Investigator Initiated Research (IIR) Grants

Guidelines

Annual Investigator Initiated Research (IIR) Grants: This program’s objective is to stimulate and fund studies that will clearly improve patient safety and lead to prevention of mortality and morbidity resulting from anesthesia mishaps. Potential areas of research include a wide variety of safety topics.

Research Areas: Clinical and educational research and development in anesthesia patient safety. See Areas of Research for more details.
Eligibility: Awards are made to a sponsoring institution, not to individuals or departments. Any qualified member of a sponsoring institution (hospital, university, clinic, etc) in the United States or Canada may apply.
Amount: Maximum award of $200,000, and with waiver up to $300,000. The maximum indirect cost rate is 15% of total direct costs and must be included in the total maximum award.
Duration: Up to two years
Research Time: The amount of time devoted to different projects is variable, but in most instances, 10-30% effort (research time) is appropriate.
Application Dates: LOIs will be accepted electronically beginning: January 1, 2025
Letter of Intent due: February 15, 2025 at 5PM CST
Full proposal (invitation only): August 15, 2025

Eligibility Requirements

Awards are made to a sponsoring institution, not to individuals or departments. Any qualified member of a sponsoring institution (hospital, university, clinic, etc) in the United States or Canada may apply.

  • Only one person may be listed as the principal investigator and all other co-investigators, collaborators and consultants must be listed.
  • Applications will not be accepted from a principal investigator currently funded by the APSF.
  • While there is no limit to the number of applications that may be submitted per individual or institution, APSF will award funding to no more than one proposal per PI in a given funding cycle.
  • Submissions of previously unfunded applications are allowed but must address the reviewer’s comments and how the re-application differs.

Funding, Duration, & Research Time

The maximum award amount is $200,000, and with waiver* up to $300,000, for the entire term of the project. The maximum indirect cost rate is 15% of total direct costs and must be included in the total maximum award. The number of grants to be awarded will depend on the nature and quality of applications received and the total amount of funds available.

*To request a waiver, submit by email to the Administrator ([email protected]) by Feb 5th (10 days before the due date). The request should contain a brief statement (up to 250 words) to justify for a waiver, such as conducting a multi-site clinical trial. Approval email must be included in the application if the requested budget is more than the maximum of $200,000.

Projects may be for up to 2 years in duration.

The amount of PI’s time devoted to the project is variable, but in most instances, 10-30% effort (research time) is appropriate.

Stage 1: Letters of Intent

In the first stage, Letters of Intent (LOIs) are being solicited for research and development on anesthesia patient safety. Research proposals will be evaluated first for potential contributions to patient safety, and subsequently for scientific merit. Based on the APSF’s Scientific Evaluation Committee’s evaluation of these LOIs, a limited number of applicants will be invited to submit a full proposal.

LOI will be accepted electronically beginning January 1 each year

Letter of Intent due February 15 at 5PM CST

Failure to demonstrate clearly the relationship of the study to anesthesia patient safety, failure to describe a clear hypothesis or research plan with a rigorous methodology (including power analysis if applicable) are the most frequent reasons for applications being disapproved or receiving a low priority score. Applicants may benefit from advising/mentoring opportunities that may be available through the chairs of the APSF Grant Alumni Academy (contact information on APSF website).

Areas of Research

Areas of research interest include, but are not limited to:

  • Studies that address one or more of the perioperative patient safety priorities of the APSF (available on apsf.org);
  • Studies that will yield results that directly increase patient safety, improve patient outcomes, and/or decrease incidence or severity of complications, morbidity, or mortality;
  • Studies that address peri-anesthetic safety problems for relatively healthy patients;
  • Studies that are broadly applicable to large numbers of patients AND that promise improved methods of patient safety with a defined and direct path to implementation into clinical care;
  • Innovative methods of education and training to improve patient safety;
  • Studies to elucidate consequences of information technology and clinical decision support for perioperative patient safety;
  • Standardization of perioperative protocols to improve patient safety;
  • New clinical methods for prevention, mitigation and/or early diagnosis of mishaps;
  • Studies of new and/or existing technologies for prevention, mitigation and/or early diagnosis of mishaps;
  • Studies to identify predictors of negative patient outcomes;
  • Development of innovative methods for the study of low-frequency events, for identifying and mitigating latent safety threats, and/or for prevention of near miss events from reaching patients;
  • Studies of implementing innovative safety science ideas in perioperative environment;
  • Studies that address health care disparities in patient safety.

While projects that promise improved methods of patient safety with a defined and direct path to implementation into patient care settings are encouraged, of equal importance are studies of problems for which deeper understanding is needed before effective solutions can be applied.

Innovation and creativity are strongly encouraged, as are cross-disciplinary research teams. Because the resources of APSF are limited, priority will be given to topics that do not have other available sources for funding. Junior investigators with strong mentorship are encouraged to apply.

Proposals with Low Likelihood of Funding

  • Proposals whose results would not have a clear and direct link to near-term improvements in anesthesia patient safety.
  • Proposals that seek to develop products or equipment for commercial purposes.
  • Basic science proposals involving cells, tissues, or animals. Whole animal studies may be considered, but only in the rare circumstance in which an alternative testing of a critical patient safety hypothesis in human studies is not feasible.
  • Research proposals that have other available sources for funding.
  • Proposals to create patient safety education curricula or that propose methods that do not include a rigorous evaluation of content validity and/or benefit.
  • Unrevised resubmissions of applications not invited to submit full proposals in a previous year.

AI Use Policy

APSF strongly discourages the use of generative AI in the development of any grant proposal. If it is utilized, APSF requires that this be disclosed at the time of grant submission on the “Title Page” section of ProposalCentral. The use of AI risks the inclusion of false or inaccurate information that deviates from the expected rigor required in research. The use of AI also threatens the confidentially of research ideas and intellectual property as information within AI inquiries become part of the public domain. For the same reasons, the use of AI is strictly prohibited in the APSF grant peer review process.

Application Format

Each application must be submitted to the APSF via the web portal ProposalCentral. Detailed submission instructions on using the portal are here. Main components to be uploaded or directly entered on the portal are below. Note that cover letter, biosketches, and bibliography are not part of the three-page limit of the project description document.

  1. Grant information: Project title, estimated total budget (not to exceed $200,000 for a maximum of 2 years and with waiver not to exceed $300,000), and project end date (up to 2 years).
  2. Applicant and sponsoring institution information, along with information on co-PI if any.
  3. Patient safety problem and project impact: The patient safety problem you will address in your application (500 characters) and how you think this problem will impact anesthesia patient safety (500 characters).
  4. Cover Letter: On letterhead of the institution that is sponsoring the investigation, up to 2 pages, addressed to the SEC Chair, from the principal investigator and to include the title of the project.
  5. Project Description (The project description must be no longer than three pages, single-spaced, with a 12 pt. font size and with 1-inch margins on all sides), organized as below
    a. Title and Principal Investigator (PI): Include title of the project, the credentials, title, office address, and email address of the PI, and the PI’s primary institutional affiliation. List only one person as the PI. Identify all co-investigators, collaborators, and consultants as described below under Qualifications of Key Individuals.
    b. Executive Summary: Summarize the project. Limit to one paragraph.
    c. Background: Describe the problem, existing knowledge about it, its importance to patient safety, and its relevance to the priorities of the APSF. Limit to 2 paragraphs.
    d. Specific Aims: Describe what you are proposing to accomplish toward addressing the problem, i.e., what are your goals and objectives? What hypothesis will be tested?
    e. Methods: Describe the methods that will be employed to study the primary hypothesis. Be as specific as possible without unnecessary detail. This section is important and should be detailed enough to explain the methods that are being applied for analysis of the primary endpoint. Statistical collaboration is encouraged. The SEC provided Tips for writing method section on statistical and qualitative procedures
    f. Impact: Describe how you expect the results will be used and what impact could they have in addressing the problem.
    g. Estimated Budget and Timeline: Detail the estimated costs and indicate any funds that will be provided by the institution or other entities. If a budget maximum waiver has been requested and approved, state so. Outline the timeline for completion of the work.
    h. Qualifications of the Key Individuals Involved: Include a biographical sketch of the principal investigator and (optionally) of one co-investigator; see below. Name other members of the research team, which should include persons from the appropriate disciplines; interdisciplinary teams are strongly encouraged. Comment on institutional support and any special characteristics.
  6. Curriculum Vitae: Include a biographical sketch of the principal investigator using the current NIH biosketch format (5 pages maximum). A biographical sketch of one co-investigator (same format as that of the PI) may be included if this is deemed necessary. Name other members of the research team under Qualifications of Key Individuals; see above.
  7. Bibliography: Include the references of publications relevant to proposed study (one page maximum). Do not attach any appendices. They will not be forwarded to reviewers.

Applications that do not adhere to these instructions will be returned without review. Examples of non-adherence include 10-page biosketches (more than the 5-page limit) and 3-page references (more than the 1-page limit).

Stage 2: Announcement of Finalists & Full Proposals

Members of the APSF’s Scientific Evaluation Committee will evaluate the LOIs. Investigators will be notified of the status of their LOIs in June of the application year. In the second stage of the process, a limited number of applicants will be invited to submit a full proposal, for which more detailed instructions will be provided. The comments from reviewers must be addressed in the full proposal. Major changes in methods from the LOI to the full proposal (e.g., number of participants upon which power analysis was determined) that are not requested by the Committee may not be accepted. Full proposals will be due 15 August of the application year.

At the applicant’s request, the Scientific Evaluation Committee will provide a brief critique of LOIs that are not invited to submit a full proposal.

Awards for projects will be notified in October of the application year.

Note: No award will be made unless a copy of the APPLICATION to the institutional review board (IRB) or animal studies committee (ACUC) is received prior to October 1 of the application year. Institutional approvals are required prior to disbursement of funds.

Yan Xiao, PhD
Chair, APSF Scientific Evaluation Committee
[email protected]

Further information about the Grant Program and applicant eligibility may be found at Frequently Asked Questions.