Mini-Sabbatical Award 2020
Funding Period: April 1, 2020 to March 31, 2021
Notice of Intent due: February 21, 2020
Application Deadline: March 6, 2020
The CTSI’s mission is to support BU’s basic researchers, patient-oriented researchers, and population-based researchers working in all areas of translational research related to the prevention, diagnosis, and management of human disease.
The CTSI aims to fund three mini sabbaticals annually at other academic and research institutions, which are intended to encourage intellectual growth and multidisciplinary and inter-institutional collaboration.
Faculty, post-doctoral scholars, project coordinators and research staff are eligible to apply. Applicants are required to identify a sponsor institution or company where they are planning to take the mini sabbatical, which must be used to learn about a technique, method or a field different from their own and relevant to their mentored research and career development plan. The CTSI awards mini sabbaticals up to three months, supported by $6,000.
Foreign travel is not allowed on this award.
The BU CTSI is committed to increasing the diversity of the research workforce and strongly encourages applications from underrepresented, racial and ethnic groups (UREGs).
The Mini-Sabbatical Award extends through March 31, 2021. Persons interested in the support should submit a Notice of Intent by February 21, 2020. Full application deadline is March 6, 2020.
Application Materials
The full application will consist of the following:
A project plan with clear and achievable research goals and timelines (3 pages at most)
1. Identification of appropriate institution or company, with a brief description of their potential contributions to the applicant’s career development.
2. In the project plan, you must make cogent arguments regarding the importance of the field to be studied and the particular focus of the scholarship. Given that these are traveling mini sabbaticals (awards), it is important to make a compelling case as to why travel of the scholarship applicant to a given site and host is necessary. Could the research and collaboration be done as effectively without the travel – e.g. electronically? What is unique about the proposed host institution, such that the research could not be done by the applicant without the visit? In funding the mini sabbatical, will the CTSI be helping to establish a new collaboration that otherwise would not happen? Will the new collaboration arising enhance the career and research capability of the applicant (and ideally their home institution, i.e., BU).
3. In the project plan, describe the applicant’s background paying specific attention to the scientific foundation that will be leveraged to bridge into translational or clinical research.
• If you are a scholar or investigator, please provide an NIH Biosketch. If staff, a C.V. is required.
• Letter of support or recommendation from mentor or supervisor at BU or BMC;
• Letter from institution to which the applicant will travel, offering to host the applicant.
• Budget: you can use the money for travel, subsistence, payment to host institution or even support of your own salary when away.
Eligibility Criteria
• To be selected, an applicant must plan to learn about a technique, method or field different from their own and have an external sponsor who commits to making this possible.
• Must be currently employed full time at BU/BMC
• Applicants must hold green card or be a US citizen
• Faculty, post-doctoral scholars, project coordinators and research staff are eligible
Review and Selection Process
Applications that are complete and responsive to the RFA will undergo a standardized review process. They will be assigned a priority score and the Review Panel will discuss the merits of the application.
Funded applicants are required to complete a progress report for evaluation purpose.
Please contact Hubert Wong with questions regarding your pending submission hswong@bu.edu.