The Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Taplin Equipment Fund is made possible by the generous sponsorship of the Taplin Family. This program provides funding for instrumentation expenses that may be difficult to fund through other mechanisms. Applications will be accepted for equipment purchases and other research-enabling tools and technologies, including investment in shared technologies (e.g. shared data sets and technology access fees) and related implementation and maintenance expenses (e.g., cost of technical training, equipment maintenance, and technical consulting fees).
Applications will be accepted across two award categories:
1. Equipment Awards up to $50K: To support the purchase or upgrade/add-on of a single specialized, commercially available instrument or an integrated instrumentation system.
2. Research-Enabling Awards up to $15K: To support a variety of equipment-related expenditures. Some examples of projects that would be of particular interest in this category include but are not limited to:
· Implementation of data access and sharing program
· Acquisition of data sets that would be shared by multiple faculty
· Purchase of a software program(s)
· Salary support or consultation for a data or equipment technician
· Equipment maintenance during gaps in grant support
· Support for grad students/postdocs to receive equipment, data, or software-related training
For both award categories, we encourage faculty members to collaborate within and across departments to develop proposals for shared equipment, facilities, and data access and leverage additional funding opportunities whenever possible. Although departmental matching funds are not required, we encourage interested faculty to contact their Department Chairs to discuss their proposal and any departmental resources that may be leveraged to support the award.
AWARD AMOUNT
Awards will be made for up to $50,000 (direct cost) for Equipment Awards and up to $15,000 (direct cost) for
Research-Enabling Awards; Award amounts and the number of awards given will be based on availability of funds and the needs of the proposed work. All proposed equipment purchases should be made within six months of the award date. Other types of support should be completed within a one-year project period. Requests for no-cost extensions will not be granted.
PROPOSAL CONTENTS AND PAGE LIMITS
You must complete all sections within the application portal before submitting your application. The sections within the application portal are as follows:
1. Applicant Information
2. Application (2-page Maximum): The following information should be included in the application and uploaded as a single PDF:
· Details of Expenditure: Description of the equipment or equipment-related expenditure to be purchased and any implementing costs.
· Scientific rationale for the equipment or equipment-related purchase and its expected benefit; details of the scientific need being met and the potential impact.
· Users and User Access (if applicable): Departments that will likely benefit from the purchase, including a list of identified and potential users. An access policy for proposed equipment.
· Brief Budget: Total amount being requested, estimated date of purchase and ongoing expenses if any; include proposed provider of the equipment and its anticipated cost. *An instrumentation quote from the vendor is allowable in addition to the page limit. (Please use a simple table within the application. No indirect costs will be awarded.)
3. Electronic Signature
Primary Harvard Chan School faculty whose research operation is based at the Harvard Chan School are eligible to apply. If you have any questions regarding your eligibility to apply for this award, please contact Allison Lever at alever@hsph.harvard.edu.
Applications will be evaluated based on the ability of the award to: 1) leverage existing strengths of the School, 2) open promising new avenues of investigation, 3) advance the School’s public health mission, and/or 4) Directly benefit multiple faculty and/or expand participation in activities enabled by the award.
Proposals are to be submitted through the Harvard University Funding Portal (HUFP). If you are using the application portal for the first time, you must complete a short registration process (see below). Please note, you can search for awards without logging in but you must be registered and logged in with your Harvard Key to submit an application. There is an option to assign a proxy for proposal submission but your grant manager cannot use your Harvard Key to submit your application. Please see below for more information on registering for an account and assigning a proxy.
Registering your HUFP Account: Select “Log-in” in the top right corner of the HUFP webpage, which will bring you to a login page with two options. Select the "with Harvard Key" icon, which will prompt you to enter your Harvard Key. You will be led through a short three-question registration process. Once registered, you will be able to log in with your Harvard Key to submit applications.
Assigning a Proxy for Submission: Before beginning an application, both the proxy and the PI must register for individual accounts in HUFP using their Harvard Key credentials. Once the proxy and the PI are registered, the proxy can begin an application on behalf of the PI. The Proxy will indicate that they are a proxy applicant and will be asked to locate their PI in HUFP. Proxies should never “Add User” in HUFP. Once this is done, both the PI and the proxy will be able to access and edit the application.
Please note that SPA review is not required for internal funding mechanisms.