Community-Engaged Scholars Program (CES-P)

Community-Engaged Scholars Program (CES-P) is sponsored by Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC). Supports community-academic partnerships to conduct research with mutual ownership, aiming to improve community health in South Carolina.

Community Engaged Scholars | MUSC Research South Carolina Clinical & Translational Research Institute Community Engaged Scholars Founded in 2009, the mission of the Community-Engaged Scholars Program (CES-P) is to increase the capacity of community-academic partnerships to conduct research with mutual ownership of the processes and products, and ultimately, improve the health of our communities in South Carolina and beyond.

The program objectives are to: Incentivize and foster community and academic partnerships; Encourage collaborative identification of community health priorities; and Develop and provide an in-person/online interactive group learning curriculum. The program consists of didactic and hands-on training sessions that academic and community partners attend together.

Participants design and complete a Community-Based Participatory Research project and are awarded pilot funds (up to $10,000) from the South Carolina Clinical and Translational Research (SCTR) Institute to collect pilot data for future funding applications. Applications for Cohort 17 are expected to become available in Fall 2026.

December 15, 2025 – Letters of Intent Due January 9, 2026 – Full Applications Due March 16, 2026 – Awardees Notified April 16, 2026 – In Person Kickoff Retreat at MUSC Charleston (all team members required to attend; mileage, parking, and lunch expenses are covered by CES-P) Each team must consist of at least one Academic Partner and one Community Partner and can include up to 5 members. The partnership can be either new or established.

An Academic Partner is an individual with a faculty or clinical appointment (minimum of Assistant Professor or higher) at one or more South Carolina research intensive universities (e.g., Medical University of South Carolina, Clemson, University of South Carolina). Academic partners must have previous research experience, and their institution must have an affiliated IRB.

A Community Partner is defined as an individual who maintains a primary affiliation, whether employed or volunteer, with a community organization. For this program, community organization is defined as an organization that has: a documented interest in improving the health of the relevant community (e.g., a mission statement); and a history of serving the health needs and interests of the relevant community.

These organizations may include, but are not limited to public schools, community-based organizations, faith-based organizations, community-based health provider organizations and advocacy groups. Each team prepares and submits an initial CBPR study proposal, budget, and supporting documents as part of the CES-P application process. Applications undergo a multi-tiered review process.

Following notification of awards, selected teams will be invited to join training sessions where they will be receive training on community based research principles, research methods, program evaluation, funding, and other relevant topics, in addition to assistance from the CES-P Director, assigned mentor (if applicable), and SCTR Institute faculty and staff to refine the proposal, budget, and initiate their projects.

Training sessions include an in-person Kickoff retreat with all awardees, a synchronous virtual session with all awardees, and several one-on-one virtual team meetings with program leadership. All academic and community partners must be present for the entirety of scheduled group and individual team meetings. Between sessions participants are expected to collaborate with partners on assigned tasks and complete program surveys.

Partners will continually refine their grant and IRB application in preparation for the IRB submission (during and outside of sessions). All partners must complete Human Subjects and Good Clinical Practice Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI) modules (note that the cost of CITI training is covered by MUSC for awardees).

The award of funds is contingent upon successful completion by all team members of CES-P, including attendance at all sessions, Human Subject Protection (CITI) Training, program surveys, final SCTR approval of revised protocol and budget, and appropriate Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval.

Once all components are completed and approvals are received, each team will be awarded up to a maximum of $10,000 to implement the proposed CBPR project over a 12-month period (most awards range between $3000-$7000). Salary support for academic and community investigators and university indirect costs are not allowable.

Teams may include staff support to carry out study activities, as needed (i.e., if a team needs to hire a research assistant). Past CES teams (PDF) have: Presented at state and national conferences, with both academic and community partners. Been awarded funding to continue their research with community partners as co-investigators.

Published articles about their partnership teams and pilot work. Established lasting partnerships within their communities. CES-P uses the Are We Ready?

Toolkit: A Toolkit for Academic-Community Partnerships in preparation for Community-Based Participatory Research to guide the establishment of strong community-academic partnerships. Register for your free copy using the Are We Ready? Toolkit Registration Form .

For more information, please reach out to the program contacts: Michelle Nichols, Ph. D. , RN CES-P Program Coordinator Getting Started in Research