Does "underappreciated" have a "woe is me" connotation?

I'm editing a grant and I just came across the word 'underappreciated'. It's being used in the context of saying 'The thing that we are proposing to study is underappreciated.' Whenever I hear or see the word 'underappreciated' I always think of poor, depressed Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh or Baby sitting in the corner at the end of Dirty Dancing... Is that just me? Could it ever be a synonym for 'not well studied'?

Solution 1:

In addition to being not well studied, the word definitely suggests that there is something to appreciate which is not currently appreciated. I do not think it suggests "mopey" as I do not believe areas of research have feelings that can be hurt (although researchers do.)

On its own, it could be interpreted as reflecting purely subjective aesthetic judgements on the author's part. If the author uses this word, they should seek to firmly justify and defend the potential importance of the area, the unrecognized (under-appreciated) benefits of studying it, and the potential (under-appreciated) costs and harms of letting it go unstudied.