Arts & Health Research Team (AhRT) CFP

UofM Institute for Arts and Health is sending a call for proposals around the theme, “Building Interdisciplinary Research Studios”

Over the past year, the Institute for Arts and Health (IAH) in the University of Memphis College of Communication and Fine Arts has been establishing “studios”—interdisciplinary teams of campus and community partners engaged in building multi-project research initiatives. IAH studios combine the expertise of research scientists, subject matter experts, community stakeholders, and CCFA faculty to promote whole person health and address community illness prevention needs.

Proposed research initiatives may be in any stage of development to form a studio, but each studio should aspire to a sustained program of research supported by external funding.

IAH intends to support a diverse range of studios. Examples include, but are not limited to,  studios that intend to:

1. leverage the arts, humanities, and social sciences (inclusive of communication stud-ies) to express or communicate health experiences, risks, and resilience.
2. combine communication sciences, cognitive science, and/or the social sciences to examine causal associations between arts engagement and health.
3. employ the creative arts therapies in experimental and quasi-experimental studies of arts-based interventions.
4. utilize art and design workshops, performances, and exhibitions to elicit qualitative and quantitative data on health-related quality of life.
5. integrate the expertise of multiple disciplines to support the advancement of interdisciplinary arts and health research through training and mentoring.

IAH emphasizes research intended to benefit communities disproportionately burdened by disease risk and illness. To that end, IAH highly recommends the use of community-based participatory research methods where community engagement or benefit is a key component of the proposed research. 

Funding Amount and Period

The IAH will fund interdisciplinary project-based initiatives (studios) in the amount of $2,500 for the period December 1, 2024, to June 30, 2025. Applicants may submit proposals for new studios or proposals to advance existing studios.

Eligibility Criteria

• The PI may be any IAH board member, steering committee member, past or current collaborator on an external grant application (i.e., NIH/NCCIH U24), or member of an existing or proposed IAH studio. (Note: Proposed studios are studios for which funding is requested in this current grant round.)
• Research team members may be any qualified campus or community member aged 18 or older. Research teams must, however, include at least one CCFA tenure-track or tenured faculty member or one professor of practice.
• Research teams must consist of members from multiple academic disciplines and/or professions.
• Research teams must include plans for pursuing external funding during or soon after the stated funding period. Plans may be general (please see Guidelines, Section 4).

Eligibility Assistance

• PIs who do not currently meet the eligibility criteria can become eligible by proposing to form an IAH studio.
• For teams without a CCFA faculty member, IAH will provide networking and team building assistance during the month of October 2024.
• For assistance with either item above, please contact Dr. Mike Schmidt, IAH Director, at mschmidt@memphis.edu.

Application Guidelines

Section 1: Cover Sheet (limit one page)

• Project/initiative title
• PI and team member names, highest degrees, and affiliations (e.g., name of academic department or community organization
• One paragraph narrative
• Contact name and email

Section 2: (limit four pages)

• Background (limit two pages)
• Statement of purpose
• Statement of significance
• Specific aims (please limit to no more than three aims)

Section 3: Option A (for research projects that will be executed during the project period; limit five pages)

Project roles (names and specific responsibilities)

• Participants (inclusion and exclusion criteria, how they will be sampled, how and where they will be recruited, and any participation incentives.
• Study design
• Study procedures (high-level description is sufficient)
• Timeline (high-level description is sufficient)

Section 3: Option B (for research initiatives in early planning stages; limit five pages)

• Inputs: Describe prior work to reach this stage, e.g., interest sessions conducted, partnerships formed, problem/needs determinations completed.
• Activities: List and describe activities to be completed during the project period, e.g., networking, team building, literature reviewing and publishing, professional development, problem definition, needs determination, feasibility assessments, etc. Outputs: List and describe intended activity output, e.g., number of meetings conducted, workshops held, planning sessions completed, assessments completed, and manuscripts written.
• Project roles (names and specific responsibilities)
• Participants (e.g., participating organizations and their representatives not already listed as team members

Section 3: Option C (for program planning and evaluation proposals; limit five pages)

• Project roles (names and specific responsibilities)
• Participants (inclusion and exclusion criteria, how they will be sampled, how and where they will be recuited, and any participation incentives
• Program plans, e.g., logic model, program utilization model, program impact theory.
• Program evaluation model, e.g., Re-AIM
• Timeline

Section 4 (limit one page)

• Briefly describe how the proposed work will assist future research, i.e., how the proposed work will inform or support future external grant applications, build the team’s capacity to conduct research, or expand the team’s community understanding and reach.
• If presently known, list potential external funding sources your team would like to pursue.

Section 5 (limit one page)

• Provide a budget overview by category (not individual line items) with costs listed alongside each category. (Example: Workshop Supplies: $300.00)
• Ineligible items: Faculty extra and/or summer compensation, faculty course releases, faculty travel expenses, and student tuition or stipends.
• Eligible items include but are not limited to project, meeting, or workshop supplies; equipment; software/software licenses; datasets; study instrument licenses;  participant incentives; equipment or space rental fees; transcription, language  translation, or grant writing services; professional development seminars; and manuscript publication fees.