Federal Funding Mechanisms for Sponsored Programs

Click here for a comprehensive list of all NIH funding mechanisms.

Click here for an “Introduction to Collaborative Grants” from the NIDDK.

• Multiple PI Research Projects
  The multiple-PI model is intended to supplement, and not replace, the traditional single PI model, and allows applicants and their institution to identify more than one PI on a single grant application. The goal is to encourage collaboration among equals when that is the most appropriate way to address a scientific problem. An R01 is an award made to an institution/organization to support a discrete, specified project to be performed by an investigator(s) in areas representing their specific interests and competencies. The multi-PI option presents an important opportunity for investigators seeking support for projects or activities that require a team science approach.
• Research Program Projects, P01
  Supports integrated, multi-project research projects involving a number of independent investigators who share knowledge and common resources. Each project must contribute or be directly related to a common theme of the total proposed research that results in a defined research program goal.
• Exploratory Grants, P20
  Exploratory grants that support planning for new programs, expansion or modification of existing resources, and feasibility studies to explore various approaches to the development of interdisciplinary programs that offer potential solutions to problems of special significance to the mission of the NIH. These exploratory studies may lead to specialized or comprehensive centers.
• Center Core Grants, P30
  Center core grants that support shared resources and facilities for categorical research by a number of investigators from different disciplines who provide a multidisciplinary approach to a joint research effort or from the same discipline who focus on a common research problem. The core grant is integrated with a center’s component projects or program projects, though funded independently from them.
• Biotechnology Resource Grants, P41
  Supports biotechnology resources available to all qualified investigators without regard to the scientific disciplines or disease orientations of their research activities or specifically directed to a categorical program area.
• Specialized Center, P50
  Specialized centers that support research and development activities, from the very basic to clinical, and that focus on a multidisciplinary attack on a specific disease entity or biomedical problem area. Centers may serve as regional or national resources for special research purposes.
• Comprehensive Center, P60
  Comprehensive research program projects and center’s support a multipurpose unit designed to bring together into a common focus divergent but related facilities within a given community. It may be based in a university or may involve other locally available resources, such as hospitals, computer facilities, regional centers, and primate colonies. It usually includes the following objectives: to foster biomedical research and development at both the fundamental and clinical levels; to initiate and expand community education, screening, and counseling programs; and to educate medical and allied health professionals concerning the problems of diagnosis and treatment of a specific disease.
• Resource-Related Research Projects, R24
  Used in a wide variety of ways to provide resources for problems where multiple expertise is needed to focus on a single complex problem in biomedical research or to enhance research infrastructure
• Resource-Related Education Projects, R25
  Used in a wide variety of ways to promote an appreciation for and interest in biomedical research, provide additional training in specific areas, and/or to develop ways to disseminate scientific discovery into public health and community applications
• Clinical Trial Planning Grant, R34
  Clinical trial planning grant program designed to permit early peer review of the rationale for a proposed clinical trial and support its essential elements. Usually has a project period between one and three years with a budget between $100,000 up to $450,000. There is no parent FOA and this mechanism is used only by select ICs.
• Small Business Technology Transfer Grants, R41/R42
  Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) grants intended to stimulate scientific and technological innovation through cooperative research/research and development carried out between small business concerns and research institutions.
• Small Business Innovation Research Grants, R43/R44
  Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) grants intended to stimulate technological innovation in the private sector by supporting research or research and development for for-profit institutions for ideas that have potential for commercialization. Often offer sub contracting opportunities to academic institutions.
• Biomedical Research Support Shared Instrumentation Grants, S10
  Make available to institutions with a high concentration of NIH extramural research awards research instruments which will be used on a shared basis. Shred Instrumentation Grant and High End Instrumentation programs available.
• Research Project–Cooperative Agreements, U01
  Research Project Cooperative Agreement support discrete, specified, circumscribed projects to be performed by investigator(s) in an area representing their specific interest and competencies. Used when substantial programmatic involvement is anticipated between the awarding Institute and Center. There is no specific dollar limit unless specified in the FOA.
• Cooperative Clinical Research–Cooperative Agreements, U10
  Cooperative clinical agreements support the clinical evaluation of various methods of therapy and/or prevention in specific disease areas. These represent cooperative programs between sponsoring institutions and participating principal investigators, and are usually conducted under established protocols.
• Research Program–Cooperative Agreements, U19
  To support a research program of multiple projects directed toward a specific major objective, basic theme or program goal, requiring a broadly based, multidisciplinary and often long-term approach. A cooperative agreement research program generally involves the organized efforts of large groups, members of which are conducting research projects designed to elucidate the various aspects of a specific objective. Substantial Federal programmatic staff involvement is intended to assist investigators during performance of the research activities, as defined in the terms and conditions of award. The investigators have primary authorities and responsibilities to define research objectives and approaches, and to plan, conduct, analyze, and publish results, interpretations and conclusions of their studies. Each research project is usually under the leadership of an established investigator in an area representing his/her special interest and competencies. Each project supported through this mechanism should contribute to or be directly related to the common theme of the total research effort. The award can provide support for certain basic shared resources, including clinical components, which facilitate the total research effort. These scientifically meritorious projects should demonstrate an essential element of unity and interdependence.
• Resource-Related Research Projects–Cooperative Agreements, U24
  To support research projects contributing to improvement of the capability of resources to serve biomedical research.
• Specialized Center–Cooperative Agreements, U54
  Specialized Centers that support activities similar to the P50. The difference is that they are usually developed in response to an announcement related to the programmatic needs of an Institute or Division at the NIH and subsequently receive continuous attention from its staff. Centers may also serve as regional or national resources for special research purposes.
• Linked Specialized Center Cooperative Agreement, UL1
  Early awards that support the independent research project of a recent doctoral degree recipient. This research grant allows scientist to bypass the typical post-doc research training period in order to move rapidly to research independence.
• Preapplication, X02
  In cooperation with public and private nonprofit organizations, for-profit organizations and Federal laboratories, provides an opportunity for investigators to submit pre-applications for those funding opportunities that allow it as a part of the peer review process.

• Common Fund’s NIH Director’s Transformative Research Projects Program, T-R01
  The Common Fund’s NIH Director’s Transformative Research Projects Program (R01) was specifically created to support exceptionally innovative, high risk, original and/or unconventional research projects that have the potential to create or overturn fundamental paradigms. These projects tend to be inherently risky, but if successful can profoundly impact a broad area of biomedical research. As compared to the other NIH Director’s Programs, the Pioneer and New Innovator Awards, the primary emphasis of the Transformative Research Projects Program is on creative ideas—projects that have the potential to transform a field of science and to provide adequate support for the work—rather than creative individuals who have proven themselves to be innovative researchers and to provide them with funds to go in a new pioneering direction.
• IDeA Networks of Biomedical Research Excellence (INBRE)
  IDeA Networks of Biomedical Research Excellence (INBRE) promote the development, coordination and sharing of research resources and expertise that will expand the research opportunities and increase the number of competitive investigators in the IDeA-eligible states.INBRE grants are intended to enhance the caliber of scientific faculty at research institutions and undergraduate schools, thereby attracting more promising students to these organizations.
• Bioengineering Research Partnerships (BRP) R01
  Encourages basic, applied, and translational or clinical bioengineering research that will have a well-defined goal or deliverable that will be achieved within the 5-10 year funding period. A BRP must bring together the necessary physical, engineering, and computational science expertise with biological or clinical expertise and resources to address a significant area of bioengineering research within the mission of the NIH. Encourages basic, applied, and translational or clinical bioengineering research that will have a well-defined goal or deliverable that will be achieved within the 5-10 year funding period. A BRP must bring together the necessary physical, engineering, and computational science expertise with biological or clinical expertise and resources to address a significant area of bioengineering research within the mission of the NIH.
• NBIB Biomedical Technology Resource
  Encourages research and development on new technologies that are driven by the needs of basic, translational, and clinical researchers. BTRC’s also make their technologies available, train members of the research community in the use of the technologies, and disseminate these technologies broadly (P41)
• NIGMS
  Makes resources available for currently funded scientists to form research teams to tackle complex problems that are of central importance to biomedical science and to the mission of NIGMS, but that are beyond the means of any one research group.
• NIDCD Otopathology Research Collaboration Network (U24) 
  Promotes timely human otopathology research relevant to new discoveries in genetics, physiology and disease. Emphasis is on collaborative infrastructure for research on human ear disorders, where a combined approach can optimize expertise from a few small laboratories, improve the targeted procurement and shared use of particular temporal bone tissues, and coordinate training of new otopathologists and technicians. A cooperative agreement will coordinate networking approaches from different temporal bone laboratories to maximize impact and novelty while avoiding duplicative efforts. Explicit collaborations to link modern biology, imaging, and informatics technologies with patient history and pathology will provide a new approach to otopathology.
• Collaborative R34s for Pilot Studies of Innovative Treatments in Mental Disorders 
  To support collaborative preliminary intervention studies to evaluate the feasibility, tolerability, acceptability and safety of novel mechanism drug candidates, promising investigational new drugs (INDs), or novel psychosocial strategies for the treatment of mental disorders and for obtaining the preliminary data needed as a pre-requisite to larger-scale (efficacy or effectiveness) intervention or services studies. This FOA should be used when at least two but no more than three sites are needed to complete the study. The collaborating studies should be organized in order to increase sample size, accelerate recruitment, and/or increase sample diversity and representation. For a linked set of collaborative R34s, each site shall have its own Project Director/Principal Investigator and provide for a mechanism for cross-site coordination, quality control, database management, statistical analysis, and reporting.
• Collaborative R01s for Clinical and Services Studies of Mental Disorders, AIDS and Alcohol Use Disorders
  To support collaborative intervention trials in the treatment, prevention or rehabilitation of those with mental disorders and alcohol use disorders and comorbid mental disorders. Support is also provided for other collaborative clinical studies, including but not limited to mental health services research, AIDS, genetics, psychopathology, stigma, and cultural and social processes. This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) should be used when two or more sites are needed to complete the study. Accordingly, the collaborating studies share a specific protocol across the sites and are organized as such in order to increase sample size, accelerate recruitment, or increase sample diversity and representation. In studies with a large number of sites, it is expected that one site will be submitted as a coordinating site for data management and/or other centralized administration. For a linked set of collaborative R01s, each site has its own Project Director/Principal Investigator and the program provides a mechanism for cross-site coordination, quality control, database management, statistical analysis, and reporting.
• Collaborative Interdisciplinary Team Science in Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolic Diseases (R24)
  To provide support to enable strong investigative teams to do inter- and/or trans-disciplinary research on a complex problem in biomedical science relevant to Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolic Diseases.
• Collaborative Interdisciplinary Team Science in NIDDK Research Areas (R24) Grant
  Collaborative Interdisciplinary Team Science Awards will foster the application of interdisciplinary, integrative and/or paradigm-shifting approaches to address complex challenges in biomedical research relevant to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. The NIDDK supported R24 grant mechanism is designed to apply the flexibility of the Research Resource Project Grant mechanism (R24) to accommodate many forms of approaches including discovery-based or resource-generating and hypothesis-driven or hypothesis-generating science. Information regarding the mission of NIDDK and its constituent Extramural Scientific Divisions, including Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolic Diseases (DEM), Digestive Diseases and Nutrition (DDN), and Kidney, Urology and Hematologic Diseases (KUH) may be found at: http://www2.niddk.nih.gov/Funding/default.htm.
• Centers without Walls for Collaborative Research in the Epilepsies: Genetics and Genomics of Human Epilepsies (U01)
  To encourage linked cooperative agreement (U01) applications from large, multidisciplinary groups of investigators to accelerate the rate of progress in identifying the genetic factors that contribute to epilepsy syndromes. Linked applications may include an administrative core, a genetics core, and specific scientific projects proposed for the initial performance period of the Center without Walls.
• Collaborative Clinical Trials in Drug Abuse (Collaborative R01)
  The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) seeks to increase the clinical collaboration of investigators between multiple clinical research groups, while simultaneously facilitating the study of outcome measures and/or patient populations that require larger numbers of subjects than any single site can reasonable enroll. This mechanism supports collaborative clinical trials in drug abuse (CCTDA) through the funding of “linked” Research Project Grant (R01) applications across different study sites (e.g., different institutions, organizations, and/or multiple campuses within a single institution or university system). Each research group must submit a separate R01 application, but should conduct clinical trials utilizing one common research plan. A lead group should be designated as the coordinating site. Although a foreign institution may be included as a participating site, the coordinating site must be a domestic institution/organization.
• Collaborative Research in Integrative Cancer Biology and the Tumor Microenvironment (U01)
  The National Cancer Institute aims to facilitate new projects in integrative cancer biology and/or tumor microenvironment research and to extend current research.
• Collaborative Research on the Transition from Acute to Chronic Pain: New Models and Measures in Clinical and Preclinical Pain Research (R01)
  The National Cancer Institute aims to facilitate new projects in integrative cancer biology and/or tumor microenvironment research and to extend current research.
• Partnerships for Sustainable Research and Dissemination of Evidence-based Medicine (R24)
• NINR Centers of Excellence in Symptom Science (P30) and Building Research Teams for the Future (P20)

• NIGMS Administrative Supplements for Collaborative Science
  Administrative supplements to NIGMS-funded research projects, intended to enhance ongoing research by stimulating and supporting new multidisciplinary collaborations among NIGMS grantees and other members of the scientific community. Collaborations that bring together ideas and approaches from disparate scientific disciplines are particularly encouraged, as are those involving individuals from groups that are currently underrepresented in the biomedical sciences. These collaborative activities must be within the scope of the approved aims of the parent award, and are expected to provide novel scientific approaches to the research plan for the NIGMS grantee and collaborators. For 2011 receipt dates see NOT-GM-09-027.
• NCI Division of Cancer Biology Administrative Supplements for Activities to Promote Research Collaborations
  Supplemental funding in fiscal year 2010 for existing DCB-funded research to support and encourage new multidisciplinary scientific collaborations among DCB grantees, as well as with other members of the scientific community. This initiative supports collaborative interdisciplinary activities that bring together ideas and approaches from disparate scientific disciplines. The proposed APRC activities must be within the overall scope of the active parent award and the collaborative activity must be new.
• NCI Promote Research Collaborations in AIDS-Associated Malignancies 
  Supplemental funding for existing NCI-funded AIDS-associated malignancy research projects to support and encourage multidisciplinary scientific collaboration among NCI grantees, as well as with other members of the scientific community. The proposed supplement activities should be within the overall scope of the active parent NCI grant. For Federal fiscal year 2010.
• NCI Administrative Supplements to Promote Research Collaborations between Hepatocellular Carcinoma Research Laboratories and AIDS Laboratories (NOT-CA-11-015)
  To support ongoing NCI-funded research projects on hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). This initiative is designed to stimulate collaborative research between NCI-funded HCC investigators and HIV/AIDS researchers. This initiative is also referred to as the Activities to Promote Research Collaborations between Hepatocellular Carcinoma Research Laboratories and AIDS Laboratories (APRC- HCC and AIDS).
• NINDS Administrative Supplements for Collaborative Activities to Promote Translational Research (CAPTR)
  Administrative supplements for NINDS-funded grantees to stimulate new interdisciplinary collaborations in translational research. The proposed studies must be within the scope of the peer-reviewed activities specified within the NINDS parent award and collaborators may not have a significant history of joint interactions. The CAPTR program was initiated in 2007 and continued in 2008 and 2009. For fiscal year 2010 see NOT-NS-10-008.
• NIBIB for Research on Collaborative Projects with Indian Investigators on Low-Cost Medical Devices
  Administrative supplements for current NIBIB-supported research grants to encourage collaborative research and/or technology development between scientists and engineers in the United States and India. The funds will support investigators based in the United States who are collaborating with Indian investigators. Indian collaborators are expected to apply to the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) in India for complementary funding.
• Basic Behavioral and Social Science Opportunity Network (OppNet) Short-term Interdisciplinary Training Program for New and Early-Stage Investigators (R25)
  This funding opportunity announcement, issued by as part of the NIH Basic Behavioral and Social Science Opportunity Network (OppNet), solicits short-term R25 Research Education Project applications that will focus on providing creative and innovative education research experiences for new scientists in basic behavioral and social science research (b-BSSR). The goal of this initiative is to support the growth of a cohort of scientists with research expertise in b-BSSR to further the understanding of fundamental mechanisms and patterns of behavioral and social functioning relevant to the health and well-being of individuals and populations. This program is no longer open.

• Joint NIH-NSF CRCNS
  Collaborative Research in Computational Neuroscience (CRCNS), Innovative Approaches to Science and Engineering Research on Brain Function. Participating organizations of the NSF, NIH, and the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung, BMBF) support collaborative activities that will advance the understanding of nervous system structure and function, mechanisms underlying nervous system disorders, and computational strategies used by the nervous system. Three classes of proposals will be considered in response to this solicitation: Research Proposals, US-German Research Proposals, and Data Sharing Proposals.
• Transforming Biomedicine at the Interface of the Life and Physical Sciences (R01)
  The goal of this funding opportunity announcement is to stimulate quantitative and physical scientists to work with biomedical scientists to transform technological innovation and basic knowledge in the quantitative sciences into new or improved devices or systems for health care.
• New Biomedical Frontiers at the Interface of the Life and Physical Sciences 
  The goal of this funding opportunity announcement is to encourage grant applications from institutions/organizations that propose discovery research that may create entirely new areas of biomedical investigation through bridging the physical and life/behavioral sciences.
• NIH-NSF Ecology of Infectious Diseases Program: A Joint Program for Multidisciplinary Research
  Joint Fogarty International Center (FIC) of NIH and the NSF to support to multidisciplinary teams in the development of predictive models and the discovery of principles governing the transmission dynamics of infectious disease agents to humans and other hosts. Should include research in diverse disciplines (e.g., mammalogy, ornithology, entomology, epidemiology, microbiology, immunology, social sciences, hydrology, geographic information systems, mathematical modeling, biostatistics) as relevant to understanding the disease transmission system proposed. Of specific interest are collaborative partnerships between US scientists and UK biological and social scientists.
• Predictive Multiscale Models for Biomedical, Biological, Behavioral, Environmental and Clinical Research (Interagency U01)
  The goal of this interagency funding opportunity announcement (FOA) is to support the development of multiscale models to accelerate biological, biomedical, behavioral, environmental and clinical research. The NIH, DOE, FDA, and NSF recognize that to efficiently and effectively address the challenges of understanding multiscale biological and behavioral systems, researchers will need predictive, computational models that encompass multiple biological and behavioral scales. This FOA also encourages the development of new, non-standard modeling methods and experimental approaches to facilitate multiscale modeling.
• Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Disease; Joint issuance between: NSF, NIH (NIGMS, FIC), and USDA
  The Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Diseases program supports research on the ecological, evolutionary, and socio-ecological principles and processes that regulate the transmission dynamics of infectious diseases. The program’s focus is on both the discovery, and the building and testing models that elucidate these principles and processes. Research proposals should focus on understanding the determinants of transmission of diseases to humans, non-human animals, or plants; the spread of pathogens by environmental factors, vectors or abiotic agents; the population dynamics and genetics of reservoir species or alternate hosts; or the cultural, social, behavioral, and economic dimensions of disease transmission. Research may be on zoonotic, environmentally borne, vector-borne, or enteric diseases of either terrestrial, freshwater, or marine systems and organisms, including diseases of non-human animals and plants, at any scale from specific pathogens to inclusive environmental systems. Proposals for research on disease systems of public health concern to developing countries are strongly encouraged, as are disease systems of concern in agricultural and coastal marine systems. Investigators are encouraged to include links to the public health research community, including for example, participation of epidemiologists, physicians, veterinarians, food scientists, social scientists, entomologists, pathologists, virologists, or parasitologists.

• Scientific Meetings for Creating Interdisciplinary Research Teams (R13)
  Provides a specialized use of the R13 mechanism, to support teams of investigators from multiple disciplines in holding meetings for the purpose of developing interdisciplinary research projects. Teams must include investigators from the social and/or behavioral sciences, and may include the life and/or physical sciences. Investigators should propose multiple meetings over a period of up to two years.
• Scientific Meetings for Creating Interdisciplinary Research Teams in Basic Behavioral and Social Science Research (R13)
  Research Conference Grant (R13) for scientific meetings aimed at building interdisciplinary research teams in basic behavioral and social science research (b-BSSR). Applicants must propose developmental activities (i.e., meetings/workshops) that will build the capacity of interdisciplinary teams to accelerate, expand, and/or strengthen fundamental knowledge in b-BSSR as relevant to the Nation’s health and well-being. Proposed interdisciplinary teams must include at least one investigator from the basic social and/or behavioral sciences, and must include investigators from at least one additional discipline. Investigators may submit applications to support multiple meetings over a period of up to two years. This opportunity is now closed.
• Scientific Meetings for Creating Collaborative Research Teams under the Indo-US Program for Contraception and Reproductive Health Research (CRHR) (R13) encourages Research Conference Grant (R13) applications from institutions and organizations that propose to develop collaborative research teams to address priority areas under the Indo-US Program for Contraception and Reproductive Health Research (CRHR). Teams must include investigators from US and Indian institutions involved in basic, clinical and/or social and/or behavioral sciences with particular emphasis on contraception discovery and development, implementation science and social/behavioral science to expand contraceptive options and improve reproductive health. This FOA is intended to provide support for collaborative conferences designed to address high priority areas identified by the Indo-US CRHR Joint Working Group (JWG) utilizing the NIH Conference grant mechanism. The goal of this FOA will be to support collaborations between US and Indian scientists intended to translate science into improved practice and technology addressing issues in contraception and reproductive health. Specifically, conferences would be designed to: 1) review the extant science, 2) identify research gaps, 3) develop a targeted research agenda and 4) wherever possible establish new partnerships to address these gaps through collaborative research proposals. The intent is to broaden the scope of investigation into scientific problems, yield fresh and possibly unexpected insights, and increase the sophistication of theoretical, methodological, analytical and implementation approaches. This program will allow investigators from multiple disciplines to hold meetings in order to provide the foundation for developing interdisciplinary research projects.
• Scientific Meetings for Creating Collaborative Research Teams under the Indo-US Program for Maternal Child Health and Human Development Research (MCHDR) (R13) encourages Research Conference Grant (R13) applications from institutions and organizations that propose to develop collaborative research teams to address priority areas under the Indo-US Program for Maternal, Child Health and Human Development Research (MCHD). Teams must include investigators from US and Indian institutions involved in basic, clinical and social and/or behavioral sciences with particular emphasis on maternal, infant and child health. This FOA is intended to provide support for collaborative conferences designed to address high priority areas identified by the Indo-US MCHDR Joint Working Group (JWG) utilizing the NIH Conference grant mechanism. The goal of this FOA will be to support collaborations between US and Indian scientists intended to translate science into improved practice and technology addressing issues in maternal and child health. Specifically, conferences would be designed to: 1) review the extant science, 2) identify research gaps, 3) develop a targeted research agenda and 4) wherever possible establish new partnerships to address these gaps through collaborative research proposals. The intent is to broaden the scope of investigation into scientific problems, yield fresh and possibly unexpected insights, and increase the sophistication of theoretical, methodological, analytical and implementation approaches. This program will allow investigators from multiple disciplines to hold meetings in order to provide the foundation for developing interdisciplinary research projects.

• Indo-US Collaborative Program on Low-Cost Medical Devices (R03)
  To encourage collaborative research and/or technology development between scientists and engineers in the United States and India to develop new, low cost, appropriate diagnostic and therapeutic medical technologies for low-resource settings. The NIH award will support investigators based in the United States who are collaborating with Indian investigators, Indian collaborators are expected to apply to the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) in India for complementary funding.
• NIH-NSF Ecology of Infectious Diseases Program: A Joint Program for Multidisciplinary Research
  Joint Fogarty International Center (FIC) of NIH and the NSF to support to multidisciplinary teams in the development of predictive models and the discovery of principles governing the transmission dynamics of infectious diseases to humans and other hosts. Should include research in diverse disciplines (e.g., mammalogy, ornithology, entomology, epidemiology, microbiology, immunology, social sciences, hydrology, geographic information systems, mathematical modeling, biostatistics). Of specific interest are collaborative partnerships between US scientists and UK biological and social scientists.
• Chronic, Non-Communicable Diseases and Disorders Across the Lifespan: Fogarty International Research Training Award (NCD-LIFESPAN) (D43)
  Encourages applications for the Chronic, Non-Communicable Diseases and Disorders Across the Lifespan: Fogarty International Research Training Award (NCD-LIFESPAN) D43 program for collaborative research training between institutions in the U.S. and low-and middle-income countries (LMIC), defined by the World Bank classification system. The proposed institutional research training program is expected to sustainably strengthen the research capacity of the LMIC institutions, and to train in-country experts to conduct research on chronic, non-communicable diseases and disorders across the lifespan, with the ultimate goal of implementing evidence-based interventions relevant to their countries.
• Collaborative Hubs for International Research on Mental Health (U19)
  Grant applications for cooperative agreements to establish regional research hubs to increase the evidence base for mental health interventions in World Bank designated low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Each regional hub is to conduct research and provide capacity-building opportunities in one of six geographical regions (i.e., East Asia and the Pacific; Europe and Central Asia; Latin America and the Caribbean; Middle East and North Africa; South Asia; Sub-Saharan Africa). As a group, awardee hubs will constitute a collaborative network for mental health research in LMICs with capabilities for answering research questions (within and across regions) aimed at improving mental health outcomes for men, women, and children.
• Scientific Meetings for Creating Collaborative Research Teams under the Indo-US Program for Contraception and Reproductive Health Research (CRHR) (R13) encourages Research Conference Grant (R13) applications from institutions and organizations that propose to develop collaborative research teams to address priority areas under the Indo-US Program for Contraception and Reproductive Health Research (CRHR). Teams must include investigators from US and Indian institutions involved in basic, clinical and/or social and/or behavioral sciences with particular emphasis on contraception discovery and development, implementation science and social/behavioral science to expand contraceptive options and improve reproductive health. This FOA is intended to provide support for collaborative conferences designed to address high priority areas identified by the Indo-US CRHR Joint Working Group (JWG) utilizing the NIH Conference grant mechanism. The goal of this FOA will be to support collaborations between US and Indian scientists intended to translate science into improved practice and technology addressing issues in contraception and reproductive health. Specifically, conferences would be designed to: 1) review the extant science, 2) identify research gaps, 3) develop a targeted research agenda and 4) wherever possible establish new partnerships to address these gaps through collaborative research proposals. The intent is to broaden the scope of investigation into scientific problems, yield fresh and possibly unexpected insights, and increase the sophistication of theoretical, methodological, analytical and implementation approaches. This program will allow investigators from multiple disciplines to hold meetings in order to provide the foundation for developing interdisciplinary research projects.
• Scientific Meetings for Creating Collaborative Research Teams under the Indo-US Program for Maternal Child Health and Human Development Research (MCHDR) (R13) encourages Research Conference Grant (R13) applications from institutions and organizations that propose to develop collaborative research teams to address priority areas under the Indo-US Program for Maternal, Child Health and Human Development Research (MCHD). Teams must include investigators from US and Indian institutions involved in basic, clinical and social and/or behavioral sciences with particular emphasis on maternal, infant and child health. This FOA is intended to provide support for collaborative conferences designed to address high priority areas identified by the Indo-US MCHDR Joint Working Group (JWG) utilizing the NIH Conference grant mechanism. The goal of this FOA will be to support collaborations between US and Indian scientists intended to translate science into improved practice and technology addressing issues in maternal and child health. Specifically, conferences would be designed to: 1) review the extant science, 2) identify research gaps, 3) develop a targeted research agenda and 4) wherever possible establish new partnerships to address these gaps through collaborative research proposals. The intent is to broaden the scope of investigation into scientific problems, yield fresh and possibly unexpected insights, and increase the sophistication of theoretical, methodological, analytical and implementation approaches. This program will allow investigators from multiple disciplines to hold meetings in order to provide the foundation for developing interdisciplinary research projects.

• Group Proposals
• Collaborative Proposals

• Smart Health and Wellbeing (SHB) Through this program NSF seeks to address fundamental technical and scientific issues that would support much needed transformation of healthcare from reactive and hospital-centered to preventive, proactive, evidence-based, person-centered and focused on wellbeing rather than disease. The issues to be addressed include, but are not limited to, sensor technology, networking, information and machine learning technology, modeling cognitive processes, system and process modeling, and social and economic issues. Effective technology-based solutions must satisfy a multitude of constraints arising from clinical needs, social interactions, cognitive limitations, barriers to behavioral changes, heterogeneity of data, semantic mismatch and limitations of current cyberphysical systems. The high degree of complexity and broad range of the problems require multidisciplinary teams of scientists and engineers to identify and address barriers limiting quality of life, independence for chronically ill and elder individuals, and other aspects of wellbeing. Fundamental technological advances are also needed to understand the impediments that prevent people from engaging in health-promoting life styles including diet and exercise and from participating in their healthcare decisions. The Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) adds the Directorate for Engineering (ENG) and the Directorate for Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences (SBE) as partners in this program. Two types of projects, Exploratory Projects and Integrative Projects, are being solicited.
• Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) is a program that supports the acquisition of major instrumentation; fosters development of the next generation of instrumentation; enables cross-disciplinary and multi-organizational collaborations to create well-equipped research environments integrating research with education; and promotes partnerships for instrument development between academia and private sectors.
• Math and Science Partnership (MSP) program supports innovative partnerships to improve K-12 student achievement in mathematics and science. MSP projects are expected to raise the achievement levels of all students and significantly reduce achievement gaps in the mathematics and science performance of diverse student populations. To improve the mathematics and science achievement of the nation’s students, MSP projects contribute to what is known in mathematics and science education and serve as models that have a sufficiently strong evidence/research base to improve the mathematics and science education outcomes for all students. The program supports several types of efforts at various funding levels.
• Interface between Computer Science and Economics & Social Sciences (ICES) program seeks innovative research at this interdisciplinary boundary, including both projects that use computational thinking for economic and social decision problems and/or ideas from economics and other social sciences for computing and communication systems and multi-agents systems. Computational economics research involving simulation and modeling of economic systems is not appropriate for this program.
• Collaborative Research in Computational Neuroscience Grant (CRCNS). Computational neuroscience provides a theoretical foundation and a rich set of technical approaches for understanding complex neurobiological systems, building on the theory, methods, and findings of computer science, neuroscience, and numerous other disciplines. Through the CRCNS program, participating organizations of the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung, BMBF) support collaborative activities that will advance the understanding of nervous system structure and function, mechanisms underlying nervous system disorders, and computational strategies used by the nervous system.
• Cyber-enabled Discovery and Innovation (CDI) has an emphasis on bold multidisciplinary activities that, through computational thinking, promise radical, paradigm-changing research findings. CDI is unique within NSF. CDI projects are expected to build upon productive intellectual partnerships involving investigators from academe, industry and/or other types of organizations, including international entities.
• Unsolicited Proposals at the Interface of the Biological, Mathematical and Physical Sciences (Dear Colleague Letter) BIO and MPS recognize that it is vital for biological, mathematical, and physical scientists to increase their collaborations, both in new research efforts and in ongoing research projects, to advance the frontiers of discovery and innovation. While many strong, vibrant interactions currently exist between the two directorates, this letter is to remind our research communities that MPS and BIO strongly encourage proposals from interdisciplinary research teams that involve collaborations among investigators from the biological, mathematical, and physical sciences and foster new interactions that span interfaces between MPS and BIO.
• Fostering Interdisciplinary Research on Education (FIRE) FIRE is a strand of the Research and Evaluation on Education in Science and Engineering (REESE) program (NSF 10-586) and it is anticipated that FIRE will eventually be incorporated into the REESE solicitation. The FIRE program seeks to facilitate the process by which scholars can cross disciplinary boundaries to acquire the skills and knowledge that would improve their abilities to conduct rigorous research on STEM learning and education. The primary goal of the strand is to facilitate the development of innovative theoretical, methodological, and analytic approaches to understanding complex STEM education issues of national importance and, by so doing, make progress toward solving them. A secondary goal of the strand is to broaden and deepen the pool of investigators engaged in STEM educational research. In order to address this goal, investigators must pair with a mentoring scholar in a to-be-learned field of interest. Proposals therefore have both a research and a professional development component. Investigators may receive a FIRE award at any point in their post-graduate careers.

• Science and Technology Centers (STC) Integrative Partnerships. This program supports innovative, potentially transformative, complex research and education projects that require large-scale, long-term awards. Partnering with academic institutions, national laboratories, industrial organizations, and other public/private entities, STCs conduct research at the intersection of multiple disciplines and foster excellence in education by creating bonds between learning and inquiry so that discovery and creativity fully support the learning process.
• Engineering Research Centers (ERC). In its Generation Three (Gen-3) form, this program aims to create a culture in engineering research and education that links discovery to technological innovation through transformational fundamental and engineered systems research in order to advance technology and produce engineering graduates who will be creative U.S. innovators in a globally competitive economy. Gen-3 ERCs will develop a culture of discovery and innovation through a symbiotic relationship between academic researchers, small innovative firms, and larger industrial and practitioner partners. Additionally, ERCs create, develop, and enhance capacities in ERCs from transformational fundamental research to technology commercialization, creating a continuous pipeline in engineering education from middle school to graduate studies.
• Physics Frontiers Centers (PFC). This program supports university-based centers and institutes whose collective efforts can enable transformational advances in the most promising research areas. The PFC program is designed to foster major breakthroughs at the intellectual frontiers of physics by providing needed resources such as combinations of talents, skills, disciplines, and specialized infrastructure not usually available to individual investigators or small groups.. Activities supported through the program are in all sub-fields of physics within the purview of the Division of Physics: atomic, molecular, optical, plasma, elementary particle, nuclear, astro-, gravitational, and biological physics. Interdisciplinary projects at the interface between these physics areas and other disciplines and physics sub-fields, e.g., biology, quantum information science, mathematical physics, condensed matter physics, and emerging areas of physics are also included. The successful PFC activity will demonstrate: (1) the potential for a profound advance in physics; (2) creative, substantive activities aimed at enhancing education, diversity, and public outreach; (3) the potential for broader impacts, e.g., impacts on other field(s) and benefits to society; and (4) a synergy or value-added rationale that justifies a center- or institute-like approach.
• Materials Research Centers and Teams (MRC)/Centers of Excellence for Materials Research and Innovation (CEMRIs) provide sustained support of interdisciplinary materials research and education of the highest quality while addressing fundamental problems in science and engineering. CEMRIs address research of a scope and complexity requiring the advantages of scale and interdisciplinarity provided by a campus-based research center. They support materials research infrastructure in the United States, promote active collaboration between universities and other sectors, including industry and international institutions, and contribute to the development of a national network of university-based centers in materials research, education, and facilities. A CEMRI may be located at a single institution, or may involve multiple institutions in partnership.
• Grant Opportunities for Academic Liaison with Industry (GOALI) This program promotes university-industry partnerships by making project funds or fellowships/traineeships available to support an eclectic mix of industry-university linkages. The program affords the opportunity for: (1) faculty, postdoctoral fellows, and students to conduct research and gain experience in an industrial setting; (2) industrial scientists and engineers to bring industry’s perspective and integrative skills to academe; and (3) interdisciplinary university-industry teams to conduct research projects. This solicitation targets high-risk/high-gain research with a focus on fundamental research, new approaches to solving generic problems, development of innovative collaborative industry-university educational programs, and direct transfer of new knowledge between academe and industry. GOALI seeks to fund transformative research beyond that which industry would normally fund.
• Industry/University Cooperative Research Centers (I/UCRC) as a program develops long-term partnerships among industry, academe, and government. The centers, catalyzed by a small investment from the NSF, are primarily supported by industry center members, with NSF taking a supporting role in the development and evolution of the center. An I/UCRC contributes to the nation’s research infrastructure base and enhances the intellectual capacity of the engineering and science workforce through the integration of research and education. As appropriate, an I/UCRC uses international collaborations to advance these goals within the global context.
• Materials Research Centers and Teams (MRCT) provides sustained support of interdisciplinary materials research and education while addressing fundamental problems in science and engineering through two award mechanisms:.
  • Centers of Excellence for Materials Research and Innovation (CEMRIs) target research of a scope and complexity requiring the advantages of scale and interdisciplinarity provided by a campus-based research center. They support materials research infrastructure in the United States, promote active collaboration between universities and other sectors, including industry and international institutions, and contribute to the development of a national network of university-based centers in materials research, education, and facilities. A CEMRI may be located at a single institution, or may involve multiple institutions in partnership.
  • Materials Interdisciplinary Research Teams (MIRTs) represent a new award mechanism. These teams share with CEMRIs the same emphasis on the support of world-class interdisciplinary materials research and the integration of research with education. Each MIRT addresses a major materials research problem requiring an interdisciplinary team of researchers. In addition, experimental and computational instrumentation needed for the proposed research activities is also supported. A MIRT may be located at a single institution, or may involve multiple institutions.
  • Nanoscale Science and Engineering (NSE) (at this time not being offered, refer to program http://www.nsf.gov/crssprgm/nano/) goal is to support fundamental research and catalyze synergistic science and engineering research and education in emerging areas of nanoscale science and technology, including: biosystems at the nanoscale; nanoscale structures, novel phenomena, and quantum control; nanoscale devices and system architecture; nanoscale processes in the environment; multi-scale, multi-phenomena theory, modeling and simulation at the nanoscale; manufacturing processes at the nanoscale; and studies on the societal and educational implications of scientific and technological advances on the nanoscale. Support is provided for Nanoscale Interdisciplinary Research Teams (NIRT), Nanoscale Exploratory Research (NER), and Nanoscale Science and Engineering Centers (NSEC).
• Water Sustainability and Climate (WSC)
  This program has as a goal to understand and predict the interactions between the water system and climate change, land use, the built environment, and ecosystem function and services through place-based research and integrative models. Studies of the water system using observations at specific sites in combination with models that allow for spatial and temporal extrapolation to other regions, as well as integration across the different processes in that system, are encouraged, especially to the extent that they advance the development of theoretical frameworks and predictive understanding. Specific topics of interest are listed in the rfp found through http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=503452
• Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Talent Expansion Program Centers (STEP Centers) allow groups of faculty representing a cross-section of institutions of higher education to identify a national challenge or opportunity in undergraduate education in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and to propose a comprehensive and coordinated set of activities that will be carried out to address that challenge or opportunity within a national context. In the current competition, efforts must be related to the biological sciences, engineering, and the geological sciences.
• Science of Learning Centers (SLC) are built around a unifying research focus and incorporate a diverse, multidisciplinary environment involving appropriate partnerships with academia, industry, all levels of education, and other public and private entities. The SLC program supports research that harnesses and integrates knowledge across multiple disciplines to create a common groundwork of conceptualization, experimentation, and explanation that anchor new lines of thinking and inquiry toward a deeper understanding of learning.
• Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) has the mission to assist the National Science Foundation in its statutory function “to strengthen research and education in science and engineering throughout the United States and to avoid undue concentration of such research and education.” Specific states may apply to the program, with listing occurring each year http://www.nsf.gov/div/index.jsp?org=EPSC

• Joint NSF DMS/NIGMS Initiative to Support Research at the Interface of the Biological and Mathematical Sciences (DMS/NIGMS) The Division of Mathematical Sciences in the Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences at the National Science Foundation and the National Institute of General Medical Sciences at the National Institutes of Health plan to support research in mathematics and statistics on questions in the biological and biomedical sciences. Both agencies recognize the need and urgency for promoting research at the interface between the mathematical sciences and the life sciences. This competition is designed to encourage new collaborations, as well as to support existing ones.
• Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Disease; Joint issuance between: NSF, NIH (NIGMS, FIC), and USDA
  The Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Diseases program supports research on the ecological, evolutionary, and socio-ecological principles and processes that regulate the transmission dynamics of infectious diseases. The program’s focus is on both the discovery, and the building and testing models that elucidate these principles and processes. Research proposals should focus on understanding the determinants of transmission of diseases to humans, non-human animals, or plants; the spread of pathogens by environmental factors, vectors or abiotic agents; the population dynamics and genetics of reservoir species or alternate hosts; or the cultural, social, behavioral, and economic dimensions of disease transmission. Research may be on zoonotic, environmentally borne, vector-borne, or enteric diseases of either terrestrial, freshwater, or marine systems and organisms, including diseases of non-human animals and plants, at any scale from specific pathogens to inclusive environmental systems. Proposals for research on disease systems of public health concern to developing countries are strongly encouraged, as are disease systems of concern in agricultural and coastal marine systems. Investigators are encouraged to include links to the public health research community, including for example, participation of epidemiologists, physicians, veterinarians, food scientists, social scientists, entomologists, pathologists, virologists, or parasitologists.

• Research Coordination Networks (RCN)
  This program’s goal is to advance a field or create new directions in research or education. Innovative ideas for implementing novel networking strategies are especially encouraged. Groups of investigators will be supported to communicate and coordinate their research, training and educational activities across disciplinary, organizational, geographic, and international boundaries. Proposed networking activities should focus on a theme to give coherence to the collaboration, such as a broad research question or particular technologies or approaches. The RCN program provides review for proposals to participating core programs and directorates listed in the solicitation.
• Research Networks in the Mathematical Sciences (RNMS) supports researchers in ways that are intermediate in scale, scope, and duration to existing individual investigator awards and research institute awards. The RNMS Program recognizes that, over the past quarter century, mathematical research has become increasingly collaborative and interactive, because effectively overcoming core scientific challenges frequently requires the sharing of ideas and expertise. A Research Network is not a substitute for existing funding mechanisms. In particular, it is intended to complement (rather than replace) individual investigator awards by providing additional layers of interaction. Through the involvement of postdoctoral researchers and students and the promotion of international collaborations, the RNMS will not only focus on problems at the frontier of the mathematical sciences but also lead to robust and diverse training of the next generation of mathematicians and statisticians.
• The NSF-Census Research Network (NCRN) will provide support for a set of research nodes, each of which will be staffed by a team of scientists conducting interdisciplinary research and educational activities on methodological questions of interest and significance to the broader research community and to the Federal Statistical System, particularly the U.S. Census Bureau. The activities will be expected to advance both fundamental and applied knowledge as well as further the training of current and future generations of researchers in research skills of relevance to the measurement of economic units, households, and persons.

• Partnerships for International Research and Education (PIRE) program supports partnerships that will strengthen the capacity of institutions, multi-institutional consortia, and networks to engage in and benefit from international research and education collaborations and catalyze a higher level of international engagement in the U.S. science and engineering community. The program will enable U.S. scientists and engineers to establish collaborative relationships with international colleagues in order to advance new knowledge and discoveries, and to promote the development of a diverse, globally engaged U.S. scientific and engineering workforce. It is also intended to facilitate greater student preparation for and participation in international research collaboration, and to contribute to the development of a diverse, globally engaged U.S. science and engineering workforce.
• Partnerships for Enhanced Engagement in Research (PEER) program is now accepting proposals from developing country researchers interested in collaborating with their U.S. counterparts. PEER is a new partnership between the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) that is designed to address development challenges through international research collaboration. This competitive grants program will allow scientists in developing countries to apply for funds to support research and capacity-building activities in partnership with their NSF-funded collaborators on topics of importance to USAID. Areas in which both NSF and USAID have strong mutual interests include, but are not limited to: Food security topics such as agricultural development, fisheries, and plant genomics; Global health issues such as ecology of infectious disease, biomedical engineering, and natural/human system interactions; Climate change impacts such as water sustainability, hydrology, ocean acidification, climate process and modeling, and environmental engineering; Other development topics including disaster mitigation, biodiversity, water, and renewable energy. PEER is being implemented by the National Academies on behalf of USAID, and potential applicants with questions are invited to contact the program’s staff at [email protected].