SRF Postdoctoral Fellowship Application Guidelines: Request for Applications (RFA)

Schedule for 2025 Grants

Submission Guidelines 

  • Form available for download: December 2024
  • New Grants: Received by February 17, 2025 

Review of Applications 

  • Review on a rolling basis through Fall 2025
  • Funding Available: between June – November 2025

Required Submission Materials

  • Completed, signed application
  • Letter from sponsoring principal investigator
  • Relevant supplemental material appended to application
  • Research proposal
  • Three (3) letters of recommendation

Overview

The Scleroderma Research Foundation (SRF) is dedicated to bringing talented early-career scientists to scleroderma research. The SRF fellows program aims to attract outstanding postdoctoral fellows with strong records of accomplishment, to have a clear sense of direction and/or novel ideas they wish to develop in the field of scleroderma research. In particular, the SRF encourages exploration of new approaches and hypotheses for investigating and understanding the pathogenesis of scleroderma.

Up to two, two-year postdoctoral fellowships in scleroderma research may be awarded, with a stipend of $35,000-$55,000 to support the candidate. Funding support from the SRF is in the form of a grant.

Goals of the RFA

The goal of this Request for Applications is to foster the development of research that will advance our understanding of the pathogenesis of scleroderma and to promote the design, development, and pilot testing of hypothesis-driven, innovative therapeutic approaches.

The SRF seeks to advance research by promoting collaboration and cross-institutional cooperation among scientists in a variety of disciplines, attracting promising new scientists to scleroderma research, maintaining Scleroderma Centers of Excellence, and bringing new technology and thinking to the field of scleroderma research.

Eligibility Requirements

  • US citizen or permanent resident
  • Completion of PhD or MD prior to appointment

Sponsorship

Before submitting a fellowship application, the applicant must identify a sponsoring institution and an individual who will serve as a sponsor and will supervise his/her training and research experience. The sponsoring institution may be private or public non-profit.

The applicant’s sponsor should be an active investigator in the area of the proposed research who will directly supervise the candidate’s research. The sponsor must document the availability of staff, research support, and facilities for high-quality research training.

Accountability

Applicants to except an award from the scleroderma research foundation will be asked to account for how they have spent their grants. Grant recipients will be required to attend the annual SRF Scientific Workshop to present their research.

Scientific Conduct and IRB Approval

The Scleroderma Research Foundation does not assume responsibility for the conduct of the investigation or the acts of the investigator, because the investigator’s conduct and actions are under the direction and control of the grantee institution and subject to the institution’s medical and scientific policies. Grantee institutions must safeguard the rights and welfare of individuals who participate as subjects in research activities by reviewing proposed activities through an Institutional Review Board (IRB) as specified by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office for Human Research Protections, DHHS (OHRP). Furthermore, grantee institutions must adhere to current US Department of Health and Human Services guidelines regarding financial conflict of interest, recombinant DNA, research misconduct, and vertebrate animals. The Awardee’s institution must ensure appropriate governance of animal studies as well as human studies.

Application Submission Procedures

  1. Open and save the SRF Postdoctoral Fellowship Grant Application.
  2. Complete the application according to the above guidelines.
  3. Email PDFs of your signed completed application, research proposal, relevant appendix material, and three letters of recommendation to grants@srfcure.org.
  4. Print and sign the completed application.
  5. Ship* 2 (two) hardcopies of the signed completed application, research proposal, relevant appendix material, and three letters of recommendation to:

Grant Applications
Scleroderma Research Foundation
220 Montgomery Street, Suite 484
San Francisco, CA 94104

*Use a trackable carrier service to ensure receipt by the SRF office.

For questions: email grants@srfcure.org

Submission Deadlines

New Grant Applications: February 17, 2025

Review Considerations

Fellows will be selected on the basis of previous achievements, the commitment of the applicant, sponsor and sponsoring institution to scleroderma research, the scientific and technical merit of the research proposal, and the relevance of the proposal to the SRF’s ongoing research program.

Grant Criteria

Criteria that will be used to make funding decisions include:

  • Merit of the application
  • Availability of funds
  • Programmatic priorities
Grants Application Overview