Our Current Grants

We currently offer two grant categories.  The details for each, as well as other important application details, are provided below.

I. Infrastructure/Registry Research Grant in Any Area of Pediatric Neurology

This competitive grant is directed at developing a new multicenter infrastructure, (registries and networks), or enhancing the scientific scope of an existing multicenter infrastructure program to enable advancement of clinical and health-services research.

We are interested in all areas of pediatric neurology, although we have a special interest in pediatric epilepsy. We prefer research projects that provide opportunities for training and/or mentorship of young investigators.

Applicants who are senior investigators should show mentorship of junior faculty or trainees as part of the proposal.  Applicants who are early-stage investigators (ESI) should demonstrate that they are receiving appropriate mentorship from senior faculty. An ESI[1] is an individual who is within 10 years of completing their terminal degree or end of post-graduate clinical training, whichever date is later, and as a Principal Investigator has not received an independent grant (e.g. R01) from NIH or equivalent major funding from another funding organization.

We look forward to evaluating your exciting and innovative projects.

Policies

  • Funding Amount and Duration
    The PERF™ Grant for Infrastructure/Registry Research is up to 3 years of support for up to $300,000.00 (in general, grants are for $100,000 per year for each of three years; in special circumstances, which must be clarified in the budget justification, payments can be adjusted to be higher in one year than the others although the overall total will not exceed $300,000.00).
  • PERF™ does not pay indirect costs on its research grants.
  • A yearly interim scientific and financial reports are required. Forms are provided by PERF™.
  • 10% of each payment is held back and paid upon an on-time receipt of annual scientific and financial report that is acceptable to the PERF™ Board.
  • A no cost extension request can be arranged, but in general should be avoided and may result in forfeiture of the final 10% payment.

Eligibility

  • The applicant should be a pediatric neurologist (MD, MD/PhD, or equivalent) at any stage in his or her career or a PhD working in an area relevant to pediatric neurology.
  • The applicant must be a legal resident of the United States or Canada and may only submit one letter of intent (LOI) per grant cycle.

II. Career Development Grant

PERF™ supports two opportunities for early-stage investigators (ESI), which are administered through the Child Neurology Foundation. These are the PERF™ Elterman Research Grant and PERF™ Shields Research Grant. Please visit these links for eligibility and application instructions and deadlines, and view past awardees. An ESI is an individual who is within 10 years of completing their terminal degree or end of post-graduate clinical training, whichever date is later, and as a Principal Investigator has not received an independent grant (e.g. R01) from NIH or equivalent major funding from another funding organization.

  • PERF™ Elterman Research Grant
    This is a $150,000 grant funded over two years to support clinical or basic science research by a child neurologist or post-doctoral researcher.
  • PERF™ Shields Research Grant
    This is a $150,000 grant funded over two years to support translational or clinical research by a child neurologist or post-doctoral researcher.

Special Co-Funding Projects

PERF™ Infrastructure/Registry Research Grant Process and Key Dates

2023

  • November 6: Letter of Intent submission deadline. No extensions.

2024

  • January: Notification to investigators selected to submit full application.
  • TBA: Submission deadline for full application.
  • TBA: Notification of award recipients.
  • September: Funding cycle begins.

Letter of Intent Guidelines

Prepare a succinct letter of intent (LOI) not to exceed two pages using text font Arial 11 pt.  Include the following information.

  1. Project Title
  2. Principal Investigator’s name.
  3. PI email address.
  4. PI Institution.
  5. Participating Institutions.
  6. Amount of the grant request.
  7. Indicate which type of grant for which funds are requested:
    • Type 1: Development of a new multicenter infrastructure (registries and networks) to advance care for children with neurologic disease.
      • Specify the pediatric disease or disorder area for which new infrastructure will be developed and the relevance and importance to advancing care for children with a neurologic disease.
      • Describe purpose of the project, hypotheses to be tested, or research that will result from infrastructure development. Describe the kinds of scientific questions your team will answer through this work.
    • Type 2: Enhancing the scientific scope of an existing multicenter infrastructure (registries and networks) to advance care of children with a neurologic disease.
      • Specify the pediatric disease or disorder area of the existing multicenter infrastructure.
      • Briefly describe the organizational and scientific progress made in the development of an existing infrastructure and expected results with additional funding.
  8. Briefly describe the experimental approach and statistical power, if applicable.
  9. Indicate if statistical consulting services are available, if applicable.

A biographical sketch of the principal investigator must be included with the LOI.  Download NIH’s biosketch form here.

LOI’s not adhering to these guidelines will be returned without review.

LOI Template

A fillable Word document is available to download here.

LOI Submission Deadline: November 6, 2023

Email to PERF2004@gmail.com. You will receive a confirmation email upon receipt of your LOI submission.

Full Application

Investigators selected by the PERF™ Board will be invited to submit a full application and will be notified in January 2024. Recently funded applications are posted on the GRANTS page.

Grant applicants will receive the application form and filing instructions.

Full application submission deadline:  TBA for 2024 grant cycle.

Award recipients will be notified by end of June of the granting year. The funding cycle will begin September 1st of the granting year.


[1] NIH definition of an early stage investigator at https://grants.nih.gov/policy/early-stage/index.htm