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 is 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. Post-doctoral trainees are not eligible for this award.

The Career Development Awards (up to $30,000 in total direct costs, plus 53 percent for facilities and administrative costs (F&A) for up to nine months) 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 one to two 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.

UK-CARES release a Request for Applications (RFAs) for Community Engagement Projects annually. Community organizations serving southeastern Kentucky can apply for funding of up to $10,000 to support community-engaged environmental health projects.  Each application must designate at least one UK faculty collaborator. Projects must contribute to the prevention or treatment of environmentally-induced diseases in the Big Sandy, Kentucky River, and Cumberland Valley Area Development Districts. Priority areas considered for funding are air quality, water quality, healthy homes, radon exposure, and youth engaged citizen science. Projects that combine the arts and environmental health are encouraged.

If you are interested in applying, please contact Kelly.kennoy@uky.edu or call 859-323-4587. UK-CARES can help connect you with a UK faculty collaborator, if needed.

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

Early Career Investigator Award

This award is intended to support pilot studies by early stage investigators to obtain preliminary data for an extramural grant submission. This award may provide the research funds required to apply for the UK-CARES Career Development program. The maximum award will be $25,000 in direct costs which must be spent over nine months. This award is only open to investigators in the early stage of their career (NIH definition), or investigators who are transitioning into a new area. Applicants must identify a mentor to assist with the investigator’s training. Download an application here.

Innovation and High Impact Award

This award is for investigators at all stages of career development; early career, midlevel, and senior investigators, and is intended to stimulate innovation and to support pilot studies that will lead to extramural funding. Pilot grants will support projects that catalyze new research opportunities, expand research interactions with citizen scientists, volunteer faculty, or bring new dimensions to the center. The total award is limited to $50,000 in direct costs which must be spent over nine months.

Small grants of up to $10,000 are available to strengthen applications for extramural research funding (for example, NIH R- or K-awards or awards from private foundations) or address reviewer’s comments for a manuscript. For example, funds can be used for personnel support, analysis of existing biological samples or environmental sampling with existing populations. These grants are limited in duration and must be completed by March 31 of each year. Because of the short duration of these proposals, the required documentation such as IRB, IACUC, etc., must to be in place at the time of submission. This mechanism will not fund clinical trials (NIH definition). 

A comprehensive list of Equity Resources for Researchers curated by the Proposal Development Office may be found here.