Call for Emerging Scholar Pilot Project Proposals

Thank you for your interest in the CAPS Pilot Proposal Programs. Please email caps@utexas.edu with questions.

Letter of Intent Application Opens: October 15, 2026

Letter of Intent Application Closes: November 30, 2026

Proposal Submission Deadline: January 31, 2027

Notice of Invitation to Submit a Full Proposal: Rolling, based on meeting program eligibility and priorities

Expected Start Date: September 1, 2026

We invite investigators to submit proposals for pilot funding to support research projects focused on aging populations. These pilot research projects will be funded from September 1, 2027 through August 31, 2028. Pilot projects may be funded up to $40,000 in total costs, indirect and direct costs combined.

Pilot project awardees will be enrolled in a two-year program in which they will be assigned a senior grant-funded mentor to advise them through the process of conducting the pilot study and submitting a larger proposal to NIA. Enrollees will benefit from an intensive summer grant writing workshop and networking opportunities across campus and nationally.

Eligible candidates

Investigators who are either submitting their first K or R application, or are based at institutions or in states with historically low NIH funding levels

Questions may be addressed to: Robert Crosnoe or Karen Fingerman at caps@utexas.edu

Pilot Project Goals

We seek cutting-edge research to illuminate how biological, psychosocial, and environmental factors intersect throughout the life course to generate disparities in health and well-being at older ages.

Proposals will be given priority that address:

• Biosocial Processes: How the dynamic interplay of biological and social processes affects the body, the brain, and overall health and aging outcomes.
• Family and Social Engagement: How demographic patterns and trends affect family and other social ties, the kinds of social ties people have as they age, and how those ties affect health and aging.
• Socioeconomic and Institutional Contexts: How socioeconomic and institutional contexts (e.g., state-level policies, neighborhoods, housing, workplaces, schools) throughout life operate as powerful social forces that shape biology, health, and the pace of aging.

Pilot projects should be designed to support the development of a larger research project that will be submitted under an NIA grant mechanism (K01, R03, R01, R21). Pilot projects are not intended to support work to complete a study or as an addendum to an existing project. NIA considers the success rate of grants submitted from the pilot projects when making decisions about funding future CAPS pilot projects.

Budget

Pilot projects may be funded up to $40,000 in total costs, direct and indirect costs combined. Pilot project budgets may be used to cover expenses related to the proposed study within guidelines for federally allowable expenses, including summer salary.

 UT-Austin applications should not include indirect costs in their budget. Other external applicants should include 8% indirect costs on their budget, as allowed by NIH for this mechanism.

In special circumstances, larger budgets will be considered. To prepare a budget for the application, please contact caps@utexas.edu.

Project time periods are 2 years: 1 year to complete the pilot project and 1 year to submit a grant application. All pilot project work must be accomplished during the 1st year. An external grant from the pilot project must be submitted within two years of the award. Again, this is an important metric in reporting to NIA on the success of our pilot program.

 PLEASE USE THIS TEMPLATE IN PREPARING YOUR PROPOSAL

Pilot Project Proposal Requirements (See template below)

• Investigators and affiliations
• Project title
• Statement of the purpose of the pilot in one sentence: This pilot project will do XXX.
• Text of the Proposal (approximately 2 pages total)
  • Specific Aims
  • Significance and Methods
  • One to two sentences explicating the innovation. Examples: “This project innovates by XXX”, “This projects extends research in this area by doing XXX”
  • Match with CAPS Themes
• End Products

Please state the phrase as: The R01 or R21 arising from this project will go beyond the pilot by doing XXX/examining XXX/applying this method to XXX

• • Timeline (approx. ¼ page)
    • Tasks and goals for the project broken down by quarters.
    • Plan for submitting larger grant to NIA, specifying the mechanism
  • Budget (approx. ½ to 1 page)
    • Detailed budget
    • Budget justification
  • NIH Biosketch

Please format your proposal using the template at the end of this announcement

Projects selected for funding will also be required to provide an NIH section on human subjects

• NIH protection of human subjects information including enrollment table
• IRB approval

Review Criteria

• Topic area: Alignment with aging in sexual minority populations, CAPS themes and population science
• Potential impact and innovation: Extending prior science via cutting-edge methodology or conceptual framing
• Scientific design: Including conceptual framework, methodology, and measurement
• Feasibility: Timeline and budget appropriate for project goals and design
• End product goals: Presentations, publications, and grant submission. The feasibility of a successful larger grant application is a key criterion.
• Investigators:
  • Track record of publication
  • Strong description of plan to submit a proposal

PLEASE USE THIS TEMPLATE IN PREPARING YOUR PROPOSAL