CEDA Grants

**Currently accepting applications for Innovation Pilots**

Since its inception in 1995, CEDA has made over one-hundred pilot grants, ranging in size from $3,000 to $65,000. A list of past awards is available here.

CEDA Pilot awards are made possible through the support of the National Institute on Aging (NIA), and are intended to facilitate the development of innovative, high impact new lines of research. Pilot grants are expected to lead to submission of larger follow-on proposals to NIA and other funding agencies. Many of CEDA’s pilot grants have helped investigators develop proposals for significant extramural funding.

Effective September 1, 2025, CEDA will be awarding several pilot grants per year across two categories:  Emerging Scholar Pilots and Innovation Pilots.

Emerging Scholars Pilots

Emerging Scholar Pilots will support early career researchers, including but not limited to NIH-defined early stage or new investigators (ESI/NI). As a condition of the pilot award an NIA R or K series grant must be submitted within two years of the Pilot Project award. To facilitate success, Emerging Scholar Pilot recipients will participate in CEDA’s Emerging Scholar Mentorship Program which will provide intensive, focused support for preparing grant submissions and related publications. Applicants may be at Berkeley or a nearby institution, and must be in positions eligible to submit NIH R or K series grants.

Awards will generally be from $25,000 to $75,000 over 1-2 years. 
Emerging Scholar Pilot applications will be due April 1st of each year.  
Next receipt date: April 1, 2026

Innovation Pilots

Innovation Pilots will support researchers at any stage who are conducting highly innovative research for which pilot funding is necessary to test ideas and demonstrate feasibility to support strong NIA R-series or related extramural grant proposals. Innovation Pilots must test a new method or technique, and/or conduct primary data collection related to CEDA signature themes; secondary data analyses are otherwise not allowed. Applicants must be CEDA affiliates; other potential applicants interested in CEDA affiliation should be eligible for Principal Investigator (PI) status at Berkeley or a nearby institution.

Awards will generally be from $5,000 to $30,000 over 1-2 years. 
Innovation Pilot Proposals can be submitted on a rolling basis each year. 

Pilot Topic Areas

We invite pilot proposals that will advance aging research in demography, economics, and related interdisciplinary population-based social science areas. We will prioritize those in areas of population studies encompassed by CEDA’s mission, including CEDA’s signature themes:

  • Mortality measurement
  • Policy and behavioral determinants of adult population health
  • Biodemography of aging
  • Macro consequences of global aging

Proposal topics must be eligible for NIH funding, thus the proposed research should focus primarily on health outcomes, health-related behaviors, and other health and demographic determinants. https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-16-025.html. NIH funds may not be used to support activities including diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) research programs, gender ideology, COVID-19, or climate change research or related research training activities or programs. However, solutions-oriented health disparities research is still encouraged. These NIH policies are nuanced and subject to change, so please contact us if you are unsure whether your research is suitable.

Application Format and Process

  • Two to four-page proposal describing the pilot specific aims, innovation, approach, research team, rough budget*, and timeline for pilot and future activities.​ The proposal should also detail plans for a larger extramural grant proposal to be submitted within two years, and how the pilot would be crucial for improving the success of that application.
  • If the research involves human subjects, include the human subjects approval letter if available or else indicate timeline for human subjects review.
  • Include investigator biosketches or CVs.​

* Budget: Generally allowable budget items include research assistance, data purchase, fieldwork, and other reasonable expenses. If the proposal is selected for funding, CEDA will help develop a more formal budget as needed.

Please see the detailed CEDA pilot proposal instructions.

If you are considering submitting a proposal, you are welcome to email the CEDA director Will Dow (wdow@berkeley.edu) to discuss it in advance. Submit the proposal by email to ceda@berkeley.edu.