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Grants to Enhance Research on COVID-19 and the Pandemic

The President announced a new internal grant competition designed to address issues related to COVID-19 and the pandemic. COVID-19 has deeply affected how our society operates with immediate effects on how we live and work with expected long-term reverberations to last for years. The University of Houston is particularly well situated to respond to this current and long-term crisis with a program of research, scholarship, and artistic expression to address the causes, effects and consequences of COVID-19, and develop insights, actions and solutions. This program seeks bold new ideas, showing clear evidence of short-term impact and the possibility of leading to longer-term research, scholarship, or artistic expression that address the causes, effects and consequences of COVID-19 pandemic. Only proposals that meet this purpose will be considered and reviewed. Proposals are particularly encouraged in each of the four institutional research thrusts, including (1) Cyber and Physical Security; (2) Drug Discovery and Development; (3) Sustainable Communities and Infrastructure, including disaster relief and recovery; and (4) Accessible health care, including health disparities because of the disproportionate effects of the virus on communities of color. Projects do not need to be restricted to the institutional thrusts and can include other forms of scholarship and artistic expression as well as effects on business and the economy, legal issues, how people work and live now and in the future. The focus should be on the development of products that enhance our understanding of the causes and consequences of COVID-19 and lead to effective solutions. This program is not a supplement to currently funded research projects or to new faculty startup funds. Faculty are encouraged to build diverse teams and to include external stakeholders.

A total of $500,000 is available for this competition. Recognizing the broad nature of research and scholarship entailed by issues related to COVID-19 and the pandemic, proposals from all colleges and programs are encouraged. Awards will be made at two levels. The first is for small grants of up to $10,000 and are primarily designed for short-term scoped studies and pilot studies of larger multidisciplinary programs. We anticipate funding eight-12 small grants. The second is for grants of up to $70,000 for larger multidisciplinary groups. We anticipate making six-10 awards at this level.

Proposals must be submitted by Monday, August 3, 2020, before 5 p.m. No late proposals will be considered.