Purpose
The Southern Group on Educational Affairs (SGEA) supports and encourages scholarship in medical education. To help its members participate in opportunities that provide educational scholarship, the SGEA provides funding to initiate new Medical Education Scholarship, Research and Evaluation (MESRE) proposals. The SGEA will provide up to three research grants for two years. The grant award may total up to $5000 for submissions involving one institution and $7500 for submissions involving the collaboration of two (2) or more institutions. Awarded grants will be funded beginning on January 1, 2024. The SGEA also seeks to promote collaborative projects across institutions, and sections (UGME, GME, CME, and MESRE), and seeks to stimulate the development of a community of educational scholars. Project proposals must be consistent with previously published criteria for scholarship and provide additional opportunities for others to build upon this work.
Eligibility
Medical educators from all SGEA member institutions are eligible to submit a proposal.
Applicants may submit only one proposal per cycle and may not be an author on any other proposal currently receiving SGEA funding.
Application and Submission Process
1) Applications must be submitted to the current SGEA MESRE chair, A.J. Kleinheksel, PhD
2) Cover page must include:
a) Name of applicant(s) and affiliated SGEA medical school(s) and Section(s) project focuses on (undergraduate (UME), graduate (GME), and/or continuing (CME) medical education)
b) Project title
c) Contact information for project leader (mailing address, telephone, fax, email)
d) Institutional grant/development officer to whom payment will be made (name, title, address, phone, fax and email).
3) Proposals must be typed with 12 point font, 1 inch margins. Proposals should not exceed 5 single spaced typed pages including all tables, figures, appendices and must include:
a) Statement of the Problem [Evaluated for clarity and potential impact on medical education]
b) Hypothesis or research question
c) Review of Pertinent Literature (Evaluated for completeness and inclusion of theoretical or conceptual framework)
d) Methodology [Evaluated for clarity, appropriateness, including design and sample size]
e) Description of data collection and management (address IRB approval)
f) Anticipated Outcomes (e.g., impact on medical education)
g) Plan for Dissemination of Project Outcomes regionally and nationally This should include a statement of your intent to present your work at the annual SGEA regional meeting within 3 years of the award start date.
h) Project Timeline (not to exceed 24 months). [Evaluated for feasibility and probability of success]
i) Budget, including itemized costs and justification. [Must be realistic]
j) Eligibility for priority consideration (optional – see review criteria)
k) Biographical sketches of PI and Co-PIs (no more than 2 pages/individual) Please include relevant skills and lists of durable educational materials/publications that demonstrate knowledge/skill in the area being proposed for study
*References and Biographical sketches are excluded from the 5-page limit.
4) Letters of support are required from any key participants or institutional support personnel, stating their commitment to the project. (Letters are not included in the 5-page proposal limit).
a) Letters of support must be sent in electronic format.
b) If this is a research project involving human subjects, a letter of approval from the host Institutional Review Board stating that the project is approved or that
Annual Submission Deadline (July 31 @ 8am) and Review Process
Proposals must be received by July 31, 2023 at 8am to be considered for funding.
Each year the Review Panel will be appointed by the MESRE chair-elect of the SGEA and will include the MESRE section chair, 2-3 current Steering Committee Members, and may include, as needed, 1-2 external reviewers. Reviewers may not be authors of proposals under consideration during the review cycle. If a potential reviewer has any real or apparent conflict of interest with a specific proposal, then the reviewer should not be involved in the entire review of proposals. If such a person is involved in the review process, then they MUST exclude themselves from the review of the proposal with which they have a conflict of interest. Examples of real conflict of interest are being an employee at the same institution, having an active collaboration with the PI or any Co-PI, as well as formally or currently mentoring or advising the PI or any co-PI.
Funding decisions will be announced in October 2023.
Number of proposals funded per year will depend upon the SGEA Budget and proposal quality, with a typical range of 1-3.
Upon completion of the project the project team leader or member(s) must submit a proposal to present the project results at the annual SGEA meeting. Funding to cover travel to the SGEA meeting to present project results is not to be included in the project budget; it is the responsibility of the individuals and/or their institution to support travel to disseminate project results.
Review Criteria
Each proposal will be judged on the following criteria:
1) Degree of collaboration across the SGEA Section(s) and institutions.
2) Clarity of goals, relevance to the literature, inclusion of theoretical or conceptual framework, appropriateness of methodology, and plan for dissemination.
3) Potential to impact medical education and serve as a model for other initiatives.
4) Additional consideration will be given to high scoring projects from junior investigators and those from historically marginalized or excluded groups in medicine as well as projects addressing topics of diversity, equity and inclusion. Please specify in the proposal whether consideration should be given in this category.
Funding Provided for:
- Administrative/technical support to carry out project (e.g., clerical, computer).
- Supplies/expenses (e.g., duplication, mailings)
- Communication(s) between participants (e.g., web/phone conference)
There is a maximum award of $5000 for submissions involving one institution and $7500 for submissions involving the collaboration of 2 or more institutions with unexpended funds returned to SGEA within 60 days of award end date.
Indirect costs and salaries will NOT be covered. These small grants were designed to promote medical education research. The monies are not intended to go for facilities costs, but rather materials needed to conduct the studies (including survey instruments, statistical support, etc.)
Progress and Final Reports
● Project director will be required to submit 2 progress reports. In the first year of the award an interim report is due no later than 1 month prior to the fall AAMC meeting. In the second year of the award a progress report is due no later than one month prior to the Spring SGEA Annual Meeting.
● Progress reports must include progress to date, obstacles and solutions, dissemination activities and budget report.
● Projects whose directors are no longer members in the SGEA must submit a request for approval of a new project director with continued funding contingent on approval of the SGEA Past Chair.
● A final report must be submitted within 60 days of project completion date to the SGEA MESRE Chair and include copies of materials developed, dissemination activity, and sustainability (e.g., sources and amount of continued funding).
Project Dissemination
a. All publications, presentations and/or products resulting from this project must acknowledge the SGEA as sponsors of the work.
b. As noted above, the project team leader or member(s) must submit a proposal to present the project results at the annual SGEA Regional Meeting in the year following the end of the grant.
Questions?
All inquires and communications should be addressed to the SGEA MESRE Section Chair, A.J. Kleinheksel,PhD.