Stein Institute for Research on Aging Emerging Scholars in Healthy Aging Research Program

Request for Applications: Stein Institute for Research on Aging and the UC San Diego Center for Healthy Aging (SIRA/CHA) 2025-26 Emerging Scholars in Healthy Aging Research Program

Overview: The Stein Institute for Research on Aging and the UC San Diego Center for Healthy Aging (SIRA/CHA) is introducing a new program that provides funding support for UC San Diego masters students, doctoral students, and postdoctoral fellows.

SIRA/CHA is an integrated, multi-disciplinary, cross-campus Center that aims to advance and promote health and well-being in the field of healthy aging through research, education, and community outreach. The purpose of the pilot funding is to support scholars whose research is focused on healthy aging. These awards can be used for salary support (up to 25% effort), including in covering the gap between federal pay rates and UCSD pay rates. Scholars may alternatively elect to use funds for research.

Proposal Due Date: September 29th at 5pm PST

Maximum Funds Available and Number of Awards: The maximum amount that can be requested is $30k. We expect to award 3-4 proposals.

Project Duration: The funding for this program is for one year, but can be extended to two years if progress is made during the first year.

Eligibility: UC San Diego masters students, doctoral students, and postdoctoral fellows.

Theme of Pilot Program: The goal of this pilot program is to stimulate interest in aging research among scholars engaged in research across a broad array of scientific disciplines. By providing funds that may augment existing scholar support, it is our goal to increase the breadth and number of scholars engaged in healthy aging research. Healthy aging is broadly defined as: maintaining or promoting physical, mental, and cognitive health to advance well-being and quality of life in older age.

Resources that SIRA/CHA has to offer include: (it is not required that any of these be utilized)

1. Existing data from our longitudinal life-span aging cohort, the Successful Aging Evaluation Study (SAGE). The SAGE study is a prospective cohort study of 1,800 randomly selected, demographically representative of San Diego, community-dwelling individuals age 20 to over 100 years. The specific assessments and the years that the assessments were collected can be found here: Sage Study - Researchers
2. A novel, first of its kind “Living Lab” in the Belmont Senior Living community, just a few miles from the La Jolla campus. This lab is embedded in a studio apartment and provides researchers with an opportunity to collaborate with residents and conduct novel research on-site. This could include using the space to conduct research related to sensors, testing innovative technology, conducting physical assessments, utilizing it as a meeting space for participant interviews, etc. More information on the Living Lab can be found here: Living Lab at Belmont Village Senior Living – La Jolla
3. The UCSD Geroscience lab, led by Anthony Molina, PhD, provides support for aging biomarkers research, including biospecimen collection and processing. The Geroscience lab has a particular focus on mitochondrial bioenergetics, but can also facilitate research investigating other biological hallmarks of aging.

Application Requirements

• One-page cover letter including a statement of how the proposed research is focused on healthy aging and a statement of support by one or more mentors.
• Up to three-page proposal including the following sections: Specific aims, background/significance, innovation, approach, analytical plan, project outcomes (e.g., manuscripts, meeting presentations, grants) and anticipated timeline
• References
• Budget and justification
• Investigator(s) NIH bio sketch or CV

Formatting Requirement: Arial font size of 11 point, single-spaced with a one-half inch margin (top, bottom, left, and right) for all pages.

Submission: Proposals should be submitted electronically as a single PDF file to our email healthyaging@health.ucsd.edu.

Review Process: Proposals will be reviewed by the SIRA/CHA Steering Committee. Notification of funding will be made by mid to late October.

Investigators interested in applying may contact Stein Institute Scientific Director, Dr. Anthony Molina (ajmolina@health.ucsd.edu), to discuss project relevance and SIRA/CHA research resources. For other questions, please contact Danielle Glorioso (dglorioso@health.ucsd.edu), Executive Director, Stein Institute for Research on Aging and UC San Diego Center for Healthy Aging.