should not exceed two pages (not including references), single-spaced, half-inch margins, font no smaller than 11 point Arial.

Include in the narrative:

  • A statement of the objectives and significance of the proposed research/creative activity.
  • A summary of relevant previous work by the applicant and/or others.
  • A description of the plan for accomplishing the objectives, including methodology.
  • Any plans for future support if the requested support will not allow completion of the project.

Submission of Application

Submit one copy of the application as a Word document or PDF by e-mailing the application as an attachment to Michele Guerra ().

Make sure the application, narrative and brief biographical sketch are submitted in one file. Multiple files will not be accepted. Also submit a hard copy of the application to:

The Center on Health, Aging, and Disability
219 Huff Hall, MC-586.

Applications (both electronic and hard copy) are due before 5:00 p.m. on the deadline date.

Results

The results of the CHAD Pilot Grant Program review committee’s decision will be sent by mail to the applicants as soon as possible after the review deadline.

Evaluation Criteria

Proposals will be evaluated on their overall merit rather than by a specific scoring system. The following criteria will be used to evaluate proposals:

  • Address a major societal health need
  • Use a multi-disciplinary team approach (within or across departments)
  • Show high quality of research design (appropriateness and feasibility of design and methods)
  • Demonstrate promise for significant impact
  • Show high likelihood for securing subsequent external funding

Acceptance

By accepting a CHAD Pilot Grant, recipients agree to:

  • Submit a final report eighteen months from the start date of their award.
  • Present the results in poster format at the CHAD/HWI Annual Research Symposium).

Grant recipients will be provided with Navigators who will facilitate their project implementation, and provide help in preparing to develop a proposal for external funding.

If an investigator has not used all of the allotted funds by the end of the first year, the investigator may request a no-cost extension for use of the remaining funds, for a period of up to six additional months. The investigator may be asked to present a poster on preliminary data if the project is not completed, as described above.