Trainings for Low-Resource Settings in the USA
Sponsored by the US CDC
Application period: November 15 - December 15, 2025
This initiative empowers teams who do not normally have access to R training to transition to or expand their use of R, enabling them to drive meaningful public health impact in their communities.
Applied Epi is accepting applications from November 15 to December 15, 2025 for sponsored R training and support provided by the US CDC. Awarded training seats and support hours must be used by 31 July 2026. However, a multi-year engagement may be available for teams seeking continued collaboration beyond this period.
This opportunity is available to State, Tribal, Local, and Territorial (STLT) public health agencies or non-profit organisations delivering epidemiology services to rural, remote or low-resource jurisdictions. See the full eligibility requirements below.
Eligible teams gain access to:
Funding Details
Funding for these US scholarships are provided to Applied Epi by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) under award 1 NU38PW000001-01-00 (Strengthening Public Health Systems and Services through National Partnerships to Improve and Protect the Nation’s Health).
Future opportunities: Additional R training opportunities will be offered over the next four years. Teams are welcome to apply for multiple cycles, or for future years, to train new members or advance to more specialised courses.
Eligibility
To be eligible for scholarship consideration, the application must meet all the following criteria:
- Team-Based Application*: The application must be submitted on behalf of a team of 1-15 people (e.g., branch, division, etc.).
- Applicant Organisation: The team must be either a State, Tribal, Local, or Territorial (STLT) government agency, or a non-profit organisation.
- Service Provision: The agency or organisation must be a primary provider of applied epidemiological services and meet one of the following criteria:
- Rural Jurisdictions: The jurisdiction(s) served is considered rural by any federal definitions (e.g., NCHS, OMB).
- US Territories: The jurisdiction served is a US territory or freely associated state.
- Federally-Recognized Tribes: The jurisdiction served is a federally-recognized American Indian tribe or Alaska Native entity (including tribal-serving organizations, TECs, Urban Indian organizations, etc).
- Low-Resource Jurisdiction: The STLT agency or organisation itself is otherwise low-resource and unable to afford R training (justification required).
*For small organisations, teams of one person will be considered. Maximum size is 15 team members.
Be sure to read the FAQs below for more detailed information about the scholarships and eligibility criteria!
Apply here
Applications will be accepted between November 15 and December 15, 2025.
Before you begin the application process, be sure to gather the following information:
- Your team’s eligibility status for the scholarship.
- How your team is planning on transitioning, or is currently transitioning, to R.
- A brief description of each team member including contact details, position in the team, computer literacy, and which courses they are interested in applying for.
- For team members interested in advanced courses: explanation of prior R experience if they do not plan to also enrol in the Introduction to R for Applied Epidemiology course.
Once you have gathered all the above information, click here to start the application process. You will not be able to save and return to the form, so please be ready to complete the form in-full before starting which could take approximately one hour depending on team size.
If you are experiencing barriers to completing the online application, please contact us at scholarships@appliedepi.org and we will work with you to find a solution.
All data submitted in applications will be used solely for the purpose of scholarship selection. Data collected in these forms will not be shared with other entities.
Next steps
All applicants will be contacted with the results once the selection process is complete.
If your team is chosen, your team lead will be notified by mid-January 2026. Due to limited availability, the team may be offered fewer seats than requested. In such cases, the team composition will be discussed before finalising the participant list.
To confirm acceptance of the scholarship, a senior leadership representative will need to review and sign an acknowledgement letter agreeing to the details of the offer and a statement that the team will participate fully in the program. Once this is completed, all team members will receive information about course enrollment.
FAQs
About the scholarship
For January 2026, scholarship packages can include enrollment in our Introduction to R for Applied Epidemiology course (40 hours, virtual, live/synchronous), any of our advanced courses (7 hours, virtual, live/synchronous), and R coding and project support. You can read more about our courses here.
This service is for teams or individuals looking to develop their own workflows in R, such as creating automated surveillance reports and data cleaning processes. An Applied Epi technician can review and troubleshoot your R code in online calls, or even help you plan and design your R project.
Teams offered a scholarship package can enroll their team members in their choice of Applied Epi’s private CDC cohorts scheduled from February to July 2026. Cohorts begin approximately each month, running at various times (mornings, afternoons, and evenings in various time zones). The Introduction to R for Applied Epidemiology course is ten sessions of 3.5 hours which run twice per week for five weeks. The advanced courses are all formatted as two sessions of 3.5 hours which run over two days in one week. Support Desk calls can be booked for any time, with 24 hours advance notice.
No. This opportunity is fully sponsored by the US CDC which includes all included training and support services. There is no cost to apply.
No, this is entirely up to you. Consider the benefits of having participants learn together versus the need to maintain your team’s capacity to perform routine activities.
For the January 2026 round of scholarship applications, applications are only available in English. However, the Introduction to R for Applied Epidemiology course, as well as Support Desk services, will be offered in Spanish and English. Advanced courses will be offered only in English. Applied Epi hopes to expand language options in the future, so be sure to check back during the next round.
All the advanced courses listed on our website are available as part of the scholarship application. Team members planning to apply for advanced courses should also include the Introduction to R for Applied Epidemiology course in their course list or have prior R coding experience.
Team members taking advanced courses should have prior experience in R, either by also enrolling for the Introduction to R for Applied Epidemiology course or by having prior R coding experience. Advanced courses are designed to train team members on applying topics in R code. As such, some prior knowledge of the topic is expected to take the course.
Please contact scholarships@appliedepi.org for more details on pre-requisites for advanced courses or to ascertain eligibility.
The Support Desk provides individuals or teams the opportunity to meet with Applied Epi technicians one-on-one. These sessions can be used to help develop new workflows in R or to debug and advance existing workflows.
Project Support applications will be made available to all teams awarded a scholarship. Please get in touch with support@appliedepi.org for more details.
Support Desk calls can be booked for any time of day or night (24/7 availability) with 24 hours advance notice.
Depending on the reason, early withdrawal or not completing the program may impact your team’s eligibility for scholarship services in the future. We understand that turnover and emergencies happen, but also expect a sincere commitment from the team to utilise the limited funds of this program.
Eligibility
This opportunity, funded by the US CDC, is restricted to teams serving populations in the United States. Check to see if you qualify for an Applied Epi Scholarship for teams in low- and middle-income countries instead.
Applying as a team fosters collaboration and shared learning, making the transition to R smoother and more effective. This approach ensures consistent use of R, builds organisational resilience, and supports achieving public health or epidemiological goals.
If you work for a small organisation and believe that you are the only person who needs to learn R, you can still apply as a team of one! The application process remains the same, requiring leadership support and a clear plan for transitioning to R.
Yes, staff, trainees or fellows of programmes, such as the EIS or CSTE, may apply as part of the government team they are placed within.
Yes, federal employees working at the local level are eligible for the Applied Epi CDC-Sponsored Scholarship program if they apply as part of their local team.
Low-resource entities are agencies or organisations which are unable to afford R training. Please note justification is required in the application to be eligible under the low-resource entity jurisdiction.
For teams that have indicated they are low-resource, the below factors will be assessed. The acceptance threshold will be set after reviewing the application pool for the following: - Low per-capita agency budget - Low ratio of public health staff per population - High rate of staff turnover - Reliance on outdated data systems - The org/agency’s lack of accreditation - Unprepared for emerging epidemiological challenges - Serving low-resource or particularly complex population(s)
These scholarships are tailored to support Applied Epi’s core audience—teams actively working in public health and applied epidemiology. The goal is to enhance disease control efforts in low-resource settings by equipping practitioners who directly impact applied epidemiology.
As such, scholarships are not likely to be awarded to students, academic teams, or those focused solely on clinical or research activities.
The scholarships are designed for those in applied epidemiology and public health, ensuring stronger in-system disease control in low-resource settings. Practitioners in these fields have the most impact on applied epidemiology, so other disciplines are not eligible.
We would encourage you to apply, and write about why your work has a direct impact on disease control.
If you work in One Health and can demonstrate the impact of your work on human health, we encourage you to apply.
Application
Applications for the Applied Epi scholarship are open from November 15 to December 15, 2025. Final decisions and notifications will be made by mid January 2026.
It is recommended to coordinate and submit one consolidated application on behalf of the relevant units within the organisation. Details of your situation can be provided. If further clarification is needed, additional discussion via email is available at scholarships@appliedepi.org.
It’s important to understand how R could benefit your team and what conversations have taken place with senior leadership about this transition. Teams that have considered their needs and discussed potential changes with leadership are often better prepared to integrate R into their workflows successfully.
We limit team sizes to 15 members per team. If your team is over 15 individuals please get in touch first to discuss if the scholarship program can accommodate your team.
If you have new team members that would benefit from the training, get in touch and we’ll see if we can add them immediately, otherwise, you may need to wait until the next fiscal year.
Changes to a team’s participants can be requested prior to courses opening for enrolment. You can always email us with questions.
Yes they can! You can include them in your application. We require team members planning to take advanced courses to either have prior experience in R or to take the Introduction to R for Applied Epidemiology course first.
Each individual team member can enroll for the Introduction to R for Applied Epidemiology course and/or two advanced courses within a fiscal year.
We expect your senior leadership representative to sign and return a template letter which will include the details of the offer and a statement that the team agrees to participate fully in the program. The template letter will be provided upon acceptance into the program.
Returning teams
Yes, the scholarship is designed with the intention of providing continued training for scholarship recipients. Please encourage your team members who previously took the Introduction to R for Applied Epidemiology course to consider enrolling for advanced courses that may be suitable to their workflows. All team members are welcome to take up to two advanced courses per fiscal year.