Request for Proposal: University-Community Partnership Research Awards


The BU Institute for Early Childhood Well-Being (EC Institute) is pleased to announce the Request for Proposals (RFP) for our 2026-2027 University-Community Partnership Research Awards (UCPRA). These seed grants support convergent research addressing new approaches for sustaining young children’s overall health, education, and well-being locally and globally through collaborations among BU early childhood researchers and community partners. We are particularly interested in proposals that address threats to early childhood well-being, including the negation of children’s human rights, impact of structural racism on children’s development and well-being, inequities among the social determinants of children’s development, health, and mental health, unequal access to high quality early care and education, chronic stress and trauma, poverty, discrimination based on class, race, sex, gender, language and religion, immigration experiences, new and emerging diseases, and the environmental consequences of global climate change that affect children’s lives.

Eligibility and funding

All BU faculty are eligible to apply for funding. Interdisciplinary collaboration from a convergent research approach is required. Convergent research is defined as a problem-driven approach that deeply integrates expertise from various disciplines to create new frameworks and knowledge to solve a specific, complex problem. The goal is to move beyond the boundaries of existing disciplines to create something new that couldn’t be achieved by working in isolation. Each proposal must involve at least two faculty researchers from different disciplines within or across BU schools or colleges and one non-BU community partner. UCPRA projects require community partners to be intricately involved not only in identifying the research problem to be examined but also throughout the research endeavor (e.g., choosing research questions, deciding on research design, discussing findings). Successful proposals will receive seed funding of up to $15,000 for a one-year project. It is expected that projects supported under this RFP will lead to a larger grant submission; specific grant mechanisms and funding agencies/foundations must be described. Awards cannot be used to support faculty salaries. EC Institute seed grant funding is not able to cover conference travel. We anticipate funding up to 4 proposals. Grant awards should be used within one year with a possible option for a no cost extension in limited circumstances.

An Application Review Committee formed by IECWB faculty affiliates and community advisors will review proposals.

Important Dates

  • RFP Announcement: September 15, 2025
  • Proposal Submitted By: November 19, 2025
  • Proposal Request for Revision: January 26, 2026
  • Proposal Revision Deadline: February 9, 2026
  • Notification Date: February 27, 2026
  • Program Start Date: March 27, 2026
  • Program End Date: April 30, 2027

About the BU Institute for Early Childhood Well-Being

The EC Institute was launched in March of 2020 to research and transform early childhood nurturing ecosystems locally and globally and to mitigate the impact of all types of adversity, including Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and broad social inequities. We define early childhood as the period from birth to eight years of age. Early childhood adversity can cause trauma and toxic stress, which in turn creates an enduring public health burden, increasing the risk of mental and physical illness in adulthood and contributing to socioeconomic and racial health disparities. Early childhood well-being means having the requisite physical, cognitive, and social-emotional capabilities necessary for realizing one’s full human potential. We are dedicated to creating holistic nurturing ecosystems integrated across disciplinary boundaries to maximize child well-being, improve inequities in child health and early education, prevent trauma, and build resilience.

Institute for Early Childhood Well-Being Priority Areas

All proposals must focus on young children birth through eight years of age. Faculty researchers can propose studies using various research designs and strategies including primary data collection, secondary data analysis, pilot prevention or intervention programs, surveys, community-based participatory research, and qualitative or mixed methods designs. The following is a list of priority areas for this funding opportunity:

  • Children’s human rights
  • Impact and/or experiences of stress and trauma
  • Poverty
  • Inequities related to social determinants of development, health, and mental health
  • Inequities in access to high quality early care and education
  • Impact of structural racism on child development and well-being
  • Immigration experiences and children’s well-being
  • Discrimination based on class, sex, gender, race, language, religion, and gender identity
  • New and emerging diseases
  • Environmental consequences of global climate change that affect children’s lives.

Submission

Please follow our RFP Guidelines 2026-2027 for submissions.

All proposals must be submitted as a single PDF and include the following relevant documents: Three- page application narrative (maximum; single space), reference page(s), letter(s) of support, budget, and investigators’ 3-page biosketches or resumes.

Contact: Questions about the RFP should be addressed to ecinstitute@bu.edu