2023 Climate Change and Human Health Seed Grants

Eligibility

Eligibility Requirements

Applications must be submitted by non-profit organizations or degree granting institutions in the United States or Canada. Applicant organizations may submit multiple proposals, but an individual may only serve as a principal investigator/project director on one application during each review period.

This call focuses on developing partnerships. Proposals from single institutions must develop partnerships that do not already occur naturally: for example, proposals from departments that draw students from the same shared graduate program are not responsive to this call. Proposals from more than one institution are responsive. Academic institutions, professional societies, and advocacy organizations are only a few of the appropriate drivers of proposals. Only non-profit institutions may be supported by BWF’s award, but non-profits may involve for profit organizations in their proposals. This program does not support biomedical research projects proposed by individual investigators.

Eligible proposals will include rationale/vision for the project, including who it is intended to impact.

Individuals may only serve twice as directors (principal investigators/project directors) for proposals supported over time by this program. Awardees and past awardees from other BWF programs are eligible to apply.

Terms of Grant / Use of Funds

Awards are made to non-profit organizations including degree-granting institutions in the U.S. or Canada. The institutions are responsible for disbursing the funds and for maintaining adequate supporting records and receipts of expenditures. Indirect costs may not be charged against BWF grants.

Salaries of support personnel and materials appropriate to administering the work should be included as direct costs. Reasonable and justified consultant costs may be included in the budget. Benefits are direct costs.

Institutions must provide an annual progress and financial report. Any unused funds (greater than $500) held by institutions when awards expire or are terminated must be returned to BWF, unless BWF has granted prior permission to retain the remainder. Proposed work should be completed in a single year. One no cost extension will be allowed.

Scientific publications or presentations that result from these awards must acknowledge the institution’s receipt of a Burroughs Wellcome Fund Climate Change and Human Health Award. Copies of journal articles, white papers, essays, and other publications supported by the grant, as well as news articles and other publications stimulated by the project should be sent to BWF as part of the annual progress report.

BWF will not retain any rights to published results or patents that result from the supported work. Awardees should follow their institutions’ patent, copyright, and intellectual property policies regarding discoveries that result from research conducted under these awards. BWF expects the appropriate federal, state, and local guidelines with regard to scientific and personal misconduct are in place and enforced at BWF-supported institutions.

Summary

The Burroughs Wellcome Fund’s grantmaking strategies support biomedical scientists at the beginning of their careers and areas of science that are poised for significant advancement but are currently undervalued and underfunded. The Burroughs Wellcome Fund aims to stimulate the growth of new connections between scholars working in largely disconnected fields who might together change the course of climate change’s impact on human health. 

Areas of Interest:

• Linking basic/early biomedical science to climate-focused thinking
• Sustainability in health care systems, health care delivery outside institutions, and biomedical research
• Health impacts and health systems impacts of extreme weather events and other crises
• Outreach, communication, and education around climate and human health

Selection Process

Selection will be based on the logic of the proposed activity, its potential impact on stimulating development of effective partnerships that may influence understanding of the interplay between climate change and human health or model effective approaches to changing how people, systems, places, or organizations think about the impact of climate change on human health.

To be competitive, the proposed support should not be to fund the applicant’s current projects but should be utilized to catalyze new transdisciplinary effort. We expect to support work that brings new collaborators together, pulls fields together in new ways, or combines separate

resources into more powerful wholes. We do not expect to support work that, but for funding, is easily within an applicant’s capacity.

Proposals involving gathering people should include a description of a backup plan for proceeding if COVID-19 concerns again limit contact between participants.

Proposals will be reviewed by a standing committee within BWF with advice from expert reviewers drawn from a panel recommended by the National Academy of Medicine. BWF does not provide substantial critiques of unfunded proposals.

Submission Process

A proposal consists of material submitted through the online grant portal. Please register through the online grant portal using your institutional email. The proposal must be submitted by an eligible institution that intends to manage the proposed award. Detailed instructions can be found in the Application Instructions available through the agency website.

Applications must also be submitted through the Research Management System (RMS) to initiate internal approvals.  Please note, when the RMS record finally reaches Research Services by the internal deadline, it should contain all the relevant Department and Faculty approvals, so please allow additional time for these steps.  

Overhead

Not Applicable.

Application deadlines

RSO detailed review deadline

RSO final internal review deadline

Program application deadline

NOTE: Consult your Faculty Associate Dean (Research) (ADR) regarding Faculty-specific deadlines and submission processes.

Principal Investigators: Complete a Research Management System (RMS) record, including a copy of your complete application, and submit this for approvals in RMS.

Postdocs, students, and trainees: For fellowships and externally-sponsored research training awards or opportunities, you must complete the Research Funding Application Approval (RFAA) Trainee PDF form, and submit it, along with a complete copy of the application, to Research Services at rsotrainee@ucalgary.ca. Trainees should not use RMS at this time.

Approvals: The University of Calgary requires that all funding applications be approved prior to submission. Approval requires signatures via either RMS or the RFAA Trainee form, in the following order:

• Principal Investigator
• Department Head
• Faculty ADR/Dean
• Research Services (on behalf of the Vice-President Research)

Read the Meaning of Grant Signatures policy to understand what your approval means. Please see the agency guidelines for details about which signatures are required on your application, as it may differ from internal requirements.

Late submissions: Late submissions will only be accepted in cases of medical or family emergencies, or other exceptional circumstances. If you submit your RMS record to Research Services after the internal deadline has passed, you must secure additional approvals. Please read: Late Applications Process.

Please note that proposals will be accepted on a rolling basis through July 12, 2023. A review will be conducted quarterly. After each quarterly review, we will support, decline, or send proposals back to applicants for revision, but may hold some proposals over for a future review. Recommended revisions may include suggestions that separate groups of applicants submitting similar proposals work together to develop a single proposal or that applicants consider becoming involved in efforts aligned with work funded in earlier quarters.