The Keck Foundation is interested in concepts and projects so early-stage, and so high-risk that, should the project fail, very little of the work will be of value to future endeavors. This program is not a career development application. The Foundation welcomes, and funds, projects submitted by faculty of any career stage with the appropriate expertise. Although there is only one PI for Keck proposals, it is expected that a multidisciplinary team will be assembled for the project.
Limited Submissions Internal Call for Proposals: W. M. Keck Foundation Research Program
UNC Internal Concept Papers Deadline: 11:59 PM, Monday, January 3, 2021
Keck Foundation Phase I Application Deadline: 7:30PM, Monday, May 3, 2021
Program Description: The W. M. Keck Foundation has a unique program focus and a non-standard selection process, described briefly here and on their website at: http://www.wmkeck.org/grant-programs/research.
- The Keck Foundation is interested in concepts and projects so early-stage, and so high-risk that, should the project fail, very little of the work will be of value to future endeavors.
- This program is not a career development application. The Foundation welcomes, and funds, projects submitted by faculty of any career stage with the appropriate expertise. Although there is only one PI for Keck proposals, it is expected that a multidisciplinary team will be assembled for the project.
- Teams can include collaborators from other institutions; international collaborations are limited to 10% of the budget.
- The Keck Foundation is not interested in applications for clinical, disease, or condition-specific projects; applied technologies; drug discovery; or projects that are a progression, incremental advance, or continuation of existing work.
Proposal Selection Process: The internal campus selection process is coordinated jointly by the UNC Office of Corporate and Foundation Relations (CFR), and the Office of Research Development (ORD).
- ORD will solicit campus-wide Keck concept papers. Concept papers will be shared with a Faculty-at-Large council for comment and feedback. Faculty will have a chance to revise their concept papers, based on internal feedback.
- CFR and ORD will present revised concept papers to the Keck Foundation for review; this review will be followed by a collective conference call between Keck program officials and UNC representatives to discuss the Foundation’s feedback.
- CFR and ORD will coordinate the selection of two institutional applicants—one for the Medical Research Program and one for the Science and Engineering Research Program—to go forward with a submission to the Foundation. Selection of the two institutional applicants will take into consideration the input of the Faculty-at-Large council and Keck Foundation representatives.
To Apply: Faculty interested in applying should use the one-page project criteria (listed below). This information conforms to the criteria required of the Keck Foundation, as detailed here. Please return the document as ONE PDF to Limited_Submission@unc.edu by 11:59PM, Monday, January 3, 2021 to be considered for this application cycle.
Additional Information: For questions about the content of one-page project concepts for Keck, please contact Brooke Church, Senior Director of Corporate and Foundation Relations for Health Affairs at brooke_church@unc.edu or 919-962-0024. For questions about the limited submission process, please contact the Limited Submissions Team at Limited_Submission@unc.edu.
One-page Criteria:
Single-paged concepts for the Research Program should be in 12 point font with 1 inch margins and should include:
- Organization Name (The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- Project title
- Full name of Principal Investigator
- An overview of the proposed project emphasizing any unique aspects and pilot studies (indicate area of emphasis for project – Medical Research or Science & Engineering Research)
- A description of the methodologies and key personnel – dedicate the most space to this section
- A brief justification of the need for Keck Foundation support (ie., evidence that federal and other traditional mechanisms are unlikely because the project is too risky and/or early stage)
- An estimated budget broken down, if possible, by major areas, e.g., personnel, equipment, consumable supplies, etc. (budgets can be rough approximations at this stage)
- If possible, within the 1-page limit, the authors may add other details (e.g., background to put the research into perspective, description of the institution’s prominence in the field). Avoid illustrations in these single-pagers – the researchers will need all the room for text. If a reference is necessary, abbreviate it as (Science, 323, 45, ‘11). DO NOT USE (Jones et al., 2011).