Funding Opportunity for One-Year Gun Research Proposals

The National Collaborative on Gun Violence Research has issued a new request for proposals (RFP) for rigorous research that will produce evidence to support development of fair and effective gun policies.

In this third grant funding cycle, the collaborative expects to award up to $1.1 million in funding, including up to four $25,000 dissertation awards and up to two $50,000 post-doctoral awards.

The collaborative is seeking proposals on a narrower scope of topics than in previous years. Applicants are asked to propose one-year research projects in four types of awards:

• New one-year research projects measuring the impacts of gun policies on the rights and interests of gun owners and users
• New one-year research projects on firearm suicides
• Dissertation or post-doctoral research awards on gun violence or its prevention
• One-year supplemental awards to expand NCGVR-funded work already underway.

Up to $225,000 has been set aside for an award to measure the tangible and nontangible impacts of gun policies on gun users. In 2020 the Collaborative funded development of a concept on this topic, and proposals under this category may implement the approach suggested in the concept paper or propose their own approaches. Funding for this award has been provided by the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation.

All research proposals must have direct relevance to firearm violence reduction in the United States and must pursue a rigorous scientific research protocol.

Director Andrew Morral said the collaborative was seeking research proposals that would provide the information needed to create programs and policies that would save lives and prevent gun violence.

“We are seeking proposals for projects that use rigorous scientific methods to investigate topics of critical importance to reducing gun violence.”

Applicants have until February 5, 2021 to submit a short letter of interest describing the proposed research. Letters will be reviewed by the Collaborative’s Research Advisory Committee before selected applicants will be invited to submit full proposals.

In the past two years, the Collaborative has invested $20 million in gun violence research across 35 research projects.

The collaborative is funded through philanthropic donations and was established in 2018 with seed funding from Arnold Ventures to help broaden research on gun violence and injuries. It is administered by the nonprofit, nonpartisan RAND Corporation.

Download the RFP