Pilot Grant Program – Environmental Health Sciences Research Center

The Pilot Grant Program is a highly valued component of the EHSRC, serving both the research and training missions of the Center. This program has helped advance the careers of numerous talented investigators by nurturing innovative ideas and creating opportunities for further grant support and publication in environmental health. Since the founding of the EHSRC, investments in the Pilot Grant Programs ($4,930,000) have produced grant progeny with a value of $51,500,000. This represents a more than 11-fold return on investment. Betsy Stone directs the Pilot Grant Program.

Goals:

The goals of the pilot program are to:

Provide initial support for junior investigators to establish new lines of environmental health research
Provide services of state-of-the-art facility cores to pilot grant investigators to enhance their research
Facilitate exploration of innovative new directions in environmental health for established investigators
Stimulate investigators from other disciplines to apply their expertise to environmental health research
Foster new interdisciplinary collaborations through awarding of pilot projects to investigators that have not previously worked together

Research Interests:

The EHSRC Pilot Grant Program seeks innovative, environmental health-related research proposals aligned to the research priorities of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS). Proposals for laboratory and/or field research will be accepted.

General areas of EHSRC interest for funding include, but are not limited to, the following:

Climate change impacts on human health as relevant to NIEHS and/or identified in a recent NOSI (NOT-ES-22-006)
Studies of individual susceptibility to disease resulting from environmental factors across the lifespan
Role of the microbiome as a target and mediator of environmental exposures
Environmental risk factors for disease
Human and animal toxicology
Enhanced assessment of exposures to environmental agents
Environmental remediation and control
Water quality and human health
Ambient and indoor air quality and human health
Understanding and addressing environmental health disparities and environmental justice
Disaster response research
Projects that address emerging environmental health issues
Translational research that promotes knowledge to action
Pilot projects that support the re-submission of previously submitted/un-funded NIH applications

Specific areas of EHSRC interest for funding include:

Projects that use a Precision Environmental Health approach to reduce the adverse health effects of exposures by identifying individuals who are specifically susceptible to environmental threats and enabling precise, targeted, and effective prevention
Projects that strategically utilize the Integrated Health Science Facility Core’s Advanced Pulmonary Physiomic Imaging Laboratory (APPIL)
Projects that nucleate new interdisciplinary research teams and/or lay the groundwork for an NIEHS ViCTER application
Projects investigating nanoplastics and microplastics as relevant to NIEHS and/or identified in a recent NOSI (NOT-ES-23-002)

In addition, science-based projects are eligible to receive up to $5,000 in additional funds for a community engagement supplement. For more information about the community engagement supplement opportunity, please see the guidelines for application below.

All Pilot Grant funds must be spent domestically. If a project has components outside of the United States, those components cannot be funded through this grant.

Current Deadline

February 15, 2024: Preliminary communications as outlined
March 1, 2024: Final Submission

Guidelines for Application

Key Dates:

February 15, 2024: Communication with appropriate Center Facility Director (Visit Center Facilities Pageto identify the most relevant facility for your proposal)
February 15, 2024: Budget approval (send to Mindy Sickels Sterbenz at mindy-sickels@uiowa.edu)
March 1, 2024: Proposal submission

Funding Available:

Funds up to a maximum of $40,000 will be awarded directly to an investigator for a one-year period. Of this, up to $6,000 may be budgeted for the combined salary and fringe benefits of the principal investigator. We expect to make approximately 4 – 6 awards to meritorious applications.

Budgetary Restrictions:

Salary and fringe for the Principal Investigator must not exceed $6,000
Travel expenses are not allowed, unless clearly for the purpose of conducting research (ie; field sampling, data collection)
Purchase of computer equipment is not allowed
Purchase of food for events is not allowed

Community Engagement Provision:

Science-based projects are eligible to receive up to $5000 in additional funds for a community engagement supplement. Any pilot proposal with a community component should consult with Brandi Janssen in the EHSRC Community Engagement Core (CEC) and/or attend an EHSRC Community Engagement Workshop prior to submitting a supplement proposal. The community engagement supplement requires an additional project description (not to exceed one half page) and should be included in the proposal budget, budget justification, and research schedule.

Approaches for the community engagement supplement could include (but are not limited to):

Citizen science projects in which community members participate in data collection and/or analysis
The inclusion of a community stakeholder advisory board or other mechanism that provides regular community input and feedback to the investigators to ensure that project results are relevant to community concerns
Inclusion of disenfranchised populations in research that will reduce environmental disparities or improve environmental justice

Specific Aims Review (optional):

The Specific Aims Review Meeting is hosted by the EHSRC Career Enhancement Program. It is open to all investigators preparing to submit EHSRC pilot grant proposals for submission to the Center. For specific guidelines for participation, please visit the following link: Specific Aims Meeting Guidelines

Submission

Eligibility:

Researchers from University of Iowa who are eligible to apply for K or R01 grants from NIH may apply. This specifically includes Post-doctoral Fellows, Post-doctoral Scholars, Faculty (all ranks), Research Scientists, Research Engineers, Associate Research Scientists, and Associate Research Engineers. Students and staff may not be investigators but may be designated to receive salary support and should be listed in the budget.

We specifically encourage the following applicants:

Junior investigators with interests in pursuing environmental health research
Senior investigators who wish to move into new directions or into new collaborations within the environmental health sciences research arena

Section and Page Requirements:

Page Limit	Section
1	Cover Page (Title, Investigators, Affiliations, and 250 word Abstract) Public Health Relevance Statement: Describe the relevance of this research to public health in, at most, three sentences. For example, describe how, in the short or long term, the research would contribute to fundamental knowledge about the nature and behavior of living systems and / or the translation of that knowledge to enhance health and lengthen life.
1	Specific Aims
5	Research Strategy including: Project Narrative Significance Innovation Approach with preliminary data (if any) The sections of the EHSRC pilot grant application closely follow the NIH research grant application instructions. For guidance on what to include in the project narrative, significance, innovation, and approach, please see this application guide.
2	Additional required information: Research schedule and milestones Description of plans to engage with and utilize EHSRC facilities Potential for future grant support- outline a specific path to future funding through NIEHS. Include conversations with a program administrator at NIEHS about your larger application idea(s). Specifically list RFAs you will apply for. Translational research – see NIEHS for more information (https://www.niehs.nih.gov/research/programs/translational/index.cfm)
1/2	Community Engagement supplement (if applicable)
1	Detailed Budget and Justification (up to $6,000 may be budgeted for the combined salary and fringe benefits of the principal investigator)

Grant applications, in the form of a single PDF file attachment, should be sent to ehsrcpilotsubmissions@team.uiowa.edu via e-mail by the stated deadline.

Other required documents are:

NIH Biosketches for Each Investigator
EHSRC Routing Form
Letter of support from appropriate EHSRC Facility Director(s)
Letter of commitment from collaborating institution(s), if applicable
Letter from community collaborating institution(s), if applicable

Principal Investigator/Awardee Responsibilities

The first individual listed as an investigator of a pilot grant is the corresponding author, and will be responsible should the pilot grant be funded for the timely completion of the research and the appropriate expenditure of funds.

Prior to issuance of a pilot grant, the awardee must agree to:

Cite support of the EHSRC (NIH P30 ES005605) on all manuscripts, posters, and abstracts emanating therefrom;
Spend the funds within the one-year award period (carryover requests are strongly discouraged);
Submit a two-page progress report within three months of project completion;
Present completed work within six months of project completion in the EHSRC seminar series;
Submit a photo for use in publicizing the program

Pilot Grant Proposal Study Section:

Primary Reviewer (May be outside EHSRC)
Secondary Reviewer (May be outside EHSRC)
Internal Advisory Committee Members (N=12)

Proposal Review Criteria:

Relevance to EHSRC goals
Relevance to the NIEHS Strategic Plan
Originality and scientific relevance
Validity and reliability of methods
Qualifications of investigators
Special consideration for junior faculty, or new directions
Use of EHSRC facilities
Likelihood of future extramural funding
Appropriateness of the budget

EHSRC PGP Reviewer Guidelines 2021

Who to Contact

For further information regarding the pilot program, please contact:
Technical Advice: Dr. Betsy Stone / betsy-stone@uiowa.edu
Programmatical Information: Ms. Nancy Wyland, Coordinator / nancy-wyland@uiowa.edu

For information regarding resources available through EHSRC Facilities, contact: