Dr. Margaret "Marmie" Perkins Hess Heart Research Pilot Grant

Overview: 

The Cardiovascular Research Institute (CVRI) is pleased to announce an open pilot grant competition for CVRI members funded by the Dr Margaret "Marmie" Perkins Hess Endowment for Heart Research. This pilot grant program is intended to support the exploration of new and innovative cardiovascular-related research (e.g., proof-of-concept projects) with potential for development into large scale or longer-term projects that would be competitive for funding by external sources. 


Two grants are being offered in this competition and will be awarded based on scientific merit and relevance to enhancing knowledge of cardiovascular (CV) disease, treatment or patient care, or understanding of the molecular mechanisms, cellular processes or physiological function of the CV system. Depending on the applications received, all efforts will be made to award one grant to a biomedical (pillar 1) project and one to a clinical/applied health (pillar 2, 3 or 4) project. 


Eligibility and Application Criteria:

  • Principal Investigator and any Co-Investigators must be CVRI members (CVRI Membership Form). 
  • Principal Investigator must hold a full-time academic or clinical faculty appointment and be eligible to hold research funds at the University of Alberta.
  • Co-Investigators must hold an academic position at the University of Alberta and may include academic faculty, clinical academic colleagues, postdoctoral fellows, clinical/health fellows or residents/sub-specialty residents.
  • Maximum of one application per Principal Investigator will be permitted.
  • Grants are only tenable at the University of Alberta
  • Proposed projects may not duplicate existing, funded projects

Full details available in the CVRI Pilot Grant guidelines.

Budget and Period of Support: Each grant is valued at a maximum of $50,000 for 1 year. 

Application Process:

Applications are accepted through the CVRI Pilot Grant Application form only which includes the following:

  1. Principal Investigator and research team information
  2. Project details (research location, category (pillar 1,2,3 or 4), ethics requirements)
  3. Research Proposal
    1. Lay title and summary (0.25 page)
    2. Scientific title and summary (0.5 page)
    3. Project Proposal (maximum 5 pages plus a maximum of an additional 2 pages for figures, tables, legends etc.) including:
      1. detailed scientific proposal clearly stating the aims of the project, experimental design, methods and analysis;
      2. compelling rationale for the hypothesis;
      3. preliminary data (optional);
      4. details of the research team and who will be responsible for which aspect of the project (including collaborators), the rationale for their involvement and a description of the research environment where the work will take place; and,
      5. description of how sex and gender are integrated into the research design and data analysis.
    4. Relevance to cardiovascular research (0.5 page).
    5. Work plan outlining main tasks/milestones and estimated work end dates (1.0 page).
    6. Budget summary (1 page) and justification (up to 2 pages) related to the supplies, equipment and personnel associated with the project.
  4. Investigator Qualifications
    1. CIHR Biosketches for the Principal Investigator and all Co-Investigators

Application Deadline:  December 5, 2024 at 5:00pm MST

Questions:  Please contact cvri@ualberta.ca if you have any questions regarding this competition or the application process.