Maternal Smoking Cessation Initiative (MSCI) Grant

Maternal Smoking Cessation Initiative (MSCI) Grant

Status: ACTIVE
Funder: Regents Of The University Of California, Office Of The President
Amount: Up to US $1,000,000
Last Updated: September 15, 2025

Summary

The Maternal Smoking Cessation Initiative (MSCI) aims to support research on culturally-tailored tobacco cessation interventions for pregnant individuals, particularly those from BIPOC and AIAN communities. This initiative includes two award mechanisms: the Partnered-MSCI Award for collaborative research projects and the Single Investigator-MSCI for studies on smoking behaviors and societal stressors. The program emphasizes innovative approaches to improve health outcomes and generate valuable data for future tobacco control strategies.

Overview

NOTE: Applicant Webinar will be held July 22, 2025. You can register here. The Tobacco-Related Disease Research Program (TRDRP) transforms tobacco taxes into cutting edge research to reduce commercial tobacco use and tobacco-related diseases and to inform public policy that benefits California’s diverse populations. TRDRP is committed to supporting critical research needed to inform the state’s tobacco control activities and to improve the care for Californians stricken with tobacco-related diseases. Maternal Smoking Cessation Initiative (MSCI) Purpose: Supports research dedicated to developing, implementing, and evaluating culturally-tailored commercial tobacco cessation interventions specifically designed to improve health outcomes for pregnant individuals who identify as Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC), American Indians, and Alaska Native (AIAN). This RFA will support two award mechanisms to address two different TRDRP strategic objectives. The Partnered Maternal Smoking Cessation Initiative Award (Partnered-MSCI Award) will support a hypothesis-driven research project that focuses on the development and implementation of culturally-tailored interventions for smoking cessation among pregnant individuals from BIPOC and AIAN communities, highlights TRDRP’s objective of supporting research collaborations developed and led by community and academic partners as Co-Principal Investigators (Co-PIs). The Single Investigator – Maternal Smoking Cessation Initiative Award (Single Investigator-MSCI), will investigate smoking behaviors and their relationship to societal stressors to generate data that supports the creation of an open access data repository that will be made available to researchers with an interest in maternal smoking behaviors and cessation within the populations outlined in this RFA. The Single Investigator-MSCI highlights the importance TRDRP places on supporting innovative research on tobacco-related diseases. This comprehensive approach aims to generate not only effective smoking cessation interventions but also robust epidemiological data that can inform future research directions and public health strategies to improve pregnancy outcomes for these vulnerable populations. Partnered Maternal Cessation Award (Partnered-MSCI) Overview Maximum award amount per year: $500,000 per year (Direct Costs)Community Co-PI budget max: $250,000 per yearAcademic Co-PI budget max: $250,000 per yearMaximum Duration: 2 yearsAllowable direct costs: Salaries, trainee/internship costs, fringe benefits, supplies, participant incentives, subcontracts*, equipment (costing more than $5,000), travel, publishing costs and other dissemination activities.Travel:Project-related travel: As needed in each Co-PI budget (must be fully justified)Travel to TRDRP conference (Mandatory): $750 for the Community Co-PI; $750 for the Academic Co-PIScientific conference travel: maximum of $2,000 per year for the Community Co-PI; maximum of $2,000 per year for the Academic Co-PIIndirect costs: Full indirect costs are allowed to non-UC institutions. Indirect costs to UC campuses are capped at 35 percent, or 25 percent for projects conducted off-campus. All out-of-state sub-contracts and collaborations must be well-justified; please note that funding for out-of-state expenses is extremely limited and TRDRP does not encourage such expenses. Single Investigator Maternal Cessation Award (Single Investigator-MSCI) Overview Maximum award amount per year: $250,000 (direct costs) Maximum duration: 2 years  Allowable direct costs: Salaries, fringe benefits, supplies, publishing, sub-contracts*, equipment (costing more than $5,000), and travel. Travel:   Project-related travel: As needed (must be fully justified)  Travel to TRDRP conference: $750 (mandatory)  Scientific conference travel: Up to $2,000 per year (excluding a mandatory allocation of $750 in one year of the project for travel to the TRDRP conference)  Indirect costs: Full indirect costs are allowed to non-UC institutions. Indirect costs to UC campuses are capped at 35 percent, or 25 percent for projects conducted off-campus.

Eligibility

We've imported the main document for this grant to give you an overview. You can learn more about this opportunity by visiting the funder's website.