Boilerplate Language, Guides, and Resources

All Vanderbilt faculty with translational research can participate in VICTR Grant Review Studios. Studios are opportunities to present your research ideas (at any stage) to a panel of Vanderbilt faculty members with related expertise for constructive feedback. A studio manager will review your request for a studio and will select a panel of experts to participate in your studio. You can also submit recommendations of experts you would like to participate in your studio to the studio manager. Studios should be requested about a month in advance, and any materials that you would like the expert panel to read ahead of time should be submitted a week and a half before your studio date. Grant Review Studios last about 1.5 hours and consist of a 15 minute presentation by the PI followed by expert feedback and discussion led by an appointed moderator.

The Office for Clinical & Translational Scientist Development (OCTSD) offers Edge Proposal Reviews for NIH R or K Applications. Deadlines for completing a survey indicating your interest in participating and the deadline for submitting your materials for review are based on the annual NIH submission cycles. Senior Vanderbilt faculty members will review a PDF of your proposal and will send you a video recording of their comments as well as written feedback.

The Vanderbilt Writing Studio offers faculty, post-docs, and graduate students one-on-one consultations with a writing studio staff member. Appointments to discuss your grant proposal materials or your writing process can be scheduled online or via email (writing.studio@vanderbilt.edu).

The Center for Teaching offers a variety of grant consultation services. The CFT offers one-on-one consultations to discuss the educational and assessment components of research proposals. They also can provide letters of support that can be included in proposals. To schedule an appointment with a senior CFT staff member to talk about which CFT grant support services might be helpful for your project, complete this form or call the CFT at (615) 322-7290.

Sponsored Programs Administration (SPA) is a central resource for pre-award activities. They process and must approve all proposals submitted to external sponsors. In the event that you receive notification that you are a potential awardee, SPA is responsible for receiving grants and negotiating contracts and other agreements. SPA also ensures compliance with federal laws and university policy.

Vanderbilt Research Integrity and Compliance coordinates with a network of offices and schools to help faculty, students, and staff to meet regulatory, legal, and ethical obligations that accompany research.

The Vanderbilt Institutional Review Board (IRB) ensures the ethical conduct of research and provides regulatory oversight. The IRB offers training modules in ethical research conduct and resources for creating IRB applications and amendments. When submitting proposals to federal agencies, it is often a prerequisite to show evidence that your protocol is compliant with IRB regulations. If you are uncertain whether your work is categorized as a clinical trial, the IRB can offer clarification and guidance.

Biostatistical Support is a core within VICTR. They offer free daily walk-in biostatistics clinics that are open to anyone. You can consult with faculty and staff statisticians regarding experimental design and statistical analyses.

The Center for Technology Transfer and Commercialization (CTTC) acts as a liaison between faculty researchers and companies by marketing technologies developed at Vanderbilt and identifying industry opportunities. The New Ventures initiative offers consultations to explore the commercial applications of research projects. The CTTC supports the transfer of intellectual property to industry, fosters new venture creations, and facilitates relationships between academia and industry.

Vanderbilt Research IT provides research consultation and technical solutions to address research-driven information technology problems. The service offers resource guides, short-term consultation and programming, and facilitates high-performance computing and storage solutions to assist faculty and staff in their research and data management needs. They offer resources covering the spectrum of analytics, data acquisition, education and training, methodology support, modeling, general programming, and storage. The ultimate mission of Research IT is to use information technology to support the increased productivity and visibility of researchers and their output.