Deadline:

May 19, 2009 - Closed

Program Area:

Public Health

Purpose:

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) seeks to build the evidence for and strengthen the use of regulatory, legal and policy solutions to improve public health. The effective application of law—which includes statutes, regulations, case law and policies—is essential to the protection and promotion of the public’s health. As public health practitioners, policy-makers and others consider the use of law as a tool to improve the public’s health, it is important to have evidence to inform questions such as: How does law influence health and health behavior? Which laws have the greatest impact? Can current laws be made more effective through better implementation or amendment?

RWJF is launching this program to build a field of research and practice in public health law. Learn more in the news release.

Program Information:

• Call for Proposals


• Overview (PDF)

Eligibility & Selection Criteria:

Preference will be given to those applicant organizations that are either public entities or nonprofit organizations that are tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Applicant organizations must be based in the United States or its territories at the time of application. The focus of this program is the United States; studies in other countries will be considered only to the extent they may directly inform U.S. law and policy.

All proposals will be assessed by a committee composed of RWJF staff, national program office (NPO) staff at the Center for Health Law, Policy and Practice at Temple University Beasley School of Law, a national advisory panel and other expert reviewers. The committee will use the following criteria to assess proposals:

• Significant public health problem and the impact of legal measures on health addressed.
• The effective collaboration between public health and legal researchers and/or practitioners.
• The potential impact of study results on the development, crafting and implementation of laws and policies that positively impact population health.
• Translation to the practice community and policy-makers.
• Ability of the study to advance methods in public health law research in general.
• Adequacy of personnel and resources to complete the proposed project.

Key Dates:

• April 8, 2009 (2:30–3:30 p.m. ET) and April 29, 2009 (10:30–11:30 a.m. ET)—Informational Web conference calls. Interested participants can register at www.publichealthlawresearch.org.
• May 19, 2009 (3 p.m. ET)—Deadline for receipt of brief proposals.
• July 13, 2009—Applicants notified if invited to submit full proposals.
• August 11, 2009 (3 p.m. ET)—Deadline for receipt of full proposals.
• September 2009—Notification of awards.
• December 2009—Funding initiated.

Total Award:

Approximately $3.5 million will be awarded for two types of research grants.

Short-term studies: Up to18-month awards of up to $150,000 each.

Complex and comprehensive legal and public health studies: Up to 30-month awards of up to $400,000 each.

Contact:

Public Health Law Research Grant Solicitation Helpdesk
phlr@temple.edu
Office: (215) 204-2134
www.publichealthlawresearch.org

Related Materials:

• View Program FAQs