University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
IHSI | Interdisciplinary Health Sciences Institute

Writing BERD Services into Grants

Including biostatistical support in grant proposals can enhance quality of data collection, management, and analysis, as well as positively impact evaluation by reviewers. If you wish to write biostatistical support into your grant proposal, it is our policy that the Biostatistics, Epidemiology, and Research Design (BERD) Core at IHSI be included as a consulting service.

Grant Proposals

Investigators may ask the BERD core to provide a cost estimate for BERD services to include in grant proposals. Cost estimates are based on anticipated deliverables, duration of the project, type of data generated, and analytical needs. Please consult BERD’s Guidelines for Including Biostatistical Support on UIUC Conducted Research Projects for more information.  

  • BERD services are charged hourly, regardless of the type of service (%FTE as PI on grant, or hourly service) assigned for the core in the grant.  

  • Budget estimate depends on how many years the grant will be funded, and the type of statistical service expected from BERD during each year. Please tell us if graduate students or post docs will be working on data management or analysis. 

  • Any amount allocated for BERD services, and not used for BERD services post-grant will remain with the grant. We will only charge for the hours of service provided. 

  • If your grant application has been accepted for funding, we will get a budget agreement signed between our two finance departments. The budget agreement will outline the types of deliverables expected from BERD, the expected hours of work, and a not to exceed amount. 

After receiving a proposed cost estimate, you may copy and paste the following sections into your grant proposal, as appropriate. 

Resources Page

Core description
The Biostatistics, Epidemiology, and Research Design (BERD) Core at the Interdisciplinary Health Sciences Institute (IHSI), University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, provides centralized support for researchers in study design, sample size/power analyses, data collection, data management, advanced analytical methods (epidemiologic analysis, analysis of variance, generalized linear models, structural equation modeling, multilevel mixed effects modeling, multivariate analysis, meta-analysis), and technical writing and program evaluation. The core consists of doctoral- and master’s-level biostatisticians and epidemiologists from both academic and industry backgrounds. Investigators receive support through direct consultations and long-term collaborations. Statistical software includes SAS (primary), SPSS, STATA, R, Mplus, PASS and GPower. The core has state of the art, secure networks with full administrative support, a dedicated IT team, and a service unit for scheduling, tracking, and billing core usage. Core services follow an hourly cost rate structure. 

Biostatisticians (biosketches and/or CVs available upon request)
Fatima Ahmed, MS
Application of standard statistical techniques to answer health-related research questions (including animal models), data management, and data harmonization

Amandeep Kaur, BDS, MPH
Power and sample size calculations, data management, study designs, longitudinal and cross-sectional data analysis, generalized linear mixed models, survival analysis, and non-parametric models

Jesus N. Sarol Jr, PhD
Sample surveys, epidemiologic methods in observational and experimental studies, parametric and non-parametric tests, generalized linear models, survival analysis, multilevel models, multivariate analysis, analysis of count data, zero-inflated models, power and sample size calculation, meta-analysis and program evaluation

Budget Justification

Biostatistical Support
Optional cost estimate: [$xx] is requested for services of the Biostatistics, Epidemiology, and Research Design (BERD) Core at IHSI to complete the current project [or can enter amount per year]. This cost estimate was determined by the core team as detailed below.

The Biostatistics, Epidemiology, and Research Design (BERD) Core at the Interdisciplinary Health Sciences Institute (IHSI) facilitates and provides biostatistical collaborations involving the design, conduct, analysis, and publication of biomedical research at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Billed services include:

  • Assistance with the design, conduct, analysis, and publication of biomedical research from biostatisticians and epidemiologists with varying levels of expertise
  • Administrative support, including scheduling, tracking, and billing services

As part of IHSI’s mission to advance health-related research, core resources are available to the investigator throughout the project lifespan and follow a cost structure that is subsidized for Illinois investigators. The core team will determine the appropriate allocation of basic, intermediate, and expert services to complete the project according to the anticipated deliverables, duration of the project, type of data generated, and analytical needs.

  • Basic services: $50/hour (commonly used statistical methods, data management, and programming)
  • Intermediate services: $80/hour (advanced biostatistical and epidemiologic methods, data management, and programming)
  • Expert services: $125/hour (PhD-level advanced biostatistical and epidemiologic methods)

Publications

If publications result from work supported by the BERD Core at IHSI, proper acknowledgment of this contribution is expected. BERD would like to adhere to the criteria of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) regarding credit and responsibility related to authorship:

  • Substantial intellectual contribution as to the statistical aspects of study (design, data collection, analysis and interpretation of results)
  • Drafting or revising sections on statistical methods and results including tables and graphs
  • Final approval of the version to be published
  • Agreement to be accountable for the statistical aspects of the study by appropriately investigating and resolving questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the contributed sections

If the contribution does not meet all these criteria, please acknowledge BERD Core support by including the following in your submission:

We thank the Interdisciplinary Health Sciences Institute (IHSI) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Biostatistics, Epidemiology, and Research Design (BERD) Core for supporting the work on this project.

 

Please also share your success by sending us the title(s), author(s), and/or journal name(s) for the submission(s) or publication(s) in which the core is acknowledged.