This funding opportunity solicits applications to conduct institutional climate assessments using validated instruments and to develop action plans to create an inclusive and equitable environment in the recruitment, hiring, and advancement of faculty, including those from groups underrepresented in biomedical and behavioral research. These plans for self-studies should lead to institutional culture change by identifying perceptions, attitudes, and concerns, for example, inequities, micro-aggressions, institutional racism, and bias, and provide a foundation for the development of an action plan to enhance diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) in the hiring and advancement of faculty.

Program Objective: This NOFO will support the following activities to:

• Conduct surveys to assess the extent to which institutional climate impacts the recruitment, retention, and advancement of faculty, including those underrepresented in biomedical and behavioral research, using existing validated instruments
• Using the survey data, analyze institutional climate and structure change needs; and
• Develop action plans for institutional climate and structure change to enhance DEIA in recruiting faculty and advancing their careers.

Applications should provide baseline data about the institutional characteristics in terms of faculty as well as leadership composition (by gender, race and ethnicity, disability, faculty rank, etc.). Applicants should discuss prior efforts, including institutional climate surveys they may have already conducted. They should highlight any plans and outcomes that have arisen from these assessments, and state how earlier data complement the goals of the current application. It is critical to explain how this new proposal will either build upon or be differentiated from prior work. Applications must include an existing validated survey instrument and include multiple principal investigators.

Full Proposal Deadline: 07/01/2024, 5 pm ET
Link to FOA Here

PI Eligibility:  Individuals with the skills, knowledge, and resources necessary to carry out the proposed research as a Principal Investigator (PI) are invited to work with their organizations to develop an application. Individuals from underrepresented groups as well as individuals with disabilities are always encouraged to apply.

Institutional Limit: Organizations are restricted to submitting only one proposal in response to this solicitation.

Application Information:  All UD limited submission white papers must use this template found on the Research Office limited submission webpage. Applications not adhering to this requirement will be returned without review.

Merit Review Criteria: Internal white papers will be reviewed based on the criteria detailed in the solicitation.