Skip to content

Population Research Planning Grants (PRPGs)

Population Research Planning Grants (PRPGs)

Note: if applying to CSDE for matching support for another grant mechanism (e.g. PHI), please visit our Matching Support page instead.

Population Research Planning Grants (PRPGs) are designed to provide in-kind support and/or funds of up to $25k to support a wide array of activity types throughout the development of a research project. This breadth of possible expenses is part of our mission to complement rather than duplicate other campus opportunities such as the Population Health Initiative seed grants.

Examples of supportable activities:

  • Use of CSDE services beyond the standard allotments for affiliates. This could include statistical or computational consultations, administrative and logistical support, computer accounts, software purchases that contribute to the general good, virtual server capacity that contributes to the general good, communication or webinar support, etc.
  • Convening a group of scholars for a grant writing retreat or to brainstorm a possible new research collaboration
  • Hiring an RA to analyze data for discussion in the Preliminary Data section of a grant application
  • Small pilot research, when relationship to future funding requests are clearly laid out. Note that research that is well suited to an existing pilot research mechanism on campus should be submitted to that mechanism, with an optional request of matching support from CSDE.
  • Publication services (Due to a large number of requests, all applications for publication support must (1) involve at least one affiliate and one trainee; and (2) be for a journal or other venue with a clear demography focus).
  • Travel (when specifically enhancing research project development)
  • Many others; just ask!

Deadline:

Submission and review occur on a rolling basis.

Requirements:

Applicants must be a CSDE affiliate at any UW campus (the project may have any number of additional collaborators who are not UW faculty and/or affiliates).

Research involving human subjects (please read carefully!):

  • All projects involving research with human subjects will need to show evidence of IRB review or exemption status before funds can be disbursed. Information on the IRB process can be found here.
  • You will also be required to complete NIH-specific human subjects forms for CSDE’s NIH progress report, either during or after the completion of the project, depending on the dates of the study period. CSDE staff will share these forms when needed. Most notably, this will include information on the planned and/or actual distribution of research subjects by age, sex, US census race categories, and Hispanic ethnicity. For a preview of this enrollment table, see here.
  • CSDE is not able to fund research involving human subjects outside the United States through this mechanism
  • Note that secondary analysis of data that do not contain any identifiable information relating to individual participants is generally not considered human subjects research. For this to hold, nobody on the study team associated with the project we are funding can have access to identifying information. If this is the case, the project is usually considered to not be human subjects research, and you should indicate as such on the application form. For more information, see Do I Need IRB Review?
  • If your proposed project here is a piece of a larger ongoing research program and this work does not involve human subjects but the larger program does, please discuss the details with Steve Goodreau (goodreau@uw.edu) and/or Sara Curran (scurran@uw.edu) before applying.

Preference will go to:

  • Work that is leading directly to a grant submission. The larger the award, the more important it is that this plan is specific and detailed, with a timeline and a clear explanation of how the support will enhance the submission. Although any funder is acceptable, special consideration will be given to those being submitted to NIH, and especially to NICHD, and especially to the Population Dynamics Branch (PDB).
  • Work that contributes directly towards research products such as articles, conference papers, conferences, book manuscripts, or other scientific products.
  • Work that is consistent with PDB priorities
  • Proposals that relate to one or more of CSDE’s five Primary Research Areas: Demographic Measurements and Methods, Environments and Populations, Health of People and Populations, Migrations and Settlements, Wellbeing of Families and Households.
  • Proposals led by early-career investigators, by new investigators (those who have not held a large extramural grant as PI), or by mid-career faculty members who are pursuing new directions in population research.
  • Proposals that include CSDE graduate trainees.
  • Proposals that include participants from multiple disciplines.
  • Families and Households.
  • Proposals that include matching funds or in-kind services from another department or other unit.

Application process:

Because of the flexibility in the mechanism, applicants must have a preliminary conversation about their idea with one or more of the following people to ensure that the project fits within the scope of the PRPG, and/or to brainstorm other possible forms of support:

A relevant Primary Research Area (PRA) chair:

Following this conversation, applicants should prepare a proposal that explains the nature of the request in detail. This can vary in length from 1-2 paragraphs (for something like a writing retreat) to 2 pages (for small pilot funds). It should provide objectives of the proposed activity, scientific justification, relevant details, planned outcomes, budget and timeline. If relevant, it should provide as much detail as possible about the plan for subsequent grant submission.

Complete the brief form at the link below and upload the proposal and a CV/biosketch for each named participant.

Response:

  1. CSDE leadership will review the proposal, and reply to you with a response in at most one month, and typically much less.
  2. All awards will include a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), developed by CSDE and the awardee, that includes reporting requirements and deliverables relevant to the specific proposal. This MOU will then be signed by both the PI and a member of the CSDE leadership.

PRPGs Application Form

The CSDE seed grants program is supported by a Population Research Infrastructure grant from NICHD’s Population Dynamics Branch and the UW College of Arts and Sciences.