Purpose
The goal of this funding opportunity announcement (FOA) is to advance the field of population dynamics research by increasing research impact, innovation, and productivity; developing junior scientists; and maximizing the efficiency of research support.
Objectives
The objectives of this initiative are to:
- Increase the scientific impact, innovation, and productivity of population dynamics research;
- Increase competitiveness for peer-reviewed external funding in population dynamics research;
- Support experiences for junior population dynamics scientists that will contribute to their research independence; and
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Maximize the efficiency of funding for population dynamics research by minimizing the financial and time burdens of providing administrative and other research support services associated with research projects.
Scope
This initiative will provide funding for population dynamics infrastructure cores at already productive population research centers. Applicant centers are expected to have a recent record of high impact, innovative scientific publications and competitiveness for peer-reviewed external funding for research within the scientific mission of the NICHD Population Dynamics Branch (PDB).
Cores
Applications must include a minimum of two research infrastructure cores, a mandatory Administrative Core plus a Development Core and/or one or more Scientific/Technical Cores. The Development Core is meant to develop junior scientists and advance new scientific research within the center. A Scientific/Technical Core is meant to provide scientific and/or technical services and/or resources to center researchers in order to enhance their research capabilities.
With the exception of the Development Core, which should focus on new projects, the cores should provide support for both existing projects and the development of new projects. The proposed cores should be effective in promoting scientific impact, innovation, productivity, and competitiveness, but need not be innovative themselves. This FOA encourages core activities promoting interdisciplinary collaborations and collaborations within and across institutions.
Enhancing Research Community Access to Shared Resources
This initiative also encourages these Strategic Plan goals among population dynamics research centers. Applicants must incorporate innovative approaches for access to P2C resources by population scientists with primary permanent appointments at institutions that are not award recipients through the NICHD Population Dynamics Centers Research Infrastructure Program. It is expected that plans for enhancing research community access will be part of each proposed Core. Examples of such activities may include facilitating the use of RDCs or other scientific/technical resources; sharing boot camps or working groups; hosting scholarly visits or scholars-in-residence; or providing mentors to population scientists outside the home institution. This list is only exemplary; other activities may meet this new component of enhancing access by those outside the applicant organization. Outside population scientists may be incorporated as individuals or collaborations may be developed at the institutional level. Activities must be tied to specific programmatic activities within each Core for which NICHD funding is being requested.
History, size, and institutional context of centers
This initiative invites applications from both recently- and long-established population dynamics research centers. This initiative is not limited to population dynamics research centers that have received previous funding from the NICHD Population Dynamics Centers Research Infrastructure Program. Funds issued through this initiative are meant to foster scientific impact, innovation, productivity, and competitiveness for peer-reviewed external funding for research within the scientific mission of PDB in the next five-year project period, not to simply reward past performance. Competitiveness for external funding includes external funding for research within the PDB scientific mission from all sources, not solely funding from PDB.
Specific Areas of Research Interest
To be responsive to this initiative, the Primary Research Areas (PRAs) identified must be within the scientific scope of NICHD Population Dynamics Branch (PDB). The PDB scientific mission is to support research, research training, and data collection in three areas:
- Demography: The scientific study of human populations, including fertility, mortality and morbidity, migration, population distribution, nuptiality, family demography, population growth and decline, and the causes and consequences of demographic change.
- Population health: Research on human health, productivity, behavior, and development at the population level, using population representative samples or policy or natural experiments.
- Reproductive health: Behavioral and social science research on family planning, infertility, sexually transmitted infections and HIV/AIDS.
Research focusing primarily on elderly populations and individuals; specific organ systems or disease conditions outside the mission of the NICHD; or social and behavioral processes without application to enhancing human health is not responsive to this initiative.
For the purposes of this initiative, "population dynamics research" and "population research" refer to research within the three areas described above. "Population" is defined as the aggregate collection of individuals in a defined geographic area, social, economic, and/or demographic group. Examples include the residents of New York City, married people in the United States, and African American children under age five. Aggregates defined by their participation in a study, program, or service or by having a diagnosis of a specific medical condition are not considered populations under this definition.
Submit your notification in the InfoReady competition to provide your contact information no later than 4:00 p.m. on the internal submission deadline:
Questions concerning the limited submissions process may be submitted to limitedsubs@psu.edu.