California Air Resources Board

Survey Description

Each year CARB collects comments from the public to inform upcoming funding year research priorities. This year, the survey will be open between May 8 and June 13, 2025. Input at this stage is critical in finalizing the list of priorities that will be developed into project concepts and funded in fiscal year 2026-2027. CARB's research budget limits how many priorities can be developed into full research projects.We greatly appreciate your time and engagement in providing your input.

The list of proposed priorities can be found here: Priority List

The poll asking for feedback on each individual project is available here: Research Planning Poll - Due June 13

Public meeting to discuss top research priorities for FY2026-2027

The California Air Resources Board (CARB or Board) holds a yearly public virtual meeting to discuss the top research priorities under consideration for funding in each fiscal year. The purpose of the meeting and the poll is to solicit comments from the public on these top research priorities. The material presented at the meeting is made available on this site for public review. The slides for this meeting will be available at the bottom of this page.

Meeting Information

Date:        May 28, 2025
Time:        6:00 to 7:30 PM PDT
Location:   Zoom

Register for the meeting here.

Agenda

• Introductions
• CARB Research Program Overview
• Update on Five-Year Strategic Research Plan
• Changes to the Research Planning Process
• Overview of proposed research priorities for FY26-27
• Breakout rooms
  • Open discussion of proposed research priorities by research category (Health, Air Quality, Climate, Mobile Sources)

Meeting Recording from last year

Turning priorities into project concepts

After June 13, CARB staff will summarize the input received on the proposed priorities and through the comment section of the survey. The summary overview of public submissions will be included in a Strategic Research Plan Addendum, which will be available on the Strategic Plan landing page. Once public comments are collected and internal discussions are complete, a final list of priorities is selected for development into project concepts. Project concepts must meet the following criteria:

• Program relevance
  • Results easily integrate into program work.
  • Results will inform current and/or future policy development.
• Research
  • The project is novel and pushes the science.
  • It addresses a research gap.
  • It avoids duplication of current projects.
  • It is multidisciplinary.
• Anticipated timelines
  • The project addresses long-term anticipated challenges.
  • It is appropriate for the timeline.
• Cost-effectiveness and ability to leverage existing efforts.
• Technically viable.

In addition, Research Program staff apply an equity lens to determine whether the project needs a community engagement component or whether specific data gaps exist for different races or other sociodemographic factors.

You may contact us directly at research@arb.ca.gov. If you would like to receive updates and notices for public meetings by email, sign up for our listserv and select the “Research Activities” option from the list of topics.