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Seed Grant Program 2008 - 2009

Proposals were due March 21st, 5:00 PM - the 2008-2009 submission season is now closed. 

Congratulations Drs  Susan Steck and Katrina Walsemann on their recently funded Seed Grants.

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The Center for Research in Nutrition and Health Disparities, Arnold School of Public Health invites applications for research projects focused on understanding the role of nutrition in health disparities.

The goal of this Seed Grant Program is to fund preliminary studies needed to develop an NIH proposal in an area related to nutrition and health disparities. One or more projects at up to $20,000 for one year will be funded. We hope to foster interdisciplinary research in this area, and encourage applications that involve collaborations between researchers from two or more departments within the school, other disciplines in addition to nutrition, and those involving scientists from other schools within USC.  Topics of interest may include (but are not limited to) studies of diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and obesity, and may include basic science, clinical, translational, or community intervention research.

 

Program Goals

 

  • Strengthen the applicant's ability to write a strong, competitive research proposal

  • Provide initial project support for new investigators; allow exploration of possible innovative new directions for established investigators in nutrition sciences or health disparities research that represent a significant departure from ongoing funded research; and stimulate investigators from other areas of endeavor to use their expertise for nutrition and health disparities research.

  • Encourage collaboration between departments, colleges, centers and institutes at the University of South Carolina. 

  • Increase the number of research applications focused on nutrition and health disparities that are competitive at the NIH level.

Eligibility:

Seed grant funding is intended to support:  new investigators, established investigators with limited previous research in the intersection of nutrition and health disparities, or established investigators in nutrition who propose to test innovative ideas that depart from their ongoing research interests.   Priority will be given to applications that demonstrate direct relevance to the Center for Research in Nutrition and Health Disparities mission and research goals, and high likelihood of NIH (or similar) funding.

 

Required:  

  • PI (or CoPI) is Arnold School of Public Health faculty member
  • The research must focus on a topic directly relevant to nutrition and health disparities.  
  • Proposal to NIH (or other peer-reviewed federal government funding) as final product of the award, at 12 months.
  • Written progress report at six months. (Note: a portion of the total budget will be held back, pending favorable review of the formal progress report.)
  • Nutrition Seminar Presentation of progress and future plans. Seminar to be scheduled during the last 6 months of the funding period.  
  • If support for the proposed work is being sought from sources other than the Nutrition Center, this must be noted on the application.      

Criteria for funding:

  • Significance of the problem addressed by the study and relevance to nutrition and health disparities.

  • Scientific quality of the proposed study.

  • Adequacy of the available resources (e.g., laboratory equipment, datasets) 

  • Qualifications of the investigators.

  • Potential for future funding by NIH or comparable federal agencies. (Be specific as to mechanism you will use for a grant application; e.g., specific Program Announcement).

  • Innovation.

Research Support:

 

The Center for Research in Nutrition and Health Disparities provides support for collaborative research to advance our knowledge of the many ways in which nutrition relates to health disparities, and to further our understanding of disease causation and disease prevention or control. We have strong research support capacities which are available to investigators as part of this seed grant program, including support to develop and submit your NIH proposal, data analysis and management support, dietary assessment support, and post award administrative support.  As part of the Seed Grant application, please describe the research support services that you may use, and include these in the budget. Costs for these services will be kept to a minimum in the interest of supporting excellence in collaborative work.     

 

Procedure:

 

Please use the standard NIH 398 instructions and forms, but limit the scientific content to 6 pages (i.e. Specific Aims through Research Design and Methods).   

 

Proposals are due March 21, 2008, to Sarah Epting, at srgause@gwm.sc.edu.

In addition, please send 6 hard copies to Sarah Epting at 2718 Middleburg Drive, 2nd floor, Columbia, SC, 29204.

 

·       PI’s will be notified of funding decisions on or about May 1, 2008

·       Funding can begin July 1, 2008.

·       IRB approvals, if needed, must be obtained before funding will be activated.

 

Acceptance of funding will indicate agreement to provide:

 

·       a written progress report at six months

·       an NIH proposal at 12 months

·       a seminar for the Nutrition Seminar series.

Additional Information:

Seed Grant Application Forms - Click Here for a PDF copy
Please use the standard NIH 398 forms with the following changes: The Seed Grant application is limited to 6 pages for scientific content to include:  Brief statement of the problem and how the Seed Grant funds will help to strengthen the NIH Proposal,  specific aims for the seed grant project, and a brief description of the research design and methods that you will use in the seed grant project.  Complete literature review and appendices are not needed. 

Allowable Expenditures: Funds may be used for a variety of research-related expenditures, including (but not limited to) payment to study participants, equipment that is necessary to the proposed research, research supplies, pilot data collection, research-related travel, collaborative meetings, and consultants. The funds are generally not intended for faculty course release time or summer salary. Funds may not be used for travel that is not directly related to the development of the proposal, graduate assistant tuition supplements, or to bridge a funding gap between grants. The proposed budget should not include items that would ordinarily be covered by departmental support for active researchers.

Contact for Questions. For further information regarding the Seed Grant program or scientific questions, please contact Dr. Sonya Jones at sjones@gwm.sc.edu.  For budget or administrative questions, please contact Sarah Epting at srgause@gwm.sc.edu.   

Center for Research in Nutrition and Health Disparities  Vision, Mission, Goals  

Vision:
To improve the public’s health by reducing health disparities through nutrition research.

Mission:
To conduct research on the role of nutrition in reduction of health disparities across racial, ethnic and socioeconomic groups.

Goals:
Expand the body of knowledge on:

  • How nutrients, foods, dietary behaviors, food insecurity, and lack of physical activity contribute to health disparities across socioeconomic, geographic, racial and ethnic groups.
  • The role of nutrients, foods, and dietary behaviors in prevention and control of obesity, diabetes, stroke, cardiovascular disease, cancer and other conditions where health disparities exist.
  • Translation of nutrition information to effective community-based interventions and clinical applications that could reduce health disparities.
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