The Kellner Center is pleased to announce a Small Grants Program in conjunction with the Center for Social & Behavioral Science (CSBS). These grants will fund interdisciplinary research projects that integrate human and non-human models to understand the etiology of mental health or related social, affective, and behavioral functioning.
Projects should lay the groundwork for creating new syntheses to advance our knowledge of the complex processes by which biology, behavior, and the environment shape individuals. The projects are expected to generate preliminary data or findings that will lead to future grant proposals to external funding agencies.
The Kellner Center Small Grants will provide financial support for research projects that are collaborations between human and non-human animal researchers examining the role of biological factors, such as genes and the brain, in mental health, or related social, affective, and behavioral functioning. Projects that take an innovative approach to understanding the interface between biology and the environment, that bring together researchers in the biological and social sciences, and which have implications for societal impact will be given priority. Projects should show promise for external funding. Award requests can be made up to $50,000 with a project performance period of two years.
Proposed projects can take a variety of forms; key is that they combine approaches from human and non-human animal models. Examples include, but are not limited to:
- Secondary analyses of human and non-human animal data sets (including publicly available data sets) that together provide innovative insights
- A study with humans that is informed by and can add to a non-human animal study to advance understanding in a way that neither alone could
- A non-human animal study that is informed by and can add to a human study to advance understanding in a way that neither alone could
- A meta-analysis or systematic review that brings together human and non-human animal research and models to advance theory
Eligibility & Requirements
- Projects must involve collaboration between at least one human-focused and one non-human animal-focused researcher.
- The principal investigator must be a tenure-system faculty member at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
- Co-investigators may include tenure-system faculty, research professionals, or specialized faculty from any of the three campuses in the University of Illinois System (Urbana-Champaign, Springfield, and Chicago).
Key Dates:
- Pre-proposal deadline: August 15, 2025
- Decisions by: September 1, 2025
- Full proposal (invitation only) due: October 15, 2025
- Final decisions by: December 1, 2025
More information is available on the CSBS website. For questions about this opportunity, please contact csbscience@illinois.edu. If you are interested in applying and would like help identifying potential collaborators, we are happy to assist.