Call for Mitigation Matters Research Award Proposals

Aging infrastructure, poor land use planning, lack of building code adoption and enforcement, and economic inequalities all contribute to the devastating toll of disasters. To protect communities, it is critical that more resources be invested into mitigation research and evidence-based mitigation solutions that can overcome these challenges.

Hazards mitigation succeeds when physical infrastructure—such as reinforced buildings, redundant power and water networks, and strong roads and bridges—withstand hazard events and reduce the destruction, damage, and harm that can result from disasters. Effective mitigation also requires a strong social infrastructure that supports planners, policymakers, and community members in assessing local risks and implementing evidence-based mitigation solutions.

To ensure communities have the strong physical and social infrastructure needed to protect their populations, more mitigation research is needed. For this reason, the Natural Hazards Center, with funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the National Science Foundation (NSF), adminsters the Mitigation Matters Research Award Program. This program provides funding for researchers focused on natural hazard mitigation and other forms of risk reduction in the United States, U.S. territories, or tribal nations.

Award Details At-A-Glance

• Proposals are due by 5:00 p.m. MDT on Friday, March 14, 2025.

• All applicants are encouraged to attend the Proposal Q&A Session to learn more about this funding opportunity, ask questions, and receive support regarding preferred approaches to the study design.

• Available funds will support 5 to 10 awards in the amount of $5,000 to $10,000 each.

• The lead investigator designated in the proposal must be from an academic institution based in a U.S. state, territory, or tribal nation. Co-leads, project assistants, or local collaborators are not subject to this requirement.

• Master’s and PhD students are welcome to apply as lead investigators, but must submit supporting documents. Please see the Proposal Template below for more details. 

• Proposals should be 5 pages, single-spaced, and meet the specifications detailed in this call.

• Awardees must submit a 20-page, double-spaced report summarizing research findings by no later than Friday, November 7, 2025.

• A 2-page research brief is due after the final report has been edited and approved for publication.

See below for a full explanation of all proposal and deliverable requirements and due dates.

Topic Areas

The 2025 funding call will prioritize research proposals that focus on one or more of the following mitigation topics:

• Community Risk and Disaster Resilience Assessment. Research on existing or new hazard mitigation assessment tools for decision-makers, emergency managers, or community members.

• Nature-Based Solutions, Infrastructure, and Resilience. Research that highlights how natural systems can be used to increase resilience to disasters and other environmental challenges.

• Building Codes, Standards, and Property Protection. Research focused on building code adoption and enforcement, common standards and best practices, mitigation efforts that protect property, or post-disaster rebuilding of damaged homes and properties that mitigates future risk.

• Community Mitigation Planning. Research exploring what metrics, resources, strategies, or conditions enable effective community-based mitigation planning and implementation.

• Capacity Building and Direct Technical Assistance. Research regarding best practices for building the capacities of local governments, agencies, organizations, or community members interested in carrying out mitigation projects. Topics might include exploring how to deliver cooperative, inclusive, and comprehensive technical assistance.

• Partnership Building and Engaging Communities. Research focused on building mitigation-focused partnerships between government agencies, disaster organizations, and community members. Topics might include exploring best practices for involving historically underserved communities in mitigation planning or implementation; examining how mitigation needs vary in urban, mid-size, or rural communities; or studying how planners, policymakers, or community members implement mitigation practices in frontline communities after disaster.

Applicants are encouraged to review the abstracts and research briefs and reports for past Mitigation Matters Research Awards.

Proposal Submission

Applicants are invited to submit a full research proposal through the online submission form by no later than 5:00 p.m. MDT on Friday, March 14, 2025. To be fair to those who submit on time and as required, no exceptions will be made for late submissions.

The online submission form requires that applicants complete the following fields:

• Project Title: Limit 12 words. (Please use APA title case)

• Investigator Name(s) and Affiliation(s)

• Full Abstract: Limit 500 words.

  • Abstract should include an overview of the project, clear research questions, the proposed research design, the gap this research intends to fill, and the expected practice or policy implications of the proposed work.
    
    

• Brief Abstract: Limit 100 words. To be posted on the Natural Hazards Center’s website. See examples of the format here.

• 3-5 Keywords

• Topic Areas: Proposals must clearly explain how the proposed research will advance knowledge of one or more of the topic areas outlined above.

• Study Location: The geographic focus of the research (e.g., U.S. community, state, tribal nation, or territory) should be clearly specified.

• Proposal Narrative and Appendices: The proposal narrative should be a maximum of 5 single-spaced pages, with additional pages allowed for budget, references, and appendices. Please download the Proposal Narrative Template below and follow the instructions. Once completed, please save the document as a single PDF, no larger than 4MB, and upload to the online submission form, where indicated.

Award Deliverables

Required Deliverables

In addition to the above proposal requirements, the lead investigator is required to do the following:

• Report: Submit a 20-page, double-spaced report summarizing the project activities and results from this funding call. The first draft report is due by Friday, November 7, 2025.

  • Final reports must follow the submission guidelines and formatting template. The Natural Hazards Center will review and professionally edit each report. If accepted for publication, the report will be included in an edited compilation of Mitigation Matters Research Reports on the Natural Hazards website.
    
    

• Research Brief: After the final report is accepted and edited, authors will submit a two-page research brief that summarizes key findings, outlines policy implications, and identifies the intended audience. These briefs serve to quickly ground practitioners, policymakers, students, and other interested audiences in the research conducted. Find examples of published briefs here.

Recommended Activities

In addition to the above proposal requirements, it is recommended that all applicants—including the lead investigator and any collaborators—do the following:

• Complete all available CONVERGE Training Modules and review the CONVERGE Extreme Events Research Check Sheets.

• Review data and instrument publication possibilities through CONVERGE and in partnership with DesignSafe to help inform the data management plan for the proposal.

• Participate in the Annual Natural Hazards Workshop and the Researchers Meeting or Practitioners Meeting in Broomfield, Colorado, to share research findings and lessons learned. Investigators can include meeting registration and travel funding in their budgets and budget justifications.

Funding Agreement

Award recipients must carefully read and agree to the following funding criteria:

• The lead investigator designated in the proposal must be from an academic institution based in a U.S. state, territory, or tribal nation. Co-leads, project assistants, or local collaborators are not subject to this requirement—these individuals cannot, however, serve as the project lead and primary award recipient.

• Teams can be of any size. However, award payments can be distributed to a maximum of three team members as designated by the lead investigator (for example, 50% of the award sent to the lead, 25% to the co-lead, and 25% to a local collaborator).

• Payments will be sent directly to the awardees as designated in the budget to cover project-related expenses or time dedicated to data collection, analysis efforts, or the dissemination of results.

• This award funding cannot be sent directly to a university or other agencies or institutions, and overhead or indirect costs associated with these funds are not allowed.

• Expenses may need to be paid out of pocket if work begins before payment is received. Due dates will not be extended due to delays in payment processing.

• Per tax compliance requirements, the University of Colorado Boulder will report payments to taxing jurisdictions when required. Individual payees will be issued any applicable tax forms directly from the University. Payees are responsible for any and all tax consequences related to payments they have received.

• Individual recipients of these awards will be solely responsible for all tax reporting and ramifications. The Natural Hazards Center cannot provide tax advice. Awardees are allowed to include estimated taxes in their budget justification.

• If you or one of your team members are a University of Colorado employee, please reach out to the Natural Hazards Center team at haz.research.awards@colorado.edu prior to submitting a proposal, as the funding distribution has different requirements, including additional fringe and payroll tax considerations.

• For award recipients who are not U.S. citizens, the payment process may take longer and will require additional paperwork. All payments made to visa holders are submitted through the International Tax Office at the University of Colorado Boulder.

Award funding will be processed after proposals are accepted and awards are announced. To receive the award funding, the designated recipients will need to return:

• One copy of a completed and signed funding agreement, to be issued upon approval to designated recipients of the award funds. The information for payees will be filled out on the form.
• A W-9 or W-8BEN for all payment recipients (W-9 is for U.S. citizens or permanent residents; W-8BEN is for non-U.S. persons).
• A letter of approval or exemption from a university based Institutional Review Board, if applicable.

Researchers should not begin data collection until they have obtained IRB approval or exemption from their institution and submitted documentation to the Natural Hazards Center.

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Submit Proposal

I have read and understand the Mitigation Matters Research Award Program guidelines.

I understand that all funding will be paid directly to award recipients and not their universities, and that the award recipients are responsible for all tax ramifications.

I agree to fulfill all requirements outlined in this call for proposals if chosen for this research award.

Submit a Proposal

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Questions?

Please contact the Natural Hazards Center at haz.research.awards@colorado.edu.

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Acknowledgements

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