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Seed Grants

Seed Grant Program

Next deadline: October 15, 2025, 11:59 pm

IPR offers seed grants to nurture and promote population research, with a focus on research that will eventually result in external funding. Seed grants can be used to collect or acquire data, conduct preliminary analyses, develop new collaborations, or other activities that help strengthen research proposals. Priority is given to research that falls within one or more of IPR's four thematic areas: (i) Family Demography; (ii) Sexual and Reproductive Health; (iii) Health and Mortality; and (iv) Adolescent to Young Adult Development. We especially value research that fits within the scientific mission of the NICHD Population Dynamics Branch. 

Interested applicants are strongly recommended to contact IPR Director Sarah Hayford before submission to ensure that their topic fits with this mission.

Applicants must be OSU faculty or have PI status at OSU. Unfortunately, we are unable to fund research activities that take place outside the United States. (Research using data collected internationally is eligible as long as all funds are spent in the U.S.)

We prioritize applications from junior faculty, from faculty new to population and health research, and from multidisciplinary groups. Applications from junior faculty should identify a faculty mentor at OSU; applicants who do not have an existing relationship may ask IPR leadership for help in identifying an appropriate mentor.

The projects are twelve months’ duration (with option for no-cost extension) and have a budget up to $40,000. R01, R21, R03, and K applications to NICHD are common outcomes.

The goal of this program is to seed projects that will eventually lead to successful proposals for external funding. The structure of seed grant projects and the activities they fund can take many forms; in particular, seed grants need not immediately result in published research products. However, all seed grant proposals should clearly describe how the activities supported by the seed grant will contribute to the development of the external proposal (for example, by providing preliminary data; by demonstrating feasibility of an approach; by furthering knowledge of a research field; etc.).

Seed grant recipients are required to acknowledge IPR in any presentations or publications resulting from the seeded project. IPR should be included as a recipient of indirect costs on any application for external funding submitted based on the seeded project.

Allowable expenses under IPR seed grants include: limited investigator salary (typically 1 month or less, academic year or summer); GRA stipend and tuition; salary for other research staff (research scientist, post-doctoral fellow); research materials, data acquisition; preliminary analysis (including software development); pilot fieldwork and instrument development; meetings with visitors and shared support for multidisciplinary teams of researchers (including travel expenses); consultation with collaborators and experts outside OSU.

The grant application includes a 6-page (maximum) description of the project, following the instructions linked below; a cover page; a budget and budget justification; and an NIH-format biosketch for each investigator. Templates can be found below: 

Seed Grant Rules and PI Responsibilities

NIH biosketch

Combine all application materials (except budget) into a single pdf and submit proposals via this submission form.

Contact Carol Bitzinger with any questions about application materials, budgets, or other aspects of the application process.

Pending available funding, IPR conducts two grant calls each year with deadlines the third Wednesday in October and the first Wednesday in March. Start dates are approximately January 1 (for October submissions) or June 1 (for March submissions), contingent on NIH and IRB approval for any human subjects research.

All text documents should use font size 11 point or larger and should have margins of 0.5 inches or more on all pages.

  1. Application cover page. (Junior faculty must identify a mentor on this page.)
  2. Proposal (following a modified NIH R03 format)
  • Summary/Abstract: suitable for IPR website and in-line with NIH agency priorities (1-2 paragraphs)
  • • Narrative: relevance to public health (1-3 sentences)
  • • For resubmissions of previously reviewed proposals: introduction explaining substantive changes made to the proposal since previous review (1 page)
  • • Aims and Study Design (maximum 6 pages)
    • Significance and innovation: How does this project build on current science? How will this advance our understanding of population and health phenomena? How will this move the field forward? This section should discuss both the significance of the larger research agenda and the contribution of the seed grant project. Clearly explain why the activities to be conducted under this seed grant are essential if you are to make an effective case for external funding and why the activities are unlikely to take place if not funded through a seed grant.
    • Approach: Describe the overall research design, including data, measures, and methods of analysis, that will accomplish the aims of the project. The methods to be used in the activities conducted under the seed grant should be described in detail. You may also want to outline the proposed methods for the larger project that will be supported by the seed grant.
    • Plans for pursuing external funding: (i) Potential sources of external funding – these should be agencies with known priority for funding this type of research. Note that in the review process, proposals regarded as having the best potential for securing NICHD funding will be favored. Specify type of funding mechanism (e.g. NIH R01). (ii) Timeline for submitting application(s).
    • Fit with mission of funding agency (Population Dynamics Branch of NICHD or other): In a brief paragraph, explain how the proposed research falls within the scientific mission of the NICHD/PDB or other target funding agency.
    • Other OSU support: Please list awards supporting this research that you have received from other OSU units: OSU unit, title, amount, dates, activities supported.
    • Mentoring plans: (for junior faculty) Justify the choice of mentor (e.g. scientific expertise, experience successfully applying for external funding), and describe the commitment of the mentor to the project (e.g. obligations mentor is prepared to assume, mechanisms through which the mentor will provide input and assistance, etc.).
    • Ohio State University: How the proposed project will take advantage of other initiatives and resources at Ohio State.
    • Budget justification (item-by-item) (no page limits)
    • References (no page limits)
  1. Budget page attachment
  2. NIH format biosketch for each investigator and mentor

The PDB Scientific Mission is to support research in demography, reproductive health, and population health:

  • In demography, the Branch supports research on the scientific study of human populations, including fertility, mortality and morbidity, migration, population distribution, nuptiality, family demography, population growth and decline, and the causes and consequences of demographic change.
  • In reproductive health, the Branch supports behavioral and social science research on sexually transmitted diseases, HIV/AIDS, family planning, and infertility.
  • In population health, the Branch supports data collection and research on human health, productivity, behavior, and development at the population level, using such methods as inferential statistics, natural experiments, policy experiments, statistical modeling, and gene/environment interaction studies.

The IPR Leadership Committee will review all applications. Criteria for review include:

  • Scientific contribution of the proposed research – both the seed grant and the larger project
  • Strength of research design
  • Prospects of success for external funding, including strength of scientific contribution; projects that have the potential for successful applications to NICHD/PDB will be prioritized
  • Clearly articulated need for seed funding
  • Fit of project with IPR’s mission and IPR’s themes
  • Contribution of project to multiple disciplines: submissions from multidisciplinary teams will be prioritized
  • Submissions from junior faculty will be prioritized
  • If the applicant has previously received an IPR seed grant, past seed grant performance will be taken into account (publications, presentations, applications for external funding, adherence to NIH public access policy, and sharing of indirects with IPR-% (stated on ePA-005).

Applicants who have received a seed grant from IPR within the last four years will be given lower priority.