Funding Opportunities

Career Development Awards are limited to full-time faculty at the rank of Assistant Professor (all title series are eligible including regular, research, clinical and special) at UK and are intended to support early career investigators as they build their capacity to design and implement innovative, studies in environmental health sciences that will lead to NIEHS pilot and extramural funding. Established investigators who are transitioning to a new environmental health-related research area are also eligible to apply. Post-doctoral trainees are not eligible for this award.

The Career Development Awards are up to $25,000 in total direct costs, plus 53% (rate at the time of the award) for Facilities and Administrative Costs (F&A) for one year and will be made on a competitive basis to support activities designed to grow the faculty member’s EHS program of research. It is anticipated that funds will be available for 1-2 awards depending on the number of meritorious applications and needs of the specific project. 

If you are interested in applying, please visit the Career Development Program page on our website.

• Purpose: This award is to support community‐academic partnerships that address critical research needs identified by community partners. The research must address an environmental health issue of significance to Appalachia.
• Funding: The award amount is up to $10,000. The amount will be shared between the community‐academic partners to accomplish the goals of the project. This award could be in conjunction to the above awards to support the community partnerships.

If you are interested in applying, please visit the Pilot Project Program page on our website. 

The UK-CARES Pilot Project Program provides three funding opportunities.

Innovation and High Impact Award

• Purpose: This award is intended to stimulate innovation and to support pilot studies that will advance the field of environmental health sciences.
• Funding: This award is up to $50,000 direct costs which must be spent over 12 months. If a community partner plans a key role in translational science, an additional amount of $5k may be requested to support the research led by the community partner.

Early-Stage/New to EHS Award

• Purpose: This award is intended to support pilot studies by early stage investigators or those new to the field of environmental health sciences.
• Funding Support: The maximum award will be $25,000 direct costs, which must be spent over 12 months. If a community partner plans a key role in science, an additional amount of $5k may be requested to support the research led by the community partner.

Community-Engaged Research Award

• Purpose: This award is to support community‐academic partnerships that address critical research needs identified by community partners. The research must address an environmental health issue of significance to Appalachia.
• Funding: The award amount is up to $10,000. The amount will be shared between the community‐academic partners to accomplish the goals of the project. This award could be in conjunction to the above awards to support the community partnerships.

If you are interested, please apply through our Pilot Project Program.

These awards are open throughout the year to enable researchers to respond to emergent environmental health issues, such as disasters. Funds can also be requested to support rapid data collection or analyses to respond to reviewer feedback for manuscript publication or grant resubmission.  This funding is open to any UK faculty member who is addressing an emergent environmental health issue or needing support for rapid response to enhance publications or grant proposals.  Funding can also be used to support development of tools, technologies or design concepts that can be used to help those affected by extreme weather events or disasters. Investigators may request up to $5,000 direct research costs. Projects must be completed by April 30, 2026. This award is intended to stimulate innovation and to support pilot studies that will lead to extramural funding.  Submissions will be reviewed and awards granted as applications are received; applicants are encouraged to apply as soon as possible because program funds might be depleted. Because of the short duration of these proposals, the required documentation such as IRB, IACUC, etc., must be in place at the time of submission. 

This mechanism will not fund clinical trials (NIH definition).

Submit your application in REDCap 

Download the Rapid Response Mini-Grants RFA