Quick Response Research Award Program

Purpose

The Natural Hazards Center's Quick Response Award Program provides training and funds for researchers to quickly collect perishable data following disasters and other extreme events. As an effort to expand academic knowledge, funded researchers will submit abstracts and brief reports to be published on the Natural Hazards website to share with a multidisciplinary network of researchers, practitioners, and educators. The program promotes social science innovation in hazards and disaster research.

Program Overview

This Natural Hazards Center’s Quick Response Award Program is funded by the National Science Foundation. Therefore, we use similar qualifying criteria to judge proposals and expect a high level of scientific rigor. Each proposal must speak to both intellectual merit—describing the potential of the proposed activity to advance knowledge—and broader impacts—detailing the potential of the proposed activity to benefit society and contribute to the achievement of specific, desired societal outcomes.

As award recipients, researchers are encouraged to complete CONVERGE Training Modules, utlilize the CONVERGE Extreme Events Research Check Sheets Series, conduct field work, and write an abstract and brief report for distribution to the hazards and disasters community through Center publications and news outlets, to make research findings quickly and broadly available. Most Quick Response-funded researchers go on to publish final results in academic journals or reports with acknowledgement of Center support. When this occurs, the researcher provides a reprint of the final publication to the Center library, expanding its disciplinary reach.

The Quick Response Award Program promotes new knowledge and perspectives by prioritizing research that fills gaps in the literature and is unlikely to be funded rapidly by other means. Although a variety of rigorous empirical research designs are acceptable, proposals that are theory-driven and use widely recognized, scientific methods to examine social, behavioral, and organizational phenomena are preferred. In addition, the program seeks to fund research that is likely to be extended or more broadly disseminated. The program also has a long history of training and supporting students and emerging researchers, and members of these groups are encouraged to apply.

Award Details At-A-Glance

Available funds will support awards up to $5,000 each.
The lead researcher must be from an academic institution based in a U.S. state, territory, or tribal nation. Other research co-leads, research assistants, or local collaborators do not have to be affiliated with a university or located in a U.S. state, territory, or tribal nation—they cannot, however, serve as the project research lead and primary award recipient.
The geographic focus of the research can be outside of the United States. However, authors must be able to demonstrate that the findings are applicable to a U.S. disaster context.
The five-page, single-spaced proposals should follow the Quick Response Proposal Submission Guidelines.
A 20-page, double-spaced report summarizing project activities, findings, and actionable recommendations for policy or practice is due within six months of award activation.
Proposals for the quick response research award program will be accepted on a rolling basis until funds are exhausted.

Submit a Proposal

All proposals should follow the Natural Hazards Center’s Quick Response Proposal Submission guidelines. Proposals and supporting materials should be uploaded using our online proposal submission form.

Questions?

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