APPLICATION | Grants

Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future
Faculty and Student Innovation Grants 2009 - 2010

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS

Application due: Friday, July 24, 2009

Printable Version

I. Purpose

The Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future (CLF) supports innovative, interdisciplinary / interdepartmental study by Johns Hopkins University faculty, fellows and graduate students. The overall purpose of these grants is to encourage new, visionary work that focuses on how to achieve a livable future improving food systems and health for all while using natural resources sustainably and leaving a world fit for future generations.

These grants are designed to foster research collaboration across disciplines and to support the development of original, innovative and policy-relevant research, policy analysis, and program evaluation. The grants are intended to assist JHU faculty, fellows and graduate students in developing careers investigating interdisciplinary topics relevant to linkages among diet, food production, environment and public health, and to provide seed money for innovative projects that will generate data important in securing funding from other granting sources.

While continuing to support research on relevant topics generated by investigators and on general topics suggested by CLF this year we are also highlighting several high-priority topics (see bolded items in the list of objectives). By highlighting these topics, we aim to build on expertise at the school and to stimulate new research in areas where we see both substantial gaps and substantial potential for impact. We also urge applicants to note that this grants program is intended for new work, and priority will be given to work that explores for the first time new research questions relevant to sustainable food systems.

CLF Innovation Grants will be awarded for research projects lasting up to 18 months. Most grants will be awarded in amounts up to $20,000. A few grants may be funded at up to $40,000, particularly for applications that address CLF's high-priority topics.

CLF Concept Model

These grants promote innovative, interdisciplinary research, including synthesis of information, on the challenges of creating sustainable food systems and the complex interactions among diet and consumption; human health; food production and food security; equity; the natural environment; and the world's resources. These interactions are represented in the CLF concept model above.

Proposal Topics: Applications in the following areas will be given preference, especially those designated "high priority"

• The public health, environmental, economic, social, occupational and policy implications of industrial food animal production (IFAP) and other forms of industrial agriculture, including:
  • Public health impacts of industrial food animal production on disadvantaged populations;
  • Public health implications of industrial aquaculture and investigation of sustainable alternatives;
  • Water and industrial agriculture, including competition for water and contamination of water;
• The environmental, economic, social and health impacts of current food systems in the U.S. and/or abroad, including:
  • Food system impacts of converging crises of climate, fuel, and water;
  • Food system contributions to climate change;
• Sustainable alternatives to current food systems, including methods of food production in the U.S. and/or abroad, including:
  • Public health implications of sustainable food production methods;
  • Program evaluations of alternative food system interventions;
• Effective health promotion, social intervention, and policy approaches to help improve food systems and dietary choices, including:
  • Innovative approaches to increasing access to healthy food in urban areas;
  • Efficacy and effectiveness of behavior change interventions consistent with the Healthy Monday campaign;
  • Analysis of social mobilization strategies relevant to changing food systems and industrial food animal production
• Appropriate food choices for ecological and human health, including the consequences of a diet high in animal protein;

Information about CLF Innovation Grants awarded in previous years is available on the CLF website.

Please contact Amanda Behrens if further explanation is needed.

• Full-time JHU faculty, fellows and graduate students (including Master's degree students) will be given priority, although adjunct faculty may also apply. The proposed work may include collaboration with colleagues outside of JHU.

• Proposals that emphasize interdisciplinary and collaborative work between or among investigators will be given priority. Individual investigators with proposals in a single discipline are also eligible to apply.

• The Innovation Grants are designed to support new work, rather than to supplement ongoing work.

• Support for dissertation work by doctoral students is intended for new doctoral proposals. Please contact CLF with any questions.

• Proposals related to previously funded work and / or additional funding will be considered only through re-application, in competition with submitted applications for the following year.

• Current CLF Predoctoral Fellows are not eligible for Innovation Grant funding and should approach CLF directly to request additional funding if needed.

• The project period for this grant has been expanded from 12 months to 18 months. Under this new structure, it is expected that projects will be completed within the grant period. Requests for no-cost extensions will be entertained only in unusual circumstances.

• Grant funds may be used to support the research or scholarly endeavors of Johns Hopkins faculty members, fellows and graduate students; for technical support, research activities, research equipment, travel required to collect data, and costs associated with library research.

• Salary to support an individual faculty investigator may be requested if matching funds are available from the department over and above usual general fund support. A letter from the department chair detailing this commitment must accompany the proposal.

• Students may apply for stipend support. The student's department is not required to match these funds. A letter of support for the proposed project is required from the student's research advisor, academic advisor (if different from research advisor) and department chair.

Innovation Grant funds are allocated to cover activities per the applicant's proposal for up to 18 months.

V.Grant Recipient Reporting Requirements

All Innovation Grant recipients are expected to submit the following to CLF:

• A bio statement for the CLF website and general bio updates (in response to periodic requests)

• Detailed progress reports of work status should be submitted at six months and, for those projects not yet completed, at 12 months as well.

• A written final report of the project (20 double-spaced pages maximum) for a general academic audience submitted at the end of the project.
• A detailed budget accounting for use of grant funds is due at the end of the project.

• Notification of other outcomes from the project published papers, talks, collaborations, awards, additional funding secured.

• A written summary and an oral presentation for a general academic audience at a CLF research symposium may be requested.

This section should clearly state how the proposed project would contribute to achieving a livable future. Since the reviewers are from various academic disciplines in both sciences and humanities, please define all terms that are not in common use outside the field.

NOTE: Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval is not required at the time of application. If the research involves human subjects, please include a discussion of issues relating to human subjects in the methods section. Grants will not be awarded until notification has been received that IRB approval has been granted.

FIGURES AND REFERENCES

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES

Include a biographical sketch for each investigator, modeled after the NIH 398 application.

BUDGET DESCRIPTION AND JUSTIFICATION (One page is sufficient)

• Major categories salaries, staff, equipment, etc., with details.
• Rationale for each budget category (i.e., explain why CLF funding is necessary).
• If you are requesting a sum greater than $20,000, please directly comment on the need for and benefit of receiving this extra funding beyond the usual Innovation Grant amount.

OTHER SOURCES OF SUPPORT (One page)

• Indicate how CLF funds might be matched by granting agencies or donors.
• Explain how CLF funding could promote subsequent support from other institutions.
• List other grant applications pending for this project.

LETTERS OF SUPPORT FROM THE FOLLOWING:

ADDITIONAL FUNDING AND/OR RELATED PROJECT APPLICATIONS

Include a two-page progress report and the reasons that additional funding is requested.

All grant applications will be reviewed by an interdisciplinary review committee, comprised of members of the JHU faculty and CLF senior staff. The committee may request an external review for proposals involving research outside the expertise of the committee. The applications will be judged on the following criteria:

1. Scholarly merit?including design, methodology and originality.

2. Expertise of the investigator(s).

3. Adequacy and appropriateness of the proposed budget.

4. Degree of relevance to the CLF Innovation Grant purpose and research objectives, as outlined in the Purpose and Objective sections of this RFP.

5. Degree to which the proposed work will:

• Promote interdisciplinary research, synthesis or policy development related to issues of sustainability and the priority objectives.
• Contribute to developing solutions to achieve a livable future.
• Support careers that focus on topics related to sustainability.

The completed application must be received by 5p.m., Friday, July 24, 2009, in both hard copy and emailed as a Word document sent to:

Amanda Behrens, MS, MPH
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
615 N. Wolfe Street, E2150
Baltimore, MD 21205-2179
Email: abehrens@jhsph.edu

For further information contact:
Amanda Behrens
Tel: 410-502-7578 Fax: 410-502-7579?
Email:abehrens@jhsph.edu

Applicants will be notified of the status of their application by October 1, 2009.

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