Special Call for Health Outcomes and Climate-Related Disaster Research

Overview

The Natural Hazards Center—with support from the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation—is issuing a special call for quick response research focused on health outcomes among groups disproportionately affected by climate-related disasters.

Climate-related disasters—such as wildfires, floods, extreme heat events, harmful algal blooms, and severe storms—pose significant health risks, particularly for populations already experiencing health challenges and other disparities. In the context of such disasters, there is much to be learned about health outcomes for disproportionately affected groups such as children, older adults, people with existing health conditions, people of color, and people experiencing homelessness.

This special call of the Quick Response Research Award program is designed to address gaps in knowledge by encouraging the ethical collection of perishable data and the rapid return of results through the publication of Quick Response Reports. Initial findings from these studies will inform the understanding of the health ramifications of climate-related disasters and potential protective health measures.

Award Details At-A-Glance

• Available funds will support awards in the amount of $10,000 to $50,000 each. Single investigator and/or single discipline proposals are eligible for awards up to $10,000, while larger multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary, or transdisciplinary teams and proposals with a strong solutions-focused convergence orientation will be eligible for up to $50,000.
• 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.
• Funds must be used to collect perishable, health-relevant data for events that occurred within 6 months or less of proposal submission.
• 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 5-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 health practitioners is due within 6 months of award activation.

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Proposals for this special call will be accepted on a rolling basis until funds are exhausted.

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Proposal Criteria

Preference will be given to researchers and research teams who:

• Develop research questions focused on health outcomes for potentially disproportionately impacted groups such as pregnant women, children, older adults, people with existing health conditions, people in low-income households, people of color, or people experiencing homelessness.
• Demonstrate how the proposed work will build on existing knowledge and fill a gap in the literature, implement a novel and replicable research design, or focus on an understudied group or topic with promise for practical application.
• Clarify how they will ethically access people or areas affected by disaster to collect perishable data. 
• Articulate how the funds will be used to collect perishable, health-relevant data for events that occurred within 6 months or less of proposal submission.
• Have local partnerships and a clear commitment to share study results with affected populations and organizations or other communities at risk to natural hazards. 
• Advance interdisciplinary or transdisciplinary research and collaborations at the interface of health, socio-behavioral, climate, and geotechnical research communities. 

Resources

Applicants are encouraged to:

• Review the abstracts for projects funded under this special call and through the broader Quick Response Research Award Program.
• Access research instruments and other resources from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Disaster Research Response (DR2) program.
• Use equipment from the NSF-supported RAPID facility at the University of Washington.
• Use the NSF-funded DesignSafe Cyberinfrastructure for data management resources.
• Review the CONVERGE Extreme Events Research Check Sheets.

• Submit completion certificates indicating that the lead investigator, co-investigators, and/or students have taken one or more CONVERGE Training Modules focused on the ethical conduct and scientific rigor of hazards and disaster research. Certificates for any of the training modules will be accepted. Recommended modules for this special call include:

  • Broader Ethical Considerations for Hazards and Disaster Research
  • Collecting and Sharing Perishable Data
  • Conducting Emotionally Challenging Research
  • Cultural Competence in Hazards and Disaster Research
  • Social Vulnerability and Disasters

Submit a Proposal

All proposals should follow the Natural Hazards Center’s Quick Response Proposal Submission guidelines, although budgets can range from $10,000 to $50,000 for this special call. Proposals and supporting materials should be uploaded using our online proposal submission form.

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Questions?

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

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The Quick Response Research Award Program is supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF Award #1635593). This special call is made possible through supplemental funding to the NSF from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations produced by this program are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the NSF, NIH, or the Natural Hazards Center.