The grants are offered by The Obesity Society as a member service to foster and stimulate new research ideas in any area of obesity research. Two grants are given each year, one for Basic Science and the other for Clinical Research. The grants target early-career investigators and postdoctoral fellows by funding proposals that demonstrate a high likelihood of yielding new and innovative approaches to obesity research. Early-career investigators are defined as individuals who have received a PhD/DSc, DVM, MD, or DO at the time of application. Investigators must also currently have a full-time, entry-level position (e.g., post-doctoral fellow, instructor, and up to Assistant Professor) at an established academic/research institution. Applicants may request up to $25,000. No indirect cost will be paid from this grant. Applicants invited to submit a full proposal will be notified approximately one month later. All applicants must be TOS members in good standing. This is a one-year grant, and funding will begin the next calendar year.

Eligibility Criteria:

The Principal Investigator must:

Phase 1

• Submit a Letter of Intent Cover Page
• Submit a 1-page Letter of Intent – (describe the scientific project, statement of specific aims, hypotheses, and how the study is new and innovative)
  • 1-page on institutional letterhead
  • 1/2 inch margins
  • 11-point font size
• Submit an NIH-style biosketch for the principal investigator. If the principal investigator is a post-doctoral fellow, the biosketch of the mentor should also be included
• The LOI and biosketch(es) must be collated and submitted as a single pdf

Phase 2

Applicants selected by The Obesity Society’s Science Development Committee will be notified and requested to submit a full proposal package. Required documents include:

• Original LOI and Biosketch(es), from the LOI submission
• 3-page proposal (references not included)
  • Brief introduction to the proposed study and rationale for investigation (How will this work benefit the field?)
  • Statement of specific aims and hypotheses
  • Material and methods, feasibility
  • Anticipated results, limitations, alternatives
  • Future plans (How will the findings of this project be leveraged for future work? What are the next steps, next grants?)
• Timeline
• Budget Form (1-page) with justification (1-page limit)
• Allowable Expenses
  • Salary for technical staff, supplies, core use, subject recruitment, patient care costs, and other research-related expenses.
  • Equipment/capital expenses up to $5,000.
  • Travel up to $2,000 (ObesityWeek® encouraged).
  • If principal investigator requires salary support, a maximum of one month summer salary or 8% effort support is allowable.
• Mentor Letter of Support (1-page, for post-doctoral fellows and instructors)