Community Outreach and Engagement Pilot Research Projects

The Community Outreach and Engagement (COE) Office is tasked with implementing bi-directional, community-engaged research in the MUSC Hollings Cancer Center catchment area. To achieve this goal, Hollings has established the COE Pilot Research Projects (COE PRP), which are designed to:

• Facilitate innovative, meaningful community-engaged cancer research across basic, translational, clinical and population sciences, leading to extramural funding for further in-depth investigations.
• Actively promote an interactive and collaborative research culture between Hollings researchers and community members in South Carolina.

Overview | Eligibility | Community Engagement Expectations | Evaluation

Overview

Hollings will fund one 1-year project with a budget of $25,000. Principal Investigators of COE PRP must be MUSC faculty who are eligible to apply for R01 extramural funding. All proposed projects must (1) be based on hypothesis-driven experimental research in basic, translational, clinical, or population sciences involving humans or human samples and (2) engage community members in the design and/or implementation of the proposed study under the guidance of the COE Office.

Sources of funding for the award include the Hollings Cancer Center Support Grant (P30 CA138313), fundraising from the LOWVELO bike ride, and other Hollings philanthropy/foundation accounts.

Eligibility

• Proposed research must be cancer relevant.
• MUSC faculty members are eligible to apply.
• The project must include consultation with the COE Office.

Community Engagement Expectations for Research Projects

Investigators must include a community member on their research team who will provide input on the areas described below. The COE Office will link each research team with a community member.

• The community member may provide advice regarding the addition of community-relevant aims, research questions, methods, and hypotheses.
• The community member will provide input on proposed recruitment strategies for studies with human subjects/participants.
• After receiving the Notice of Award, funded investigators will present their aims, hypotheses, methods, and proposed dissemination strategies to the Hollings Community Advisory Board for their input during a standing Board meeting.
• The community member will review the consent forms (if applicable) and other participant-facing documents to enhance the clarity of the text and to ensure that plain language is used.
• Community members will provide advice about sharing the research results with the broader community and will assist the research team with describing the potential impact of the research for people with or at risk of cancer.

Evaluation

Each application will be assigned to internal reviewers with substantial expertise in evaluating cancer research projects.

Review criteria include:

• Standard NIH criteria (significance, innovation, approach and investigative team).
• Likelihood that preliminary results will lead to external peer-reviewed funding.
• Participation in Hollings programs (e.g., attend program meetings, participate in grant review panels, participate in annual research symposia).
• The Future Funding Plan (see instructions) must describe how the funds will provide data that is critical to future extramural grant application(s).
• The project must be based on hypothesis-driven experimental research in basic, clinical or population sciences involving humans or human samples, focusing on engaging community members in the design and implementation of the proposed study.
• The project must include a collaborative, synergistic team of MUSC faculty researchers, members of the COE Office and community members.
• The project must describe a plan for disseminating the study results to community members.