Seed Grant Funding

2023-2024 Priority Area: Mental Health

For the 2023-2024 year, the Consortium's priority funding area centered on "mental health," which encompasses a wide range of topics, from emotional well-being and resilience to mental health conditions. 

The Consortium granted awards that enabled researchers to form collaborative and interdisciplinary teams and community partnerships. The aim was to prime these teams for high-impact, community-engaged research, setting the stage for them to develop research proposals robust enough to compete for larger, more substantial future 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 tackling holistic health and well-being in transformative ways.  

The Consortium offered awards in two funding tracks:

• Track 1: Advancing Partnership
  • Award amount: Ranging from $40,000-$45,000 per award
  • Duration: 12 months
  • Number of awards: 2 to 3
  • Objective: The primary objective of this planning grant is to catalyze multidisciplinary research teams in advancing mental health research. Teams applying for this grant are expected to assemble 3-5 interconnected projects. Each project should have its own unique objectives and also contribute collectively to a common thematic goal in a specific area of mental health. Teams are expected to submit individual proposals addressing each project component or joint proposals integrating two or more project areas within twelve months of completing the Advancing Partnership grant, each aiming for a minimum of $200,000 in direct costs per year and submit joint publications or other forms of collaborative scholarly output. 
       
    
• Track 2: Incubating Emergent Collaborations
  • Award amount: Up to $10,000 per award
  • Duration: 6 months
  • Number of awards: 2 to 3
  • Objective: The primary goal of this track is to support small-scale, high-impact projects that bring together scholars from at least two different disciplines and involves a community partner. This grant aims to enable researchers and organizations to develop preliminary data, proof of concept, or initial prototypes with the potential to evolve into larger initiatives eligible for substantial long-term funding. Deliverable may be in the form of mini-pilot or feasibility studies, rapid needs assessment, initial stakeholder engagement and community outreach activities, and initial grant proposal drafting. The project should align with the broader mission of advancing evidence-based research in mental health, with the long-term vision of seeking larger grants and forming a more extensive multidisciplinary team as a long-term goal.

Please stay tuned for the 2023-2024 Whole Health Consortium Seed Grant Awardees.