Student/New Grad Special Interest Group Grant Award 2026

The Student/New Grad (SNG) Special Interest Group (SIG) is offering a grant award to support research projects that focus on prospective genetic counseling students, current genetic counseling students, or new genetic counselors. The deadline to apply for the award is July 15, 2026, at 11:59 PM EST. The award amount is ~$2,500 per project. The SNG SIG Grant Award Committee reviews all grant applications and nominates outstanding applications for review by the NSGC Research, Quality, and Outcomes (RQO) Committee, which makes the final funding decisions.

More information about the award process can be found here: https://bit.ly/3PtqcFV

Please note that each research project may be submitted to only one SIG for funding. Please carefully consider which SIG best suits your project to maximize your chances of receiving funding. This award is available to all individuals, including current genetic counseling students enrolled in an accredited training program. Any student in an accredited genetic counseling program may submit a proposal to the SNG SIG or to another NSGC SIG that better addresses their research topic. More details on the current NSCG SIGs can be found on the NSGC website.

Students do not need to be NSGC members; however, at least one supervisor or co-investigator must be an NSGC member (though they do not need to be members of the SNG SIG). Proposals may be submitted by an individual student or by multiple students working as a team.

See below for more details about the types of projects that are likely to be funded by our SIG.

About SNG SIG: The SNG SIG aims to create a positive and approachable environment in which students and new genetic counselors can get involved with their professional society early in their careers; to facilitate communication, mentorship, and collaboration within our membership and between other SIGs and committees; to allow our members to participate in or lead projects in line with their personal interests via task forces; to promote continuous growth of our members’ professional network and relationships.

In general, some of the areas that are of interest to the SNG SIG membership include:

  • Licensure/certification
  • Genetic counseling student training/education
  • Genetic counseling student experience (clinical, coursework, etc.)
  • Mentorship/Supervision
  • Genetic counseling outreach (i.e., prospective students)
  • Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) as it relates to genetic counseling programs (admittance, student experience, etc.)
  • Genetic counseling workforce and other issues relevant to new graduates

Examples of previously awarded projects are:

  • 𝘛𝘢𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘛𝘸𝘰 𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴: 𝘐𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘨𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘉𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘍𝘢𝘤𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘎𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘤 𝘊𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘳𝘴 𝘐𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘊𝘗𝘛 𝘊𝘰𝘥𝘦 96041
  • 𝘈 𝘘𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘐𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘨𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘍𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘴 𝘐𝘯𝘧𝘭𝘶𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘙𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘨𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘎𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘤 𝘊𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘴 𝘗𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘣𝘺 𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘔𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘪𝘥 𝘗𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘴

How to Apply and Grant Application Timeline

July 1, 2026

Application opens. Applicants will submit their proposals via OpenWater only once for both SIG and RQO review. Log in with your NSGC credentials to submit your proposals.

July 15, 2026

Application deadline.

July 15, 2026 - Early September

Step 1 - SIG Review

All SIG research grant funding requests will be reviewed by the SIG using whatever approval process the SIG has in place.  SIG leaders will determine which SIG grant funding requests will be moved on to Round 2 for consideration by the RQO SIG Grant Subcommittee. SIG leaders determine their scoring and review how relevant and beneficial the project is to the SIG’s goals.  

The primary contacts for the grant award are Rachel Hendricks and Somin Hwang, current Co-Chairs of the SNG SIG. Please direct any questions or comments to them  by email (rachelmhendricks@gmail.com and Somin_Hwang@dfci.harvard.edu).

Step 2 - RQO Review

Applications that pass the SIG review will undergo a standardized review process by the RQO Committee, ensuring proper disclosure and management of any potential conflicts of interest. Detailed feedback will not be provided to unsuccessful applicants.

Details of the RQO review criteria and scoring rubric can be found here. Note: this is not the scoring rubric used by the SIGs to score applications. This rubric is used by the RQO committee after the SIG leaders have reviewed and selected your application for review by the RQO committee.

Early September

Award Notification

Applicants will hear from SNG SIG directly about their award status. The awardee(s) must accept the award in writing via email within 7 business days of notification. Acceptance of the award must include an understanding that the project must be completed by the date indicated in the proposal and that the funds must be used as outlined in the budget. Funds must be spent by October 30, 2027.

SNG SIG grant recipients will:

  • Submit receipts, bills, or invoices related to study costs, along with a financial summary of fund usage, to the SNG SIG co-chair by October 30, 2027 (Financial submissions will be reviewed by the SNG SIG co-chairs).
  • Return any unused funds to the SNG SIG co-chair by October 30, 2027.
  • Submit a short project progress report by October 30, 2027.
  • Present the project outcomes to SNG SIG members through an online webinar, typically in the fall after graduating from the genetic counseling program.
  • Use awarded funds solely for completion of the proposed project.
  • Acknowledge the SNG SIG grant award in any resulting publications or presentations.

Grant Proposal Requirements

 

Cover Page

Please include a cover page with the following information:

  • Research team: List the names, affiliations, and emails of all key personnel, including PI(s) and co-investigators and whether they are NSGC members.
  • Research site(s): List the name(s) of the participating research site(s).
  • Proposal title
  • Total amount of funding support requested (must be between $250-$2,500 USD)

Project Description

The body of the proposal is limited to 2 pages (12-point font, single-spaced), excluding references and the budget. Please include all the following aspects:

  • Introduction or background (including justification for the study)
  • Study purpose (aims, objectives and/or hypothesis)
  • Study methods
  • Relevance

Applicants must consider whether the project will require Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval by contacting their own IRB office. Final IRB approval is not required prior to submitting a proposal.

Projects that have broad interest to the SNG SIG will be ranked higher than ones with a more limited scope, so please describe how your project’s results might benefit others in the SNG SIG. More limited projects are not disqualified for consideration and may get funded depending on the amount of money available and the number and quality of proposals submitted. We have a diverse membership of practicing and future genetic counselors who do or will work in a variety of areas/subspecialties. Some project topics of interest are listed below, however projects that are not related to these topics will certainly still be considered for funding.

Budget

The proposal also requires a one-page budget outline for the project.

Please include a line-item budget table that summarizes all costs of the project, including costs that require funding beyond the allowable amount. Apply for the amount you need for your study.

Please also include a brief paragraph describing each item, justifying the number of funds, and demonstrating that the budget is appropriately allocated.

Funding will not be approved for salary for the author(s) or symposium/conference costs (e.g., registration fees, hotel rooms, or flights).

Disclosure

Lastly, the proposal requires the applicant to disclose in one sentence if they are applying to other SIGs for funding this grant cycle, and if so, which SIG(s).

Grant Review Guidelines

 

The following criteria are used for review of proposals, and so it is recommended that applicants address these issues in the proposal:

 

  1. Justification: Is there a real need within the genetic counseling community to focus on the issue that is being addressed, and is this need clearly described within the proposal?
  2. Scope: Is the project scope broad enough to be of benefit to a significant proportion of the SNG SIG membership?
  3. Goals: Does the proposal contain a detailed plan of action by which the goals of the project will be achieved?
  4. Methods: Are the methods reasonable, appropriate, ethical, and realistic? Can the project be completed within the allotted time frame?
  5. Budget: Does the budget clearly outline how the money will be spent? Are the expenses appropriate according to the SNG SIG grant award guidelines?
  6. Outcome: Are there clear plans for a tangible outcome (i.e., a presentation at a scientific conference or the publication of an article) that will make the project of use to the SNG SIG membership?
  7. Consideration of J.E.D.I issues: Does the applicant consider how issues related to JEDI will be addressed by their research or overcome in their research methods? The project does not necessarily need to be directly related to JEDI issues; however, the proposal acknowledges what steps they will take to consider JEDI issues in their research. This could be through recruitment, study design, plans for knowledge translation, population that the research benefits, etc.

 

 

** This document has been adapted with permission from the Psychiatric Special Interest Group Grant Award Guidelines **