Promoting Diversity & Inclusion in Research

National Center for Faculty Development & Diversity: Free to individual faculty, graduate students and postdocs.

The Office of Inclusive Excellence was established in February 2017. It provides coordination, oversight and leadership of the UNC SOM’s diversity and inclusion programs and leads school efforts to build a diverse faculty and inclusive environment that values and respects the contributions of all members of the community. The Office will enhance the efforts toward increased diversity and inclusion in our SOM community in cooperation with chairs, deans, and other institutional leaders and intersects with all areas of the institution, including admissions, human resources, faculty recruitment, professional development, academic leadership and institutional advancement, as well as the UNC Health Care Executive Director of Diversity and Inclusion.

UNC's BIRCWH program is part of UNC's Center for Women's Health Research. UNC BIRCWH scholars have access to diverse mentors and leaders within the institution committed to nurturing the careers of junior faculty. Career focus, skill development, and learning how to balance the demands of an academic career are some of the short-term benefits scholars enjoy. Long-term, scholars become part of a network of like-minded individuals and potential collaborators that have gone on to become research and university leaders.

Formerly UNC SOM's APWIM (Association for Professional Women in Medicine). Our mission is to support equitable practices and facilitate the professional development of all women in the school of medicine through information sharing, networking, and career development opportunities. Meets twice yearly.

Links to NIH agencies' statements and funding opportunities related to diversity.

“To those individuals in the biomedical research enterprise who have endured disadvantages due to structural racism, I am truly sorry. NIH is committed to instituting new ways to support diversity, equity, and inclusion, and identifying and dismantling any policies and practices at our own agency that may harm our workforce and our science.”

— Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D., NIH Director

The UNITE initiative was established to identify and address structural racism within the NIH-supported and the greater scientific community. With representation from across the NIH Institutes and Centers, UNITE aims to establish an equitable and civil culture within the biomedical research enterprise and reduce barriers to racial equity in the biomedical research workforce.

Opportunities for researchers with underrepresented backgrounds.

Offers programs to enhance diversity focus on underrepresented racial/ethnic groups, individuals with disabilities, and individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds, or institutions primarily serving underrepresented groups. Awards for high school through faculty; predoctoral; postdoctoral; early career.

Continuing Umbrella of Research Experiences (CURE)
Provides funding opportunities to candidates from middle school through high school, undergraduates, grad students, postdocs and early career researchers.

Research Supplements to Promote Diversity in Health-Related Research
Principal investigators holding NIGMS research grants may request supplemental funds to improve the diversity of the research workforce by supporting and recruiting students and postdoctoral fellows from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups, individuals with disabilities and individuals from economically or educationally disadvantaged backgrounds that have inhibited their ability to pursue a career in health-related research.

The objective of the LRP-IDB is to recruit and retain highly qualified health professionals from disadvantaged backgrounds into clinical research careers.

Administrative Supplements to Promote Diversity in SRP-Related Research
The research experience is intended for new trainees (not current) to be added to Superfund Research Program (SRP)-supported grants. The candidate (i.e., trainee) should be from a diverse background and the project proposed must be integral to the approved, ongoing research of the parent grant. Furthermore, the project must have the potential to contribute significantly to the research career development of the candidate.

Diversity training opportunities

An all-expense-paid Summer Institute, research education and mentoring initiative. It addresses the difficulties experienced by junior investigators and transitioning postdoctoral scientists in establishing independent academic research careers and negotiating through the academic ranks. The primary outcome of this program is to increase the number of scientists and research-oriented faculty who are from backgrounds currently under-represented in the biomedical sciences and those with disabilities, by preparing them to successfully compete for external funding for scientific research in heart, lung, blood, and sleep (HLBS) disorders.

Check the website for active, upcoming and closed funding opportunities.

Four-year postdoctoral research awards to increase the number of physicians, dentists, and nurses from historically disadvantaged backgrounds.
Ongoing program with new calls for applications in January or February each year.

This program supports the career development activities for underrepresented minority postdoctoral fellows in a degree-granting institution (an institution includes its affiliated graduate and medical schools, hospitals and research institutions) in the United States or Canada whose training and professional development are guided by mentors committed to helping them advance their careers in biomedical or medical research.

Supports exceptional graduate students who are committed to increasing diversity among scientific leaders, especially those students who will go on to become faculty members at colleges and universities. The goal of HHMI’s Gilliam Fellowships for Advanced Study program is to ensure that a diverse and highly trained workforce is prepared to assume leadership roles in science, particularly college and university faculty who have the responsibility to develop the next generation of scientists.

Supports early-career life scientists in academic labs across the U.S. The goal of the program is to recruit and retain individuals who are from gender, racial, ethnic, and other groups underrepresented in the life sciences, including those from disadvantaged backgrounds, early in their careers.

An independent professional development, training, and mentoring community for faculty members, postdocs, and graduate students. UNC Chapel Hill is an institutional member which allows free membership for faculty, graduate students and postdocs.

Includes NIH grants that aren't specifically intended for diversity but can be used to address diversity issues. It also includes a list of nonfederal agencies and organizations.

Two-year appointments designed to develop scholars from underrepresented groups for possible tenure track appointments at UNC and other research universities. Covers all disciplines.

This undergraduate program began as a partnership in 2011 with UMBC’s nationally recognized Meyerhoff Scholars program and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. The purpose of these relationships was to diversify and provide access to jobs in the fields of STEM. Works to bring awareness to the issues of diversity as well as provide a space where students, regardless of background, can be supported to pursue fields in STEM. Includes a mentoring program.

An NIH educational research grant awarded to UNC. The primary goal is to increase the number of students from populations historically underrepresented in the biomedical sciences that attain PhDs and successful bioscience careers. Available to students enrolling in the Biological and Biomedical Sciences Program.