PCORI New Funding Opportunity: Q2 2026 Application Cycle Now Open

Current Q2 2026 Funding Opportunities

• Pragmatic Clinical Studies (PCS): Large-scale comparative effectiveness trials embedded in real-world health care settings. Awards up to $30M over 4–6 years. Require a defined patient population, clinical equipoise between comparison arms, and a pragmatic design that can be conducted within routine care workflows.
• Patient-Centered Outcomes Research (PCOR) Awards: Smaller comparative effectiveness studies, observational research, or mixed-methods studies addressing patient-centered questions. Awards typically $750,000–$5M over 2–4 years.
• Evidence Synthesis Awards: Systematic reviews and meta-analyses on comparative effectiveness topics prioritised by PCORI. Awards up to $1.5M. Rapid Evidence Reviews for emerging clinical questions are also funded.
• Pipeline to Proposal Awards: Capacity-building grants ($50,000–$200,000) designed to help institutions, community organisations, or research teams without prior PCORI funding develop a full application. Priority given to organisations serving underrepresented populations.

PCORI's Patient Engagement Requirement

• PCORI requires that patients, caregivers, or other stakeholders are meaningfully engaged as partners — not just research subjects — in all funded research
• Patient partners must be involved in at minimum: research question development, study design, outcome selection, interpretation of results, and dissemination planning
• Applications must include a detailed Patient and Stakeholder Engagement Plan as a required application section — reviewers assess engagement quality and depth
• PCORI provides a Patient Engagement Rubric and Checklist — use these to structure and self-assess your engagement plan before submission
• Patient partner compensation must be included in the budget — PCORI expects patient partners to be paid for their time at appropriate rates

Eligibility Requirements

• U.S. registered nonprofit or for-profit organizations, academic institutions, health systems, or government entities
• Principal Investigators must have sufficient research experience and institutional support
• No requirement for prior PCORI funding — but Pipeline to Proposal awards specifically target new applicants
• Multi-site studies encouraged — PCORI favors research conducted across diverse health care settings and patient populations
• Studies must focus on comparative effectiveness — not efficacy studies comparing treatment to placebo

How to Apply

• Step 1 — Review current PCORI funding announcements: All open funding announcements are at pcori.org/funding. Each announcement includes specific focus areas, eligibility, and review criteria. PCORI publishes a research agenda — proposals that align with stated priorities score higher.
• Step 2 — Attend a Funding Opportunity Webinar: PCORI hosts mandatory or strongly recommended webinars for each funding opportunity. These cover requirements, common errors, and reviewer expectations — attend before writing the proposal.
• Step 3 — Submit a Letter of Intent (LOI): Most PCORI opportunities require an LOI before full application. The LOI (2–3 pages) describes the research question, study design, and team. PCORI provides feedback on LOIs before full submissions are invited.
• Step 4 — Prepare the full application: Core sections: Research Plan (including population, comparators, outcomes, study design, analysis plan), Patient and Stakeholder Engagement Plan, Dissemination and Implementation Plan, Budget and Justification, Team Qualifications.
• Step 5 — Submit through PCORI's Online System: PCORI uses its own submission portal — not Grants.gov. Register at pcori.org well in advance of the deadline.