Environmental health science research funding available

Funds are available for research on the impacts of environmental issues on human health.

The UC Davis Environmental Health Sciences Center invites UC ANR scientists to apply for research funds.

Environmental health science is a branch of public health that is focused on environmental determinants of health.

“This funding is intended to support researchers who are new to EHS to get preliminary data that they can use to pursue larger funding opportunities,” said Shosha Capps, associate director for community engagement. “We highly encourage a community-engaged approach, and part of my job is to support researchers to form effective partnerships with communities in the Central Valley that are impacted by their work.”

“A lot of the topic areas we fund research in are also of interest to folks at ANR, including pesticide use (from a human health perspective), air quality, and water quality and quantity,” said Capps, formerly of the UC Sustainable Agricultural Research and Education Program. “Plus ANR affiliates are already going to be oriented toward applied research and working directly with the communities impacted by their research.”

A list of this year's community research priorities, as well as projects funded in the past, is at https://environmentalhealth.ucdavis.edu/scientists/funding-opportunities/pilot-projects-program.

“A lot of them are in the fields of toxicology, exposure science and epidemiology, but EHS is a multidisciplinary field and we're hoping to reach beyond the usual disciplines this year,” Capps said. 

She encourages UC ANR academics to apply with a partner; for example, collaborating with a health researcher to look at the impacts of environmental issues on the health and well-being of farmworkers, farmers or rural communities. 

“If someone at ANR works with a community partner who has brought these kinds of issues up as priorities, but they feel it's beyond their expertise, they could refer the community partner to me, and I could try to match them to an appropriate EHS researcher,” Capps said.

For more information, contact Capps at sacapps@ucdavis.edu or (864) 952-9210.

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