Medical Student Research Initiation Grant

Purpose

To provide opportunities for Medical Students to participate in clinical or laboratory-based research focused on diseases of the colon, rectum and anus.

Funding

$4,000 per year for 2-3 months devoted to research during the academic year.

Award is given on a competitive basis.
A maximum of 3 per year are given.
MSRIG is for salary and living expenses only. Funds may not be used for other purposes.
No other funding or salary support is allowed.
During grant period, awardee is expected to not be engaged in any clinical activities.
MSRIG is limited to “Direct Cost Only” budgets. Additional indirect costs will not be approved.

Proposal Deadline

March 15 for the 2023 grant cycle

Review/Notification Date

Spring

Eligibility

Must be a Medical Student in a US or Canadian Medical School.
Applicant must have designated time for research and no clinical responsibility.
Preference is given to individuals pursuing a career in Colon and Rectal Surgery and whose project has a mentor or co-investigator who is a Fellow or Member of the American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons.

Submissions

The Research Foundation of the ASCRS uses a web-based platform for all grant submissions. Full instructions are available on the site in the top-right hand corner of the screen.

Applicants will log in to their ASCRS account to submit a grant application. Applicants do not need to be an ASCRS member but do need to have an ASCRS account. When the applicant clicks the Submit Grant button, they will be directed to the web-based portal, to sign in or to create an account.

Preparing Application Materials

Applicants will be asked to enter or upload necessary information to submit a grant application, available here.

Important Information*

Keep a record of Control ID number, which can be found on the top right corner on each page of the submission template. When communicating with the Research Foundation and the ScholarOne Customer Care Team, please include the Control ID as a reference.
Note that some institutions have firewalls that make it difficult to receive communications from the submission site. To ensure uninterrupted email delivery, please whitelist amazonses.com and abstractcentral.com domains.
Do not forget to click the submit button (at the bottom of Step 6: Review and Submit). If the system is exited without submitting, the submission will be saved and will appear in the “DRAFT” section of the system “View Submissions” page upon re-entering the system.
Notifications and correspondence will be sent to the email address in the ASCRS account. Correspondence can be obtained by clicking on the Messages in the grey bar at the top right of the screen in the system.
Applicants should receive a confirmation email after submission (please check spam/junk folders for this email). To prevent this, add [email protected] and [email protected] to address book. If an email confirmation is not received, please contact [email protected].
Applicants should use Chrome to submit grant applications. Pop-up Blocker must be turned off for submission.

Need Help?

Technical questions or problems with the system should be directed to the ScholarOne Customer Care Team. They can be reached by clicking the "Help" link in the top right-hand corner of the screen in the ScholarOne system or by emailing [email protected]. Please include your Control ID number, name, phone, email and an explanation of the problem in all support correspondence. ScholarOne Customer Care is available Monday 12:00 a.m. through Friday 8:30 p.m. Eastern Time, +1-855-258-5858 (US) or +44 8003288044 (EMEA).

For grant-specific questions, please contact the Research Foundation administrative office at [email protected] or (847) 607-6410 and ask to speak to the foundation grants manager.

Application Review

The Research Foundation Research Committee reviews all completed applications received by the deadline through a peer review process. The committee is composed of funded researchers who are members of the ASCRS. Members of the committee serve pro bono and do not participate in evaluation of applications from applicants or institutions in which there is a conflict of interest.

Re-Submitting a Medical Student Research Initiation Grant

If you have previously submitted an MSRRIG that was not funded, you may re-submit the same application during the next submission cycle. Re-submissions must adhere to the following:

In the web-based portal, step 5, indicate the applciation is a resubmission.
Upload the letter from the Research Foundation indicating what needed to be altered in your original MSRRIG application.
Include document highlighting what has been altered from the original submission.
Compile all documens into a singe PDF for upload.