Kenneth Rainin Foundation Innovator Awards Open to Applications

The Kenneth Rainin Foundation was founded on the philanthropic mission of enhancing quality of life by championing and sustaining the arts, promoting early childhood literacy, and supporting research to cure chronic disease.

Innovator Awards are offered by the Foundation to support high-risk research projects on inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Investigators are challenged to push boundaries to enable the advancement of the Foundation’s goal of predicting and preventing IBD.

Through the Innovator Awards, the Foundation funds IBD researchers at any career stage and embraces novel, untested ideas. Funding interests span the spectrum of basic, translational and clinical science. Projects have previously been funded in the following areas: bioengineering; diet and nutrition; epithelial cell/molecular biology; faecal microbiota transplant; immunity and inflammation; microbiome; and therapeutic development and delivery.

The Foundation accepts applications from non-profit institutions worldwide. The Foundation may occasionally give grants to government and public agencies, as well as to for-profit institutions and independent projects that have a qualified tax-exempt fiscal sponsor.

Typically, funded researchers will hold advanced degrees (MD, PhD or equivalent) and academic positions in any scientific discipline at universities, medical centres or research institutions around the world. Innovator Awards may have only one Principal Investigator, however, additional investigators may be listed as Co-investigators.

Grants of up to $200,000 for one year research projects are available. Recipients who demonstrate significant progress may receive up to two additional years of support.

Applying for an Innovator Award is a two-step process: an initial Letter of Inquiry (brief description of the idea and steps to be taken to address the research questions) followed by an invited full proposal (an expanded description of project objectives, methodologies and milestones).

The following key dates apply to this scheme:

Call and online application system open: 15 January 2020

Deadline for Letter of Inquiry submission: 18 February 2020 (17:00 PST)

Notification of Letter of Inquiry result: April 2020

Invited full proposal deadline: 18 May 2020

Award announcement: August 2020

Applications must be submitted using the Foundation’s online application system.

More information about this research funding opportunity and the application process is available on the RESEARCHconnect funding information platform. RESEARCHconnect provides up-to-the minute content, insight and analysis on research funding news and policy. To find out more about how RESEARCHconnect can keep you in the know, and subscription fees, contact us today.