This funding supports researchers who want to explore the links between people’s health and a changing climate.
Scheme at a glance
Where your host organisation is based:
UK, Republic of Ireland, Low- or middle-income countries, Rest of the world
Level of funding:
£100,000 to £500,000 (up to £1 million in exceptional circumstances)
Duration of funding:
Up to 3 years
Who can apply
Climate Change and Health Awards are open to researchers who want to better understand the links between climate change and people’s health.
The awards are open to individuals or teams of up to ten members from anywhere in the world.
You can apply if you’re based at:
- an academic research organisation
- a not-for-profit or government body
- a private sector organisation.
Focus areas
To be eligible, your proposal must focus on at least one of the following areas:
1. Developing tools, data sources and other resources to support research into climate change and health
To advance research into the links between climate change and health, it’s important that researchers working across different disciplines and in different locations have access to high-quality tools, data sources and other resources.
Examples of activities we’ll consider include (but are not limited to):
- creating modelling tools to understand more about the links between climate change and health
- building, or establishing links between, datasets for climate change and health research
- translating, digitising and/or updating existing research and resources
- producing or validating metrics that offer robust ways to track and evaluate the links between climate change and health.
Resources must be made openly available at the end of the funding. They should be applicable to a broad range of researchers carrying out climate and health research.
2. Assessing the health co-benefits of actions to mitigate climate change
A growing number of studies have shown that actions to mitigate climate change can directly benefit people’s health (ie they have ‘health co-benefits’).
For example, policies that encourage walking and cycling rather than driving will reduce greenhouse gas emissions. At the same time, these policies benefit health by improving air quality, increasing physical activity and reducing car crashes. Such insights can help inform climate change mitigation actions.
We are interested in proposals that assess how existing or hypothetical climate change mitigation actions could benefit health. These benefits could be expressed in health terms, monetary terms, or in other ways.
Mitigation actions can apply to any sector, including energy production, transportation, architecture, urban design and food systems.
Proposals can focus on one or more mitigation actions, anywhere in the world.
3. Assessing the health impacts of actions to adapt to climate change
Climate change poses many threats to human health, from severe weather and infectious disease risks to disrupted food systems and population displacement. To manage these threats, we’ll need to adapt to climate change in many areas, including infrastructure, governance and technology.
Assessing the health impacts of adaptation actions – such as early warning systems for extreme weather, or drought-tolerant crops – is still an emerging field.
We’re especially interested in proposals that evaluate the health impacts of existing adaptations, rather than hypothetical ones.
Proposals can focus on one or more adaptation, anywhere in the world.
Your proposal
We will review:
- the vision and scope of your proposal, including the aims, methods and strategic importance of your work to the field of climate change and health
- previous activities, knowledge or learning on which your proposal will build
- the qualifications and track records of team members, relative to their career stage
- the feasibility of your proposal
- whether your budget is justifiable and appropriate for your proposed activities.
We especially welcome proposals that do one or more of the following:
- focus on low- and middle-income countries, where the risks of climate change are highest
- encourage collaboration among different research disciplines
- yield policy-relevant evidence that can help drive change.
You may ask for funding of up to £500,000 for up to three years.
In exceptional circumstances, we may award up to £1 million. This funding will be for projects that have the potential to bring about major change. If you plan to submit an award above £500,000, please discuss it with the Our Planet, Our Health team first.
Your costs should be justifiable and appropriate for your proposed activities.
Closing date: 10 January 2019
Apply here!