Alzheimer's Association Research Fellowship (AARF)

Competition objectives

The Alzheimer's Association Research Fellowship award is intended to support exceptional researchers who are engaged in their post-graduate work (i.e., postdoctoral fellows) and before they have their first independent faculty positions (i.e., Assistant Professor) and working in diverse areas of research, including basic, translational, clinical, functional and social-behavioral research. Investigators doing clinically-focused research without clinical practice are encouraged to apply to this AARF program.

Individuals applying to the program will be accepted from postdoctoral fellows with full time positions at their respective institution who have less than 13 years of research experience after receipt of their doctorate or other terminal degree. Individuals who have a position of an Assistant Professorship or above are not eligible.

The Alzheimer's Association feels strongly that the mentoring and involvement of researchers from diverse backgrounds and perspectives is essential to engaging cutting edge ideas and thinking in addressing scientific gaps for Alzheimer’s and all other dementias.

The mechanism of the award is the individual research grant. The maximum allowable duration is three years (minimum two years).

Funding and award period

Each Fellowship award is limited to $200,000. Component parts of the award include:

• A total of $180,000 (including direct and indirect costs) will be awarded for costs related to the proposed research for up to three years (Award should be a minimum 2 years. For a 2 year award the total is limited to $120,000 with direct and indirect costs). Requests in any given year may not exceed $70,000 (direct and indirect costs). Indirect costs are capped at 10 percent of total direct costs and are inclusive of indirect costs for the implementing institution as well as any to subcontracts.
• A total of $7,500 over a three-year period may be requested for travel purposes and is not to exceed $5,000 in any given year. If you request the full $7,500 towards just two years of travel and are requesting a three year award you will not be able to request travel funds for one of those years. Note: A portion must be allocated to support registration and travel to the annual Alzheimer's Association International Conference (AAIC). AAIC attendance is a condition of the award.
• The remaining funds are two $10,000 research stipends ($10,000 to the applicant and $10,000 to the primary mentor), which are not guaranteed and are awarded only upon successful completion of the award. Successful completion of the award includes, but is not limited to, successfully achieving project aims and accomplishing all of the Fellowship benchmarks. These research stipends are to be applied to sustaining ongoing research in the Alzheimer's field and will be paid to the applicant‘s and mentor‘s respective institutions at the time of release.

The Principal Investigator (PI) must commit to a 50% effort toward the proposed project each funding year. Note this is minimum time committed to research; and not neccessary time to this project or equivalent to salary % allocated.

Eligibility

• Applications will be accepted from postdoctoral fellows (or an equivalent level position) with full-time positions at their respective academic institution and less than 13 years of research experience after receipt of their doctorate (Ph.D) or terminal degree.
• If the applicant is promoted to faculty during the application process, the applicant may continue to proceed with the AARF program.

Ineligibility

Ineligibility criteria include:

• Individuals who have a position of an Assistant Professorship or above are not eligible.
• Individuals currently enrolled in a Doctoral Program are not eligible, regardless of degrees status.
• Please refer to Section III: B. Eligibility & Ineligibility in the full Program Announcement for additional ineligibility criteria, which are applicable to both Applicant/Fellow and the Mentor.

Letter of Intent (LOI) deadline: March 6, 2023, 5 p.m. EST.

Each AARF Fellowship LOI is evaluated with attention to:

• Demonstrable innovation/novelty of the proposed project (especially in the context of the PI's recently funded work).
• Alignment with the research priorities of the Alzheimer’s Association.
• Impact of project on Alzheimer’s and all other dementia research.
• Evidence of methodological rigor that address the research question(s) being proposed.

Letter of Intent notifications: Week of April 3, 2023.

Note: Due to the high volume of submissions, specific feedback and reviewer comments are not provided at the LOI stage.

Application deadline: May 4, 2023, 5 p.m. EST.

If invited to submit a full application, each Fellowship application is evaluated on:

• Quality and nature of the training to be provided and the institutional, departmental and mentor-specific training environment, this includes available resources to support the applicant in their training (30%).
• Quality and emphasis of applicant and originality of the research plan (40%).
• Significance of the question being studied, quality of the work plan and the impact-risk of the proposal, impact on the advancement of diverse science (30%).
• Resubmissions will have the opportunity to provide a response to prior review.

Award notifications: Prior to August 30, 2023.

Mentoring plans and Fellowship benchmarks

Each Fellowship award must identify a primary mentor. The mentor should be experienced in conducting Alzheimer’s and dementia research and in mentoring junior investigators. The application must include a two-three page statement from the selected mentor that includes information on his/her research qualifications, experience as a research supervisor and commitment to the applicant. This statement will be a significant part of the application review. The application must also include information to describe the mentor's research support relevant to the applicant‘s research plan and the nature and extent of supervision and training that he/she will provide during the period of the award. Only one primary mentor is allowed; however, additional team members who might function as mentors can be listed as key personnel.

Note: The primary mentor must agree to provide annual evaluations of the applicant’s progress for the duration of the award, as required for the yearly progress report.

Mentors can be early-career researchers and/or mid-career scientists who choose to shift into Alzheimer's and all dementia research. The applicant and proposed mentor must specify a mechanism for ensuring effective mentoring. The application should contain a plan for and an evaluation strategy of the mentoring process for enhancing diversity in the professional research workforce. A successful plan will include specific details on the mentoring goals designed towards achievements both related to research and other professional development.

Additionally, a successful mentorship plan should include the following Fellowship Benchmarks, which are required to receive the research stipends, but should not be limited to only these.

Required Fellowship benchmarks are as follows:

• Attendance at an Association-sponsored networking event at the Alzheimer’s Association’s International Conference (AAIC)
• Acceptance of an abstract at AAIC
• Mandatory documentation of hours spent on face-to-face mentoring
• Citation of specific exercises of mentorship such as supervision of manuscript writing and submission or grant writing and submission
• Reviewing grant applications. This is not limited to the Alzheimer's Association review process, as reviewing for other funding organization, but supervised reviews are encouraged for those with little to no review experience. The Alzheimer's Association staff will provide additional resources for those new to reviewing for the Association.
• Documentation of specific instances of the facilitation of networking, including introductions to colleagues, inclusion in discussions at scientific meetings, etc.
• Submission of funding proposal(s) to other funding agencies, including Alzheimer's Association, National Institutes of Health or National Science Foundation, Medical Research Council (United Kingdom), Canadian Institutes of Health Research, etc. 

Budget

A “budget summary” for the proposed research project is required and must be submitted with the application and within the allowable two-page limit. However, if the application is to be awarded, a more detailed budget will be required and must be approved before the disbursement of funds.

Allowable costs under this award

It is required that most of the funds awarded under this program be used for direct research support. No more than 10% of the total direct costs may be included as indirect costs; this is inclusive of indirect costs for the implementing institution as well as any to subcontracts.

Allowable costs include:

• Purchase and care of laboratory animals

• Small pieces of laboratory equipment and laboratory supplies 

• Purchases over $10,000 require prior approval, even if included in the project proposal budget

• Computer software if used strictly for data collection (requires prior approval)

• Salary for the principal investigator, scientific (including postdoctoral fellows) and technical staff (including laboratory technicians and administrative support directly related to the funded grant); there is no salary cap 

• Membership to scientific association

• Professional development / communication training
• Training costs to visit and perform research related to the awarded project on another laboratory/facility (this is not to be included in the travel costs)

• Support for travel to scientific and professional meetings not to exceed $5,000 in any given year; additional support for travel expenses necessary to carry out research planned not to exceed $2,000 in any given year – this may include site visits. Total travel cost should not exceed $7,500 for the duration of the award and must include attendance to the annual Alzheimer’s Association International Conference (AAIC).

• ​Participant travel expenses for projects involving human participants is not included in the travel and is allowable expenses that can be captured under other expenses (itemized) in the budget.​

Direct costs not allowed under this award

Direct costs not allowed include:

• Computer hardware or standard software (e.g., Microsoft Office, mouse monitor, computer parts)
• Laboratory equipment such as freezers, ultracentrifuges, RT-PCR, Microscopy/imaging equipment
• Service contract fees of equipment
• Construction or renovation costs
• Tuition
• Rent for laboratory/office space
• Expenses such as Data Network Recharges and Computing and communication device support services. However, data sharing and/or data storage for imaging, sequencing and other study data is allowed.
• General liability insurances, such as GAEL
• Wire and currency exchange fees
• The Alzheimer’s Association Medical and Scientific Advisory Group (MSAG), the International Research Grant Program (IRGP) Council members and current employees of the Alzheimer’s Association are allowed to be key personnel or collaborators on projects, however they are NOT ALLOWED to receive any salary or compensation. A complete list of MSAG and IRGP Council members can be found on our website.

​​Reporting requirements

Please see Section III, J: Reporting Requirements in the full program announcement for additional reporting details. This award requires:

• Annual scientific progress reports.
• Annual Mentor evaluations (including tracking progress towards Fellowship benchmarks).
• Annual financial reports.
• Annual reports on recruitment & retention efforts (if applicable).

Note: The continuation of the grant over the awarded duration is contingent upon the timely receipt of all required reports.

Additional information

Due to the nature of this grant being awarded to the Fellow, in large part to their uniquely tailored mentoring plan towards achieving specific professional goals, it is expected that the Fellowship will transfer with the Fellow to their future institution. Additionally, any potential change in Mentor role must be approved by the Association. This will be strictly adhered to and only in extreme circumstances will an exception be considered.

The Alzheimer's Association is pleased to partner with the Fred A. and Barbara M. Erb Family Foundation on this program. Based on the review process, one AACSF/AACSF-D awardee each cycle will be identified as the Fred A. Erb Clinical Research Science Fellow for the Alzheimer's Association. The Erb Fellowship will include a small amount of additional funding over the course of the grant as well.

Contact information

For any inquiries or additional information, please contact a member of the Alzheimer's Association Research Grants Team at [email protected].