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Heartland Center for Occupational Health and Safety

Pilot Grants

Grant Proposals 

Heartland Center’s Pilot Project Research Training (PPRT) Program 

The Heartland Center’s Pilot Project Research Training (PPRT) Program welcomes proposals from Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) investigators within Federal Region VII and encourages the submission of proposals from underrepresented minority (URM) researchers.  Funding priority is given to Junior Investigators (e.g., Assistant Professors, Post-Doctoral Scholars, etc.) developing a new research initiative in an OHS area, and students pursuing a MS or PhD degree.  Research projects must be related to one of the National Occupational Research Agenda (NORA) research areas or cross-sector research areas (see https://www.cdc.gov/nora/councils/default.html) and pertain to an occupational health or safety issue. The research must be conducted in the United States.

The Aims of the PPRT follow: 

  • Provide initial support for new OHS investigators to establish novel and innovative areas of research that address NORA sector topics
  • Obtain preliminary data, utilize existing datasets, or pursue critical research gaps
  • Develop research expertise, capacity, and experience in Heartland Center students and in students from other academic programs in the region
  • Encourage investigators from other disciplines to apply their expertise in OHS research
  • Provide a regional resource (Federal Region VII) for students and new investigators interested in pursuing novel research in NORA research areas
  • Develop new partnerships and leverage existing resources and databases to address emerging health and safety concerns
  • Promote the development and translational/research-to-practice projects

2020 Funding Types

For Fiscal Year 2020, two types of projects will be awarded on a competitive basis for the period 7/1/20-6/30/21: 1) A project that can include student funding with a maximum award of $20,000 and 2) A project that does not include student funding with a maximum award of $5,000.

Application Instructions

Please see information at the link below for additional details regarding application instructions for Heartland Center’s Pilot Project Research Training (PPRT) Program pilot grant opportunities.

Pilot Grant RFA 2021 Instructions Coming Soon!