CALL FOR PARTICIPATION
Public Health Collaboration Grants 2026
Ideas to Impact
Public Health Research Center (PHRC)
University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC)
Due Date: November 17, 2025
Overview
What happens when faculty from different disciplines/fields come together to explore public health? The Public Health Collaboration Grants 2026 are designed to answer this question! This opportunity invites all full-time CAHSS faculty from the social sciences, humanities, and arts disciplines to explore unexpected connections in their interdisciplinary expertise with the aim of developing novel public health research questions. Faculty with ongoing health research projects, as well as those with absolutely no prior health research experience, are welcome to participate.
The PHRC Collaboration Grants 2026 program offers a supportive cohort model to help interdisciplinary teams of faculty develop and submit competitive proposals for external funding. The five selected faculty teams will meet as a cohort monthly from January through April 2026 for facilitated workshops, writing time, and peer feedback. Team members will receive salary support for summer 2026 and present a project update in a mini symposium to cohort members, PHRC staff, and CAHSS dean’s office staff in August 2026. By the end of the program, faculty teams will have both a well-prepared submission ready application and a community of colleagues for future success.
As part of this initiative, applicants will propose a team of two to four CAHSS faculty who will collaboratively submit a future externally funded public health grant. Need help identifying collaborator(s) for a faculty team? Participate in our October Research Meet-Ups or just contact us.
Grant Submission Procedures: Public Health Collaboration Grants
Due Date: Mon. Nov. 17th 2025
Decisions: Dec. 15, 2025
Submit Application to: PHRC@umbc.edu
Eligibility
All full-time CAHSS faculty members are eligible to participate in these collaborative teams and grant submission. Prior awardees of PHRC grants are not eligible this round. Priority given to faculty without current UMBC internal research funding/fellowships.
Application Components
- Cover Page: project title, collaborating faculty names, department affiliations, and email addresses.
- Proposal: A 2-page project summary (Single-spaced) outlining specific aims, methods, expected outcomes, and public health connection. Projects may range from idea development to grant phase to re-submissions of grant applications.
3. Specify your intended external grant opportunities & submission timeline. External grant submission should be by Aug. 15, 2026.
4. Current CV for each faculty collaborator.
Evaluation Criteria
The goal of the PHRC Public Health Collaboration Grant Program is to increase the number and overall competitiveness of collaborative external grant submissions broadly in public health.
The major review criteria are:
1. CAHSS Faculty collaborators: Priority for cross-field or cross-department collaborations
2. Significance & Innovation: Importance of the problem and novelty of approach
3. Approach & Feasibility: Soundness of methods, clarity of aims, feasible plan
4. Clarity of grant proposal description: Clear, compelling, aligned with funder priorities
5. Readiness to submit external grant proposal by Aug. 15, 2026
6. Availability to participate in cohort sessions from January to April and August session.
Awards
This program provides summer 2026 stipends to faculty teams. Selected faculty teams will participate in facilitated monthly sessions with other faculty teams to develop their grant proposals with the submission to an external funding source by August 15, 2026. Faculty stipends are awarded based on team size: $5,000 per person for two-person teams; $3,333 per person for three-person teams; and $2,500 per person for four-person teams. Funding will be disbursed in the summer based on demonstrated progress toward the grant submission goal. Funding is limited to the faculty summer stipend.
For Questions: John G. Schumacher, PHRC Director, jschuma@umbc.edu