2027 Global Health Research Seed Funding Grant

The AAPM Global Health Research Seed Funding Grant helps investigators develop promising, investigator-initiated research concepts focused on global health. The grant is intended to support work that leads to successful longer-term project funding from the NIH or equivalent funding sources.

Sponsored by the AAPM International Council through the AAPM Education & Research Fund.

► Got questions? Find answers in the Global Health Research Seed Grant Frequently Asked Questions

►  A research project description template is available here.

    Program Highlights:

    • Award: $25,000 for a 12-month project period. Funding begins August 31 of the award year.
    • Eligible expenses: Research-related costs, including travel to scientific meetings, and partial salary support for students, trainees, lab technicians and other personnel carrying out the research. Travel expenses should be included in the submitted budget.
    • Not supported: Salary support for the applicant and indirect costs.
    • Reporting: At the end of the 12-month period, recipients must submit a report to AAPM with itemized expenses. Any unspent funds should be returned to AAPM.
    • Presentation: Research results will be submitted for presentation at future AAPM meetings.
    • Other funding sources: Applicants should notify the grant administrator if the same or a similar application is submitted to more than one funding source, so the committee can take this into consideration when making final funding decisions.

    Research Focus:

    Examples of global health research include, but are not limited to:

    • Telemedicine: For example, remote planning of radiotherapy or AI-supported automatic cancer prediction from screening data of cancers common in resource-limited settings.
    • Low-cost technologies for diagnostics and treatment: For example, auto-contouring of clinical targets applied to clinical trials in resource-limited settings.
    • Enhancement or dissemination of existing global health research resources: For example, AAPM GRSIC open-source tools or global clinical trial data.

    Applications that align with AAPM’s strategic priorities are especially encouraged, particularly in the following areas:

    • Strategic Priority 1: Global health research in emerging medical physics fields, such as radiopharmaceutical therapies, that expands beyond radiology and radiation oncology.
    • Strategic Priority 2: Global health research in computational physics that integrates AI, machine learning or digital twin (DT) technologies.

    AAPM Membership

    • Applicants must be AAPM members (any membership category) at the time of application. Non-members and applicants whose membership is pending are not eligible.
    • Applicants who are not yet members should apply for membership well in advance. The process can take up to six weeks.

    Funding History

    • Applicants may not have received a previous grant greater than $50,000 as principal investigator. This includes institutional startup funding, industry awards and other external grants.
    • Previous recipients of any AAPM Global Health Research Seed Grant are not eligible.
    • Previously funded projects are not eligible.

    Concurrent Submissions

    Applicants to the 2027 AAPM Global Health Research Seed Grant may not also apply to the 2027 AAPM Research Seed Grant or the 2027 ASTRO-AAPM Research Seed Grant in the same cycle. Submitting to either of these opportunities will result in automatic disqualification of the applicant’s 2027 AAPM Research Seed Grant application. 

    Application Questions

    • Three keywords related to the proposed topic
    • Project title
    • PI’s major research area 
    • Mentor and the mentor’s role in the project (if applicable)
    • Brief project description and its relevance to global health research (300-word limit). Projects focusing on global health education are eligible but should include strong research components.

    Uploads

    • Full Proposal: A description of the research project of no more than five pages, including figures and tables (literature cited does not count toward the page limit). Combine all sections into one PDF and upload:
      • Specific aims
      • Background and significance
      • Preliminary results
      • Research plan
      • Literature cited
    • Budget
    • Letter of support from the division or department chair, confirming support for the project and authorizing the time and resources needed to complete the proposed research
    • CV (no more than four pages)

    Note:

    As the competition for the seed grant is high, eligible applicants are encouraged to also submit their applications for other awards, e.g. www.cancer.gov/researchandfunding/training/.

    Review Criteria:

    Peer review will be conducted by members of the Global Research Collaboration Subcommittee (GRCSC) of the Global Research and Scientific Innovation Committee (GRSIC). The scientific merit of the proposal will be judged based on significance to global health, qualifications of the investigator, innovation, soundness of approach, research environment, and potential for future funding. Applications that include co-investigators from resource-limited settings are particularly encouraged.

    Award Duration:

    August 31, 2027 – August 31, 2028

    Application Deadline(s):

    ► Full Application: Thursday, April 15, 2027, 11:59 PM ET

    ► Decision Notices: sent on or around June 2, 2027

    Program Contact: grantsandfellowships@aapm.org

     

     

    Closed