Kavli Institute for Brain and Mind
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Innovative Research Program

Frequently Asked Questions

Proposal Process

  1. Is there a recommended font-size and margins for the proposal?  What if I have figures that do not fit within the page limit?  Our proposal format is flexible (we are not NIH).   We just ask that proposal submitters be mindful that we receive between 30 and 40 proposals each cycle and reviewers will be in a better mood if your proposal is concise and readable.
  2. Who can be a PI on the grant?   We have given out awards to teams of investigators led by faculty and post-docs from UCSD, Salk, SRI and Neurosciences Institute and grad students at UCSD.
  3. I have e-mails of affiliation from my team, where do I put these in the proposal?  You may append them at the end of the proposal.  If you included them in the proposal documents, there is no need to email them in. 
  4. I included letters of intent in my proposal document; do I need to send those in separately?  No, if you have already included letters of intent, or emails of affiliation, there is no need to re-send these in.
  5. Can a research lab submit more than one proposal for each deadline?   Yes, though it is likely only one proposal from each research lab will be funded each year.
  6. I am collaborating with investigators from an outside institution, is that allowable?  We have given out awards to teams that include investigators outside of San Diego.  If you wish to fund some of their research at their home institution, you may set up an agreement with that institution once you have received the award in your home department.
  7. Is the deadline posted on the website a hard deadline?  If you can have your entire document submitted within 48 hours of the deadline, then your proposal will be accepted.
  8. How many awards are generally granted each year?  8-10.
  9. What if I didn’t get a proposal number or confirmation?  If you did not receive an email confirmation with a proposal number included, the proposal may not have gone through.  Please contact kmichener@ucsd.edu to confirm. 
  10. What are the criteria by which proposals are ranked? 
    1. Potential to bridge the brain-mind gap. This can occur in several ways, but a common thread for the best proposals is that they involve creative combination of novel techniques (often from different disciplines), attempt to relate mechanisms to behaviors, and cross system levels.
    2. Interdisciplinarity. A goal of the IRGs has been to facilitate collaborations between groups and labs that might not otherwise work together, on the assumption that such collaborations are often key to making headway on challenging problems.
    3. Novelty. We look for proposals that reflect novel ideas that are not currently being pursued, and for which IRG funding would be catalytic.
    4. High risk/high payoff. We do not expect all IRG projects to succeed, because these should be projects that have high risk -so many will fail- but are very interested in proposals which, if successful, could have a significant payoff in terms of advancing our knowledge.
    5. Not currently fundable. Consistent with c and d, we do not fund projects for which there either exists current funding or a reasonable potential for funding via other mechanisms.
    6. Potential for follow-on funding. The IRGs should support work that has the potential, if the initial work is successful, in enabling subsequent funding.
    7. Preference to first-time projects.In the first few years we declined to fund a second round of support for projects that had already received IRG support. However, recognizing that many significant projects may require additional funding, we have relaxed this rule. A key is that the first year's research has yielded sufficient evidence of promise to warrant additional funding, and that criteria a-f are stil met.

Post-award

  1. How do I access funds? After you receive notice that your proposal has been funded, we will contact your fiscal person listed on the proposal and initiate a transfer of funds from KIBM to the UCSD department or initiate an agreement with an outside institution. At this time, if you have indicated that your research involves animals or human subjects, we will ask for the appropriate IAUCAC and IRB approvals.
  2. Can I re-budget as needed? The intent of these grants is to encourage innovative research and the fund source is unrestricted so as long as it is used for research purposes, the PI is free to re-budget.
  3. If I do not finish the research within one year, how do I request a no-cost extension? We require a final or progress report at the end of the first year and presentation of the results at the annual KIBM symposium. We do not ask you to return the unspent funds unless the PI has left the institution and did not select a new PI from the group of collaborators. Please notify the IRG administrator of your intent to carry-forward funds at the end of grant year.