Center News

Disasters such as ongoing bushfires in Australia or the recent earthquakes in Puerto Rico illustrate how crucial natural hazards mitigation is to protecting communities from the impacts of disaster. The Mitigation Matters Research Program—a small grant initiative launched in late 2019—awarded grants for nine innovative, mitigation-focused projects in its first funding round. But more research is needed to build evidence about what’s effective.

Thanks to support from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the National Science Foundation, the Natural Hazards Center is excited to announce the program’s second call for proposals.

The Spring 2020 funding period will prioritize applications that focus on or engage with the following four areas:

• The impact of mitigation strategies on social vulnerability and inequality
• Research focused on persuasive communication, decision-making, and shifting attitudes, values, and behaviors associated with mitigation actions
• The effectiveness of various wildfire mitigation techniques
• The availability and efficacy of training related to the adoption and enforcement of building codes

For additional focus areas and to access the online application, visit the Natural Hazards Center’s Mitigation Matters Research Program webpages, including the frequently asked questions.

Proposals for the Mitigation Matters Research Program are solicited twice each year. The current call for submissions is now open and proposals will be accepted through March 16th, 2020 at 11:59 p.m. EST.

More Information

To receive news about Mitigation Matters and other Natural Hazards Center opportunities, including calls for proposals, please subscribe to the Small Grants Programs information list.

The Natural Hazards Center also supports research collaboration through its National Science Foundation-supported Social Science Extreme Events Research network (SSEER), which helps researchers connect based on location, research interests, topical expertise, and other factors. Social scientists are invited to join the network and can access research resources such as training modules and briefing sheets through the CONVERGE facility.

For questions or more information, please contact Courtney Welton-Mitchell at mitigationmatters@colorado.edu.

The Mitigation Matters program is based on work supported by the National Science Foundation (Award #1635593) through supplemental funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of NSF, FEMA, or the Natural Hazards Center.