Goals

Through the Pilot Project Program, we support the next generation of environmental health scientists and further our mission of addressing community-identified environmental health issues using scientific strategies that uplift and engage communities in the Maryland region.

 

The Center commits to funding and advising projects–chosen through a competitive application process–that:​

• Authentically nurture co-creation of knowledge in community partnerships;

• Drive forward innovative environmental health research;

• Translate scientific findings into action to address community-identified challenges and concerns.

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Who can apply?

• Faculty at all stages at Johns Hopkins University and the University of Maryland

• Early-stage faculty are encouraged to apply

• Community members and Hopkins-affiliated graduate students can submit an application and be included as research team members, but cannot be the Principal Investigator (PI)

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Application Types – All up to $40,000

• Community Partnership Awards

  • ​Proposals must meet the following criteria: 1) demonstrate a Community-engaged research (CEnR) partnership between one or more faculty and one or more community organizations; 2) specify how the outputs and outcomes of the pilot project will support development of responsive, science-based, environmental health solutions to community-identified needs; and/or 3) build the capacity of faculty, students and community partners to conduct and participate in multi-directional and responsive CEnR research. These pilot awards will be awarded to any JHU or university faculty in the Maryland region working together with community partners on projects designed and conducted with the active participation of said partners.

• New Directions Grants 

  • ​To incentivize new perspectives and progress in environmental health, we seek to fund high impact, innovative projects in environmental health around the central scientific themes of the Center and to attract talented, investigators from other fields of study to explore environmental health.  We will fund Investigator-initiated innovative proposals that will result in the development of new technologies, the exploration of new scientific directions, or the creation of new collaborative teams, with the goal of submission of multi-investigator grant proposals.

• Career Development Awards 

  • To promote and support the next generation of environmental scientists whose research is focused on community engaged research, we seek to fund Early Stage Investigators in community- engaged environmental health research. Early-stage investigators (junior faculty) who have not received federal funding for their research and are committed to a career focused on CEnR may apply. Recipients of this award will be eligible for career mentoring through the Center leadership.​