The SPS Scholarly Grant was created to support sedation-related quality improvement projects, research activities, or educational (teaching) initiatives that aim to advance the mission of SPS. The proposed project can be any form of research (i.e., retrospective, prospective, observational, randomized, survey, qualitative study, implementation study, etc.), quality improvement initiative, or educational or teaching initiative.
SPS Mission
Setting the standard for evidence-based pediatric sedation through research, multidisciplinary education, and high-quality care.
Available Funding
Up to $22,500 – $35,000* (depending on quality of submissions and number of grants funded) in direct costs for 2 years. Indirect costs are not allowed.
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- SPS recognizes that robust research, quality improvement, and educational projects are expensive and the amount of the Scholarly Grant may not cover all costs. It is acceptable to apply for the Scholarly Grant to cover a portion of a project that is also partially funded by another institution or governing agency.
- The Scholarly Grant supports travel to the SPS Annual Conference to present the results 2 years after the award.
- The Scholarly Grant does not support travel to present results at other conferences.
*The Society for Pediatric Sedation® reserves the right to reallocate the $12,500 for the PSRC Research Support Grant towards the Scholarly Grant or other SPS endeavors if the quality of PSRC Grant Applications in any given year does not merit awarding a PSRC Research Support Grant.
Duration of Funding: 2 years
Eligible Applicants
All SPS members are eligible to apply for the Scholarly Grant. A non-SPS member may submit a letter of intent (LOI). If accepted to apply, the applicant should obtain SPS membership before the application is accepted for review.
Expectations
SPS seeks proposals of high scholarly merit from investigators who show promise of disseminating their work at the SPS Annual Conference, at other high-impact conferences, and in peer-review scientific journals, as well as obtaining continued external funding.
The SPS Research Committee’s Scholarly Grant review panel will review all applications for scientific and technical merit as well as feasibility.
As part of the initial review, all applications:
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- Will receive written critique
- Will undergo a selection process in which only those applications deemed to have the highest scientific merit, generally the top half of applications under review, will be discussed and assigned a priority score
- May receive a second level of review from the review panel, which makes the final award decision.
The peer review panel will evaluate proposals according to the following criteria, adapted from the NIH:
- Significance. Does the project address an important problem or a critical barrier to progress in the field? If the aims of the project are achieved, how will scientific knowledge, technical capability and/or clinical practice be improved? How will successful completion of the aims change the concepts, methods, technologies, treatments, services or preventative interventions that drive this field?
- Investigator(s). Are the Principal Investigator (PI), collaborators and other researchers well suited to the project? If the project is collaborative, do the investigators have complementary and integrated expertise? Are the leadership approach, governance and organizational structure appropriate for the project?
- Innovation. Does the application challenge and seek to shift current research or clinical practice paradigms by utilizing novel theoretical concepts, approaches and methodologies, instrumentation or interventions? Are the concepts, approaches or methodologies, instrumentations or interventions novel to one field or novel in a broad sense? Is the refinement, improvement or new application of theoretical concepts, approaches or methodologies instrumentation or interventions proposed?
- Approach. Are the overall strategy, methodology and analyses well-reasoned and appropriate to accomplish the specific aims of the project? Are potential problems, alternative strategies and benchmarks for success presented? If the project involves clinical research, are the plans for protection of human subjects from research risks justified in terms of the scientific goals and research strategy proposed?
- Environment. Will the environment in which the work is done, contribute to the probability of success? Are the institutional support, equipment, and other physical resources available to the investigators adequate for the project proposed? Will the project benefit from unique features of the scientific environment, subject populations or collaborative arrangements?
- Budget. The reasonableness of the proposed budget and the requested period of support in relation to the proposed research plan.
The grantee will submit a progress report to the SPS Research Committee once every 4 months after the grant is awarded. The progress report should include work completed to date, anticipated next steps and timeline for completion of proposed next steps.
The grantee will be assigned a liaison from the SPS Research Committee who will assist with maintaining timelines.
Awardees are expected to present their results 2 years after awarded the grant at the annual SPS Annual Conference (i.e., 2026 awardees are expected to present at the 2028 conference)
The awardee must submit a manuscript to a peer-reviewed journal within two years of when the award was granted. The manuscript does not have to be accepted within this time frame. Prior to submission for publication, the manuscript must be submitted to the SPS Research Committee for review and approval. Please remember to take into account the time required for the SPS Research Committee to review and approve your study prior to journal submission as per standard PSRC policy (est. 4-6 weeks).
Investigators who do not meet these expectations and timeline (unable to present 2 years after award at SPS or, unable to submit manuscript within 2 years of grant being awarded) need to meet with Chair and/or Vice-Chair of the Research Committee to formulate a plan to complete these milestones. Non-compliance with these expectations can result in cessation of remaining funding and grant may be subject to revocation.
Application Requirements:
Principal Investigator (PI) must submit a 1 page LOI which includes the following:
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- Project title
- PI’s name, degree(s), title(s), institution, department, email address
- Name(s) of any co-investigator(s), and their degree(s), title(s), institution, and department
- Type of Application & IRB Status
- Abstract of Proposed Project (limit 2500 characters)
If the LOI is accepted, a full proposal should be submitted by the PI. Instructions can be found here.
The awardee must obtain IRB approval/waiver prior to receipt of funds.
Timeline and Forms – 2026 Grant Process
LOI Submission Deadline: April 15, 2026 – 5pm EST
Application Submission Deadline: May 1, 2026 – 5pm EST
Award Announcement: July 2026 (via email) and at the September 2026 SPS Annual Conference
Anticipated start date of the project: August 1, 2026
Funding is for two years: August 1, 2026 – July 31, 2028
Presentation of the project results at the SPS Annual Conference: September 2028
For any questions regarding the grant applications, contact the Chair of the SPS Research Committee, Juan Boriosi ([email protected]) or the Vice-Chair Becky Burger ([email protected]).