Robert Wood Johnson Foundation – Exploring Equitable Futures Call for Proposals
Posted June 25, 2025
Disciplines: All
Proposals due October 15th, 2025, 2:00pm cst
The purpose of this Exploring Equitable Futures call for proposals (CFP) is to support projects that seed new and unconventional ideas that could radically advance health equity for generations to come.
We aim to fund projects that:
- Explore the future by researching and experimenting with ideas that are ahead of the curve or at the edge of our collective imagination;
- Shine a light on the emerging trends and forces that are shaping our future for better or worse—and suggest ways to navigate them to mitigate harm and advance health equity;
- Dream big and challenge conventional wisdom to surface possibilities and uncover new paths to dismantle structural racism and build a more equitable future.
These projects should address one or more of RWJF’s Prioritized Systems.
We are particularly interested in projects that seed new and unconventional ideas within the Health Science Knowledge System—or that reimagine this system completely. At RWJF, we believe that the knowledge and evidence that’s needed to guide better decision making, as well as policies that influence health, must include wisdom generated and shared by communities, including those that have been traditionally ignored or undervalued. With our grantees and partners, we are working to transform the way we produce, share, and use health evidence so that it is rooted in equity and justice. As such, we are interested in projects that explore questions such as, but not limited to:
- How might trends, such as artificial intelligence and decreasing trust in institutions impact efforts to transform the Health Science Knowledge System?
- How might a reimagined Health Science Knowledge System produce knowledge that advances health equity? In a desired future, who gets to frame research questions? How does research reflect the priorities and concerns of community members? What qualifies as evidence?
- How might new structures, processes, and incentives ensure the future Health Science Knowledge System produces, validates, disseminates, and applies evidence to improve health?
Learn more about the kinds of ideas funded in the past by the Ideas for an Equitable Future team at www.rwjf.org/ideasforthefuture.