RPB International Research Collaborators Award

The RPB International Research Collaborators Award is offered by Research to Prevent Blindness, a private foundation headquartered in New York City, to foster meaningful international collaboration in the field of vision research. Designed to accelerate the development of treatments for blinding disorders, this award supports reciprocal exchanges between U.S.-based researchers and their counterparts at institutions outside the United States. The funding aims to facilitate knowledge and skill transfer, ultimately advancing ophthalmic science and clinical progress that could benefit broad populations globally. This $75,000 award provides funding for a U.S.-based investigator to travel abroad and engage in joint research, while also enabling the international collaborator to spend time at the U.S. researcher’s home institution. The collaboration is expected to be immersive, with at least one party or a lab member spending an extended period in the partner country. Flexibility is provided in how this expectation is met. Eligible expenses include travel, lodging, lab equipment, consumables, and salaries for postdoctoral researchers and international collaborators, though the award does not cover the U.S. investigator’s salary. Matching funds are not required, but encouraged, particularly from the host institution outside the U.S. or the U.S. investigator’s department. Applicants must be full-time faculty at a U.S. institution of higher education, holding the rank of Assistant, Associate, or full Professor, and possessing an MD, PhD, MD/PhD, or equivalent doctoral degree. Interim or acting chairs are ineligible to submit nominations, and only one nomination per department is accepted per cycle. The award particularly encourages early-career investigators and those without previous individual RPB awards. Chairs of ophthalmology departments are specifically ineligible to apply. Application to this program is a two-step process. First, a nomination form must be submitted by the candidate’s department chair. For the January deadline, the nomination is due by December 15; for the July deadline, the nomination must be submitted by June 15. Once nominated, candidates must upload the completed application and required documents to a secure portal by the respective application deadlines—January 10 or July 1. Only one upload action is permitted per applicant, and the submission must include a signed application form in Word and a single PDF containing multiple required documents including biosketches, statements of collaboration, a budget, and IRB documentation, among others. Applications are reviewed by RPB’s committees, and awards are disbursed electronically. If human subjects are involved, IRB approval must be secured prior to disbursement. Reporting obligations include annual progress and financial reports, a one-time photo submission, and a final report due six months after completion of the award term. Recipients must credit RPB appropriately in all dissemination related to the funded research. The foundation retains the discretion to transfer the award if needed and reserves the right to not issue an award in any given cycle. This grant is offered twice per year, with fixed recurring deadlines. For the current cycle, nominations were due December 15, 2025, and full applications are due by January 10, 2026, for funding disbursed in June. A second round will follow, with nominations due June 15, 2026, and applications due July 1, 2026, for awards issued in December. While matching funds are not mandatory, their inclusion is encouraged to demonstrate institutional support. All application materials must be submitted on time and in the specified format to be considered.

Only one upload allowed; late or incomplete submissions are automatically declined.