Merit Switzer Research Fellowships for Doctoral Dissertation Research

Priority:The purpose of the Switzer Research Fellowships Program is to build research capacity by providing support to highly qualified individuals, including those with disabilities, to conduct high quality research on the rehabilitation of individuals with disabilities. Fellows must conduct original research in an area authorized by Section 204 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended. Section 204 authorizes research, demonstration projects, training, and related activities, the purposes of which are to develop knowledge methods, procedures, or rehabilitation technology that maximizes the full inclusion and integration into society, employment, independent living, family support, and economic and social self-sufficiency of individuals with disabilities, especially individuals with the highest support needs, and to improve the effectiveness of services authorized under the Act.For Switzer Research Fellowships, NIDILRR wishes to receive applications from qualified individuals whose areas of interest fall within the scope of NIDILRR’s outcome domains of community living and participation, health and function, and employment. For further information about these outcome domains and NIDILRR’s research agenda and programs, applicants should consult NIDILRR's Long-Range Plan for Fiscal Years 2018-2023 (the Plan) when preparing their applications.Applicants must demonstrate, in their original application, that people with disabilities from diverse racial and ethnic communities will be included in proposed samples in sufficient numbers to generate knowledge and products that are relevant to the racial and ethnic diversity of the population of people with disabilities being studied. The applicant must describe and justify, in its original application, the planned racial and ethnic distribution of people with disabilities who will participate in the proposed research project.NIDILRR is particularly interested in receiving Switzer Research Fellowship applications from investigators with disabilities, investigators from communities that are underrepresented in the extramural scientific workforce, and investigators from additional underserved and underrepresented communities identified in Executive Order 13985. Communities underrepresented in the extramural scientific workforce include Blacks/ African Americans, Hispanics/ Latinos, American Indians and Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, and other Pacific Islanders (National Institutes of Health, 2020). Underrepresented and underserved communities described in Executive Order 13985 also include members of religious minorities; lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer persons; persons who live in rural areas; and persons otherwise adversely affected by persistent poverty or inequality (Executive Order 13985, 2021). References:National Institutes of Health (2020). Underrepresented Populations in the U.S. Biomedical, Clinical, Behavioral and Social Sciences Research Enterprise. Retrieved from: https://diversity.nih.gov/about-us/population-underrepresented on December 10, 2021.Executive Order 13985, 2021. 86 FR 7009. Pages 7009-7013.