The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has announced a funding program to support case studies of accountable care organizations, a type of healthcare delivery and payment system reform. The term "accountable care organization" generally describes a coordinated network of providers with shared responsibility for providing high quality and low cost care to their patients. The grant program is designed to support case studies that examine facilitators and barriers to the success of select ACOs, including an overview of each ACO's market, environmental, and organizational contexts. The case studies also should examine the potential effects of the ACOs on a variety of outcomes, including clinical quality, cost, patient experience, and disparities. The foundation is particularly interested in supporting case studies about ACOs that have developed among safety net providers in order to understand their potential impact on vulnerable and diverse populations. Click here for more information. 

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is issued by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), National Cancer Institute (NCI), National Institute on Aging (NIA), Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), and the Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (OBSSR), at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). This announcement establishes an accelerated review/award process to support time-sensitive research to evaluate a new policy or program expected to influence obesity related behaviors (e.g., dietary intake, physical activity, or sedentary behavior) and/or weight outcomes in an effort to prevent or reduce obesity. This FOA is intended to support research where opportunities for empirical study are, by their very nature, only available through expedited review and funding. All applications to this FOA must demonstrate that the evaluation of an obesity related policy and /or program offers an uncommon and scientifically compelling research opportunity that will only be available if the research is initiated with minimum delay. For these reasons, applications in response to this time-sensitive FOA are eligible for only one submission. It is intended that eligible applications selected for funding will be awarded within 3-4 months after the application submission/receipt date. However, administrative requirements and other unforeseen circumstances may delay issuance dates beyond that timeline. Click here for more information. 

Translational Research on Interventions for Adolescents in the Legal System: TRIALS (U01)
Deadline: October 28, 2012 (letter of intent)
The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) invites applications for cooperative agreement participants (multiple Research Centers and one coordinating center) to collaborate in developing and testing implementation strategies and associated measures to improve the continuum of substance abuse prevention and treatment services delivered to youth under juvenile justice supervision. Awardees will develop and execute collaborative multisite studies across a variety of community-based supervision settings including juvenile probation, truancy and teen courts, and adolescent drug courts. Research undertaken by the cooperative is expected to contribute both to implementation science and to the effective delivery of evidence-based substance abuse interventions within real-world practice settings. These goals will be accomplished through the development and testing of measures and methods to support the successful implementation of substance abuse and HIV prevention and treatment services in juvenile justice settings. Click here for more information.

Science of Organizations
Deadline: September 3, 2012
(National Science Foundation)
Organizations -- private and public, established and entrepreneurial, designed and emergent, formal and informal, profit and nonprofit -- are critical to the well-being of nations and their citizens. They are of crucial importance for producing goods and services, creating value, providing jobs, and achieving social goals. The Science of Organizations (SoO) program funds basic research that yields a scientific evidence base for improving the design and emergence, development and deployment, and management and ultimate effectiveness of organizations of all kinds. SoO funds research that advances our fundamental understanding of how organizations develop, form and operate. Successful SoO research proposals use scientific methods to develop and refine theories, to empirically test theories and frameworks, and to develop new measures and methods. Funded research is aimed at yielding generalizable insights that are of value to the business practitioner, policy-maker and research communities. Click here for more information. 

International Multidisciplinary Research on Topics of Pressing Global Concern
Deadline: September 1, 2012
(From the Philanthropy News Digest)
The Social Science Research Council, the Japan Foundation Center for Global Partnership, and the American Council of Learned Societies have announced the annual Abe Fellowship Program competition. The Abe Fellowship is designed to encourage international multidisciplinary research on topics of pressing global concern. Applications for the program, which provides research support to individuals, are welcome from scholars and non-academic research professionals. The fellowship program committee seeks applications for research explicitly focused on policy-relevant and contemporary issues with a comparative or transnational perspective that draw the study of the United States and Japan into wider disciplinary or theoretical debates. Applicants are invited to submit proposals for research in the social sciences and related disciplines relevant to any one or any combination of the program's three themes - traditional and non-traditional approaches to security and diplomacy, global and regional economic issues, and social and cultural issues. Click here for more information. 

Limited Competition: NIMHD Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) Initiative in Reducing and Eliminating Health Disparities: Dissemination Phase (R24)
Deadline: October 10, 2012
The National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD) invites applications for a limited competition Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) to provide continuing support for NIMHD Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) Intervention Research Phase grantees. The goal of this initiative is to support the implementation and dissemination of evidenced-based interventions designed to reduce health disparities using a community-based participatory research approach. Click here for more information. 

NIMH Short Courses for Mental Health-Related Research Education (R25)
Deadline: September 25, 2014
This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA), issued by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), encourages Research Education Grant (R25) applications from Institutions/Organizations that propose to develop, implement and evaluate creative, innovative, and state-of-the-art short courses that will facilitate the development of a sophisticated cadre of investigators with the requisite scientific research skills to advance the mission of the NIMH, namely to transform the understanding and treatment of mental illnesses through research. Each short course is expected to include both didactic and hands-on experiences. Participants are limited to graduate/medical students, medical residents, postdoctoral scholars, and/or early-career faculty. Click here for more information. 

NIMH Mentoring Networks for Mental Health Research Education (R25)
Deadline: September 25, 2014
This funding opportunity announcement (FOA) issued by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) encourages Research Education Grant (R25) applications from Institutions/Organizations that propose to develop, implement and evaluate creative, innovative, and state-of-the-art mentoring networks that will facilitate the development of a skilled cadre of investigators in requisite scientific research areas to advance the objectives of the NIMH Strategic Plan. This funding opportunity is limited to applications proposing mentoring networks for individuals who are graduate/medical students, medical residents, postdoctoral participants, and/or early-career faculty. Networks may be national, regional or local. However, all proposed networks should provide significant new opportunities, and should comprise efforts substantially beyond any ongoing mentoring, networking or research education within academic programs, institutions, or pre-existing networks or educational collaborations among institutions. These networks are expected to enhance the professional development of the participants and to foster their career trajectory towards independent mental health research. Click here for more information. 

Louisville Institute Accepting Applications for Research Projects to Benefit Churches in North America
Deadline: October 1, 2012
(From the Philanthropy News Digest)
The Louisville Institute offers the Project Grants for Researchers Program in support of research, reflection, and writing by academics and pastors that can contribute to the life of churches in North America. The program is designed to support projects that can contribute to an enhanced understanding of important issues concerning Christian faith and life, pastoral leadership, and/or religious institutions. Projects might include short-term periods of research; consultations about one's research involving pastors and academics; or innovative projects that promise to strengthen the church. Particularly attractive to the Louisville Institute are projects that involve both academics and pastors in genuinely collaborative inquiry. All funded projects should involve substantial opportunity for learning that will benefit the church. Proposed research projects may employ a variety of methodological perspectives, including but not limited to historical, systematic, and practical theology; the social sciences; history; ethics; or biblical studies. They may also be interdisciplinary in nature. All applicants should make clear how their project will contribute to the life of churches in North America. Click here for more information. 

AHRQ Individual Awards for Postdoctoral Fellows (F32) National Research Service Awards (NRSA)
Deadline: December 8, 2015
The purpose of this individual postdoctoral research training fellowship is to provide support to promising fellows with the potential to become productive, independent investigators in health services research, with a research interest in areas and priorities relevant to the mission of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). Click here for more information. 

AHRQ Grants for Health Services Research Dissertation Program
Deadline: multiple
The overall goal of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) Health Services Research Dissertation Grant Program is to help ensure that a diverse pool of highly trained health services researchers is available in adequate numbers and appropriate research areas to address the research mission and priorities of AHRQ. The mission of AHRQ is to improve the quality, safety, efficiency, and effectiveness of health care for all Americans in the United States. Click here for more information.