Awards for Independent Investigators

• The award acts as a bridge to ensure promising early-career scientists stay in the Parkinson’s research field, helping us solve, treat and end the disease. In today’s funding environment, as young scientists navigate the path from mentored to independent research, they face a “valley of death” between their scientific potential and the funding they need to make it happen. This award can stem Parkinson’s research talent loss.
• In conjunction with their institution’s commitment, the award gives junior investigators the support they need to develop their own independent funding source (such as an NIH R01 award) and stay in the PD research field. Becoming an independent research leader with his or her own research space is the ultimate goal.
• The Parkinson’s Foundation seeks clinical, pre-clinical or basic research proposals that will directly impact the understanding of Parkinson’s or its treatment from promising early career scientists. Successful projects should include novel PD research hypotheses and be inventive in methodology or approach.

• Each award provides $300,000 in total costs. We approve deduction of indirect costs, not exceeding 10 percent of direct costs, from the total. We permit applicant salary support up to 40 percent of total salary.
• We award funds for three years — subject to annual progress reviews. Submission of an NIH R01 or equivalent is the required award milestone. The third year of funding is also contingent upon this.

• Junior faculty members possessing a PhD, MD, or equivalent are eligible to apply. Applicants must meet the National Institutes of Health (NIH) definition of a "new investigator." The Parkinson’s Foundation anticipates the typical applicant will hold an assistant professor level position with up to several years of experience. We will consider earlier stage faculty and those with more experience provided they meet the above eligibility criteria.
• The award is open to applicants, regardless of citizenship, who are residents and faculty members at institutions in the U.S. and Canada.
• Applicants from Parkinson’s Foundation research centers are eligible to apply. We require a letter of support from the applicant’s department chair to demonstrate the level of institutional commitment to the applicant.
• We restrict this program to full-time faculty members of institutions in the U.S. and Canada with a current instructor or assistant professor post. As a career development initiative, the program is not open to current or prior holders of NIH R01 awards or their equivalent. An applicant must be in a tenure-track position or in the case of an Instructor, have the intent to begin a tenure-track position as shown by a support letter from his or her department chair. We will give only one award per institution each year, but we may consider special exceptions.

• The application process is divided into two parts:
  • Applicants will first send a letter of intent.
  • Based on favorable peer-review, we may then invite applicants to submit a full application, also for peer-review. All materials must be submitted online.
• For current application dates visit Award Deadlines.
• Click Apply Now for additional information and the PDF files of this program’s details.

Impact Awards are designed for researchers both established and new to the field of PD. Projects should be "outside the box" with the goal of bringing new light to the biology of Parkinson's, a new approach to Parkinson’s research, or testing a truly novel therapeutic idea. Projects should be based on unconventional ideas that are unlikely to be funded through more traditional funding mechanisms. Our goal is to provide the support that will enable researchers to test new ideas with an impact to the PD community and generate compelling results that will facilitate continued investment from the Parkinson’s Foundation and other funders.

Awards are up to a maximum of $150,000 for 12-18 months. Up to 10% ($15,000) of the total award may be used towards indirect costs. Salary support is permitted for no more than 40% of the principal investigator’s salary and capped at $50,000.

This award is open to scientists with a PhD or MD, regardless of nationality or location. Only independent investigators are welcome to apply. We will consider applications from Instructors who can demonstrate that they will begin a tenure-track position (as shown by a support letter from their department chair). All applications must demonstrate a significant research focus and impact on PD.

• A peer-review committee will review the Letters of Intent (LOI), and proposals deemed meritorious and of interest will be invited for a full application, due within five to six weeks of the LOI decision. A detailed budget is required with the full application.
• For current application dates visit Award Deadlines.
• Click Apply Now for additional information and the PDF files of this program’s details.

• All applications should demonstrate the potential to advance the field of Parkinson's research. We require publicly available meeting results. Applicants may use this award to:
  • Identify or define emerging research questions
  • Plan or organize a clinical trial|
  • Standardize research methods
• Potential topics are wide-ranging, but examples include showing the importance of synaptic pathology in Parkinson's gene therapy, selecting standard measures of cognitive function for Parkinson's clinical trials or establishing an impulse control disorder rating scale.
• The Parkinson's Foundation commits to including the perspective and experience of people living with PD in the research process. We highly encourage applicants to incorporate a community engagement component into award applications.

We periodically make $45,000 available with a maximum of $15,000 per award. Most awards will be $10,000. We encourage multiple funding partners, including contributions from the applicant institution itself. We may also consider competitive, follow-up applications in the future.

Conference Awards are open to both national and international independent investigators with postdoctoral training or a medical degree (or the equivalent).

• Restrictions include:
  • We encourage planned or proposed funding partners but require they be named in advance.
  • If one or more of the proposed funding partners is a for-profit entity, e.g., a pharmaceutical company, the source must make its support in the form of an unrestricted educational award.
  • Conference results must be publicly available.
  • Conferences may not be for social or networking purposes.
  • The Parkinson's Foundation expects that each meeting or conference will engage members of the Parkinson's community.

• We require online submission of all applications; we will not accept paper copies.
• The application period is open year-round. We accept applications anytime, though applicants must submit them at least 90 days prior to the proposed conference start date. Applicants can review application instructions for further information.
• Please contact Grants@Parkinson.org if you are interested to apply.

We peer review all Conference Award proposals, competitively ranking them based on scientific merit and PD impact. We make final decisions four to six weeks after application submissions. Funding may commence immediately upon award notification.

• Reporting Requirements and Other Terms
  • We require applicants who successfully receive Parkinson's Foundation funding for their conference to identify the foundation as a support source in all conference materials and advertisements, in all presentations and in any subsequent publications.
  • As conference sponsors, we require as-needed, complimentary registration for a Parkinson's Foundation designated staff or guests.
  • As part of the Parkinson's Foundation's public-sharing goal, we may post conference-related information, such as the notice or agenda on our website. At a minimum, awardees are required to submit a 200-word lay summary after the conference.