Thinking about a new grant application?
Developing a milestone-driven research project?
Need access to expertise and resources to be competitive?
The ICTS Research Forum (RF) Program helps ICTS investigators improve and accelerate their research projects through concept development and/or in-depth grant review. Each RF roundtable session provides guidance by multidisciplinary subject-level experts to develop high caliber, scientifically rigorous clinical and translational projects and to improve extramural grant funding success by leveraging our CTSA infrastructure. The RF adopts interactive team-science/team-mentoring best practice to brainstorm new approaches, connect researchers with resources/collaborators and address scientific or clinical pitfalls or gaps.
Multidisciplinary teams include senior faculty, technical experts, and ICTS core personnel, as well as subject level ad hoc panelists, who works with investigators at any stage of a research project. RF teams are assembled and selected for the goals and gaps of your project.
Multidisciplinary teams include senior faculty, technical experts, biostatistics and research design input, and more who work with investigators at any stage of a research project. RF teams are assembled and selected for the goals and gaps of your project. The Research Forum Program supports research across the translational spectrum from basic science to clinical trials and implementation into practice and policy.
Workflow
The RF can help:
- Develop or review hypothesis and aims
- Review and provide grant feedback prior to submission
- Tailor methods, sample size and statistical analysis
- Support and review study design
- Guide data analysis/management plans
- Formulate project milestones
- Provide links to core services
- Support recruitment and retention strategies
- Address stakeholder engagement
- Develop plans for dissemination and implementation
FAQs
The Research Forum Program is available to all ICTS members regardless of career stage or partner affiliation. Register Now if you are not an ICTS member.
Complete the RF Pre-application materials. A Navigator will arrange a planning meeting. This meeting will cover details on the research needs and RF deliverables and timeline. If requesting a Community Engagement Studio, visit Services | Center for Community Health Partnership & Research | Washington University in St. Louis . Applications are open year-round.
Project development RFs need a minimum of 4 weeks planning time while Hybrid Mock Study Section (grant reviews) need a minimum of 6 weeks lead time. At your navigator meeting you will receive a detailed timeline of events, deliverables requested and deadlines.
- For a project development RF we provide a 3-page project description template (doc).
- For a hybrid mock study section you provide as much of the grant as is available (due 2 weeks prior to your RF date).
- Both types of RF will have a presentation using our template (excel).
- Both types of RF also require the investigator to submit 3-5 specific questions to the review team.
The RF teams are crafted for each study with a mixture of general reviewers and expert ad-hoc invited reviewers. Our general reviewers are pulled from the ICTS research forum team group listed below.
- Joyce Balls-Berry, PhD, MPE
- Tom Baranski, MD, PhD
- Laura Bierut, MD
- Irving Boime, PhD
- Steven L Brody, MD
- Megan Cooper, MD, PhD
- Vikas R. Dharnidharka, MD, PhD
- Mary C Dinauer, MD, PhD
- Malachi Griffith, PhD
- Obi Griffith, PhD
- Christina A Gurnett, MD, PhD
- Sarah Hartz, MD, PhD
- Paul W Hruz, MD, PhD
- Sanjay Jain, MD, PhD
- Nandini Raghuraman, MD
- Ken Schechtman, PhD
- Shalini Shenoy, MD
- Nathan Stitziel, MD, PhD
- Phil Tarr, MD
- Mark Watson, MD, PhD
- Adam Wilcox, PhD
- Roger D Yusen, MD, MPH, FCCP
- Yi Zhang, RN, JD
RFs have helped ICTS investigators improve their funding odds – 51% of grants submitted after ICTS RDP services are funded.
RFs can help you save time by finding your grant/project weak points early, giving you a chance to correct them before your grant is reviewed by its funding agency.
RFs can be combined with Scientific Editing Services to enhance the competitiveness of your grant.
All resources and tools available for the ICTS mock study section are also applicable for RFs.
Contact
For general information and queries, contact icts-rf@wustl.edu.
Jenny McKenzie, PhD, Co-Director and Navigator
Hilary Broughton, MSW, Community Engagement Studio Navigator
Jennifer Harlow, Research Center Program Manager