Indoor Air Research Award

The American Lung Association Research Institute Awards and Grants Program builds on the American Lung Association's longstanding commitment to lung health, disease prevention, and research. The Indoor Air Research Award was created to advance scientific understanding of the health impacts associated with indoor air quality and identify solutions that can improve indoor environments. The program seeks innovative research, discoveries, and interventions that can inform public policies and practices, with particular emphasis on work capable of producing practical insights and community-level change. Research may address associations between indoor air pollution and health outcomes, interventions to improve indoor air quality, barriers in homes, schools, or offices, behavioral and economic factors, monitoring and control technologies, and clinical or subclinical respiratory impacts. The award is not intended to support political events, lobbying efforts, or legislative meetings. The program offers two researcher tracks. Independent Researchers may receive $100,000 per year, while Mentored Researchers may receive $50,000 per year. Both awards may continue for up to three years. Awards are made in one-year increments, and second- and third-year support is contingent upon satisfactory progress and availability of American Lung Association funds. Indirect costs are not allowed. Permitted costs may include salary and fringe benefits for the applicant and other personnel, equipment, supplies, and data sets. No more than $2,500 annually may be used for project-related travel or publication costs. Funds may not be used for furniture, computers, construction or renovation, honoraria, membership dues, tuition, textbooks, periodicals, or secretarial support. The institutional salary limitation is $212,000, and salary support for intramural NIH-funded scientists is not permitted. The source states no required matching or cost-sharing contribution. Independent Researcher applicants must possess a doctoral degree and hold a full-time faculty position at an academic institution or an equivalent position at a research institution not formally affiliated with a university. They must demonstrate research productivity, operate as independent investigators in a field relevant to the opportunity, and have institutional space and resources customary for independent investigators. Mentored Researcher applicants must hold a relevant doctoral degree, such as a PhD, DSc, MD, or DO, and be affiliated with a recognized academic or other not-for-profit institution. The mentored track supports early-career investigators, including eligible postdoctoral and medical fellows. Medical residents, individuals presently enrolled in a degree program, and established investigators are not eligible for the mentored category. MD and DO applicants must have completed two years of research training after receiving their terminal degree before the award begins. All applicants must certify authorization to work in the United States, and the institutional Signing Official must certify that employment is expected to continue throughout the grant period. Applicants are limited to one American Lung Association Awards and Grants application per annual cycle. A required Letter of Intent must be submitted through ProposalCentral. The LOI consists of a one-page letter describing the rationale and significance, specific aims and hypotheses, and overall experimental approach, together with the applicant's biographical sketch and proposed budget. LOIs are accepted beginning August 5, 2026 and must be submitted by September 18, 2026 at 11:59 PM ET. Applicants whose LOIs are approved are notified by email and invited to submit a full proposal. Full applications are processed electronically through ProposalCentral and are due December 1, 2026 at 11:59 PM ET. Application sections address the title page, applicant and institution information, personnel, recommendation letters where applicable, mission significance, resubmission information where applicable, general and technical project summaries, scientific and research categories, facilities and resources, detailed budget and justification, other support, assurances, publications, and the research plan. Required attachments must be uploaded as PDF files. The research plan includes a Specific Aims section of no more than one page and a Research Strategy of no more than six pages organized under Significance, Innovation, and Approach. References may be up to five pages and do not count toward the seven-page research-plan limit. Applicant biographical sketches may not exceed five pages. A Department Head Statement on institutional letterhead is required for both mentored and independent applicants. Mentored applicants additionally require three recommendation letters, including one from the mentor containing a mentoring plan; the mentored application therefore has four letters in total when the Department Head Statement is included. Applications must also provide applicable assurances concerning human subjects, animals, biohazards, and other regulatory requirements. Applicants must disclose any use of AI tools in preparing the application and remain responsible for the originality, accuracy, scientific integrity, and validity of submitted material. Administratively eligible applications undergo rigorous external peer review. Review considerations include scientific rigor and feasibility, study design, methods and analysis, project relevance to the American Lung Association mission, significance to lung health research, innovation, potential to generate information leading to new or updated policy, knowledge translation and dissemination, applicant qualifications, research environment, mentorship where applicable, and the likelihood of an ongoing career in lung health research or related areas. The Lung Association specifically prioritizes research offering immediately practical and applicable insights and work capable of informing community-level change. Applicants may consider partnerships with industry, government agencies, and external collaborators to offset equipment and infrastructure costs. LOI notifications are scheduled for October 23, 2026. Invited full applications are due December 1, 2026, followed by peer review from January through April. Outcome notifications are scheduled for June 2027, and the research term begins July 1, 2027. The stated award period is July 1, 2027 through June 30, 2030, subject to annual renewal conditions. ProposalCentral technical assistance is available at pcsupport@altum.com and, for institution-profile assistance, at 1-800-875-2562. The guidelines identify the application limit by "annual cycle," supporting treatment of the opportunity as recurring annually; using the current cycle's August opening month, the next anticipated cycle is August 2027.

Prioritize immediately practical and applicable indoor-air research with potential for community-level change and public-policy impact. Demonstrate scientific rigor, feasibility, significance, innovation, knowledge translation, strong applicant qualifications, and an appropriate research and mentorship environment. Provide comprehensive budget justification, avoid budgetary duplication with other support, follow all page and formatting requirements, and ensure all required institutional and recommendation letters are submitted.