Call for Applications for Applicants from Underrepresented Minority Backgrounds

The primary objective of this request for applications is to support the development of innovative research in nutrition and obesity at UNC-Chapel Hill. This award cycle is specifically designed for researchers from underrepresented minority (URM) backgrounds at UNC-CH to collect preliminary data that supports a grant application for independent research support and published work.

The UNC NORC will award one grant of $40,000 in direct costs. Projects may be biomedical, epidemiological, or clinical. They may include laboratory or non-laboratory research projects that focus either on human nutrition, animal work that could be translated to human nutrition, or basic research related to nutrition or obesity. Human nutrition or human obesity projects may focus on inpatient or outpatient studies or on epidemiological or community-based research that is social or behavioral in nature.

To support their projects, investigators are strongly encouraged to use one or more of the services offered by the four UNC NORC cores. We welcome applications intended to generate pilot data that will address reviewers’ comments from recently scored grants.

Pilot Award Eligibility

Faculty members and senior postdoctoral scholars at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who identify as a member of an underrepresented group and who fall into one of the following three categories are eligible to apply:

1. Applicants must be new investigators without current or past NIH research support (R01, P01 or R24) as a PD/PI. Current or past K01 awards are acceptable. OR
2. Applicants must be established, funded investigators with no previous work in nutritional sciences and/or obesity and who wish to test the applicability of their expertise to a nutritional science and/or obesity-related problem. OR
3. Applicants must be established investigators in nutrition/obesity research who propose testing innovative ideas that represent a clear departure from their ongoing research interests.

Pre-Proposal Deadline: November 1, 2021

Interested applicants must first submit a pre-proposal application and an NIH biosketch by 5:00 PM on Monday, November 1, 2021. Submit your biosketch as a PDF and complete the online pre-proposal application here.

Applicants are encouraged to identify a mentor at UNC in advance of preparing the pre-proposal application. Each pre-proposal will be reviewed by a primary and a secondary reviewer who have expertise in the applicant’s field. Applicants will be notified no later than Friday, November 19.

Selected investigators will be invited to submit a full proposal for final consideration by 5:00 PM on Friday, January 7, 2022.

Contact Us

T: (919) 962-0948

E: NORC_admin@unc.edu