APPLICATION DEADLINE: June 1, 2021

Eligible Faculty:  Independent HMS Quad Faculty within ten years of the date when PhD/MD degree was awarded (with exceptions for career breaks including maternity and paternity leave). 

Nominations Available to HMS:  2   

Funding and Award period:    Awards of US$100,000 will be made to successful applicants, via their institutions, for research costs. Funding is to be spent over a two-year duration and can support:

Stipends for research staff within the Award recipient’s lab

Equipment, supplies, laboratory costs and/or technician

Imaging costs

Publication fees

Patient participant expenses

Travel

In addition to the US$100,000, US$20,000 will be awarded as a cash prize payable directly to the recipient (50% after year 1, 50% after year 2). Lastly, 1907 Research will cover travel & expenses to two annual meetings.

Program Description: 

The 1907 Trailblazer Award was established to encourage high-impact, step-change approaches to research in the brain and mind sciences for mental health.

Projects should represent new lines of research and be distinct from other research projects conducted by the investigator. This competition encourages innovative, unorthodox and exploratory research that may be in the early and conceptual stages of project development, but has potential for significant impact on our understanding of the brain. The generated data will enable early-career investigators to apply for larger gifts that will lead to long-term projects and create innovative and sustainable research programs.

Projects must be grounded in the study of biological mechanisms underlying brain function, cognitive processes, and/or consciousness. We support projects for basic science in addition to near-term applications (e.g. disruptive technologies and potential clinical interventions)

Applications for the 1907 Trailblazer Award should describe programs of work that aim to improve knowledge and outcomes of psychiatric illness through brain-mind research.  Eligible disciplines include, but are not limited to:

• Neuroscience
• Neurology
• Psychology
• Psychiatry
• Cognitive Neuroscience
• Clinical Psychology
• Computational Neuroscience
• Neuroimaging
• Genetics and Engineering (including novel technologies and devices)

The 1907 Research Foundation particularly encourages research that involves human patients, but projects can also focus on well-validated animal models, and/or on psychiatrically- relevant research in healthy humans or conceptual/theoretical work. The projects can be framed around a single disorder or can be transdiagnostic, e.g. with an emphasis on shared risk factors (genetic or environmental) or common neural substrates. For projects in basic science, applicants who provide an in-depth understanding of the disorder(s) they are trying to treat will be prioritized.

The key criterion in assessing applications will be the extent to which research programs bring us closer to causes & cures based on an enhanced understanding of how aberrant neurobiological and/or psychological mechanisms give rise to behavioral (objective) and psychological (subjective) symptoms. A good example of this approach is provided by the emerging discipline of computational psychiatry, which aims at uncovering the neurobiological mechanisms underlying psychiatric symptoms. By contrast, research programs that simply test the efficacy of an existing intervention are poorly aligned with our aims. Similarly, applications that follow established research paradigms - for example, using standard analytic tools on large public imaging databases - are not suitable for this call.

Eligibility Criteria:

• Applicants must be within ten years of the date when PhD/MD degree was awarded (with exceptions for career breaks including maternity and paternity leave)
• Applicants must be currently be employed by a university or public research institute in the US, the UK, or Canada, with full-time employment guaranteed for the duration of the project (tenure or tenure-track and international equivalents).
• Applicants must already work in a supervisory role (PhD, MD, Postdoctoral supervisor primary or secondary)
• Applicants will have demonstrated independence from senior colleagues. They must be able to initiate and direct their own research as principal investigator, have full responsibility for running their labs and full control of their research funds. Postdoctoral fellows or adjunct faculty are not eligible to apply
• Applicants will have a strong track record of scientific publications relevant to their research program
• Research applications may be related to but cannot be identical to any other currently funded projects

Please Submit the Following Application Materials as a single PDF:

1.  A four page summary of your "novel idea" addressing the following four questions (word count allocation to each question at discretion of the applicant):

• What is the novel idea and what is the potential impact to the field? Explain the novel idea in lay terms. What does it hope to achieve? How can it empower others in the field to identify causes & cures?
• What is the scientific rationale of the idea given current gaps in knowledge? Concise explanations are preferred.
• What is your execution plan and why are you uniquely positioned to execute? What tools, resources and relationships do you have to enable you to complete the research? How do you anticipate the US$100,000 research gift to be used?
• Why is 1907 Research best positioned to partner with you? Explain why your project requires dedicated unrestricted funding and why it would not be likely to be funded from traditional sources (universities, governments, other established foundations).

2.  A one-page letter of reference from your department head (or higher administrative level) attesting to the applicant’s suitability for the Award, including the institution’s commitment to supporting the applicant’s project, including any additional or in-kind commitment of resources, including but not limited to relief from teaching/admin duties.

3.  NIH Biosketch (limit 5 pages)  Please clearly identify the date your PHD/MD degree was awarded. 

Apply through the Harvard University Funding Portal

Additional information about 1907 Research Foundation: 

https://www.1907-research.org/apply

APPLICATION DEADLINE: July 1, 2021

Description: The George and Marie Vergottis Foundation Research Fellowship was established at Harvard Medical School to provide financial assistance for Greek national postdoctoral fellows pursuing basic biomedical research.

Amount of Support: $50,000 over one year with the possibility of a second year of funding. Funds may be used for salary support or materials and supplies for basic biomedical research projects.  Applications for clinical research projects will not be accepted.

Number of Harvard Nominations: up to 2

Deadline for Applications: July 1, 2021  (11:30 PM)       

Eligible candidates:

1.     Received a Ph.D. and or MD. degree between July 1, 2016 and July 1, 2021. (Applications for clinical research projects will not be accepted).

2.     Have committed and matching HMS sponsorship from either a quad based or HMS affiliated hospital faculty member/department.

3.     Must be a Greek national.

Applications are accepted through the Harvard University Funding Portal (HUFP). 

Required materials:

1.     Statement of interest and description of research project (Limit 2 pages. May include an additional page for references and figures.

2.     Letter of nomination and commitment of matching funding from sponsoring HMS faculty member.

·         The Vergottis Postdoctoral Fellowship is not intended to be the sole support for applicants.   Awardees must have matching departmental support to ensure the successful implementation and execution of the proposed research project.  Matching funding for the research project, (i.e., supplies, or salary support would count) should be clearly stated in the letter of commitment. 

·         For applicants not already working at HMS, the letter of commitment must state that the applicant has been offered a postdoctoral position and the anticipated start date.

3.     Letter of reference

4.     CV or NIH Biosketch