Pilot Research Grant

Pilot Research Grant Program. NANOS recognizes the need to stimulate investigator-initiated research programs in Neuro-Ophthalmology.  The NANOS Pilot Research Grant Program provides a one-year, non-renewable source of funding to help principal investigators generate preliminary data that will lead to additional funding from other national agencies or foundations. Priority is given towards research that will provide preliminary data for future substantial grant applications. In this spirit, new or innovative projects will be supported but should have a sound medical/scientific justification. A scientific panel will review the applications, and the final award will be subject to approval by the NANOS Board.

Pilot Grant Recipients can be viewed here.

Specific Grant Details:

1) Applicant Qualifications. The applicant must be an Active/International Active or Fellow/International Fellow member of NANOS.

2) Grant Application Funding Level. This pilot program provides up to $25,000 in grant support and anticipates funding one project per year.

3) Budget.

1. Salary support for the PI is generally not provided in this pilot grant program. However, for specific circumstances the PI may request an exception with appropriate justification.
2. Indirect costs to the affiliated department or university will not be provided through this grant program.
3. Salary support is available for personnel such as technician or statistician.
4. Funds for supplies are included in this grant.
5. Funds for equipment purchase are generally excluded except through significant justification.
6. Proposals with overt commercial value are excluded from this pilot program.

4) Proposal (The applicant must provide one electronic PDF submission of the entire application components to NANOS at meetings@nanosweb.org)  

1. Summary Sheet (below)
2. Project description (limit to 7 single spaced pages, font Times New Roman 12, and 1 inch page margins) to include a brief review of the background for the investigation and the significance of the proposal (1 page), specific aims of the proposal and any preliminary work (2 pages), Research Plan for the proposal including methods (up to 4 pages). A brief description of how this grant might enable the application for additional future research support should be included.
3. References
4. Key personnel
5. Budget
6. NIH style biosketch of PI
7. Other support information, including all grants received in the preceding 5 years and publications that resulted from those grants.
8. Addendum – the applicant may include one reprint or preprint.

5) Important Dates:

The submission deadline is January 5, 2025. Grant reviews will take place during the NANOS 2025 Annual Meeting in March, with an anticipated funding start date of April 1, 2025.

Please CLICK HERE to download the application, which is an interactive PDF. Please submit one PDF of the entire application materials to meetings@nanosweb.org.  If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the NANOS Executive Office at meetings@nanosweb.org or (952) 641-2293.