Pilot Grant Program

The Center has an annual pilot grant program for novel research on provider communication about HPV vaccination.

Scope
A key activity of the Pilot Program is to encourage new collaborations across projects and cores that build new scientific insights about provider HPV vaccine communication. In the beginning years, we will prioritize applications about novel add-on studies to already planned Program data collection (e.g., trials) with later years focusing on secondary analyses of Program Project datasets and exploring new directions. To support trainees’ career development and grant writing skills, students can propose to use these funds for their dissertation research. When funds permit, we may also fund “rapid response” studies that can be submitted year-round to address emerging issues.

We encourage studies with a focus on DEI. We will not review proposals that are not responsive to research on HPV vaccine communication, broadly defined. Pilot studies must include researchers from one research project plus an additional research project or core. For this year only, we will also consider applications for a single project or core to expand the scope of the randomized clinical trial.

Application details
We aim to support 1-3 small, internal pilot studies each year to support early career researchers and expand research on HPV vaccine communication. The principal investigator (PI) must be a student, postdoctoral fellow, or faculty at any level or appointment (including research associates and senior research associates) who is associated with the Center during Year 2. Student and postdoctoral fellow PIs must identify a faculty advisor who will agree to ensure the quality of the research and appropriate management of the budget. Proposal budgets for Year 2 may be from $5,000 to $40,000 for projects from 6-12 months in length.