Psychosocial Research - PSR Postdoctoral Fellowship Grant

The Craig H. Neilsen Foundation's Psychosocial Research Postdoctoral Fellowship supports early-career researchers in spinal cord injury (SCI) psychosocial studies. It aims to enhance professional interest and training in this vital field, focusing on areas such as caregiving, employment, and technology access. The fellowship offers mentored training, covering salary and up to $35,000 for non-personnel costs over two years, ensuring comprehensive support for fellows to advance their careers.

The Psychosocial Research (PSR) portfolio supports research that addresses the interrelation of behavioral, social, psychological and other quality of life factors that will benefit people living with spinal cord injury.
Postdoctoral Fellowships
Two-year Postdoctoral Fellowships encourage early-career mentored training to increase professional interest in the field and to encourage researchers from related health disciplines to undertake training in psychosocial research focused on spinal cord injury.

Eligibility

This funding is designed to encourage specialization in the field of SCI. Fellowships are intended to provide mentored training in SCI research to early-career investigators. The Fellowship Applicant (Fellow) should be mentored (or co-mentored) by an investigator experienced in SCI psychosocial research.Fellows should have attained their doctoral degree or an equivalent terminal professional degree by no later than two months after the FGA submission deadline. Personnel Costs: Fellowship budgets should cover 100% of the salary and fringe support for the Fellow No funding for other personnel (e.g., technical staff) is allowed.Non-Personnel Costs: The purpose of allowing non-personnel costs in this category is to support the advancement of the Fellow’s career in SCI research. The Neilsen Foundation will allow up to $35,000 over the course of the two-year grant for non-personnel costs, provided the Fellow’s salary and fringe are fully covered and total costs do not exceed $100,000 per year. It is expected that the mentor(s) will make available necessary general office equipment and supplies; however, funds for travel, publication costs, supplies and/or equipment can be expended in the categories listed below.Travel: Funds may be used for professional development-related travel for the Fellow.Travel for other personnel is not allowed.Training/Education: Appropriate educational expenses for the Fellow, such as relevant coursework and SCI professional memberships, can be included.
Publications: Publication costs are allowed where the Fellow is a contributing author. Allowable costs include open-access fees; all publications resulting from Neilsen Foundation grant funding should be publicly available.Supplies: All items other than those described below in Equipment are allowed. A computing device or computer software is considered a supply if the acquisition cost is less than $5,000, regardless of the length of its useful life.Equipment: An item having a useful life of more than one year and an acquisition cost of $5,000 or more per unit is considered equipment. Requests are expected not to exceed $10,000 for the two-year project. Other Costs: Childcare costs are allowable up to $2,500 per year.Budget may include accommodations for a Fellow with a disability. Accommodation expenses are not subject to the limit on non-personnel costs.

Ineligibility

Fellows cannot have held their terminal professional degree longer than five years prior to the FGA submission deadline. For Fellows with a MD degree, the five-year period begins after completion of their residency program. Unique circumstances related to this criterion must be communicated to the Neilsen Foundation for approval prior to submissionIndirect Costs: The Neilsen Foundation does not allow indirect costs (i.e., administrative, overhead, per capita infrastructure costs, etc.) on its Postdoctoral Fellowships.