Our Programs

Social and Behavioral Research Grants Program

Grants Coalition Meeting, Thailand, 2023.

Building trust in vaccines requires an understanding of the unique social, cultural, political and economic dimensions of vaccination anxieties, avoidance and refusal. The complexity of the behavioral dynamics driving vaccine acceptance inspires calls for social science perspectives to understand and address the challenges across local, sub-national and national-level settings. We need on-the-ground research from diverse regions to inform community-appropriate interventions.

The Social and Behavioral Research Grants Program provides funding to researchers and implementers from interdisciplinary fields exploring vaccine acceptance amongst communities in low- and middle-income country settings. Through this program, Sabin encourages collaborative local partnerships between academic researchers, health officials and local communities. Grant partners conduct innovative research projects that utilize appropriate and rigorous methods to illuminate the social and behavioral dimensions of vaccination at multiple levels and then examine potential solutions to address those dimensions. Learn more about our newly formed Grants Partner Coalition, comprising partners from our previous grant cycles that will be open to all future grantees in the program.

*At this time, we are not accepting unsolicited proposals for this program. Please subscribe to our emails for information on future opportunities.

Grant Cohorts To-Date

Vaccine acceptance, demand & delivery challenges are complex and context-specific, varying across time, place and type of vaccine. One size does not fit all when it comes to appropriate and effective interventions to address these challenges. Since 2019 we have had the opportunity to award over $1.2 million to 25 research projects across 15 countries.

Sabin awarded up to US $70,000 in funding to seven research projects from nine countries. This cohort will work to develop and disseminate evidence-informed knowledge and solutions-based strategies focused on childhood immunizations, life-course vaccinations, and the WHO Behavioral and Social Drivers (BeSD) framework. In 18 months, these seven research teams will conduct close-to-community research and implement community-informed public health interventions to improve vaccine acceptance, demand, and delivery. When choosing this cohort, 134 eligible applications were received from institutions in over 40 countries.

Sabin Welcomes 7 New Partners into Its 2023-2024 Social and Behavioral Research Grants Program

Sabin awarded funding up to $50,000 to 10 research projects from eight countries. This cohort is working to apply a range of social and behavioral science approaches to investigate and inform locally suitable solutions that support acceptance and uptake of COVID-19 vaccination—inclusive of strategies for addressing the misinformation within the COVID-19 infodemic and assessing the impact of the pandemic on routine vaccination—particularly among the hardest to reach communities and ‘zero-dose’ populations. 352 eligible applications were received from institutions in over 50 countries.

Sabin Welcomes 10 Partners to the 2021 Social and Behavioral Grants Program

Sabin received 119 proposals representing 36 countries. Sabin awarded grants of up to $30,000 to five research teams to explore the social and behavioral drivers of COVID-19 misinformation, and its impact on routine immunization and the acceptance of a COVID-19 vaccine.

Community-led Strategies to Aid Vaccine Acceptance: Five Case Studies from the Global South

Established in 2019, the Social and Behavioral Research Grants Program initially provided a mechanism to fund on-the-ground research to explore childhood and routine vaccination acceptance among communities in low- and middle-income countries. Its pilot year awarded up to $25,000 to three projects spanning ten-months in India, Sierra Leone and Uganda.

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