Grant Proposal: [Project title]

Research grant proposal template using the structure commonly published by large public research funders such as the US NIH and NSF: a one-page Specific Aims, a research strategy (significance, innovation, approach), preliminary data, timeline, team and environment, budget justification, data management and sharing, and broader impacts. The funder's own instructions, page limits and forms always take precedence. Replace every [bracketed] value and every row marked Example.

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Revision history

Contents

1. Project summary
2. Specific aims
3. Significance
4. Innovation
5. Approach
6. Preliminary data
7. Timeline and milestones
8. Team and environment
9. Budget and justification
10. Data management and sharing plan
11. Broader impacts
12. Human subjects, animals and other compliance
13. References
14. Appendices

1. Project summary

[Example: "Chronic kidney disease affects one in seven adults but is diagnosed late, when treatment options are limited. This project will develop and validate a low-cost urine test that detects early kidney damage in primary care. We will (1) identify a panel of urinary proteins that predict decline, (2) build a paper-based test for the panel, and (3) evaluate its accuracy in 1,200 patients in community clinics. The project will give clinicians a practical tool for earlier treatment."]

Project narrative (public health relevance): [Two or three sentences on why the work matters to the public.]

2. Specific aims

The problem. [State the problem, its size and the critical gap in knowledge or capability that blocks progress.]

Long-term goal and objective. [Example: "Our long-term goal is to reduce late diagnosis of chronic kidney disease. The objective of this application is to develop and validate a point-of-care urine test for early kidney damage."]

Central hypothesis. [Example: "A panel of three urinary proteins detects early kidney damage with accuracy comparable to laboratory tests."] [State the basis for the hypothesis, usually your preliminary data.]

Expected outcomes and impact. [What will exist at the end of the project and how it will change research or practice.]

3. Significance

3.1 Importance of the problem

[Burden, cost or scientific importance, with evidence and citations.]

3.2 Current knowledge and critical barrier

[What is known, what the barrier is, and why existing approaches fall short.]

3.3 How the project will change the field

[The concepts, methods, technologies, services or policies that the results will improve.]

4. Innovation

5. Approach

5.1 Overview

[A short introduction to the overall strategy, how the aims connect, and the key design decisions.]

5.2 Aim 1: [Title]

Rationale. [Why this aim is needed and why this approach is the right one, supported by preliminary data.]

Research design and methods. [Population or materials, procedures, measures and analysis. Give sample sizes and their justification.]

Example power calculation: to detect an area under the ROC curve of 0.80 versus 0.70 with $\alpha = 0.05$ and 90% power, approximately 180 cases and 540 controls are needed. Expected events: $2{,}400 \times 0.09 \approx 216$ cases, so the cohort is sufficient.

Expected outcomes. [What results you expect and how they lead into the next aim.]

Potential pitfalls and alternative strategies. [Example: "If none of the candidate proteins reaches an AUC of 0.75, we will test the five next-ranked candidates from our discovery screen, for which samples are already available."]

5.3 Aim 2: [Title]

Rationale. [Why this aim follows from Aim 1 and why the chosen approach is the most direct route. Example: "Laboratory assays for the panel take two days and cost $40 per sample, which rules out routine use in primary care; a paper-based format removes both barriers."]

Research design and methods. [Design steps, materials, reference methods, acceptance criteria and the number of replicates. Example: "We will optimise capture antibody concentration and membrane type in a factorial design, then test 3 production lots against ELISA on 300 banked samples. Acceptance: coefficient of variation below 10% and Bland-Altman limits of agreement within 15%."]

Expected outcomes. [What will exist at the end of the aim. Example: a locked assay protocol and 2,000 test strips for Aim 3.]

Potential pitfalls and alternative strategies. [Example: "If multiplexing causes cross-reactivity, we will run three single-analyte strips in one cassette, which our preliminary work shows is feasible."]

5.4 Aim 3: [Title]

Rationale. [Why a prospective study in the intended setting is needed to show the test works where it will be used.]

Research design and methods. [Methods, including the statistical analysis. Example: sensitivity with 95% CI, $\hat{p} \pm 1.96\sqrt{\hat{p}(1-\hat{p})/n}$.]

Expected outcomes. [Example: Estimates of sensitivity and specificity with 95% CIs, reported following the STARD guideline for diagnostic accuracy studies.]

Potential pitfalls and alternative strategies. [Example: "If prevalence is lower than expected, we will extend recruitment by six months, which the timeline buffer allows."]

5.5 Rigour and reproducibility

[How you will ensure robust, unbiased results: randomisation, blinding, pre-registration, replication, authentication of key resources, and consideration of relevant biological variables such as sex.]

5.6 Risk register

6. Preliminary data

[Summarise key preliminary findings and what each one supports.]

7. Timeline and milestones

The chart below shows a sample three-year schedule.

8. Team and environment

Environment. [Laboratories, equipment, clinical sites, cohorts, core facilities and institutional support available to the project.]

Collaborations. [External partners and what each contributes; letters of support go in the appendices.]

9. Budget and justification

Check that each year's column sums to its total and that the row totals sum to the grand total before submission.

10. Data management and sharing plan

11. Broader impacts

12. Human subjects, animals and other compliance

[Describe protections for human participants, inclusion across sex, gender, age and ethnicity, vertebrate animal use if any, biosafety, export controls and conflict-of-interest management, or state "not applicable" for each.]

13. References

1. Example: [Author AA, Author BB]. [Title]. [Journal]. [2024];[15]:[100-110]. doi:[10.xxxx/xxxxx]
2. [Reference]

14. Appendices

A. Review criteria map

B. Supporting documents

[Biosketches, letters of support, facilities and resources statement, equipment list, and the resubmission introduction if applicable.]

Standard and licence note

Based on the proposal structure commonly published by public research funders such as the US National Institutes of Health (Specific Aims and Research Strategy) and the National Science Foundation (intellectual merit and broader impacts), described here in original words. Funders' own instructions, page limits and forms take precedence and should be read in full. This template reproduces no funder text; example figures are illustrative. Template licence: MIT.