Learn about a new NIH initiative and five new funding opportunities to study the impact of climate change on human health. Investigators working in the areas of allergy or infectious diseases have a significant role to play in advancing this field of research.
The NIH Climate Change and Health (CCH) Initiative prioritizes research to address health issues impacted by climate change, including asthma, respiratory allergies and airway diseases, vector-borne and zoonotic diseases, and waterborne diseases—all of which fit squarely within NIAID’s scientific mission. NIAID already funds more than 40 ongoing research projects that are directly relevant to understanding and mitigating the health impact of climate change.
To support CCH areas of science, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), NIAID, and other NIH institutes and centers (ICs) issued the following funding opportunities:
RFA-ES-22-003, Research Coordinating Center To Support Climate Change and Health Community of Practice (U24, Clinical Trial Not Allowed)
- The successful applicant will create a Research Coordinating Center to support the development of an NIH CCH Community of Practice. Center staff will manage and support current CCH research and capacity building efforts and support the long-term expansion of the Community of Practice.
- Your budget request is limited to $2.25 million in total costs each year for up to three years.
- Applications are due August 25, 2022. Your optional Letter of Intent is due by July 25, 2022.
NOT-ES-22-006, Notice of Special Interest (NOSI)—Climate Change and Health
- Supports research to address the impact of climate change on health and well-being over the lifespan.
- Check the NIAID areas of interest section of the NOSI for a complete list of topic examples, including:
- The impact of environmental and ecologic factors affected by climate change on the breeding, size, distribution, range, or spread of populations of insect vectors of human disease or intermediate hosts of pathogens responsible for human disease
- The impact of climate change-associated variations (e.g., in environmental and ecologic conditions) on the reproductive capacity, virulence, transmissibility, and epidemiology of pathogenic microbes
- The impacts of climate change on drinking water infrastructure and enhanced risks of waterborne diseases (e.g., flooding of sewage systems due to excessive rainfall that alters the epidemiology of zoonoses and enteropathogenic disease)
- Populations affected by allergic and infectious diseases likely to change in incidence or prevalence due to climate change (e.g., epidemiological studies to evaluate the likely effects of climate change on the burden of these diseases)
- The NOSI’s Application and Submission Table lists a number of associated parent funding opportunity announcements (FOAs), each with different due dates and participating NIH ICs.
- These NOSIs encourage grant applications from small businesses to develop commercializable tools, resources, and approaches to:
- Capture the effects of climate change and the associated impacts of extreme weather events on human health.
- Support adaptation or mitigation strategies to minimize health hazards and impacts from climate change.
- Check the NIAID areas of interest section in each NOSI for topic examples.
- The first application due date for both NOSIs is September 5, 2022.
There is a fifth CCH opportunity in which NIAID is not participating: NOT-TW-22-003, Notice of Special Interest (NOSI): Climate Change and Health Administrative Supplements. Current grantees with awards through one of the participating ICs are eligible to apply.
- Provides administrative supplements for current grantees to enrich and expand the Specific Aims of the parent grant.
- The parent grant should not be in the first or last year of the project period.
- Applications are due by July 27, 2022, at 5 p.m. local time of the applicant organization.
For the four NOSIs above, you will apply through one of the parent announcement FOAs listed in the NOSI. Be sure to write the NOSI’s number (shown in bold above) in the Agency Routing Identifier field (box 4B) of the SF 424 R&R form.
Direct your application questions to the scientific/research, peer review, and financial/grants management contacts listed in your chosen funding opportunity notice.
Learn more about the Climate Change and Health Initiative, check out Seminar Series recordings, and explore the CCH Literature Portal.