The foundation has limited funds available for the research grants and will award grants based on the merits of the proposals. The foundation plans to award 10 grants of up to $19,250. However, the final number of grants awarded will depend on the number of proposals submitted, the strength of each proposal and the total amount of funds requested.

No.

There is no limit to the number of proposals submitted by an institution. However, each faculty member may only submit one proposal.

A strong proposal will include a research study with focused goals that can be reasonably obtained. The study should be innovative with a compelling rationale and hypotheses that can be feasibly tested. Documentation of the respondent’s research skills and how they relate to the current proposal is also an important factor. The project should be part of a coherent program of research.

Factors that may weaken a proposal include presenting a research study that is too ambitious (e.g., too much work proposed for the time period covered by the grant), proposing a research design that is not a good fit for the question being asked, presenting unclear goals, lack of detail in the description of the project, and inadequate demonstration of knowledge or expertise in the area of the proposed research. Studies in which mental health is not the focus, but appears to be one of a number of variables being studied, are not likely to be selected.

The grant program is intended to support junior researchers who plan to make a contribution to the field of mental health through their scholarship. One of the criteria utilized in judging the merits of the proposal is the likelihood that the proposed project will strengthen the applicant’s credentials for tenure. Assistant professors at institutions where obtaining grants, developing a strong program of research, and publishing findings in peer-reviewed journals are an important part of earning tenure, are more likely to benefit from the grant than junior faculty at primarily teaching-oriented and non-research-oriented institutions.

Yes. The budget narrative should describe the expenses covered by the other grant and present a compelling case for the need for additional funds to complete the project.

A maximum of $1,750 (up to 10% of the research expenses and travel funds) in overhead is allowed. Overhead costs are often defined as expenses incurred for common or joint objectives, which cannot be identified readily and specifically with a particular sponsored project.

Underserved communities are those that receive inadequate mental health services. Communities may be underserved for a variety of reasons, including the location of services in relation to the community (i.e. not being easily accessible), lack of health insurance or mental health coverage under one’s insurance plan, absence of linguistically appropriate or culturally relevant services, mental health workforce shortages, inadequate funding of community mental health centers, and stigma or attitudes about mental illness that affect people’s willingness to seek treatment.

Some recipients of mental health services prefer to be referred to as “consumers.” The Hogg Foundation values the involvement of consumers, their families and consumer advocates in planning, implementing and improving mental health services, research, policy and education. The involvement referred to here  is reflective of a situation where consumers are part of the research team designing the project and collecting data, or are providing input as consultants to the project, rather than simply being included as subjects.

A reference list is not required, but respondents may include one as part of the Project Narrative document. It will not be counted toward the 1,200-word limit. Please do not submit the reference list as a separate document.

The grant may only be used for summer salary and cannot be used for salary during the academic year. This enables the grantee to focus on research during the summer rather than teaching, which can be fairly intense and detracts from the research project. Grantees may teach a summer session that does not overlap with the time during which the grant is funding salary. For example, a grantee may teach one summer session for six weeks and receive payment from the grant for the rest of the summer. In this case, the remainder of the grant funds could be used for a research assistant or research expenses.

Yes. Please include both curricula vitae.

Yes. However, regardless of the number of authors, grant funding for research expenses and equipment is capped at $15,000, at $2,500 for expenses to present research related to mental health at professional conferences, and 10% overhead up to $1,750 is permitted per proposal. Please include both curricula vitae.

Respondents may include a tenured professor as a collaborator or co-principal investigator. However, the grant cannot be used to pay summer salary for the full professor or wages for a research assistant supervised solely by the full professor. Only an assistant professor is eligible to use the funding in this manner.

Proposals for longitudinal studies, or studies that may take longer than one year, are eligible, as long as the proposal is clear that funding requested through the grant is to support one year’s worth of work on the project between June 1, 2013 – May 30, 2014. The proposal should indicate plans for funding the study after the grant ends, even if the funding has not yet been secured.

The RFP does not restrict the location of data collection. However, respondents whose research has a national or international scope must clearly demonstrate the project’s relevance for improving mental health in Texas. 

Grant funds may be used to pay for statistical consultation. In some cases, the consultant may be another faculty member, either tenure or non-tenure track. Expending a significant amount of funds for salary or wages for another faculty member, or a consultant of any kind, is strongly discouraged since the grant is intended to fund the salary and research efforts of the assistant professor who submitted the proposal.