Grant
Grants are non-repayable funds or products disbursed by one party (grant makers), often a government department (see governmental grant), corporation, foundation, or trust, to a recipient, often (but not always) a nonprofit entity, educational institution, business or an individual. In order to receive a grant, some form of “Grant Writing” often referred to as either a proposal or an application is required.
Most grants are made to fund a specific project and require some level of compliance and reporting. The grant writing process involves an applicant submitting a proposal (or submission) to a potential funder, either on the applicant's own initiative or in response to a Request for Proposal from the funder.
Grantsmanship is the skill of writing grant applications so reviewers can easily understand and value them. This skill is important for neurosurgeons seeking National Institute of Health (NIH) funding, which is progressively more limited.
NIH Program Project Grants NIH Program Project Grants exist to fund the development of collaborative research teams.
There are two important NIH funding programs:
R01 grants K08 grants R01 grants are aimed at projects with a high chance of success and high impact aims. These are intended for individuals capable of generating independent research with an established track record.
K08 grants are career awards designed to provide salary support and a supply budget to young clinician-investigators. This grant’s goal is to help secure protected, mentored basic science research. Additional K-type awards support clinician-investigators pursuing clinical-focused projects.
Reference Materials Below are a number of resources to build your grantsmanship skills. These documents include:
Samples of funded NIH grants written by the principal investigators
Pink sheets that accompany some of grants with the:
Review process in the NIH study section
Scope of the proposed budgets
Revisions of initial grants that were ultimately funded