North Carolina Water Resources Research Institute (WRRI), NC Sea Grant, and the William R. Kenan, Jr. Institute for Engineering, Technology and Science (KIETS) are accepting proposals for the Community Collaborative Research Grant (CCRG) Program.
Donor Name: North Carolina Water Resources Research Institute (WRRI)
State: North Carolina
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 01/23/2026
Size of the Grant: $10,000 to $100,000
Grant Duration: 1 Year
Details:
The purpose of the Community Collaboration Research Grant program is to support work across the state related to water resources, water quality, coastal challenges, flooding, resilience planning, post-storm recovery, invasive species, as well as other topics, through a collaborative research approach that utilizes local ecological knowledge.
The CCRG requires research approaches that couple local knowledge with scientific expertise. While members of the public often have local knowledge of their own communities and environments, they sometimes do not have the scientific, technical, or policy expertise to craft science-based solutions.
Funding Information
- Awards will range between $5,000 and $25,000, with an estimated two to five awards per year,
depending on the availability of funds and quality of proposals. - Investigators may only propose one-year (12 months maximum) project with a planned start
date of May 15, 2026.
Eligibility Criteria
- Proposals must significantly involve North Carolina local knowledge experts who are involved with or are knowledgeable of the focus areas that the project will address. Proposals also must include concise project objectives or research questions.
- Projects not eligible for funding under this call include: those focused solely on monitoring activities, literature search compilation activities, and workshop planning projects. Proposed projects should be novel and not duplicative of existing work. Additionally, they cannot accept proposals currently under review or supported by another competition.
- A two-person team with one scientific expert and one local knowledge expert must lead each project. These roles may include faculty from North Carolina-based institutions of higher learning (e.g., colleges, universities, or community colleges), staff from local and/or state governmental entities in North Carolina, staff at non-government organizations based in N.C. offices, N.C. business owners, and private N.C. residents. Additional team members may contribute as other participants and have no eligibility restrictions.
- Federal government and Sea Grant/WRRI employees are not eligible to receive funding but may participate as unfunded collaborators. Liability insurance coverage is required to receive funding.
For more information, visit WRRI.
