GunsNational Collaborative on Gun Violence Research releases first request for research proposals

The National Collaborative on Gun Violence Research, a philanthropic fund created to support scientific research on gun policy, earlier this week released its first request for proposals to support up to $10 million in projects during its first grantmaking cycle.

The request for proposals, which is available on the collaborative’s website, instructs interested researchers how to prepare and submit a short letter of interest describing their proposed research study. The deadline for initial submissions is February 4. At a later date, full proposals will be invited from some applicants.

The $10 million in funding set aside for the first cycle of grantmaking by the collaborative is expected to fund 10 to 25 awards, including three or more dissertation support awards of $25,000. Final funding decisions will be made in June and July.

RAND notes that the scope of gun policy and gun violence prevention research proposals that will be considered is broad, including:

·  Basic and descriptive research about gun ownership, use, violence, injuries, suicide, markets and related topics

·  Policies and interventions for preventing gun violence, and the effects of these interventions on a wide range of outcomes (including, for instance, injuries, defensive gun use, prosecutions and suicide)

·  Projects seeking to collect and disseminate new data resources that will support gun policy or gun violence reduction research.

The mission of the National Collaborative on Gun Violence Research is to fund and disseminate nonpartisan scientific research that offers the public and policymakers a factual basis for developing fair and effective gun policies.

Founded by the Laura and John Arnold Foundation, the National Collaborative on Gun Violence Research is administered by the RAND Corporation under direction of the collaborative’s research advisory committee. The Arnold Foundation has pledged $20 million to the collaborative to support high-quality gun violence research over the next five years and is seeking additional donors to ultimately grow the fund to $50 million.