Research Grant Program

• Affiliate Planning Grants: Grants in the amount of $10K USD each to formalize a research idea into a future pilot/extension grant application. Please note: This opportunity is only available only to affiliates in the UCP Network.
• Pilot Grants: Grants in the amount of $20K USD to provide preliminary data for larger-scale future projects or to perform novel analyses on existing data sets.
• Extension Grants: Grants in the amount of $20K USD to expand an existing research project.

The Council welcomes applications from researchers and clinicians in the U.S. and Canada on any topic relevant to cerebral palsy and related neurodevelopmental disabilities that transforms care.

Priorities:

• • • Early diagnosis of cerebral palsy
    • Early treatment of cerebral palsy
    • Children with cerebral palsy in the transitional stage of young adulthood

Special Consideration:

• • • Research applicants from or collaborating with affiliates of UCP

The UCP Research Council will sponsor and support high-quality proposals that share goals and priorities for cerebral palsy. Grant applicants for the categories of pilot and extension grants should consider the following criteria:

• The research question should address treatment for children with cerebral palsy or a related neurodevelopmental disability. Submissions on transition to adulthood will also be considered.
• Project goals should use SMART design principles (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timely). Data collection, compliance, and progress reporting will be required.
• The Principal Investigator and all co-investigators on the grant must be in professional good standing and have relevant expertise related to the research proposal. 
• Applicants must have the infrastructure appropriate to their project, including study design and implementation, facilities and services, patient recruitment, and staffing. 

For those applying for the category of affiliate planning grants, the proposal should address a project or question that could be formalized into a research question for a future pilot or extension grant.

Other Considerations:

• For the affiliate planning award, applicants must be an affiliate of the UCP network.
• For the pilot and extension awards, applicants do not have to be part of the UCP affiliate network, but preference will be given to those applications from centers that are UCP affiliates or have a strong association with UCP. 
• Applicants can work with other centers on the same project (multicenter project), but these centers should submit a common application to better ensure collaboration. 
• Projects that will facilitate sustainable, ongoing novel treatments or services that can be adopted by other organizations after completion of the project will be given preference. 

Note: Awardees may apply for additional grants to complete the next step of the project if their initial project demonstrates success and ongoing goals are appropriate.

UCP’s Research Council reviewers and outside reviewers (ad hoc) will use the following criteria to score submissions.

For pilot and extension grants:

• Significance: How might this work support or enhance the community or advance the science in the field of cerebral palsy?
• Innovation: How original and/or novel are the ideas of the application? Both the setting and the field of investigation will be considered (e.g., bringing a novel intervention to a center where it is not currently available may be innovative).
• Investigators: Does the research team have appropriate expertise or have they shown commitment to obtaining the necessary expertise?
• Approach: Are the investigators well trained or have they shown commitment to obtaining training? Are the methods sound? Is the research plan realistic?
• Environment: Is the setting supportive of the research? Will it facilitate the project’s success?

For affiliate planning grants:

• Rationale for Project: What are the ideas that generated the application? Is there a problem or question your project is aiming to address? 
• Significance: Do you have a novel idea or potential solution you want to explore to address the problem?
• Evidence for Project: Are you aware of any research on this topic? If so, what research evidence could guide your project?
• Project Team: Does the project team have appropriate expertise, or have they shown commitment to obtaining the necessary expertise? 
• Resources and Capacity: Does your organization or partnering organizations have support from their affiliate for needed resources and capacity?
• Impact: How might this work support or enhance the community of individuals with cerebral palsy or related neurodevelopmental disabilities?

• Award recipients will be expected to provide a progress report at 12 months in a short-answer format. A final report will be due within three months of the end of the funding period (month 21).
• Award recipients should expect to present accomplishments at UCP Town Hall meetings. Findings from research supported by UCP’s Research Council may warrant press releases and other announcements highlighting investigators and describing discoveries. These communications may be used in support of national fundraising efforts.