Arkansas Children's Hospital Intramural Grants

Intramural Grant Opportunities at ACHRI

Each year ACHRI administers competitive funding programs totaling approximately $1.55 million for established, new, and clinician scientists employed by UAMS and affiliated with Arkansas Children’s Hospital. Along with these generous funds, ACHRI provides scientists with a wide range of services and resources to assist with the grant application and management process.

CUMG Grant Program
ACHRI administers the Children's University Medical Group (CUMG) grant program with approval from the Dean of the College of Medicine at UAMS and the Children’s Faculty Group Practice Committee. Twice a year, established investigators, young investigators, and clinician/faculty/trainee researchers may apply for awards in the amounts of $40,000 and $20,000 for a time period of up to 24 months. The total amount available per cycle is approximately $250,000. The deadlines for submission are March 1 and September 1 of each year. Submissions are peer-reviewed and final funding decisions are made by the Dean of the College of Medicine at UAMS. Award recipients must submit a final report and meet requirements of the award (future extramural submissions and/or publication submissions). For eligibility and award requirements and a full program description, click here.

The Marion B. Lyon New Scientist Development Award
A generous gift from Mr. Frank Lyon, Jr., honoring his mother endows the Marion B. Lyon New Scientist Development Award. The award was established to promote the career development of young investigators initiating independent research careers but have not yet received NIH funding. The deadline for submission is February 1 of each year. One award in the amount of $50,000 is available on a competitive basis for a time period of up to 24 months. Award recipients are required to submit two reports for the donor. For more information, click here. Applicants must be based on the ACH campus.

The ACHRI/ABI Competitive Research Grant Program
This intramural grant program is made possible with funds provided to ACHRI from the Arkansas Tobacco Settlement via the Arkansas Biosciences Institute (ABI). The ACHRI/ABI Competitive Research Grant Program was designed to specifically promote the goals of the ABI. Total award amounts vary each year. The submission deadline each year is August 1. The program limits eligibility to investigators who are either located or conduct research on the ACH campus and are not currently directly benefiting from an ABI-funded recruitment package. Awards are given for a time period of up to 24 months. The ACHRI/ABI Review Committee reviews and scores applications, and the President of ACHRI approves final funding decisions. For more information, click here.

Student and Clinical Staff Research Intramural Grant Program
This intramural grant program was created to provide a funding mechanism for graduate students, medical students, and clinical staff to stimulate pediatric research activities and help foster the career development of pediatric researchers. Funds are available once a year. The deadline for submission is September 15 of each year. The total amount available annually for all awards is $10,000. The maximum amount of an individual award is $2,000 for a period of 12 months. Award recipients are required to submit a final report and meet the requirement of submitting a manuscript for publication. For more information, click here.
 

Intramural Grant Program Application Process
 

Upcoming Deadline Reminder

Six weeks before each submission deadline, ACHRI will e-mail a reminder to the ACHRI research community. If you would like to receive these emails, please contact Amy Stalls (364-3627).

Resources for Intramural Applicants
 
Grant Writing and Editing
ACHRI offers assistance with grant writing to its researchers. The assistance focuses on editing for grant applications and publication submissions. The service is offered on a first come, first serve basis. Applicants are encouraged to contact a science editor as early as possible in the process. This service has proven to be very valuable for new investigators as well as productive investigators. For more information, contact Phaedra Yount (364-2469) or John Gregan (364-6296).

Budgeting
If you are in the Department of Pediatrics, and have questions regarding grant budgeting, please contact Pediatric Grants Administration (364-4227). Researchers in other departments should contact their business administrator.

Salaries
Applicants should verify all salary and fringe items with their home department’s office of accounting. Coverage of salary and fringe for UAMS faculty varies among ACHRI’s intramural programs. Applicants should review the program guidelines determining allowed and unallowed expenses covered by the specific grant program.

Supplies, Travel, and Other Costs
The online program descriptions for each intramural program offer information pertaining to allowable and non-allowable costs. ACHRI is available to answer any questions regarding budgeting. For additional information, contact Amy Stalls (364-3627) or Leslie Montgomery (364-6546).

Clinical Human Studies
All applicants who plan to include clinical human subjects testing or any sort of clinical services at ACH in a project must contact Janet Storment (364-2760) prior to application submission. She can provide pricing for clinical human studies and assist with planning for nursing/coordinator support and other hospital services support.

Animal Facility & Lab Space
All applicants who need to house animals at ACHRI or are interested in obtaining lab space must contact Blake Harrison (364-2710) prior to application submission. He can provide pricing for animal housing and can assist with any questions concerning lab spacing.
 

Managing an Intramural Award

Institutional Approvals

Activation of an account for an intramural award is contingent upon ACHRI’s receipt of copies of IRB, IACUC or other pertinent institutional approvals. For questions regarding IRB protocols, contact Tanda Grisham (364-3571). For questions regarding IACUC protocols, contact Blake Harrison (364-2710).
 

Account Activation Process

Once institutional approvals are received, the account activation process begins. In this seamless process, post-award administration contacts an awarded investigator by email when the account is ready for expenditures.
For CUMG awards, ACHRI places any salary included on an intramural award in a 117 account through UAMS. The accounting section of the award recipient’s UAMS home department is the contact for this portion of the account.
ACHRI assigns all other items to an account through ACH accessible via eRequest. ACHRI’s Post Award Administrator Leslie Montgomery (364-6546) contacts an investigator when his or her account is established. She remains the contact for the account throughout its duration.
 

Budget Revisions and Other Changes to Intramural Awards

Please contact Amy Stalls (364-3627) for any budget revisions or no cost extensions.
 

90-Day Review of Award Accounts

Ninety days prior to the end date of an award, Leslie Montgomery contacts the investigator to complete a 90-day account review. The review assists with budget reconciliation.
 

Intramural Award Tracking

During the year after an award ends, Amy Stalls will contact the investigator to request a final report. Information collected via final reports is entered into a database. The database allows ACHRI to monitor the impact of intramural funding. Generally, these final reports are a requirement of acceptance of an award and submission of the final report will impact eligibility for subsequent intramural awards.
 
For questions relating to the ACHRI intramural grant programs, please contact Amy Stalls (364-3627).