Grants

2026 SPORR CTS Pilot Grants Program: Request for Applications

Deadline – Tuesday, January 13, 2026, at 11:59 PM PT

 

The Stanford Clinical & Translational Science (CTS) Pilot Program, sponsored by Spectrum (Stanford Center for Clinical 

and Translational Research and Education), is accepting applications for the 2026 Stanford Program on Research Rigor

and Reproducibility (SPORR) Pilot Grants. This program supports projects that advance the science of translation,

emphasizing collaborative, transdisciplinary work and generalizable translational outcomes.

 

Key Opportunity Focus: Research Rigor and Reproducibility

This call prioritizes Research Rigor and Reproducibility (R&R) projects, which focus on enhancing the validity of research

processes and findings.

Eligible R&R activities include Establishing or Enhancing:

Lab Manuals that describe lab goals and practices for data management and methods.

Data Pipelines for data collection, management, and analysis, such as increasing the use of electronic laboratory

notebooks.

Computational Reproducibility Pipelines to create or improve independent, parallel reproducibility of all results,

tables, and figures in manuscripts.

R&R Support Services or Experts to advise researchers.

R&R Education through courses, workshops, or journal clubs.

R&R Monitoring to analyze lab outputs and develop improvement plans.

Other R&R projects not captured by the descriptions above.

Note: Projects focused on advancing a specific therapy, drug, or clinical intervention are not allowed. All projects are

required to monitor implementation and include plans for sustainability beyond the funding period.

 

Timeline

Application Deadline: January 13, 2026, by 11:59 PM PT

Award Announcements: January 23, 2026

Funding Period: February 1, 2026, to June 30, 2026

 

Application Process

Applications must be submitted through Stanford Seed Funding.

To help prepare your materials and navigate the submission process, we highly recommend that you first review

a preview of the application form linked here: Application Form for 2026 SPORR CTS Pilot Grant.

 (If the link is not clickable, please copy and paste the full address into your browser: https://shorturl.at/5nEG9.)

 

Applicants are strongly encouraged to share proposal ideas with the program contacts prior to submission:

Dr. Steven N. Goodman, SPORR Director, steve.goodman@stanford.edu

Dr. Mario Malički, SPORR Associate Director, mmalicki@stanford.edu

 

Funding Details:

Maximum Funding: Up to $20,000.

Funding Period: Up to 5 months, from February 1, 2026, to June 30, 2026. No extensions are allowed, and

unexpended funds will be forfeited.

Allowable Expenditures include: investigator’s salary, research personnel salaries, printing costs, and project

supplies. Personnel time can be full-time or a percentage of effort from 1 to 4 months.

Unallowable Costs include: capital equipment over $5,000, intellectual property services, food, or publication

costs.

 

 

Eligibility Requirements

Applications must be led by a PI-eligible Stanford faculty member (UTL, UML, NTLR appointments) or Clinical Educator

(CE) faculty with an approved PI waiver.

 

The following are also welcome to participate as Lead Scientists, Co-PIs, or Co-Investigators:

● Graduate Students

● Postdoctoral Scholars (clinical and non-clinical)

● Clinical Instructors

● Instructors

 

Questions?

For questions regarding the scope, criteria, or review process, contact:

Dr. Steven N. Goodman, SPORR Director, steve.goodman@stanford.edu

Dr. Mario Malički, SPORR Associate Director, mmalicki@stanford.edu

For questions regarding the application process and requirements, contact:

Ellen Orasa, K12/Pilots Program Manager: eorasa@stanford.edu