2012 Call for Proposals to Advance Scholarship in COMSEP

Deadline: December 6, 2011 5:00 PM, EST

Purpose

The purpose of this initiative is to promote and support innovative educational scholarship that is designed, implemented, and evaluated by COMSEP members. Selected educational grant(s) will be supported for a total of $5,000 ($2,500 from COMSEP and $2,500 match from the Chairperson at their institutions). This grant opportunity is supported, in part, by the Richard Sarkin Foundation and celebrates the late Dr. Sarkin's commitment to creative and innovative teaching and learning in Pediatrics.

Application and Submission Process

All applications are being accepted online at: http://www.comsep.org/grants/login.cfm. The deadline for submitting an application is Tuesday, December 6, 2011, at 5:00 pm, EST

• Projects may include development of innovative curricula, assessment or evaluation tools, instructional materials and educational research
• All proposals must have IRB approval (if human subjects are involved) in order for grant money to be awarded. Realizing this takes time in some institutions, investigators must demonstrate evidence that their protocols have been submitted to their IRB at the time of submission to COMSEP.
• The project must identify a single PI only, and the PI must be a COMSEP member.
• The PI must identify a mentor for the project whose role is to support the proposal and to assist and consult "on site." The mentor may be faculty from Pediatrics or another department or office of education and need not be a member of COMSEP. COMSEP Grant Committee members are not eligible to be mentors "on site." Mentorship is an important piece of this program and will be closely reviewed by the COMSEP Grant Committee.
• Previous grantees are welcome to apply with a new project or clearly delineated "next steps" in a previously completed project.

• Awardees must plan to have at least preliminary data to present by the 2013 COMSEP meeting. The scope of work for the project should be reasonable and practical, such that it is feasible to complete in 12-18 months. A pilot project to generate data for a larger grant submission in the effort to scale up the study in the future is strongly encouraged.
• Work that has been previously published will not be accepted, but proposals to conduct next steps or next iteration or expansion/continuation of such work will be considered for review.
• Collaborative efforts between departments or schools are encouraged but awards will be made only to the department of the principal investigator or first author. Matching funds will be required from that same department. The co- investigators may choose to negotiate additional funds from their departments.

Review Process

• Awards will be based on content related to pediatric undergraduate medical education activities. Studies with appropriate rationale for addressing issues that span both undergraduate medical education and graduate medical education will be considered as well.
• All submissions will be reviewed by at least two members of the COMSEP Grant Committee. We are committed to providing an instructive critique for each proposal, including those that are not accepted. This will allow investigators to pursue their ideas by paying attention to reviewer comments and potentially re-writing their proposals for other funding opportunities. Proposals will be judged "Approved for Funding," "Not Approved for Funding," and "Not initially approved for funding but resubmission is suggested." The Committee reserves the right to ask for changes in the grant before funding is approved.
• The Committee will give highest priority to those projects that adhere to all the ground-rules, are appropriate in scope, have an appropriate budget, have the potential for generalizability, have strong mentorship outlined and have the potential for future grant submissions.
• The number of proposals funded will be dependent on the number and quality of submissions.

Review Guidelines for Grants

The Grant Review Committee will evaluate COMSEP 2012 grant proposal submissions using the following guidelines:

• Required Information To be responsive to the Call for Proposals, the applicant must attend to all required material and guidelines, submitting all information detailed in the Call, and by the deadline for the Call for Proposals, Tuesday, December 6, 2011, 5:00 pm EST . Along with the proposal narrative, note that the supporting information (for example, the biosketches of applicant and mentor, the mentor's statement of commitment, and institutional officer name/contact information) is essential. The Grant Review Committee will score and discuss the application, paying careful attention to the above, and to the following:
• Introduction -Is there a rationale provided for the topic's importance, a literature review that helps define the need for the project, a clear statement of hypothesis (if a research study) or a clear description of project scope and purpose (if an educational innovation project)?
• Methods/Materials - Is the methodology appropriate to the question(s) or project plan? Is the design clear and appropriately detailed? Is the study population well-defined and sampling method appropriate? Are the types of instruments or techniques planned for measurement detailed, with rationale for the instruments selected? If instruments or materials are to be developed, is this feasible for the scope and timetable of the project?
• Evaluation/Analysis - Is the evaluation proposed appropriate for the study design and comprehensive for examining outcomes? Is a rationale provided for the evaluation(s) or statistical methods selected?
• Anticipated Outcomes and Results - Are anticipated and alternative outcomes provided, and are they informative to pediatric medical education?
• Plans for Dissemination - Does the applicant describe next steps (for example, scale up or further funding potential), generalized use of the project product or findings, or potential integration into other learning settings?
• Budget and Timeline - Is the budget adequately detailed and with justification for funds (amounts and allocation)? Is the timeline realistic/practical?
• Proposal narratives (the introduction, methods, evaluation, outcomes, plan for dissemination) will be limited to 2 single-spaced pages or 1,000 words not including the following: a) the list of works cited (reference list), b) the budget (1 page with justification), c) the time line, d) the biosketches (one page each for PI and mentor), e) letter(s) of support, e) evidence of IRB submission or approval. Tables or figures important to the proposal should be included in the 2 single-spaced pages (or 1,000 words) of the proposal. Do not use appendices. Proposals should be in a font not smaller than 12 pt, with margins not narrower than 1 inch at top, bottom, and each side.

Acquiring Funds, Progress and Final Reports

• It is the principal investigator's responsibility to see that the grants office or officer designated in the proposal requests the COMSEP portion of the project funds no later than 90 days after the date on the letter confirming successful application/funding. The start date of the grant is considered as the date on the letter confirming successful application/funding. Funds not retrieved within 90 days of the award letter are no longer available for the project.
• The principal investigator of each funded proposal will submit a progress report at 12 and 24 months following the awarding of funds (for review by the COMSEP Grant Committee). This report must include 1) progress to date, 2) barriers, 3) at 12 months, confirmation of current IRB approval if human subjects are involved in the project, 4) budget expenditures, and 5) project activity anticipated in the next 12 months and/or dissemination plans.
• All presentations of scholarly work must acknowledge COMSEP as a sponsor of the work.

This is an exciting opportunity for COMSEP members to advance their educational scholarship with innovative research, to expand the scholarly activities of COMSEP members, departments and the COMSEP organization as a whole. Please email Janet Fischel (jfischel@notes.cc.sunysb.edu), COMSEP Chair of the COMSEP Grant Committee, with any questions.