The application deadline has passed and applications are now closed.

Overview

The Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics (LDI) requests proposals for one-year pilot research grants investigating issues in health care delivery, health policy, and population health. Funding is from January-December 2025.

This Request for Proposals intended to:

• Stimulate innovative new research ideas among the Penn community 
• Encourage new collaborations between investigators from different schools, backgrounds, and disciplines
• Lead to new extramural grant funding or a new research program for the PI

Pilot proposals that help support these goals will be given preference, as will proposals that align with at least one of LDI’s priority focus areas. These areas are: (1) health care access and coverage; (2) health equity; (3) improving care for older adults; (4) the opioid epidemic; and (5) population health. We are particularly interested in proposals bringing new perspectives or interdisciplinary approaches or teams to research questions.

Information about recent LDI Small Grant awards is available here.

Eligibility

• All LDI Fellows – from any school, rank, and training program – are eligible and encouraged to apply. We welcome applications from all professions, including early-career investigators seeking to establish independent directions, established investigators pursuing new research directions, and investigators in non-clinical disciplines.
• An LDI Senior Fellow or Associate Fellow must be the principal investigator for a proposal to be eligible for funding.
  • Penn faculty without LDI affiliations are permitted to be co-investigators on proposals.
  • LDI Associate Fellows applying as principal investigators must include a detailed mentorship plan.
•  Projects that have already received funding are not eligible under this solicitation.

Selection Criteria

Proposals will be assessed against the following criteria:

• Impact. The significance of the problem, and potential for new insights into methodological, ethical, and/or policy issues in health policy and health services.
• Investigator(s). The qualifications of the PI and the background and experience of the investigator team, with particular value placed on cross-disciplinary/cross-school teams. For junior PIs, a clear mentorship plan should be delineated.
• Methods. Appropriateness and methodological rigor of the scientific plan.
• Themes. The project’s alignment with LDI’s five priority themes (health care access and coverage, health equity, improving care for older adults, the opioid epidemic, and population health).
• Potential. The likelihood the pilot project leads to new extramural grant funding and/or a robust new research program for the PI.

Other Requirements

• All investigators selected for LDI Pilot funding must eventually submit a final report to the Leonard Davis Institute at the end of the funding period. Investigators may also be requested to present their results at a research seminar at LDI and to serve as a reviewer of pilot grant applications in the future.
• Investigators must acknowledge LDI support on all publications and other products of the program and send copies of all products to LDI.

Budget

The budget for a Senior Fellow pilot project grant is limited to $20,000. The budget for an Associate Fellow pilot project grant is limited to $5,000.

Funds may be used to support LDI Associate Fellow and project staff salaries and benefits, consultant fees, data management, supplies, and other direct expenses. Funds may not support faculty salaries, or travel to meetings to present work. Equipment purchases are discouraged but can be allowed with sufficient justification. No indirect costs are permitted. No internal service center fees tied to faculty effort are permitted unless independently justified.

How to Apply

LDI Senior Fellows and Associate Fellows download the proposal template, and upload it as part of the online application form.

Please note: Do not send this proposal to the University Office of Research Services before submitting it to LDI. As a condition of funding, PIs of all approved proposals must eventually submit a letter from ORS indicating that the project meets all regulatory standards, but these approvals need not be obtained prior to submitting the proposal to LDI.

The application deadline is Monday, November 11, 2024. Awards will be announced by Monday, December 16, 2024.