Population Health Sciences (PHS)

Population Health Sciences

Social, environmental, and behavioral factors are strong predictors of health and disease, and contribute to social inequalities in health. The population health sciences pilot grants are intended to stimulate novel research that can advance our understanding of how environments, policies and programs impact population health and social inequalities in health.

Proposals should have a focus on 1) a social, economic, community or environmental factor and its influence on health and 2) have implications for reducing social inequalities in health.

Projects involving multidisciplinary teams, particularly those that span the seven Stanford schools, are highly encouraged. Unfortunately, we are not able to fund foreign projects at this time.

Deadline:
All proposals must be submitted by Friday, October 16, 2020 at 11:59 PM.

Apply here:
https://stanfordmedicine.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_9t6ntopCnCfkzBz

Projects involving multidisciplinary teams, particularly those that span schools, are highly encouraged.

• Population Health Sciences projects funded in previous cycles
• Population Health Sciences website

We are offering two types of grants:

• Early career (doctoral students, postdoctoral scholars) pilot grants up to $20,000.
• Faculty pilot grants up to $40,000.

We encourage investigators to consider submitting requests less than the maximum, as this will increase the probability of being funded and will enable us to award more grants.

Awards will be granted for the period from December 1, 2020 through November 30, 2021 and must be completed in that timeframe. All unexpended funds will be forfeited if not spent within the award period.

• Open to Stanford faculty including Clinical Educators (CE). Graduate students and postdoctoral scholars (clinical and non-clinical) applying for the early career awards are required to include a PI eligible faculty member as co-PI on the application. CE faculty PI waivers are not needed for internal funding opportunities (see RMG waiver website for further details, http://med.stanford.edu/rmg/piwaiver.html#clinician).
  

Applications will be evaluated along the following six criteria:

• Potential Impact. Is the knowledge gained from the project likely to inform population health policy, practice, or programs? 
• Social inequality focus. Does the project have the potential to generate knowledge that will reduce social inequalities in health
• Methodological rigor. Do the study design and methods of the project have the potential to produce robust and reproducible knowledge? 
• Scope & budget. Can the project be successfully implemented within the proposed timeline and budget? 
• Contribution to investigator training in population health research. Does the project act to facilitate new collaborative work for the investigator in population health research?
• Potential to lead to longer-term projects. Is the project likely to develop into a longer-term, comprehensive, collaborative population health project?

Format

• Page specifications:
  • 8.5 x 11” page size
  • At least 0.50” margins on all sides
  • At least 11-point font size
• Save your documents as PDFs to upload to Qualtrics (online submission)

Applications Must Include The Following Information:

• A cover sheet that includes:
  • Title of proposal 
  • PI name, title, email and department 
  • Co-PI, Mentor name (if applicable) and co-investigator names, departments and emails 
  • 4-sentence summary of proposed project 
  • Amount of funding requested 
• Body of proposal (3-page limit)
  
  • Please answer the following questions: 
  1. Potential Impact. Is the knowledge gained from the project likely to inform population health policy, practice, or programs? 
  2. Social inequality focus. Does the project have the potential to generate knowledge that will reduce social inequalities in health?
  3. Methodological rigor. How will the study design and methods ensure that the project produces robust and reproducible knowledge? 
  4. Scope & budget. What is your plan for completing the project within the one-year time frame? What is your proposed high-level budget? How does your team intend to navigate any COVID-19 related research restrictions imposed by Stanford University? Have you received IRB approval (please note planned or approved protocols, including approval number or exemptions as appropriate)? 
  5. Contribution to investigator training in population health research. Will the project facilitate new collaborative work in population health research?
  6. Potential to lead to longer-term projects. What steps will you take to help ensure the project develops into a longer-term, comprehensive, collaborative population health project?

• Budget:  Allowable expenditures include investigator’s salary, research personnel salaries, travel (if project-related) and project supplies. These grants do not include indirect cost expenses. Capital equipment costing more than $5,000, intellectual property services, and food are unallowable expenses.
• Bios (1 paragraph maximum) are required for the PI, Co-PI, and for each Key Personnel involved in the Pilot Project

NOTE:  Figures and tables must be included within the body of the proposal. References may be included and are not considered part of the page limit. Do not include appendices to the proposal. Applications that do not comply with the requirements will not be considered for review. 

The award process is as follows:

• Informational Sessions. PHS will offer an informational Zoom sessions on October 2nd, providing an overview of the program, how we define population health research along with research resources available to applicants and awardees (e.g., datasets, support for translating research into action, etc.). Recordings of the session will be posted on our web site if you are unable to attend. 
• Submit Full Proposal. Final proposals should be no longer than 3-pages and are due on October 16th, 2020 at 11:59 PM.
• Award Notification. Awardees will be notified by October 22nd, 2020.
• Completion of NCATS Prior Approval Form. The NCATS Prior Approval Form must be submitted and approved before funding is released. The administrative process can be complex and significantly delay the start of the project. Hence, we are asking awardees to attend mandatory office hours on October 23rd or October 28th to review the process and provide assistance.
  

Pilot Grant Application Requirements and Awardee Policies

For questions regarding application process and requirements, contact:

Pilot Grant Program Manager

For questions regarding scope of the proposal, criteria for awards or the review process, contact:

Associate Director for PHS