Campus-Community Research Incubator

Application Deadline: September 16, 2024

Overview

The Campus-Community Research Incubator Program (CCRI) is a small funding mechanism designed to foster collaborative, research-oriented projects between university researchers and community organizations. Annually, there are two levels of grant funding available: 1. Exploratory CCRI funds $8,000-$10,000 (for research, QI, and evaluation-based applications) and 2. Mini CCRI $3,000-$5,000 (for capacity- and partnership-building applications). Potential applicants are strongly encouraged to attend a workshop to understand new funding requirements. A registration link for this workshop can be found below.

The estimated funding period is January 6, 2025 – January 5, 2026.

All applications must be submitted electronically.

Eligibility

Grants are awarded only to teams comprised of UCI researchers and community organization representatives. Applicants can be:

• 501(c)(3) community organizations located in southern California
• UCI-based researchers, including faculty, healthcare providers, post-doctoral researchers, graduate students, or senior researchers

Proposals must demonstrate an active engagement between UCI researchers and community representatives. Specifically, projects must demonstrate they are co-designed and clearly state the anticipated benefits to each partner.

All projects require regulatory compliance (e.g. UCI Human Research Institutional Review Board [IRB] approval or an exemption determination, required trainings) to be met prior to funds being released. It is recommended that the IRB application be submitted prior to final submission of this funding application. In addition to UCI IRB approval, community organizations may have their own IRB processes.

All personnel on proposals must take the Human Subjects Protections and HIPAA tutorial prior to funds being disbursed.

Tutorials: Human Subject Protection and HIPAA  https://www.citiprogram.org/Default.asp

Types of Awards

Research-, Quality Improvement-, and Evaluation-based activities: Exploratory CCRI funding $8,000-$10,000

• Activities for Exploratory funding include but are not limited to data collection, data analyses, feasibility studies, and other similar activities.
• An example of an exploratory CCRI is a study that will generate findings to be further studied or tested in a larger follow-up research study. Typically, CCRI funds are adequate to determine feasibility. Sometimes, a statistically-significant sample can be obtained, but this is not an expected outcome of CCRI-funded projects. For information on the expectations and limitations of seed grant funding, please see this article: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3081994/
• Fifty-one percent (51%) of research funds must be allocated and distributed directly to the community partner.
• We do not fund clinical trials. Answering yes to all 4 of the questions below constitutes a clinical trial.
  • Does the study involve human participants?
  • Are the participants prospectively assigned to an intervention?
  • Is the study designed to evaluate the effect of the intervention on the participants?
  • Is the effect being evaluated a health-related biomedical or behavioral outcome?
• If your project meets the definition of a clinical trial and you would like assistance to modify your project to meet the funding criteria,feel free to get in touch with our team using the contact information at the bottom of this notice.
• Similarly, if your project includes the use of human subjects, the project must be submitted to the NIH for prior approval, which can delay the start date for the project.
• Priority will be given to applications that focus on translational science (as opposed to translational research). Translational science applications focus on outcomes that are 1) generalizable across multiple diseases and 2) will make future research more efficient or effective. The project can utilize a “use case” for proof of concept. Examples of a translational science project include:
  • Project Title: Improving the conduct of clinical trial research through validation of a patient-centered approach to neurocognitive assessment. (notice there is not a disease mentioned in the title)
  • Research Roadblock: Need for a self-administered on-line neurocognitive assessment. (the neurocognitive assessment can be used across several diseases)
  • Use Case: Patients with diabetes and diabetic kidney disease (this team is testing the assessment within a population of patients with diabetes and/or kidneys disease)
  • Rationale for the project being translational science: “The results will make routine assessment of neurocognitive outcomes in clinical trials possible, leading to new insights into neurocognitive effects and/or intervention mechanisms that would otherwise have been undetected.”
  • Project Title: A data-driven approach to unraveling the contextual social determinants of health (SDoH) that drive racial/ethnic health disparities (again, no mention of a disease in the project title)
  • Research Roadblock: Need for a method to measure contextual SDoH (i.e., structural conditions of places where people live, work, play that drive racial/ethnic disparities in health). (SDoH measure can be used in a variety of situations and disease processes)
  • Use Case: Racial/ethnic disparities in antihypertensive medication treatment adherence. (this team is testing the assessment with a population of patients on antihypertensive treatment adherence)
  • Rationale for the project being translational science: “The results will illustrate the need for developing rigorous methodologies for measuring contextual SDoH to advance health disparities research.”

Capacity- and partnership-building activities: Mini CCRI $3,000-$5,000

• Capacity-building and project planning activities include but are not limited to trainings, data set organization, technology, and project development for future research.

Community-engaged research is a unique genre of research requiring specific skills, approaches, motivations, and methodologies.Working directly with community entities to conduct translational research often entails health equity/racial and economic health disparities interests. Addressing these social determinants of health requires sensitivity to- and understanding of the unique contextual circumstances driving equity disparities within specific populations. In turn, this type of research requires investment in developing relationships and trust within communities, with an eye toward long-term collaborative work. Given the specialized nature of community-engaged research, we feel it is important to clearly communicate the mission, goals,and requirements for this request for proposals and have, therefore, created an information webinar for faculty and community researchers to learn more details on application preparation.

We strongly encourage all potential applicants to join the information session on August 21 at 11 am.

Use of Funds

Two funding levels are anticipated for this round:

• Exploratory CCRI $8,000-$10,000 (for research, QI, and evaluation-based applications)
• Mini CCRI $3,000-$5,000 (for capacity- and partnership-building applications)

Funds may be used to purchase research supplies, support research assistants, or buy out an applicant’s time.

At least 51% of award funds must be distributed to the community partner to support their research activities. Community partner funds may also be used to supplement academic partner’s project activities, if necessary.

Funds may not be used to purchase food, but may be used to purchase study participant gift cards.

Funds must be spent and projects completed by January 5, 2026.

Reporting Requirement

• Awardees are required to complete documentation for an activation meeting that takes place at the beginning of funding, and must complete a report with highlights, findings, and further actions at the close of the award period: January 5, 2026.
• Awardees are required to acknowledge the ICTS in all publications and presentations.
• Awardees will meet with the Research Acceleration and Facilitation Team (RAFT) during designated months throughout their project via Zoom. More information about the RAFT process will be provided during the activation meeting.

Selection Criteria

Awards will be made competitively. In general, proposals that demonstrate the following will be given highest priority:

• Focus on integrating innovative community-based practices that accelerate discoveries toward better health and healthcare delivery and/or contribute to the understanding of clinical translational science and the social determinants of health.
• Have formed or established a partnership (an existing partnership prior to applying for CCRI). This can be a new partnership, where the project being applied for is the first co-led activity of the partnership, but the active role of both partners is required. Partnership development and fortification are a primary mission for this grant mechanism, so a special emphasis on the nature of the academic-community partnership should be apparent.
• Include a translational science component.
• Demonstrate project ingenuity/innovation.
• Have a high likelihood of meaningful positive impact (ex. changing clinical care or public health in a positive way, future research possibilities).
• We will preferentially consider proposals with in-kind support.
• Those with existing IRB approval.

The CCRI applications for research activities are rigorously reviewed by UCI faculty and community partners. Each application will have at least one review from an academic and a community member. Please be sure to clearly indicate to which funding mechanism you are applying.

Scoring for CCRI applications are based on the following:

1. Significance and impact
2. Qualifications of the PI and research team
3. Innovation
4. Approach; Scientific strength of the research design
5. Scientific environment
6. Translational nature of the project
7. Project feasibility within the proposed time frame
8. Likelihood of generating extramural funding
9. Strength/potential of the partnership

Application Components

• Research Description (Template for EXPLORATION application) (Template for CAPACITY-BUILDING application)
• Biosketch (NIH new format) of University Partner and biosketch or CV/resume of Community Partner
• Timeline (1 Page)
  • A detailed plan for completion of the project by January 5, 2026
• Letter of support from the university partner (department head) and the community partner (ED or CEO)
• Budget (itemized, 1 page maximum). Must clearly state the following:
  • Total budget for the project
  • Amount requested from the ICTS
  • Breakdown of funds to be directed to the community partner vs. university partner (remember, > 51% of funds are to be sent to the community partner)
• Budget Justification
  • Funds cannot be used to support the PI’s salary, computer purchases, or travel. Other personnel salaries are allowable.
  • No overhead will be provided for outside institutions
• ICTS Pilot Project Implementation Plan (click link to download form)
• UCI Financial Disclosure For academic partner, please be sure your annual COI has been completed.

Note: Partnered and engaged research differs in several ways from traditional research inquiry, including the time and care it takes to create and maintain mutually beneficial relationships, and the ability for partners to understand and acknowledge the expertise, contributions, and needs of the other. If you have questions about what is meant by Community-Engaged Research, would like examples of high-quality proposals, help framing your research project, and/or to discuss your idea, please contact Robynn Zender via the information below.

Robynn Zender, MS 
949-331-6593 
E-mail: rzender@hs.uci.edu

The link to submit you application can be found HERE.