Funding Opportunity for Data Science and Software Engineering

Webinars

CIRM staff aims to conduct public webinar(s) and Q&A sessions after posting of this Program Announcement. Prospective Applicants are encouraged to sign up for email alerts and register for these sessions on our website.

How does one submit an Application?

Applications must be completed and submitted online using the CIRM Grants Management System. A prospective PI must create a login in the system to open an Application and submit materials. Applications are available in the system to the PI or their approved delegate. A PI may submit only one Data Science and Software Engineering Awards (INFR9) Application per review cycle.

What components does an Application include?

CIRM’s online Application is designed to collect information for CIRM staff to assess eligibility, for Grants Working Group reviewers to evaluate the project, and for CIRM rapidly to initiate an Award if the project is approved for funding.

In the online Application, Applicants must fill out an eligibility form, indicate Key Personnel involved in the project, provide a list of Consultants and Subcontracts, provide an overview of proposed activities, and prepare and justify an appropriate budget.

The document uploads page, found in the online application system, provides templates and guidelines for writing the Proposal, Biosketches, Software Development Roadmap, and other key components of the Application. Applicants must use the provided templates and adhere to the prescribed page formatting and page limits.

What are the contents of the Application Proposal?

The Application Proposal comprises the bulk of detailed information on the project, organized within the following sections. Page limits and formatting information will be provided on the Proposal template.

1. Overall Objective and Major Milestones: May include graphical abstract if desired.
2. Statement of Significance and Impact: Brief description of how the proposed software project would accelerate target, biomarker, or candidate identification and/or validation. Description of the current landscape of open and proprietary tools or approaches targeting the data integration bottleneck addressed by the proposed software tool, and the value proposition of the proposed software tool for regenerative medicine researchers over what is currently available.
3. Statement of Innovation: Brief description of how the proposed software project incorporates new approaches, technologies or frameworks, particularly in stem cell or genetic research and in computational fields. A description of how this project integrates different disciplines and generates capabilities beyond existing or single-domain approaches.
4. Statement of Population Impact: Statement describing how the project will broaden or extend the relevance of scientific discoveries to the spectrum of affected populations, incorporate perspectives from the relevant groups, enhance participation in data science by a broad range of users and contributors, and include strategies to address biases in models and potential harms from incomplete or unrepresentative data.
5. Rationale: Description of the scientific and technical rationale for the proposed approach(es) and how it is supported by existing tools, methods, literature, and evidence.
6. Plan and Software Development Roadmap: A description of methods and techniques and analytical plan to be employed to execute the software development roadmap, and potential pitfalls and alternative approaches, with sufficient detail to assess feasibility. Propose strategies or indicators to evaluate progress on the development, adoption, and utility of the tool. A demonstration of the software project’s functionality through proof-of-concept and/or validation using existing, appropriately accessible data consistent with CIRM’s data sharing and management requirements is required by the end of the Award.
   1. Deployment, Adoption, and Sustainability Plan: Description of activities for documenting the code, testing and release processes, deploying the software for community use, issue tracking, promoting user adoption, and encouraging community contribution and maintenance. Community and contributor engagement activities to gather feedback to inform development of the software tool will be outlined here.
7. Team Expertise and Organization: A description of the PI, Co-Investigator and most relevant Key Personnel, highlighting the team’s expertise and experience relevant to the execution of the proposed project. Team members that fulfill the defined eligibility requirements (Project Eligibility, Page 7) for specific expertise must be highlighted here. Key Personnel are defined in CIRM Funding Opportunities: Common Requirements and Definitions. This section should also include a communication and management plan for the collaborative effort.
8. Resources and Environment: A brief description of the resources available to the project and environment in which the research will take place.
9. References: Sources cited in the proposal.

What should one know before preparing the budget?

The total CIRM Award is subject to a total Award cost cap of Allowable Project Costs. Allowable Project Costs are those costs permitted under CIRM policies and regulations and include direct, Facilities, and Indirect Costs. CIRM will not fund costs that exceed the specified Award amount, and Applicants are expected to justify their budgets within these limits, inclusive of cost-sharing from the Applicant or third parties.

Budgets must be justified in detail, including all Subcontracts and Consultant fees, including, if applicable, any additional costs that would be funded from another source. Allowable Project Costs for research funded by CIRM are detailed in the CIRM Award Management Policy (AMP). Generally, project costs for personnel, supplies, travel, Equipment, data sharing/management and Subcontracts may be claimed. Requests to purchase Equipment will be reviewed and subject to approval by CIRM during pre-funding administrative review (PFAR) or via a Prior Approval Request (PAR) during the Project Period. Limits for specific cost categories must be observed.

CIRM makes no prior stipulations on how funds are distributed among the Principal Investigator and Co-Investigators in the team. However, specific budget allocations for each member of the team (PI and Co-Investigators) must be delineated in the budget justification and should reflect relative contributions and project needs. This aspect of the budget will be subject to evaluation by the Grants Working Group.

What are direct facilities costs and how much can an Applicant claim?

Direct facilities costs are the general operating costs of the Awardee’s facilities attributable to housing all elements of the CIRM-Funded Project or Activity. Facilities costs for Non-Profit Applicants are limited to the current applicable, federally negotiated rates for the organization as defined by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A-21 or A-122. Facilities costs for For-Profit Awardees or any Non-Profit Awardees without a federally negotiated Facilities and Administrative Rate agreement are limited to 15% of direct project costs and must be consistent with facilities rates applied to similar research awards at the organization. Facilities rates are applied to direct project costs exclusive of the costs of Equipment, Tuition and Fees, Research Patient Care Costs, as well as the costs of each individual Subcontract, Consultant and service agreement in excess of $50,000. The Facilities cost rates approved and in place at the time of the Application are to be applied to the entire Project Period.

What are Indirect Costs and how much can an Applicant claim?

Indirect Costs are administrative costs of the Awardee incurred for common or joint objectives, which cannot be readily and specifically identified with a particular project. For-Profit Organizations cannot claim Indirect Costs. For Non-Profit Organizations, Indirect Costs will be limited to 20% of allowable Direct Research Funding Costs awarded by CIRM (i.e., project costs and facilities costs), exclusive of the costs of Equipment, Tuition and Fees, Research Patient Care Costs, as well as the costs of each individual Subcontract, Consultant and service agreement in excess of $50,000. The Indirect Cost rate budgeted at the time of Application is to be applied to the entire Project Period.

Change in status

Applicants are required to notify CIRM of any material change in status while the Application is pending review (e.g., a change in PI, the Applicant no longer qualifies as a California Organization, etc.).