Deadline: 30-Jun-25
The Bridge to Success for Early Career Investigators Grant Program provides ‘bridge’ funding to promising early career sleep and circadian scientists who plan to resubmit an application for a mentored, federal career development grant that was previously not funded.
Applicants must be at a critical juncture where research funding is needed to stay in the sleep field. The Bridge to Success Grant for Early Career Investigators will give scientists the time and funding needed to revise and resubmit their mentored, federal career development grant application.
Research Focus
- The Bridge to Success Grant for Early Career Investigators is open to mentored projects that address one or more important unanswered scientific questions related to sleep and circadian science, sleep disorders, and/or sleep health.
Funding Information
- The Bridge to Success Grant for Early Career Investigators provides funds for one year and can be for up to $100,000 per grant.
Expected Deliverables
- Resubmission of the revised, mentored, federal career development.
- The applicant must address the specific aims outlined in the submitted application. Any major modification(s) require AASM Foundation Board of Directors or Executive Committee approval.
- The AASM Foundation expects that the research funded by this grant will lead to the publication of original research in peer-reviewed journals, such as the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, and submission of an abstract to the Associated Professional Sleep Societies (APSS) for presentation at the annual SLEEP meeting. The plan and costs for these deliverables must be stated in the application.
- The applicant must submit progress and final reports during the project period, describing project activities and results, by the deadlines outlined in the Reporting Schedule below. Failure to submit reports per the established schedule will result in withholding grant payments from the sponsoring organization and the grant recipient becoming ineligible to apply for future AASM Foundation funding until all outstanding reporting is up to date.
Eligibility Criteria
- Individuals with a MD, DO, DDS, DMD, DNP, DNSc, PharmD, PhD, or equivalent professional degree
- Individuals who have applied for a multi-year career development grant from the NIH, VA or another granting body in the field of sleep or circadian science that was scored in the peer-review process but fell below (or is likely to fall below) the funding agency’s pay line and plan to resubmit a revised career development grant application.
- US and international applicants are eligible to apply.
Ineligibility Criteria
- Individuals who have received independent research funding of more than $250,000 are not eligible to apply. This does not apply to post-doctoral/ fellowship level training grants primarily covering the applicant’s salary (e.g., NRSAs). Additionally, current and former Principal Investigators on an AASM Foundation Bridge to Success Grant for Mid-Career/Senior Investigators are not eligible to apply.
- Individuals who have a financial conflict of interest or have the potential to incur significant financial benefit from the proposed work and beyond the work itself are not eligible to apply.
- Current AASM and AASM Foundation Board of Directors members are not eligible to apply and cannot be listed as a PI, co-PI, key personnel, mentor (paid or unpaid) or paid consultant for one year after their term ends.
- Individuals and organizations located in, or operating from, countries subject to U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctions are not eligible to receive AASM Foundation funding.
Review Criteria
- Significance: Strong scientific premise of planned research in addressing important problems or critical barriers needed to progress the sleep medicine field.
- Mentorship and Career Development: The planned mentorship and career development activities will facilitate the applicant’s success by filling gaps in their knowledge, skills, and abilities. The mentors and key personnel are well-suited to support the project and the applicant’s growth.
- Approach: Planned research (overall strategy, methodology, and analyses) is scientifically sound, plan addresses protection of human subjects from research risks and inclusion/exclusion of individuals justified (if applicable).
- Environment: Institutional support and availability of equipment and other physical resources for the planned research.
For more information, visit AASM Foundation.
