Mentored Research Development Award
The MRDA supports junior faculty with mentorship, resources, and protected time to develop and submit competitive external grant applications, focusing on research proposal development rather than conducting new research.
Funder: DE-CTR ACCEL Program
Due Dates (Anticipated): March 2027: Preliminary application deadline | April 2027: Full proposal deadline
Funding Amounts: Up to 40% effort or $10,000 for up to 6 months; enhanced MRDA support available for qualifying applicants.
Summary: Supports junior faculty with mentoring, protected time, and resources to develop competitive grant proposals.
Key Information: MRDA funds cannot be used for research activities—only for grant development support.
Description
The Mentored Research Development Award (MRDA) aims to improve the grant submission success rate for junior faculty by providing structured mentorship and targeted research development resources. MRDA Scholars work closely with experienced mentors to achieve milestones in preparing a competitive grant application, accessing support such as grant writing workshops, peer mentoring, grant review sessions, and expert consultations in biostatistics and study design. The program also provides protected time by relieving awardees from non-research duties, allowing them to focus fully on developing their grant proposal. At the conclusion of the MRDA period, scholars are required to submit a fully developed grant application to a qualifying external funding mechanism.
