Early Career Funding Program

Overview

The Lee Kum Sheung Center for Health and Happiness is pleased to announce that it is now accepting proposals from Harvard University graduate students (master’s and doctoral) and early career researchers (postdoctoral fellows, research associates, and research scientists) for seed grant research funding. The funding will support pioneering research at early stages of development that focuses on positive health science or communication and translation sciences related to positive health science. This program is similar to our Innovations in Positive Health grant but focuses exclusively on researchers who are in the early stage of their career. 

Awards will be granted for up to $5,000. Funding can be used to cover research-related expenses, such as: supporting a research assistant, access to existing data, data collection activities, and research-related travel (with prior approval). Both domestic-based and international research will be considered. The number of awards will depend on the number of applications received.

Eligibility

This is a competitive grant program. It is open to all Harvard graduate students (master’s and doctoral) and early career researchers (postdoctoral fellows, research associates, and research scientists) who are within five years of obtaining a PhD. Faculty members are not eligible to apply. If you are unsure about your eligibility, please contact Jaime Mchunu at jmchunu@hsph.harvard.edu

Projects will be prioritized for funding when they: 1) integrate the theories, questions, and methods of two or more disciplines and 2) involve high payoff in terms of opening new areas of inquiry or provide crucial preliminary data for preparing larger grant proposals.

This year, the Center is encouraging applications that focus on:
(1) prosocial behaviors (e.g. kindness, compassion, empathy) and health outcomes;
(2) health equity and positive well-being; and
(3) social media and its impact on health and well-being.

Although these areas are of particular interest to the Center, applications that focus on other areas of positive health science will also be considered.

Applications are now closed. 

2021 Early Career Seed Grant Recipients