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Women's Research Mentorship Grant

Society of Interventional Radiology

The Women's Research Mentorship Grant is designed to both support and highlight a woman performing interventional radiology research and to expand the pipeline for medical students or residents to learn about IR research. SIR and SIR Foundation believe in promoting a culture of inclusion and strengthening the specialty of interventional radiology by providing opportunities for women to engage in all facets of healthcare research. This grant was developed collaboratively with the Women in IR Section.

Budget: Up to $25,000 (Travel stipend up to $5,000)
Grant Length: One year
Deadline: Jan. 15th by 5 p.m. ET
Additional info: SIR membership is required

Please note: Institutional indirect costs, construction expenses, and secretarial or office expenses will not be funded.

How to apply

The Women's Research Mentorship Grant highly encourages participation in the pre-review process, which is located in the grant application. This allows for grant applicants to receive preliminary feedback on their applications from an assigned reviewer/mentor prior to submitting their final applications for funding consideration.

Although this requirement is designed to provide feedback prior to the final decision, completion of the pre-review process does not guarantee funding. 

Pre-review application deadline is Sept. 20, 2026.

Final application deadline is Jan. 15, 2027 by 5 p.m. ET.

Deadlines remain whether or not the date falls on a weekend and/or holiday. Applications that are not complete or do not comply with the guidelines will be considered ineligible.

AI Based Application Success Predictor

1. Direct relevance to interventional radiology and patient care (highest predictor)

This is the strongest predictor across SIR Foundation mechanisms.

Competitive projects should clearly advance:

Image-guided therapies
Minimally invasive interventions
Interventional oncology
Vascular interventions
Embolization therapies
Venous and arterial disease
Interventional pain management
Women's health interventions
IR devices and technologies
Image-guided treatment planning and outcomes

The Pilot and trainee grants explicitly support work in areas important to the advancement of interventional radiology and patient care.

2. Strong scientific significance and potential clinical impact (very high predictor)

The strongest applications address a meaningful clinical problem and explain how the findings could improve IR practice or patient outcomes.

Competitive projects often aim to:

Improve procedural effectiveness
Reduce complications
Improve patient selection
Strengthen evidence for IR therapies
Expand access to minimally invasive treatments
Generate evidence that can influence clinical practice

SIR Foundation has highlighted high-impact research that advances knowledge of existing IR therapies or leads to breakthrough therapies that improve patient outcomes.

3. Innovation and advancement of the IR field (very high predictor)

Innovation is central to the Foundation's funding mission.

Strong applications often involve:

Novel image-guided procedures
New devices or technologies
Innovative embolization approaches
Artificial intelligence in IR
New interventional oncology strategies
Creative clinical-research methods
New applications of existing IR therapies

SIR Foundation's targeted requests for proposals explicitly welcome innovative ideas in high-priority areas.

4. Strong feasibility and rigorous study design (very high predictor)

Competitive proposals generally demonstrate:

Clear hypotheses or research objectives
Appropriate methodology
Realistic recruitment plans
Sound statistical analysis
Achievable milestones
Appropriate budget and timeline

Feasibility is particularly important because several mechanisms are relatively focused pilot or one-year awards. Applications must also comply fully with program guidelines; incomplete or noncompliant submissions are ineligible.

5. Potential to generate preliminary data for larger external funding (very high predictor)

This is one of the clearest success predictors for the Pilot Research Grant and Dr. Ernest J. Ring Academic Development Grant.

The Pilot Research Grant is specifically intended to generate preliminary data that can strengthen future applications to peer-reviewed funding agencies. The Ring Grant is designed to help junior faculty progress toward additional funding, including major federal support.

Strong proposals therefore explain how the project could lead to:

NIH funding
Larger foundation grants
Multicenter studies
Clinical trials
Industry-supported translational development

6. Strong investigator potential and career trajectory

SIR Foundation operates grant mechanisms for different career stages, including medical students, residents, junior faculty, scientists, and investigators transitioning into academic research.

Competitive applicants typically demonstrate:

Relevant research experience
Commitment to IR research
Increasing scientific independence
Appropriate expertise for the project
Potential for a sustained research career

For trainee grants, the applicant's development and future contribution to IR research are especially important.

7. Strong mentorship and collaborative research environment

Mentorship is especially important for:

Medical students
Residents
Junior faculty
Allied scientists
Women entering IR research

The Allied Scientist Grant is specifically designed to build ongoing collaborations between scientific laboratories and interventional radiology, while other Foundation programs emphasize investigator development and research mentorship.

8. Effective use of SIR Foundation's proposal-development and pre-review process (high predictor)

This is a particularly important practical predictor for the current grant cycle.

For faculty grant opportunities, the Foundation highly encourages applicants to complete:

A proposal development form
A pre-review process
Revision in response to reviewer feedback

These steps allow applicants to receive feedback before submitting the final application. Using this process effectively can strengthen scientific rationale, methodology, feasibility, and alignment, although participation does not guarantee funding.

9. Collaboration and multidisciplinary expertise

Many successful IR research projects require collaboration among:

Interventional radiologists
Imaging scientists
Engineers
Oncologists
Surgeons
Basic scientists
Biostatisticians
Data scientists

The Foundation has supported multispecialty early-stage research and explicitly maintains mechanisms designed to create collaborative research environments.

10. Alignment with specific grant mechanism and research priorities

Applicants should not treat all SIR Foundation grants as interchangeable.

For example:

Pilot Research Grant: hypothesis-driven pilot work and preliminary data
Ring Academic Development Grant: junior-faculty career development and future external funding
Incubator Grant: planning and development of high-priority clinical research projects, rather than data collection
Radiology Resident Research Grant: resident-led research advancing IR and patient care
Allied Scientist Grant: collaborative research training outside traditional clinical IR

Matching the project precisely to the selected mechanism is therefore a major practical success predictor.

Specialties

Radiology

Eligibility Requirements

Researchers are required to identify a medical student or trainee to apply jointly. Eligibility requirements differ for the researcher and the medical student or trainee. 

Faculty researcher: Applicants must be a current member of the Society of Interventional Radiology. Applicants must be trained interventional radiologists with an MD, DO or equivalent degree. Applicants will be accepted who are citizens or permanent residents of the United States or Canada. Applicants must be willing to engage and support a student or trainee for the duration of the summer research project. This grant is intended for a researcher who demonstrates a commitment to supporting and furthering women in IR research. 
Student or trainee researcher: Applicants must be a current member of the Society of Interventional Radiology. Student or trainee applicants must be actively enrolled in, and in good standing, at an allopathic or osteopathic medical school or ACGME-accredited training program, respectively, and must be available to be on site for the duration of the summer research project.  Student or trainee applicants must be identified and recommended by the researcher. Applications will be accepted from citizens or permanent residents of the United States or Canada.  
At least one recipient must be a woman.

Both the student and faculty researcher are highly encouraged to submit their work to the SIR Annual Scientific Meeting and apply for an SIR Foundation award.

Eligible Countries:

Canada

United States

Sponsor Details

Sponsor Institute/Organizations: Society of Interventional Radiology

Sponsor Type: Corporate/Non-Profit

Address: 3975 Fair Ridge Drive I Suite 400 North I Fairfax, Virginia 22033 I (703) 691-1805 I EIN: 54-1518252

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