Ford Foundation Research on Sexuality and Youth

The Ford Foundation has announced a new Request for Proposals entitled "Sexuality, Health, and Rights Among Youth in the United States: Transforming Public Policy and Public Understanding Through Social Research" designed to support and prepare researchers to take on the challenges of social science sexuality research in the 21st century. The overall goal of the program is to strengthen the capacity of social science researchers to inform public policy and public understanding of sexuality-related issues from a human rights perspective.

Amount: $500,000 (across 2 - 3 years)

Date due: February 1, 2010

Through this RFP the foundation will support research projects that combine three areas of activity: social science research; training of graduate students; and strategic communications to inform public policy or public conversations. Each project must include plans for all three areas of activity. Proposals that explore the role of structural inequalities, stigma and discrimination, and mechanisms of social exclusion related to gender, sexual orientation, class, race and ethnicity, and their intersections are of particular interest, as are proposals exploring how youth and adults in local communities seek to understand and address sexuality, health, and human rights through a range of individual and collective actions. All proposals must demonstrate how they would inform public policy or public dialogue on targeted sexuality or reproductive health and rights issues.

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Academic Research Enhancement Award (AREA)

The purpose of the Academic Research Enhancement Award (AREA) program is to stimulate research in educational institutions that provide baccalaureate or advanced degrees for a significant number of the Nation's research scientists, but that have not been major recipients of NIH support. These AREA grants create opportunities for scientists and institutions otherwise unlikely to participate extensively in NIH programs, to contribute to the Nation's biomedical and behavioral research effort. AREA grants are intended to support small-scale health-related research projects proposed by faculty members of eligible, domestic institutions (such as WOU).

Amount: $300,000 (for up to 3 years)

Date due: February 25, 2010

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Healthcare Research & Quality Grants

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) supports Small Research Grant (R03) applications. The R03 grant mechanism supports different types of health services research projects including pilot and feasibility studies; secondary analysis of existing data; small, self-contained research projects; development of research methodology; and, development of new research technology. The mission of AHRQ is to improve the quality, safety, efficiency, and effectiveness of health care for all Americans. AHRQ strives to achieve its mission by supporting research which directly relates to accomplishing one of the following broad-based goals:

• Enhancing quality and safety by reducing the risk of harm from health care services through promoting the delivery of appropriate care that achieves the best quality outcomes
• Achieving efficiency through wider access to effective health care services and reductions in health care costs
• Assuring effectiveness through the beneficial and timely use of health care information by providers and consumers/patients, which allows them opportunities to make informed decisions and choices.
• Applicants to AHRQ must address at least one of the three broad-based goals of AHRQ in their proposed research. Further, applicants must:
• Demonstrate how expected results can be used or made available for use to enhance improvements in health care. Results should be directly relevant to customers, such as: providers and practitioners, administrators, payers, consumers, policymakers, and insurers.
• Focus on research topics which are unique to AHRQ and address one of the current priority areas of AHRQ.

Amount: $100,000 (2 years)

Date due: February 16, 2010 or June 16, 2010

Projects must be self-contained. They may be conceptually linked to future or past projects, but must contain all the elements of a stand-alone effort that can be reviewed and evaluated on its own for both scientific merit and budget.

For more information, click here.