 Media Contact:
Palmer Pinckney II
(301) 851-4128
palmer.pinckney@usda.gov
WASHINGTON, June 21, 2022 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has announced it will commit up to $24 million for research grants through the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Diseases (EEID) program. These grants will support research that directly aligns with APHIS’ American Rescue Plan strategic framework and will support APHIS and its One Health partners’ efforts to identify risks and plan effective interventions to prevent transmission of SARS-CoV-2 at the human-animal interface and to prevent impacts to the food supply.
These funds will make grants available to eligible state and federal agencies, academia, private organizations or corporations, and individuals. The three AFRI program area priorities for this research solicitation are Diseases of Agricultural Animals; Agricultural Biosecurity; and Inter-Disciplinary Engagement in Animal Sciences (IDEAS). The NSF EEID program’s central theme is quantitative or computational understanding of pathogen transmission dynamics, and supports research on the ecological, evolutionary, organismal, and social drivers that influence the transmission dynamics of infectious diseases. To assist potential applicants, on June 24, 2022, APHIS and NIFA will co-host a public informational webinar providing details on the AFRI and NSF program areas and APHIS’ funding priorities. Information on signing up for the webinar, along with details on applying to the NIFA and NSF grants is available online.
Funding opportunities under the NIFA AFRI program are posted on Grants.gov with the following application due dates:
- Diseases of Agricultural Animals-8/11/2022
- IDEAS-10/6/2022
- Agricultural Biosecurity-10/20/2022
Solicitation for funding is now open for AFRI opportunities. To learn more visit: https://www.nifa.usda.gov/grants/programs/agriculture-food-research-initiative-afri
Current information on EEID can be found on the NSF web: https://beta.nsf.gov/funding/opportunities/ecology-and-evolution-infectious-diseases-eeid. The current EEID proposal period ends on November 16, 2022.
Participation in this grant announcement is part of APHIS’ multi-pronged approach to support SARS-CoV-2 research in animals that also includes developing additional future funding opportunities through the American Rescue Plan Act and supporting work led by APHIS scientists. APHIS is currently conducting multiple projects under the American Rescue Plan Act aimed at understanding how the SARS-CoV-2 virus behaves in different animals, how it moves between animals and people, and what we can do to interrupt the chain of transmission. The Agency is excited about the opportunity this new funding initiative gives us to further prepare the country to address SARS-CoV-2 and use SARS-CoV-2 to help us understand how to prevent or reduce the impact of a future outbreaks.
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