2025-2026 Seed Grant Funding
The Whole Health Consortium (WHC) at Virginia Tech is pleased to announce its annual funding opportunity, which aligns with our overarching goal of investigating health and well-being solutions that support people and their communities in pursuing meaningful lives.
These awards will enable researchers to form collaborative and interdisciplinary teams. The aim is to prime these teams for high-impact, community-engaged research, positioning them to compete successfully for larger, more substantial external grants such as NIH Program Projects (P Series), Center Grants (U and P Series), NSF Growing Convergence Research (GCR) Grants, Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) Grants, among others focused on advancing holistic health and well-being.
2025-2026 Priority Research Areas
This year, we are encouraging community-collaborative research that advances Whole Health across multiple levels—from biological and behavioral to social, community, environmental, and structural influences. Priority areas include:
- Mental Health - advancing prevention, resilience, and community well-being.
- Rural Health - addressing disparities in access, capacity, and the social and structural drivers of health.
- Technology for Whole Health - exploring innovations that connect clinical care, community supports, and daily life.
All proposals must include community partners and are encouraged to include individuals with lived experience.
Funding Tracks
The Consortium will offer awards in two tracks:
- Track I: Advancing Partnership
- Award amount: up to $40,000 per award
- Duration: 12 months
- Number of awards: 2
- Objective: Catalyze multidisciplinary research teams in advancing Whole Health research. Teams are expected to assemble 3-5 interconnected projects, each with unique objectives that collectively contribute to a common thematic goal. Within twelve months of completing the Advancing Partnership grant, teams are expected to submit individual or joint external proposals (targeting of more than $200,000 direct costs per year) and generate collaborative outputs, such as joint publications or other scholarly works.
- Track II: Incubating Emergent Collaborations
- Award amount: Up to $10,000 per award
- Duration: 8 months
- Number of awards: 2
- Objective: Support small-scale, high-impact projects that bring together scholars from at least two different disciplines and involve a community partner. Deliverables may include feasibility studies, proof-of-concept data, rapid needs assessment, stakeholder engagement, or initial grant proposal development. Projects should align with Whole Health goals and help position teams to pursue external funding in the future.
- Important Note: Funding for this track is generously provided in collaboration with Carilion Clinic.