The Illinois Society for the Prevention of Blindness (ISPB) offers unique grant opportunities with priority granted to areas of inquiry with direct clinical relevance (translational research). Principal investigators (PIs) for the grant shall be medical and OD students, residents, fellows, assistant professors and other junior faculty. For PIs with a doctoral level degree (MD, OD, PhD), no more than seven years shall have passed since completion of the most recent degree.  Residents and medical/OD students are required to have a faculty mentor involved with their research.

The Research Committee consisting of ISPB board members and other professionals from ophthalmology and optometry review and award the grants. The committee will evaluate applications based on the validity of the hypothesis, scientific rigor and usefulness of final data. 

One AMD grant will be awarded at $10,000. The rest will receive the Standard Grant of up to $5,000 in funding. Those not chosen for the one AMD award will still be eligible for the lesser grant. 

GRANT CRITERIA
  • Maximum grant amount not to exceed $10,000 for AMD and $5,000 for the Standard Grant.
  • Application must be in the ISPB office by the deadline date.
  • One application per project. Principal investigator or project did not receive an ISPB grant in the prior year.
  • Incomplete applications will not be accepted.
  • Project must be conducted in Illinois at an accredited university, medical school or laboratory.
  • Funds cannot be used for equipment, computers, software (may consider specialized software), indirect costs, institutional administrative fees, salaries, publication costs, manuscript preparation, phone usage or travel.
  • OCT costs are allowed at $40 per subject if not covered by a third party insurer or part of standard care.
  • A $150 allowance can be made for the production and presentation of a scientific poster including ARVO membership.
    Individual can only serve as principal investigator for one grant.
  • Principal investigator must remain in Illinois through the end of the grant project.
  • Residents and medical/OD students must provide a supportive letter on department letterhead from the mentor.
  • Principal investigator must supply a color electronic photo for website and publicity use before funds are distributed.
  • Where applicable, an IRB/IACUC approval letter must be received before a check is distributed.
  • Applicants will be notified by mid-June with funds distributed as above requirements are met.
  • Funds must be expended and scope of proposal completed within one year if the grant approval.
  • Funds not used will be returned to ISPB.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Grantees are expected to recognize the Illinois Society for the Prevention of Blindness in all posters, publications or presentations related to the research. A copy of the poster, publication or presentation agenda should be included with the mid-year or year-end report.
 
GRANT REPORTS
 
Status reports are due the last week of January using the Mid-Year Report Form. The final report is due the last week of July using the Final Narrative Report Form. A financial report from the institution’s accounting department is also required and should be submitted with the Narrative Report.

Please note: you will have to complete the online application in a single browser session. We advise creating and saving a text document with all application answers and copy/pasting them into the form fields. This will also create a record for you in the event the form is not submitted.

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* 1. Research Project Title

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* 2. Funding Request ($5,000 max standard/$10,000 max AMD)

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* 3. Institution (Full Name)

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* 4. Principal Investigator (Applicant will serve as primary contact person)

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* 5. Degree

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* 6. Address at Institution

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* 7. Institution Grant Coordinator

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* 8. First Co-Investigator

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* 9. Mentor (If Principal Investigator is a resident or medical student)

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* 10. Eye Disease Subspecialty or Subspecialty Topic:

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* 11. Project Narrative (In lay language, one paragraph description easy enough for a smart 8th grader to understand. Include the significance of your research and the expected outcome).

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* 12. Are power calculations necessary for your research?

PLEASE NOTE: If your research will be using power calculations, please provide samples with your narrative. We suggest you consult with a statistician prior to applying. The usefulness of the final data is important.
In the following text fields, please enter the aims and goals of your study.  Please note, you can click and drag the box slider at the lower right corner of each text box to increase the size of the text box.

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* 13. Statement of problem/rationale

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* 14. Hypothesis

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* 15. Specific aims

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* 16. Overall goal

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* 17. Additional Aims of the Study

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* 18. Significance (Importance, intellectual merit, critical barriers, improvement of scientific knowledge, broader implications, beneficiaries of the research.)

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* 19. Innovation (What is special or different about the project? How will this research help people?)

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* 20. Expected Outcomes (Potential problems and their solutions or alternatives)

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* 21. How does this project address ISPB’s mission?

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* 22. Statistical Considerations

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* 23. Overall Summary and Conclusions

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* 24. Timeline

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* 25. References

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* 26. Human Subjects?

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* 27. If yes, approval date or pending anticipated approval date?

Date

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* 28. Animal Subjects?

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* 29. If yes, approval date or pending anticipated approval date?

Date

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* 30. Is this a sole project or an aspect of a larger research project?

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* 31. If part of a larger project, what are the other funding sources and amounts?

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