- Strengthen the impact of your research and scholarship
- Apply skills from all disciplines to our mission
- Network your ideas and facilitate synergy across disciplines and boundaries
Pilot Grant Opportunities
Past Pilot Grant Opportunities
2021 CHET Health Equity Pilot Grant in Partnership with the UNITE Research Priority Area
2021 CHET Health Equity Pilot Grant in Partnership with the UNITE Research Priority Area
Pilot funding will be made available to support meritorious projects that focus on identifying, reducing and/or eliminating health disparities. All applications must address how the pilot project will (1) directly contribute to achieving health equity for a vulnerable population and (2) obtain critical data to support an extramural grant submission that will promote health equity. Please follow the link in the header for eligibility requirements and more information.
2021 Substance Use Research Priority Area (SUPRA) & UNITE Research Priority Area Pilot Partnership
2021 Substance Use Research Priority Area (SUPRA) & UNITE Research Priority Area Pilot Partnership
The purpose of this pilot funding mechanism is to provide resources to support innovative, collaborative substance use research from a clinical or community research perspective with a focus on equity. Competitive applications will focus on research related to people of color. Applications should align with SUPRA’s mission: to prevent and reduce the burdens of substance use disorders through conducting and translating transdisciplinary and innovative research to inform clinical services, public health practice, and policy; and UNITE’s mission: to support research focused on disparities, health equity, and social justice that will result in impactful scholarly outputs and extramural funding for sustainability. All applications must directly address how the pilot project will lead to future extramural applications. Please follow the link in the header for eligibility requirements and more information.
2021 UNITE Research Priority Area RFA: Increasing COVID-19 Vaccine Uptake
2021 UNITE Research Priority Area RFA: Increasing COVID-19 Vaccine Uptake
A part of the United in True Racial Equity (UNITE) Research Priority Area (RPA) mission is to support research focused on disparities, health equity, and social justice that will result in impactful scholarly outputs and extramural funding for sustainability.
This notice solicits applications for projects that will utilize theory-driven, evidence-based, and culturally appropriate research methods to enhance COVID-19 testing and vaccination in minority populations in urban and rural areas of the Commonwealth. Projects that are responsive will increase vaccine uptake in Black and Hispanic/Latinx populations. Please follow the link in the header for eligibility requirements and application documents.
2021 UNITE Research Priority Area Community Engagement RFA
2021 UNITE Research Priority Area Community Engagement RFA
The UNITE Research Priority Area is sponsoring a pilot grant opportunity focused on theory-driven, evidence-based, and culturally appropriate strategies to meet critical needs identified during the UNITE Listens panel discussion earlier this year. These critical needs serve as the key priority areas for this RFA to address within communities of color in the Commonwealth. Please see the Request for Applications (RFA) for more details and instructions. A maximum of $50,000 will be awarded for a period of 18 months. Applications are due February 28, 2022.
2022 UNITE/College of Social Work RFA
2022 UNITE/College of Social Work RFA
UNITE and the College of Social Work developed a $50,000 pilot funding opportunity due 03/31/22 to support 18-month projects closely aligned with a Grand Challenge for Social Work. Proposals were sought that utilized an RCT (randomized clinical trial) design and increased underrepresented minority scholars in research.
2023 Markey Cancer Center/UNITE Pilot Grant
2023 Markey Cancer Center/UNITE Pilot Grant
Markey Cancer Center and the UNITE Research Priority Area are accepting applications for a funding opportunity focused on seeking to understand and prevent cancer, detect cancer early, and/or manage cancer treatment more accurately and effectively among underrepresented populations. Applications are due October 18, 2023. A maximum of $50,000 will be awarded for a project period of 12 months.
2023 College of Health Sciences/UNITE Pilot Grant
2023 College of Health Sciences/UNITE Pilot Grant
The UNITE RPA and College of Health Sciences provided a pilot grant funding opportunity, which is focused on improving health equity in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and beyond. A maximum of $20,000 will be awarded for a project period of 12 months.
2024 UNITE Humanities & Social Science Research Pilot Grant
2024 UNITE Humanities & Social Science Research Pilot Grant
Pilot funding is available to support projects of merit that explore equity from a humanities/humanistic social sciences lens. UNITE seeks proposals that will convene two or more scholars in pursuit of impactful work focused on equity.
Applications are due November 30, 2023. A maximum of $12,000 will be awarded for a project period of 12 months.
To access the application and instructions, please follow the link in the header.
2024 UNITE General Call for Proposals
2024 UNITE General Call for Proposals
UNITE is accepting proposals focused on generating competitive applications for external funding opportunities.
Applications are due January 31, 2024. There are three tiers of funding with this mechanism for a project period of 12 months:
Tier 1: Compact Pilot - up to $10,000
Tier 2: Standard Pilot - up to $25,000
Tier 3: High Impact Pilot - up to $50,000
To access the application and instructions, please follow the link in the header.
2024 College of Medicine/UNITE Pilot Funding
2024 College of Medicine/UNITE Pilot Funding
The Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the College of Medicine, in collaboration with the UNITE Research Priority Area, offered pilot funding to support student projects that focus on identifying, reducing, and/or eliminating health disparities.
2025 Spring UNITE Humanities Pilot Grant
2025 Spring UNITE Humanities Pilot Grant
- The UNITE Humanities Pilot Grant aims to support projects of merit from a humanities/humanistic social sciences lens. Applications are due on January 31, 2025. For more information on eligibility and application requirements, please follow the link HERE to learn more.
Pilot Grant Awardees
2023 College of Health Sciences/UNITE Pilot Grant
The following awardee was selected for the 2023 College of Health Sciences/UNITE Pilot Grant, which focused on improving health equity in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and beyond.
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Principal Investigator: Dr. Sheila Clemens Co-Investigators: Drs. Amandi Rhett, Cody McDonald Consultant: Dr. Jacqueline Siven Title: Exploring Functional Recovery and the Lived Experiences of Underrepresented Populations with Dysvascular Lower Limp Amputation: A Mixed-Methods Pilot Study College of Health Sciences |
2022 UNITE/College of Social Work RCT Pilot Grant
The following awardees were selected for the 2022 UNITE/College of Social Work RCT Pilot Grant, in which proposals utilized an RCT (randomized clinical trial) design in research.
| Principal Investigator: Dr. Antonio Garcia Collaborator: Dr. Ginny Sprang Title: COVID-19: Preparing Schools to Address Childhood Trauma Collaboration between the Colleges of Social Work and Medicine |
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Principal Investigator: Dr. Ana Maria Linares Collaborators: Drs. Sheila Barnhart, Julie Plasencia Title: Leveraging Cultural Health Beliefs and Actions to Improve Latinx Family Wellness College of Nursing |
UNITE General Pilot Grant
The following awardees were selected for the UNITE General Pilot Grant, which focused on supporting competitive projects for external funding opportunities:
2024 Spring General Pilot Grant Awardees
| Principal Investigator: Dr. Abdullah-Al-Zubaer Imran Title: DiffNA: Reliable Generative Medical AI with Conditional Noise and Anatomy Guidance College of Engineering |
| Principal Investigators: Dr. Zitsi Mirakhur and Dr. Hope Harvey Title: Identifying and Serving Students Experiencing Homelessness: Evidence from Two States College of Education |
2023 Fall General Pilot Grant Awardees
| Principal Investigator: Dr. Muhammad A.B. Siddique Title: Mitigating Bias in Pre-trained Large Language Models College of Engineering |
| Principal Investigator: Dr. Ann Kingsolver Title: Using Sedimentary Records to Understand Climate Change Impacts in Southeastern Kentucky College of Arts & Sciences |
| Principal Investigator: Dr. Justin D. Lane Co-Principal Investigator: Katherine Lynch Title: Adapting a Caregiver Coaching Model for Supporting Families of Young Children with Disabilities College of Education |
| Principal Investigator: Dr. Shemeka Thorpe Title: Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ART) for Hope: Experiences of Black Female Same-Sex Couples College of Education |
| Principal Investigator: Dr. Kristi Bartlett Co-Principal Investigator: Dr. Aanya Chugh Title: Experiences of Historically Excluded Students in Design College of Design |
2023 Spring General Pilot Grant Awardees
| Principal Investigator: Dr. Iuliia Shybalkina Co-Principal Investigator: Dr. David Agrawal Title: Race and Local Revenue Systems Martin School of Public Policy and Administration |
| Principal Investigator: Dr. Debra K. Moser Co-Investigators: Drs. Chin-Yen Lin, Jia-Rong Wu, Michael Wesley, Lovoria Williams Title: Symptom Perception in Black Patients with Heart Failure College of Nursing |
| Principal Investigator: Dr. JWells Title: Write to Motherhood: A Writing Exchange Program for Justice-Involved Mothers & Their Children College of Arts & Sciences |
| Principal Investigator: Dr. Elizabeth Rhodus Collaborator: Yolanda Jackson Title: Empowering Men to Promote Wellness and Racial Health Equity: A Pilot Project to Assess Feasibility of Health Campaigns in Community Organizations to Improve Health Equity among Aging African Americans College of Medicine |
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| Principal Investigator: Dr. Abdullah-Al-Zubaer Imran Title: Generative Dermatology AI for Bias-Free Diagnosis College of Engineering |
| Principal Investigator: Dr. Hugo Reyes-Centeno Co-investigators/Collaborators: Drs. Amber Plemons, James Hartsfield, Lorri Morford, Daniel Wescott, Sophia Mavroudas Title: Validating the Use of Heritage Blood Cards for Genomic Sequencing College of Arts & Sciences |
| Principal Investigator: Dr. Anita Lee-Post Co-Principal Investigators: Dr. Kun Huang, Dr. Holly Hapke Title: Investigating motivation and self-regulation of racially underrepresented students: A mixed methods transformative study for equitable online learning Collaboration between the College of Education and Gatton College of Business and Economics |
2022 General Pilot Grant Awardees
| Principal Investigator: Dr. Sharim Hannegan-Martinez Title: Grief in & Beyond Schools: Cultivating Culturally Responsive Grief College of Education |
| Principal Investigator: Dr. Hope Harvey Collaborator: Dr. Brielle Bryan Title: Housing Instability and Adult Wellbeing Martin School of Public Policy & Administration |
| Principal Investigator: Dr. Lauren Whitehurst Co-Investigator: Dr. Anna Smith Title: The Impact of Daily Stress Exposure on EEG-derived Sleep in Mid-life College of Arts and Sciences |
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Principal Investigator: Dr. Ana Maria Linares Co-investigator: Dr. Mary Kay Rayens Collaborators: Drs. Julie Plasencia & Sheila Barnhart Title: Familismo and Social Determinants of Health: Critical components of Exclusive Breastfeeding Disparities in Hispanic mothers Collaboration between the Colleges of Nursing; Social Work; and Agriculture, Food, & Environment (CAFE) |
2021 Community Engagement Pilot Grant
UNITE selected the following awardees for 2021 Community Engagement Pilot Grant funding, which involved an active partnership with community leaders or organizations and addressed the needs identified during the UNITE Listens discussion:
| Principal Investigator: Dr. Thais Council Co-Investigator: Dr. LeAnna T. Luney Title: A Photovoice Project Exploring How Black Girls Navigate Education and Uncertainty at Home in COVID-19 College of Education |
| Principal Investigator: Dr. Juan Canedo Co-Investigators: Drs. Pamela Hull & Mark Dignan Title: Hispanic Community Perceptions of Needs and Opportunities for Cancer Prevention and Screening in Kentucky College of Medicine |
| Principal Investigator: Dr. Fatima Espinoza Vasquez Co-Investigator: Dr. Aurora Santiago Ortiz Collaborator/Consultant: Dr. Gia Mudd-Martin Title: Co-Developing a Community Infrastructure with Lexington’s Latinx Community College of Communication and Information |
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Principal Investigator: Dr. Deirdre Dlugonski Co-Investigators: Dr. Brandi White, Dr. Johanna Hoch Title: Families Moving Together: Designing and Feasibility Testing a Community Physical Activity Intervention for Public Housing Residents College of Health Sciences |
Humanities Pilot Grant Awardees
UNITE awarded the following Humanities Collaborative Research pilot studies, which focused on research in the humanities/humanistic and social sciences:
2024 Spring Humanities Pilot Grant Awardees
| Principal Investigator: Dr. Whitney Hanley Title: Shaping Teacher Identity Through Equity Literacy Framework College of Education |
| Principal Investigator: Dr. Ruth Brown Co-Principal Investigators: Dr. Taylor Leigh and Dr. Yanira Paz Kentucky Hispanic Project College of Arts & Sciences |
| Principal Investigator: Dr. Laura Darolia Co-Principal Investigator: Dr. Daniela DiGiacomo Title: Preparation of Pre-Service Teachers for Democratic Teaching and Learning College of Education |
2023 Fall Humanities Pilot Grant Awardees
| Principal Investigator: Dr. Charlie Yi Zhang Title: Transpacific Affective Circuits: Mapping Speculative Valuation of Life, Afterlife, and No-Life College of Arts & Sciences |
| Principal Investigator: Dr. Yuha Jung Title: Unintended Consequences of Our Policy Promise in the Arts: Identifying Nonprofit Art Museum Practices toward Providing More Public Benefits College of Fine Arts |
| Principal Investigator: Dr. Peter Kalliney Title: Anticolonial Thought & Writing College of Arts & Sciences |
2022 Humanities Pilot Grant Awardees
| Principal Investigator: Dr. Sarah Geegan Collaborator: Dr. Kimberly Parker Title: Persuasion and Message Design, Help Seeking for Mental Health Among Latinx College Students College of Information and Communication |
| Principal Investigator: Dr. Jill Schinberg Collaborator: Dr. Yuha Jung Title: Measuring the Diversity of Arts and Entertainment Venue Managers: A Longitudinal Demography College of Fine Arts |
| Principal Investigator: Dr. Nikki Brown Collaborator: Jennifer Hootman Title: Expanding the Digital Archive for Documenting Racial Violence in Kentucky College of Arts & Sciences and UK Libraries |
2021 Humanities Pilot Grant Awardees
| Principal Investigator: Dr. Sihui Ke Co-Investigator: Dr. Yang Hou Collaborator: Dr. Yuyan Xia Title: Two pandemics, Two Languages: Chinese Dual Language Learners’ Resilience in Response to Discrimination Collaboration between the Colleges of Arts & Sciences; Agriculture, Food, & Environment (CAFE); and Education |
| Principal Investigator: Dr. Zachary Bray Co-Principal Investigator: Dr. Melynda Price Title: The Kentucky Monuments Workshop College of Law |
| Principal Investigator: Dr. Keiko Tanaka Co-Principal Investigators: Dr. Srimati Basu, Dr. Rong Wang, Dr. Shui-yin Sharon Yam Title: Between Model Minorities and Perpetual Foreigners: The Impact of Rising Anti-Asian Hate Crimes on AAPI Communities in Kentucky Collaboration between the College of Agriculture, Food, & Environment (CAFE) and the Colleges of Arts & Sciences and Communication & Information |
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Principal Investigator: Dr. Janice Fernheimer Co-Principal Investigators: Drs. JWells & Doug Boyd Title: The Black Women in Bourbon Oral History Collaboration between the College of Arts & Sciences and UK Libraries |
Markey Cancer Center and UNITE Pilot Grant
Markey Cancer Center and the UNITE Research Priority Area selected the following awardees for the collaborative pilot grant:
2023 Markey Cancer Center and UNITE Pilot Grant Awardee
| Principal Investigator: Dr. Delvon T. Mattingly Co-Investigators: Dr. Jessica Burris, Dr. Justin Moore, Dr. Timothy Mullett Collaborator: Dr. Darwin Conwell Title: Socioecological barriers and facilitators to lung cancer screening among Black adults who use various combustible tobacco products: Assessing the equity impact of the USPSTF lung cancer screening recommendations College of Medicine |
2022 Markey Cancer Center and UNITE Pilot Grant Awardee
| Principal Investigator: Dr. Terry Hinds, Jr. Co-Investigators: Drs. Thomas Prisinzano & Hunter Moseley Title: Glucocorticoid Receptor beta and Prostate Cancer in African Americans College of Medicine |
2021 Markey Cancer Center and UNITE Pilot Grant Awardee
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Principal Investigator: Dr. Jean Edward Co-Investigators: Dr. John D’Orazio, Dr. Kimberly Northrip, Dr. Mary Kay Rayens Title: Racial Disparities in Financial Toxicity, Cost-Related Health Literacy, and Healthcare Transitions among Adolescent and Young Adult (AYA) Cancer Survivors in Kentucky Collaboration between Colleges of Nursing and Medicine |
2021 UNITE COVID-19 Pilot Grant
The UNITE Research Priority Area is pleased to announce the 2021 UNITE COVID-19 Pilot Grant awardee:
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Principal Investigator: Dr. Kimberly A. Parker Co-Investigators: Drs. Bobi Ivanov & Diane Francis Title: The Potential for Inoculation Messages to Influence Vaccine Uptake among Underrepresented Populations College of Communication & Information |
CHET Health Equity Pilot Grant in Partnership with the UNITE RPA
The following awardee has been selected for the 2021 CHET Health Equity Pilot Grant in Partnership with the UNITE RPA:
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Principal Investigator: Dr. Shuoli Zhao Title: Are There Racial Disparities in Monthly Glucose Cycle? The Role of SNAP Participation, Payment Timing, and Food-Related Hardship on Diabetes Control College of Agriculture, Food, & Environment (CAFE) |
SUPRA Pilot Grant in Partnership with the UNITE RPA
The following awardee has been selected for the 2021 SUPRA Pilot Grant in Partnership with the UNITE RPA:
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Principal Investigator: Dr. TK Logan Title: Exploring the Impact of COVID-Related Stressors, Substance Abuse, and Firearm-Related Risks Among Black, Hispanic, and White Young Adults College of Medicine |
Igniting Research Collaborations
The following awardees were selected for the 2020 Igniting Research Collaborations program, in partnership with UNITE:
| Principal Investigator: Dr. Fatima Espinoza Vasquez Topic: Developing an Emergency Sociotechnical Infrastructure with Lexington's Latinx Community Collaboration between Colleges of Communication & Information and Nursing |
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Principal Investigator: Dr. Jaleesa Wells Topic: Stimulating Higher Education Leadership Progression - An Institutional Framework for BIPOCs Collaboration between Colleges of Fine Arts; Agriculture, Food, & Environment (CAFE); Arts & Sciences; and Education |