NIH Grant Funding for Firearms Injury and Mortality Prevention Research

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has issued an invitation to researchers who currently hold an R01 or R21 grant to expand the focus of their research to include firearms research. Research topics encouraged by the NIH notice include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Improve the ability to identify individuals at risk for firearm injury and mortality (victims and perpetrators), including suicide, homicide, and accidental injury and mortality.
• Develop, validate, and study implementation procedures, particularly for healthcare systems (including emergency departments and primary care) to determine who should be screened and how to screen accurately and efficiently for risk of firearm injury and mortality.
• Improve understanding of developmental and contextual factors associated with firearm injury and mortality that extends individual risk assessment to include situational factors.
• Understand potential factors that could be enhanced to reduce the negative effects of risk exposure (e.g., resilience).
• Develop and pilot test innovative and culturally competent interventions delivered online, in healthcare, and/or community settings to prevent injury and mortality and revictimization/repeat injury or retaliatory firearm violence among those at risk. Interventions that involve multiple levels and sectors are encouraged.
• Conduct implementation research with existing evidence-based interventions to assess barriers at multiple levels and improve fidelity, adherence, and adoption of these programs.
• Study precision public health questions to determine for whom various firearm injury and mortality prevention programs are likely to be most effective.
• Assess the impact of combining public health and criminal justice (crime prevention) approaches to reduce firearm injury and mortality.

NIH’s interest in firearms research results from a directive from Congress, which in its 2020 appropriations recommended “NIH take a comprehensive approach to studying the underlying causes and evidence-based methods of prevention of firearm injury, including crime prevention.” Read more about this in the APS Observer article from March, Funding for Gun-Violence Research Ends 20-Year Drought.

The deadline to apply is May 15, 2020.

Those interested in this topic should visit NIH’s “Notice of Special Interest (NOSI): Competitive Revisions for Firearms Injury and Mortality Prevention Research.”