Engagement Award: Capacity Building, Fall 2026 Cycle
Engagement Award: Capacity Building, Fall 2026 Cycle supports patients, caregivers, communities and researchers through capacity building for meaningful partnerships in future patient-centered research.
Funder: Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute
Due Dates: October 1, 2026, 5 pm ET (LOI) | January 11, 2027, 5 pm ET (Invited application)
Funding Amounts: Up to $300,000 in total costs for 18–24 months
Summary: Supports capacity-building projects that prepare patients, caregivers, communities and researchers for meaningful partnerships in future patient-centered comparative clinical effectiveness research.
Key Information: Funds capacity building, not research studies; individuals may not apply.
Description
The Eugene Washington PCORI Engagement Award Program supports the skills, relationships and infrastructure needed for meaningful participation in patient-centered comparative clinical effectiveness research (CER). This opportunity helps patients, families, caregivers and the broader healthcare community prepare to collaborate as research partners. It also strengthens researchers’ ability to work with these partners through training, engagement curricula and sustainable collaborative mechanisms.
Projects may develop learning communities, identify community-informed research priorities, or gather perspectives on what communities need to participate in future CER. Previous Engagement Award recipients may expand successful capacity-building work by scaling initiatives, adapting them for new populations, or advancing an existing collaborative’s priorities. All projects must demonstrate a pathway to future patient-centered CER participation. Topics are not limited to PCORI’s Topic Themes.
