Collaborative Pairs Pilot Project Awards (Cycle 2)

• Institutional Approval Form
• Biosketches for both principal investigators
• Research statement or project proposal
• Budget description for each principal investigator

Who is eligible?

• Domestic and foreign non-profit organizations.
• Colleges, universities, hospitals, and laboratories.
• State and local government units.
• Eligible agencies of the federal government.

Who is not eligible

• For-profit organizations.
• Individuals applying on their own behalf.
• Meta employees and employees of Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, LLC.
• Current NDCN Collaborative Pairs Phase 2 Investigators.
• Current Patient-Partnered Collaborations for Rare Neurodegenerative Disease Investigators.

Eligible expenses

• Research personnel, supplies, equipment, travel, subcontracts, and other direct project costs.
• Indirect costs, within the program limit.

Ineligible Costs and Activities

• Capital equipment cannot have indirect costs charged to it.
• Subcontracts cannot have indirect costs charged to them beyond the stated limit.
• Travel expenses to the United States are not covered for international grantees.

Eligible geographic areas

• International collaborations are allowed.
• Applicants from all countries may apply.
• Domestic and foreign organizations are eligible.

• Scientific quality, creativity, and rigor.
• Addressing a critical question or bottleneck in the field.
• Strength of the team and complementary expertise.
• Potential to open new research directions.
• Contribution to collaborative, open science goals.

• Step 1: Create an account and access the portal
  • Register in the SurveyMonkey Apply portal.
  • Verify your account by email before submitting.
• Step 2: Submit the Letter of Intent
  • Designate one PI as the primary applicant.
  • Complete the LOI tasks jointly and individually in the portal.
  • Upload required forms and submit by the deadline.
• Step 3: Wait for LOI review
  • LOIs are evaluated and shortlisted applicants are notified by email.
• Step 4: Submit the full application if invited
  • Log back into the portal and complete the full application tasks.
  • Upload all required PDFs and submit through the portal by the deadline.

• Letter of Intent applications are reviewed first.
• Only selected applicants are invited to submit a full application.
• Applications are evaluated for scientific merit through independent expert review.
• Final funding decisions are made by CZI staff with scientific advisors.
• Applicants are notified by email of decisions.

• Applications are submitted in two stages: a Letter of Intent first, then a full application if invited.
• Each collaborative pair must include two principal investigators, with one designated as the primary applicant.
• Applications are reviewed for scientific merit by independent experts, with final decisions made by CZI staff and scientific advisors.
• Selected projects must follow CZI policies on open science, data sharing, publication, and reagent sharing.