How to Apply

Application materials for the McKnight Scholar Awards are available in August each year. Applicants must demonstrate interest in solving important problems in relevant areas of neuroscience.

To apply, the principal investigator will need to follow these steps:

• Download the “Application and Guidelines” document located on the right sidebar. These guidelines will provide further critical details regarding the steps listed below. Please reference the guidelines document throughout.
• Set up a username and password using the “Start Application” link located on the right sidebar.

(please retain your username and password for future use)

• Upon login, complete an online face sheet.
• Upload the entire application as ONE PDF, including:

1. 1. 1. Completed face sheet.
      2. Biographical sketch in NIH format.
      3. Description of the proposed research project. The proposal should be introduced with an abstract of 200 words or less, followed by a detailed statement of plans for the three-year research program. The proposed research need not present a totally new line of research but should represent one of your lab’s most innovative and impactful directions. The proposal (abstract, narrative and figures, but not bibliography) must not exceed 4 numbered single-spaced pages in 12-point font with 1-inch margins. We recommend using Arial, Georgia, Helvetica, or Palatino Linotype, although other fonts (both serif and non-serif) are acceptable if they meet the above requirements.
      4. A defining principle of the McKnight Endowment Fund for Neuroscience is to foster community and support mentorship. A one-page narrative describing how you are: 1) working to create an inclusive lab environment; and 2) addressing diversity, equity, and inclusion in science outside your lab. Keep the focus on personal experience and specific actions you have taken, and not just philosophy or planned activities.
      5. List of other support including all resources (both start-up support and external funding) available in support of their research. List start-up funding at the beginning of the document and then follow NIH guidelines for external funding.
      6. Statement from responsible financial officer at sponsoring institution (1 page, form attached).
      7. Supporting information from applicant’s chairperson at the sponsoring institution (2 pages, form attached).
      8. Links to 5 recent publicly accessible publications (can include pre-prints e.g. on BioRxiv).

• Three letters of reference from individuals familiar with the applicant’s work, sent separately and in confidence. Letters that are most impactful from people who know you or your work well or can speak to your scientific vision and trajectory. Good choices would be PhD and postdoc advisors, who will know you and can speak to your growth, especially for example if you worked on something very different from your current pursuits. It is also helpful to have people who have not been your mentor or supervisor but know your science and can speak to the impact of your work.  Perhaps less helpful is a chair of your department or a fellow faculty member in your department, unless they are in your field and provide distinct insights into your science.

Selection Process

The McKnight Scholar Awards Review committee will evaluate the applications and select a limited number of applicants to be interviewed. Applicants will be notified in early April and interviews are scheduled for early May via zoom.

The committee recommends candidates to the Board of Directors of the Endowment Fund for final decision. Awards will be announced in late June 2025.

Eligibility

Applicants for the McKnight Scholar Award must be independent investigators at not-for-profit research institutions in the United States and must hold a faculty position at the rank of Assistant Professor and must have served at that rank for less than five years at the application deadline (exceptions made be made for parental leave). For this year’s round, that means that the applicant must not have started serving in the rank of Assistant Professor any earlier than January 2020. The applicant must hold an official appointment as assistant professor on the date of application submission to be eligible.

Individuals holding other titles such as Instructor, Research Assistant Professor, Adjunct Assistant Professor, or Instructor are not eligible. If the host institution does not use professorial titles, a letter from a senior institutional official (e.g. Dean or Director of Research) must confirm that the applicant controls their own dedicated institutional resources, laboratory space, and/or facilities. We seek to enhance geographic, gender, and racial diversity in neuroscience, and we encourage women and members of communities of color to apply. Applicants may not apply in more than two rounds of competition, have already been granted tenure, or hold another award from the McKnight Endowment Fund.

A candidate may submit separate applications to both Scholar and Neurobiology of Brain Disorders during the same cycle. If the applicant receives a Scholar Award and becomes a finalist for NBD, their application to NBD would be rescinded as they cannot hold two awards simultaneously.

There is no limit for how many applications we can receive from the same institution in the same funding round, and while we strive for institutional diversity there have been cases when more than one applicant from the same institution has been awarded in the same grant period.