Pilot Grant Program

CHHASSM's Pilot Research Grant Program provides funding for CHHASSM-affiliated investigators and fellows to pursue small, focused projects that have the potential to improve health care decisions and the ethical practice of medicine. While many types of projects are considered, the program prioritizes projects that enable awardees (especially trainees) to generate sufficient preliminary data needed for successful applications for new external funding.

Submission timing:

Calls for pilot funding opportunities are announced approximately twice a year (spring and fall). The timeline of off-cycle applications will depend upon the availability of reviewers; response times may vary, and review of such applications may be delayed until the next regular cycle.

Who should apply:

We encourage CHHASSEM investigators at all levels to apply (including Research Fellows). Emphasis will be given to pilot projects that involve collaborations among multiple CHHASSEM investigators.

Pilot Project Award Guidelines:

Topic areas: Pilot projects should emphasize one or more of the following:

• Human subjects research ethics
• Empirical research with relevance to clinical ethics
• Global bioethics
• Gender equity and/or reproductive justice
• Deliberative democratic methods
• Resource allocation
• Health equity
• Ethical, legal, and social implications of genomic medicine
• Ethical issues associated with learning health systems
• Health communication
• Risk communication
• Visualization and contextualization of health data
• Patient/provider decision making