Current Limited Submissions

The Conservation, Food & Health Foundation 2026 Grants

Slots: 1. The Foundation will consider only one proposal from an organization in any calendar year.

Deadlines

Internal Deadline: ~~Friday, May 9th, 2025, 5pm PT~~ Contact RII.

LOI: June 15, 2025

External Deadline: August 15, 2025

Award Information

Award Type: Grant

Anticipated Award Amount: It is anticipated that most grants will fall in the $25,000-$50,000 per year range.

Eligible Applicants:

The Foundation supports local, state, and regional organizations in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Latin America, and the Middle East in the countries where the projects are based. It also supports organizations located in upper-income countries working with local partners in these areas. It does not support projects in post-Soviet states or Balkan states.

Most types of organizations that can provide evidence of their non-governmental status or charitable purpose are eligible to apply, including non-governmental organizations, nonprofit organizations; civil society organizations; community-based organizations; and colleges, universities, and other academic institutions.

Government agencies and religious organizations may be included as project partners but are not eligible for direct funding.

The Foundation does not typically fund:

Overhead or indirect project costs
General operating support
Direct food, health or other humanitarian aid
Eco-tourism
Buildings and capital improvements
Projects ultimately intended for private gain. All intellectual property developed with the grant should be public.
Salaries for Executive Directors of U.S. and European-based organizations.
Project expenses incurred before the grant is awarded.

Link to Award: https://cfhfoundation.grantsmanagement08.com/

Process for Limited Submissions

PIs must submit their application as a Limited Submission through the Research Initiatives and Infrastructure (RII) Application Portal: https://rii.usc.edu/oor-portal/. Use the template provided here: RII Limited Submission Applicant Template

Materials to submit include:

(1) Two-Page Proposal Summary (0.5” margins; single-spaced; font type: Arial, Helvetica, or Georgia typeface; font size: 11 pt). Page limit includes references and illustrations. Pages that exceed the 2-page limit will be excluded from review. You must use the template linked above.
(2) CV – (5 pages maximum)

Note: The portal requires information about the PIs in addition to department and contact information, including the 10-digit USC ID#, Gender, and Ethnicity. Please have this material prepared before beginning this application.

Purpose

The Conservation, Food and Health Foundation seeks to protect the environment, improve food production, and promote public health in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Latin America, and the Middle East.

Types of Support

The Foundation supports projects and applied research that:

Generate local or regional solutions to problems affecting the quality of the environment and human life;
Advance local leadership and promote professional development in the conservation, agricultural, and health sciences;
Develop the capacity of local organizations and coalitions; and
Address challenges in the field.

The Foundation prefers to support projects that address under-funded issues and geographic areas.

The Foundation funds applied research, pilot projects, new initiatives, training, and technical assistance, rather than ongoing support for programs that are already well underway. An important goal for the Foundation is to provide seed money to help promising projects, organizations, and individuals develop the track record they need to attract major foundation funding in the future.

Fields of Interest

The following are examples of the Foundation’s areas of interest within the fields of conservation, food, and health, and are not meant to be exclusive.

Conservation

Conservation grants promote environmental conservation through field research, projects, and advocacy that:

Protect biodiversity and preserve natural resources.
Help mitigate the adverse effects of climate change.
Build the scientific and technical capacity of local conservation organizations and promote local, regional, and international partnerships.
Increase engagement between scientists, local communities and organizations, and decision-makers.
Partner with indigenous communities and local people.

Food

Grants in the food and agriculture program area focus on research-based projects that build capacity for self-sufficiency and resilience to climate change, strengthen local food systems, and support healthy nutrition through projects that:

Enhance food security.
Develop and promote sustainable agricultural practices
Build the capacity of small-scale farmers.
Advance farmer research and research partnerships.
Develop environmentally sound and affordable approaches to control pests and diseases affecting important local food crops.
Promote indigenous food sovereignty and knowledge systems.
Address challenges of uptake and scalability through new methods of extension, education, and technology transfer.

Health

The Foundation supports efforts that test new ideas and approaches that promote public health, with a special emphasis on reproductive health and family planning and their integration with other health promotion activities. It favors community-level disease prevention and health promotion projects and efforts that help strengthen regional and country public health systems over disease diagnosis, treatment, and care provided by clinics, hospitals, and humanitarian aid programs.

Activities that help increase capacity include applied research, program development, technical assistance, and training projects that:

Promote reproductive health and family planning.
Address issues related to mental and behavioral health.
Address issues relating to pollution and environmental health.
Increase the understanding of zoonotic and neglected tropical diseases.
Address issues relating to nutrition and health.

Key Priorities

In all of its areas of interest, the Foundation gives priority to projects that have the potential to advance the field, build local capacity, promote replication, influence public opinion and policy, affect systems change, and benefit people beyond the immediate project and its local context.

Visit our Institutionally Limited Submission webpage for more updates and other announcements.

FYI: 2025 William T. Grant Scholars Program

Slots: An institution may nominate more than one candidate, but only one applicant may be nominated from a major division of an institution each year (e.g., College of Arts and Sciences, Medical School).

Deadlines

Internal Deadline: Contact your School’s Dean/Dean’s Office if interested in this opportunity.

Mentor and Reference Letter Deadline: June 11, 2025

External Deadline: July 1, 2025

Award Information

Award Type: Grant

Estimated Number of Awards: 4-6

Anticipated Award Amount: $425,000, distributed over 5 years.

Who May Serve as PI: Applicants must be nominated by their institutions. Major divisions (e.g., College of Arts and Sciences, Medical School) of an institution may nominate only one applicant each year. In addition to the eligibility criteria below, deans and directors of those divisions should refer to the Selection Criteria to aid them in choosing their nominees. Applicants of any discipline are eligible.

Applicants must have received their terminal degree within seven years of submitting their application. We calculate this by adding seven years to the date the doctoral degree was conferred. In medicine, the seven-year maximum is dated from the completion of the first residency.

Applicants must be employed in career-ladder positions. For many applicants, this means holding a tenure-track position in a university. Applicants in other types of organizations should be in positions in which there is a pathway to advancement in a research career at the organization and the organization is fiscally responsible for the applicant’s position. The award may not be used as a post-doctoral fellowship.

Applicants outside the United States are eligible. As with U.S. applicants, they must pursue research that has compelling policy or practice implications for youth in the United States.

Link to Award: https://wtgrantfoundation.org/funding/william-t-grant-scholars-program

Process for Limited Submissions

Please contact your School’s Dean’s Office if you are interested in this program. Since the Dean is the person who must be the nominator for the William T. Grant Scholars Program, they will need to coordinate this limited submission instead of RII.

Purpose

The William T. Grant Scholars Program supports career development for promising early-career researchers. The program funds five-year research and mentoring plans that significantly expand researchers’ expertise in new disciplines, methods, and content areas.

Applicants should have a track record of conducting high-quality research and an interest in pursuing a significant shift in their trajectories as researchers. We recognize that early-career researchers are rarely given incentives or support to take measured risks in their work, so this award includes a mentoring component, as well as a supportive academic community.

Awards are based on applicants’ potential to become influential researchers, as well as their plans to expand their expertise in new and significant ways. The application should make a cohesive argument for how the applicant will expand his or her expertise. The research plan should evolve in conjunction with the development of new expertise, and the mentoring plan should describe how the proposed mentors will support applicants in acquiring that expertise. Proposed research plans must address questions that are relevant to policy and practice in the Foundation’s focus areas.

Reducing Inequality

In this focus area, we fund research studies that aim to build, test, or increase understanding of programs, policies, or practices to reduce inequality in the academic, social, behavioral, or economic outcomes of young people ages 5-25 in the United States, along dimensions of race, ethnicity, economic standing, language minority status, or immigrant origins.

Our research interests in this focus area center on studies that examine ways to reduce inequality in youth outcomes. We welcome descriptive studies that clarify mechanisms for reducing inequality or elucidate how or why a specific program, policy, or practice operates to reduce inequality. We also welcome intervention studies that examine attempts to reduce inequality. Finally, we welcome studies that improve the measurement of inequality in ways that can enhance the work of researchers, practitioners, or policymakers.

Improving the Use of Research Evidence

In this focus area, we fund research studies that advance theory and build empirical knowledge on ways to improve the use of research evidence by policymakers, agency leaders, organizational managers, intermediaries, and other decision-makers that shape youth-serving systems in the United States.

While an extensive body of knowledge provides a rich understanding of specific conditions that foster the use of research evidence, we lack robust, validated strategies for cultivating them. What is required to create structural and social conditions that support research use? What infrastructure is needed, and what will it look like? What supports and incentives foster research use? And, ultimately, how do youth outcomes fare when research evidence is used? This is where new research can make a difference.

Our research interests in this focus area center on studies that examine strategies to improve the use, usefulness, and impact of evidence in ways that benefit young people ages 5-25 in the United States. We welcome impact studies that test strategies for improving research use as well as whether improving research use leads to improved youth outcomes. We also welcome descriptive studies that reveal the strategies, mechanisms, or conditions for improving research use. Finally, we welcome measurement studies that explore how to construct and implement valid and reliable measures of research use.

Visit our Institutionally Limited Submission webpage for more updates and other announcements.

PAR-25-194: Limited Competition: Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) Predoctoral Research Training Grant for the Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) Program (T32 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)

Slots: 1

Deadlines

Internal Deadline: ~~Friday, April 11th, 2025, 5pm PT~~ Contact RII.

LOI: N/A

External Deadline: May 28, 2025

Recurring Deadlines: September 29, 2025; January 28, 2026; May 28, 2026; September 28, 2026; January 28, 2027; May 28, 2027; September 28, 2027

Award Information

Award Type: Grant

Estimated Number of Awards: The number of awards is contingent upon NIH appropriations and the submission of a sufficient number of meritorious applications.

Who May Serve as PI: The PD/PI should be an established investigator in the scientific area in which the application is targeted and capable of providing both administrative and scientific leadership to the development and implementation of the proposed program. The PD/PI will be responsible for the selection and appointment of trainees to the approved research training program, and for the overall direction, management, administration, and evaluation of the program. The PD/PI will be expected to monitor and assess the program and submit all documents and reports as required. The PD/PI has responsibility for the day to day administration of the program and is responsible for appointing members of the Advisory Committee (when applicable), using their recommendations to determine the appropriate allotment of funds.

The UM1 PD(s)/PI(s) may not be a PD(s)/PI(s) on the T32 application or award in order to ensure the PD(s)/PI(s) have adequate time to devote to the respective programs.

Link to Award: https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PAR-25-194.html

Process for Limited Submissions

Materials to submit include:

(1) Two-Page Proposal Summary (1” margins; single-spaced; standard font type, e.g. Arial, Helvetica, Times New Roman, or Georgia typeface; font size: 11 pt). Page limit includes references and illustrations. Pages that exceed the 2-page limit will be excluded from review. You must use the template linked above.
(2) CV – (5 pages maximum)

Note: The portal requires information about the PIs in addition to department and contact information, including the 10-digit USC ID#. Please have this material prepared before beginning this application.

Purpose

Purpose and Background Information

The NRSA program has been the primary means of supporting predoctoral and postdoctoral research training programs since enactment of the NRSA legislation in 1974. Research training activities can be in basic biomedical or clinical sciences, in behavioral or social sciences, in health services research, or in any other discipline relevant to the NIH mission.

Institutional NRSA programs allow the Training Program Director/Principal Investigator (Training PD/PI) to select the trainees and develop a program of coursework, research experiences, and technical and/or professional skills development appropriate for the selected trainees. Each program should provide high-quality research training and offer opportunities in addition to conducting mentored research. Trainees should develop the ability to work effectively in teams with colleagues from a variety of cultural and scientific backgrounds, and to promote inclusive and supportive scientific research environments. The grant offsets the cost of stipends, tuition and fees, and training related expenses, including health insurance, for the appointed trainees in accordance with agency-approved support levels.

This Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) provides an opportunity for the Hub to create, provide, and disseminate clinical and translational science training and career support programs for translational scientists and to support meaningful translational science research projects that address demonstrable needs among stakeholder communities.

Program Objective

The goal of the Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) Institutional Predoctoral Research Training Grant for the Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) Program is to equip trainees with the knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs) to advance diagnostics, therapeutics, clinical interventions, and behavioral modifications that improve health.

The National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), is transforming the translational science process so that new treatments and cures for disease can be delivered to patients faster. NCATS strives to develop innovations to reduce, remove or bypass costly and time-consuming bottlenecks in the translational research pipeline in an effort to speed the delivery of new drugs, diagnostics and medical devices to patients.

Translation, translational research, and translational science are related but different. Translation turns observations in the laboratory, clinic, and community into diagnostics, therapeutics, medical procedures, and behavioral changes that improve people’s health. Translational research moves a project to the next step in the translational process. Translational science enables these projects to reach their goals faster and more efficiently. At NCATS, we define translational science as the field that generates scientific and operational innovations that overcome the long-standing barriers along the translational research pipeline. With its focus on improving the process, translational science ultimately leads to more treatments for all people more quickly.

The NCATS Translational Science Principles characterize effective approaches for advancing translational progress. These principles are described on the NCATS website (https://ncats.nih.gov/about/about-translational-science/principles). These principles are intentionally broad and apply to research anywhere along the translational continuum. While they exemplify translational science approaches, they are not intended to be comprehensive.

The NCATS Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) Program is designed to develop innovative solutions that will improve the efficiency, quality and impact of the process for turning observations in the laboratory, clinic and community into interventions that improve the health of individuals and the public. Sustaining a vibrant clinical and translational research enterprise requires a 21st century workforce that can advance clinical and translational science (CTS) that will, in turn, increase the efficiency and efficacy of translation, with the ultimate goal of getting more treatments to more patients more quickly.

Clinical and translational scientists will possess both deep scientific domain expertise and systems understanding, and their research is expected to be designed to produce discoveries that are simultaneously important for their discipline(s) and contribute to other disciplines, thus intentionally advancing the translational process as a whole. These characteristics will be required to successfully prepare trainees to transition into the many and varied productive career paths available to clinical and translational scientists within the translational science spectrum. Proposed training programs are expected to help trainees develop the following characteristics independent of their particular area(s) of expertise:

Domain Expert: Possesses deep disciplinary knowledge and expertise within one or more of the domains of the translational science spectrum ranging from basic to clinical to public health research and domains in between.
Boundary Crosser: Breaks down disciplinary silos and collaborates with others across research areas and professions to collectively advance the development of a medical intervention.
Team Player: Practices a team science approach by leveraging the strengths and expertise and valuing the contributions of all players on the translational science team. Has the ability to work effectively with colleagues from a variety of cultural and scientific backgrounds, and to promote inclusive, safe and supportive scientific research and training environments.
Process Innovator: Seeks to better understand the scientific and operational principles underlying the translational process and innovates to overcome bottlenecks and accelerate that process.
Skilled Communicator: Communicates clearly with all stakeholders in the translational process across social, cultural, economic, and scientific backgrounds, including patients and community members.
Systems Thinker: Evaluates the complex external forces, interactions, and relationships impacting the development of medical interventions, including patient needs and preferences, regulatory requirements, current standards of care, and market and business demands.
Rigorous Researcher: Conducts research at the highest levels of rigor and transparency within their field of expertise, possesses strong statistical analysis skills, and designs research projects to maximize reproducibility.

Visit our Institutionally Limited Submission webpage for more updates and other announcements.

PAR-25-195: Limited Competition: Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) Postdoctoral Research Training Grant for the Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) Program (T32 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)

Slots: 1

Deadlines

Internal Deadline: ~~Friday, April 11th, 2025, 5pm PT~~ Contact RII.

LOI: N/A

External Deadline: May 28, 2025

Recurring Deadlines: September 29, 2025; January 28, 2026; May 28, 2026; September 28, 2026; January 28, 2027; May 28, 2027; September 28, 2027

Award Information

Award Type: Grant

Estimated Number of Awards: The number of awards is contingent upon NIH appropriations and the submission of a sufficient number of meritorious applications.

Who May Serve as PI: The PD/PI should be an established investigator in the scientific area in which the application is targeted and capable of providing both administrative and scientific leadership to the development and implementation of the proposed program. The PD/PI will be responsible for the selection and appointment of trainees to the approved research training program, and for the overall direction, management, administration, and evaluation of the program. The PD/PI will be expected to monitor and assess the program and submit all documents and reports as required. The PD/PI has responsibility for the day-to-day administration of the program and is responsible for appointing members of the Advisory Committee (when applicable), using their recommendations to determine the appropriate allotment of funds.

The UM1 PD(s)/PI(s) may not be a PD(s)/PI(s) on the T32 application or award in order to ensure the PD(s)/PI(s) have adequate time to devote to the respective programs.

Link to Award: https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PAR-25-195.html

Process for Limited Submissions

Materials to submit include:

(1) Two-Page Proposal Summary (1” margins; single-spaced; standard font type, e.g. Arial, Helvetica, Times New Roman, or Georgia typeface; font size: 11 pt). Page limit includes references and illustrations. Pages that exceed the 2-page limit will be excluded from review. You must use the template linked above.
(2) CV – (5 pages maximum)

Purpose

This is a limited competition. The National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) will award Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) Postdoctoral Institutional Research Training Grants for the Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) Program (T32) to eligible institutions to create, provide, and disseminate clinical and translational science training and career support programs that enhance postdoctoral research training of individuals with doctoral degrees (these include, but are not limited to, the following: D.M.D., DC, DO, DVM, OD, DPM, ScD, EngD, DrPH, DNSc, DPT, PharmD, ND [Doctor of Naturopathy], DSW, PsyD, as well as a doctoral degree in nursing research) and help ensure a heterogenous pool of clinical and translational scientists trainees are equipped with the knowledge, skills and abilities to advance diagnostics, therapeutics, clinical interventions, and behavioral modifications that improve health and support meaningful translational science research projects that address demonstrable needs among stakeholder communities.

NCATS will not accept applications proposing combined predoctoral and postdoctoral training under this Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO). Applications proposing predoctoral research training should apply to the Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) Predoctoral Institutional Research Training Grant for the Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) Program (PAR-25-194).

Applicants interested in providing short-term research experiences should apply to the companion NCATS Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) Program Research Education Grants Programs (R25) (PAR-25-197). A short-term research experience is one where the participant is full-time (40 hours per week) for a period of 10 to 15 weeks, or as specified by the sponsoring institution in accordance with its own policies.

The proposed institutional research training program may complement other ongoing research training and career development programs at the applicant institution, but must be clearly distinct from related programs currently receiving Federal support.

This NOFO does not allow appointed Trainees to lead an independent clinical trial but does allow them to obtain research experience in a clinical trial on which the principal investigator is a mentor or co-mentor.

This NOFO is part of a required set of companion applications: the Clinical and Translational Science Award (UM1) and companion Institutional Career Development Award (K12). The remaining NOFOs in the suite are optional and include the Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) institutional training programs (T32 predoctoral and T32 postdoctoral), the Research Education Grant (R25), and the Specialized Innovation Program (RC2). These optional NOFOs are only available to CTSA Program UM1 applicants and award recipients. Applications to the companion NOFOs cannot be awarded until an award has been issued for the UM1 (see Section III. Eligibility Information of this NOFO and the respective NOFOs for more information).

Visit our Institutionally Limited Submission webpage for more updates and other announcements.

NSF-24-583: Advanced Computing Systems & Services: Adapting to the Rapid Evolution of Science and Engineering Research 2.0 – Category II Submissions Only

Slots: 1

An organization may submit only one proposal per each competition specified in this solicitation but may be a subawardee on other proposals responding to this solicitation. The restriction to no more than one submitted proposal as lead institution is to help ensure that there is appropriate institutional commitment necessary for responsible oversight, by the potential recipient institution, of a national resource.

Collaborative projects may only be submitted as a single proposal in which a single award is being requested (PAPPG Chapter II.E.3.a). The involvement of partner organizations should be supported through subawards administered by the submitting organization.

These eligibility constraints will be strictly enforced in order to treat everyone fairly and consistently. In the event that an organization exceeds this limit, the proposal received within the limit will be accepted based on the earliest date and time of proposal submission (i.e., the first proposal received will be accepted and the remainder will be returned without review). No exceptions will be made.

Deadlines

Internal Deadline: ~~Friday, April 4th, 2025, 5pm PT~~ Contact RII.

LOI: Not required.

External Deadline: Category II Submissions: June 24, 2025

Award Information

Award Type: Cooperative Agreement

Estimated Number of Awards: 1 to 3

Anticipated Award Amount: $5M for 5 years

Who May Serve as PI: No restrictions or limits

Link to Award: https://new.nsf.gov/funding/opportunities/advanced-computing-systems-services-adapting-rapid/nsf24-583/solicitation

Process for Limited Submissions

Materials to submit include:

(1) Two-Page Proposal Summary (1” margins; single-spaced; standard font type, e.g. Arial, Helvetica, Times New Roman, or Georgia typeface; font size: 11 pt). Page limit includes references and illustrations. Pages that exceed the 2-page limit will be excluded from review. You must use the template linked above.
(2) CV – (5 pages maximum)

Purpose

The intent of this solicitation is to request proposals from organizations willing to serve as Resource Providers (RPs) within the NSF ACSS program to provide advanced CI capabilities and/or services in production operation to support the full range of computational- and data-intensive research across all of S&E.

To increase the Nation’s capacity for transformative S&E discoveries, NSF is interested in continuing to diversify and evolve its portfolio to take advantage of new technologies and services that include capabilities addressing emerging computational- and data-intensive S&E research topics, workflows, and communities, while expanding opportunities for participation by a broader range of potential RPs.

This competition emphasizes the provisioning of an ecosystem of advanced computational resources and services that is responsive to the dramatic increase in the number and nature of applications using NSF-funded resources. Proposals are requested for advanced computing systems and services that will acquire and deploy capabilities and services, including composable services, to address the increase in demand for computation, data analytics and AI resources in the S&E research community, as well as explore novel paradigms for enabling transformative S&E discoveries.

An important aspect of the current solicitation is that funded projects must provide CI capabilities and/or services that demonstrate high degrees of stability and usability during the period of production operations available to the broad S&E community. NSF strongly urges the community to consider expanding the range of possibilities in enabling S&E communities to leverage the power of computation for transformative research, and to think broadly about the nature and composition of the CI ecosystem including next-generation energy use and operational practices for reducing carbon output of research computing. Other considerations may include, but are not limited to, ease of access to proposed resources by new S&E communities; new capabilities that will open up new methods and paradigms for S&E discoveries; federated approaches with opportunities for leveraging the increasing availability and capabilities at the network edge; and composable services provisioning virtualized computing infrastructure and commercial cloud services.

The current solicitation is intended to complement previous NSF investments in advanced computational infrastructure through provisioning resources in two categories as described below.

Category I – Capacity Resources

Resources proposed in this category are intended to be operational deployments of production computational resources that will provide maximum capacity and throughput to support the broad range of computation, data analytics and AI needs in S&E research. The deployments are expected to adhere to a vision of an advanced computing ecosystem as a federated set of resources and services that are heterogeneous in architecture, resource type, and usage mode to collectively meet the Nation’s foundational needs for world-leading computing capabilities.

The proposed resource must be clearly motivated by the current and future demand for simulation, data analysis, and AI use cases for the broad disciplinary and geographically diverse S&E research communities.

Proposers are encouraged to explore novel models for future dynamic national cyberinfrastructure federation including in compute resources, software, data, technical expertise, stakeholders, on-demand allocations, and resource provisioning mechanisms. The latter mechanisms can govern regional and/or campus supported resources, and/or commercial cloud services, enabling comprehensive and effective science-based response to a potential future national and/or international urgent need; or be available to fuel AI research and developments enabling advances towards safe, secure, and trustworthy development and use of artificial intelligence, as elements opening opportunities for the next breakthroughs in science, engineering, and technology. Competitive proposals in Category I must address the following themes in the Project Description (to be discussed in a specific subsection as described in Section V.A. Proposal Preparation Instructions, if noted):

A clear plan for provisioning a resource that addresses the current and future demand for computational, data analytics, and AI use cases in the broad S&E computational research community;
A description of how the resource will support S&E research communities that require a national-scale, on-demand, compute, data-analytics and AI resource with a flexible and accessible software environment
A comprehensive set of system-level performance and reliability metrics, including minimization of carbon output and energy usage, that will be used by NSF for acceptance of the resource or service (to be discussed in the S&E Application Performance and Resource Reliability and Usability sections);
A detailed risk-mitigated deployment plan to ensure that the proposed resource will be in production operations and available for allocation to the open S&E research community no later than 12 months from the time of award (to be discussed in the Project Management and Risk Mitigation section);
A clear concept of operations for the project duration with a clear set of operational performance monitoring and science impact metrics to ensure the resource will be an asset for the nation’s S&E research community, as informed by the ACCESS Program’s Integration Roadmaps for new resource providers (to be discussed in the Concept of Operations section);
A persuasive articulation as to how the resource will support less traditional and/or underrepresented computational S&E communities if appropriate and how models of engagement with campus-supported CI will be explored (to be discussed in the Broader Impacts section).

Relevant parameters contributing to the comprehensive technical description of the proposed system may vary with the nature of the resource. However, organization of the proposal must closely adhere to the guidelines provided in section V.A. Proposal Preparation Instructions.

Category II – Innovative Prototypes/Testbeds

Resources proposed in this category will be initially deployed as a prototype/testbed supporting S&E research through delivery of novel forward-looking capabilities and services. Resources proposed in this category can represent the deployment of new technologies, system architectures, or usage modalities at scale, with plans for developing a national S&E user community that will benefit from the proposed capabilities. Proposed resources could encompass a broad range from enabling of advancements in traditional computing architectures to novel computing paradigms. The former could include novel processor architectures supporting artificial intelligence applications or integration of distributed systems leveraging edge devices; domain-specific architectures; reconfigurable and/or software defined systems; systems designed for streaming data and/or real-time processing, etc. The latter could apply aspects of neural and broader levels of non-neural biological organization architectures or implement collective properties of quantum states. Proposers are further encouraged to potentially explore novel facility scale electric power infrastructure, including models, leading to significant efficiencies in compute center and edge scale power utilization. Additionally, the solicitation incents efforts to explore and assess comprehensive and effective future options for science-based responses to a potential future national and/or international urgent need, as well as towards opportunities for future AI-enabled breakthroughs in science, engineering, and technology.

Proposers must clearly define the target classes of S&E applications that will be enabled, as well as a clear plan for ensuring the widespread adoptions by these classes of applications on the proposed capabilities and/or services. While the resources in this category may initially include prototypes/experimental testbeds, proposers are expected to present a clear near-term plan for transitioning to high-availability production services broadly available and allocatable to the S&E community through open peer-reviewed processes during the final 24 months of the project award period. It is also expected that the initially deployed prototype/testbed will include active engagements with S&E researchers, and these engagements will be reviewed by NSF in its evaluation of the system. Clear science impact metrics for measuring the performance of the proposed system are required.

Competitive proposals in Category II must address the following themes in the Project Description (to be discussed in a specific subsection as described in Section V.A. Proposal Preparation Instructions, if noted):

A clear plan for provisioning innovative computational and data analysis capabilities or services that will enable new methods and paradigms in support of transformational S&E discoveries;
A compelling description of how the proposed capabilities or services will address future demand for computation and data analytics capabilities in S&E research;
A persuasive set of S&E use cases, including quantitative analysis through benchmarks, that clearly motivate how the resource will expand the range of S&E applications that can be currently tackled using existing ACSS resources;
A clearly defined set of target S&E application classes that will be enabled, as well as a clear plan for ensuring the widespread adoption by these classes of applications on the proposed capabilities and/or services;
A comprehensive set of system-level performance and reliability metrics that will be used by NSF for acceptance of the resource or service (to be discussed in the S&E Application Performance and Resource Reliability and Usability sections);
A detailed risk-mitigated deployment plan to ensure that the proposed resource will evolve to high-availability production services broadly available for allocation to the open S&E research community in the final 24 months of the award period (to be discussed in the Project Management and Risk Mitigation section);
A clear concept of operations for the project duration, with a detailed set of engagement activities with the S&E research community, to optimize the use of the resource, facilitate application and user transition during the initially-deployed prototype/testbed system phase, and ensure that the resource evolves to a high-availability production utility for a national community of S&E users (see the ACCESS Program’s Integration Roadmaps for new resource providers) (to be discussed in the Concept of Operations section);

For Both Categories

Proposals are encouraged to emphasize broader impacts and broadening participation engagements for a proposed resource and its operation. Such activities may include (but are not limited to):

providing access to scientific disciplines and communities traditionally underserved by CI resources and services through, for example, science gateways such as those enabled by the “Center of Excellence to Extend Access”, “Expand the Community”, and “Exemplify Good Practices for CI Through Science Gateways” (SGX3), and/or
taking into consideration the full lifecycle environmental impact of the proposed resource or services in either category, including its acquisition, usage, and eventual disposal. [Note: this solicitation is not meant to fund core research on sustainability in computing. Proposers interested in proposing such research may refer to NSF 22-060 DCL: “Design for Sustainability in Computing and submission to Computer and Information Science and Engineering: Core Programs”]

Visit our Institutionally Limited Submission webpage for more updates and other announcements.

PAR-23-077: Collaborative Program Grant for Multidisciplinary Teams (RM1 – Clinical Trial Optional)

Slots: 2

Deadlines

Internal Deadline: ~~Friday, March 28th, 2025, 5pm PT~~ Contact RII.

LOI: 30 days prior.

External Deadline: May 28, 2025

Recurring Deadlines: January 27, 2026

Award Information

Award Type: Grant

Estimated Number of Awards: 4-6

Anticipated Award Amount: While applications may request research program budgets of up to $1.5 million direct costs per year, it is anticipated that most awards will be between $700,000-$900,000 direct costs. Annual inflationary increases are not allowed. The requested budget should be consistent with the number of PDs/PIs and the complexity and needs of the proposed program. An additional $250,000 direct costs per year may be requested for optional developmental funds to support the addition of ESIs to the program in years 2-5.

Who May Serve as PI:

The application is required to be submitted as a multiple PD/PI application, with three to six PDs/PIs. All PDs/PIs must have an appointment at a domestic institution. Scientists employed solely by foreign institutions may not serve as one of the PDs/PIs of the multiple PD/PI team, although they may be included in the application as collaborators/co-investigators, consultants, or other significant contributors. See the multiple PD/PI Policy and submission details in the Senior/Key Person Profile (Expanded) Component of the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide, and the Grant Policy Statement on Multiple Principal Investigators. Minimum allowed efforts by the PDs/PIs are described in the R&R Budget instructions in Part 2. Section IV.2.

Any eligible scientists with the interest and ability to develop a team science program to address an important research question are welcome to apply.

NIGMS encourages the participation of early career investigators as part of the multiple PD/PI team as appropriate.
- Note that ESIs and new investigators who participate as a PD/PI will lose their ESI or new investigator status for future NIH applications.
- ESIs supported by developmental funds in future years are not designated as PDs/PIs and will not lose ESI status.
PDs/PIs who have an active NIGMS R35 award can participate as a RM1 PD/PI. Their RM1 effort will be part of the 51% research effort on their current R35 award but may not receive additional funds .
Applicants with substantial unrestricted research support may receive funding from this award as their one NIGMS grant award, or may participate in an unfunded advisory or consulting role without loss of their ability to receive one funded NIGMS grant, consistent with NIGMS funding policies.

Link to Award: https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PAR-23-077.html

Process for Limited Submissions

RII-Limited-Submission-Application-Template.

Materials to submit include:

(1) Two-Page Proposal Summary (0.5” margins; single-spaced; font type: Arial, Helvetica, or Georgia typeface; font size: 11 pt). Page limit includes references and illustrations. Pages that exceed the 2-page limit will be excluded from review. You must use the template linked above.
(2) CV – (5 pages maximum)

Purpose

Complex and challenging research questions benefit from the integrated efforts of teams/labs employing complementary approaches with multiple areas of expertise. Team-based efforts can converge on high-impact discoveries, such as creating new disciplines, resolving longstanding or intractable problems, or defining new areas that challenge existing paradigms.

This funding opportunity announcement (FOA) encourages Collaborative Program Grant applications from institutions/organizations that propose projects addressing complex and challenging biomedical problems within the mission of NIGMS. Multidisciplinary research teams must have a highly integrated approach for each of their project goals. The Collaborative Program Grant is designed to support research in which funding a team of interdependent investigators to achieve a unified scientific goal offers significant advantages over supporting individual research project grants.

Features of successful applications include:

Each PD/PI is committed to team science and willing to devote a major part of their research effort to the team project.
Achieving the goal(s) requires a team approach.
Each biological question posed requires a cohesive team with an integrated approach.
A team management structure is developed for achieving program goals.

NIGMS recognizes that diverse teams working together and capitalizing on innovative ideas and distinct perspectives outperform homogeneous teams. There are many benefits that flow from a diverse scientific workforce, including fostering scientific innovation, enhancing global competitiveness, contributing to robust learning environments, improving the quality of the research, advancing the likelihood that underserved populations participate in, and benefit from, research and enhancing public trust. To support the best science, NIGMS encourages inclusivity in research. Examples of structures that promote diverse perspectives include but are not limited to:

Engagement from different types of institutions and organizations (e.g., research-intensive, undergraduate-focused, minority-serving, community-based).
Individual applications and partnerships that enhance geographic and regional engagement.
Investigators and teams composed of researchers at different career stages.
Participation of individuals from diverse backgrounds, including groups traditionally underrepresented in the biomedical, behavioral, and clinical research workforce (see NOT-OD-20-031), such as underrepresented racial and ethnic groups, those with disabilities, those from disadvantaged backgrounds, and women.
Project-based opportunities to benefit early- and mid-career investigators.

This FOA requires a Plan for Enhancing Diverse Perspectives (PEDP) as part of the application (see Section IV.2 SF424(R&R) Other Project Information. Other Attachments). For further information on the Plan for Enhancing Diverse Perspectives (PEDP), please see https://braininitiative.nih.gov/about/pedp-key-elements-and-examples.

Applications may address any area of science within the NIGMS mission. NIGMS supports generalizable, foundational basic research that increases understanding of biological processes at a range of levels, from molecules and cells, to tissues, whole organisms, and populations. NIGMS also supports research in a limited number of clinical areas that affect multiple organ systems. Truly new interdisciplinary ideas for approaching significant biological problems are encouraged. Applications that bridge the research interests of more than one area of science supported by NIGMS are also encouraged but must remain within the NIGMS mission.

Research with the overall goal of gaining knowledge about a specific organ or organ system, or the pathophysiology, treatment, or cure of a specific disease or condition will, in most cases, be more appropriate for another Institute or Center. Consultation with NIGMS staff (see below) prior to preparing an application is strongly encouraged.

Projects outside the NIGMS mission will be rejected without review.

Applicants for smaller projects with one or two PD/PIs should consider submitting a multi-PD/PI application to the “NIH Research Project Grant (Parent R01)” FOA (see the Parent Announcement website for the current issuance of that FOA), or if they are current NIGMS R35 MIRA awardees, they could consider collaborating as part of the 51% research effort on their current R35 award (note they will not receive additional funds from the RM1).

Applications that are mainly focused on the creation, expansion, and/or maintenance of community resources, or on infrastructure development, are not appropriate for this FOA. Although Collaborative Program Grants may include some technology development, applications with a central focus on the creation of new technologies would not be considered for funding as a Collaborative Program Grant and are more appropriate for the other NIGMS mechanism for funding technology research and resources.

Applications that employ specific cells or tissues to address a fundamental biomedical question are appropriate. However, applications that focus solely on a specific organ or disease state and that are within the mission areas of other NIH Institutes and Centers would not be appropriate for this FOA.

Research involving human subjects is permitted in the Collaborative Program Grant. Clinical research must be completely within the context of the NIGMS clinical areas (anesthesiology, clinical pharmacology, sepsis, injury, and critical illness). Mechanistic clinical trials are permitted when the mechanistic study is an essential part of the research program. Clinical trials that are designed to test safety and efficacy of interventions (Phase I, Phase II, Phase III) for the purpose of future clinical treatment and/or regulatory approval are not permitted. Potential applicants are encouraged to confer with the NIGMS Scientific/Research staff (in Section VII. Agency Contacts of this FOA) before submitting an application that includes clinical research. NIGMS does not intend to fund applications that contain clinical research within the missions of other Institutes and Centers at NIH or other federal agencies.

Program Organization

Applications submitted to this FOA are expected to propose a single, well-integrated research plan of sufficient scope, complexity, and impact to justify the investment of significant resources. Applicants are expected to describe a cohesive program with a single set of specific aims sufficient to accomplish program objectives that can be achieved within a maximum of ten years (one five-year program with one five-year competitive renewal). Program objectives that are not likely to be achieved within ten years are not appropriate for this FOA.

Applications that propose extrapolations of a single line of research or propose parallel but independent advancement of different areas are not appropriate for this FOA.

Applicant teams should be nimble to incorporate new knowledge and techniques to achieve program objectives and tackle unanticipated challenges. The application may include early-stage investigtor (ESI)-led development projects in future years to investigate new, but related, lines of research.

Team Management and Optional Activities

An RM1 must be a multiple PI application. Therefore, applicants must include a MPI leadership plan as required by the NIH. In addition, applications are expected to develop a comprehensive team management plan that addresses the following:

Appropriate organizational structure and team composition
Shared leadership, contributions, and distributed responsibility for decision making
Resource allocation
Plans for professional development
Conflict resolution

Applicants may wish to address how they will develop trust and a shared vision, as well as how shared responsibilities, interpersonal interactions, and professional credit will be managed. Additionally, applicants may consider a scientific project manager or program coordinator as part of the management plan.

Collaborative Program Grant applications may propose the use of optional future year developmental funds to support ESIs at domestic institutions whose availability was unknown and/or who can bring new ideas and expertise to the program that was not initially conceived to be relevant at the time of application. Developmental funds are in addition to the base grant budget and will be made available after the first year of the award, subject to NIGMS staff approval and availability of funds. See Section VI. Award Administration Information. Prior Approval for Use of Developmental Funds.

The proposed new work that ESIs will pursue must be well aligned with the aims of the original grant.

If the application requests developmental funds for studies directed by ESIs, plans must be included for selecting the ESIs and for leveraging existing resources for appropriate mentoring, including the effective conduct of multidisciplinary team science, as described in Part 2. Section IV.2 of this FOA.

ESIs supported by developmental funds will be able to seek and receive independent funding. A review criterion and funding consideration for any subsequent Renewal application will be evaluation of the outcomes of the ESI mentoring and support, including whether ESIs successfully obtained independent funding. Note that a plan for the use of developmental funds to support ESIs is an optional activity.

Prior Consultation with IC staff

NIGMS intends to fund a limited number of applications. Therefore, consultation with relevant staff at least 10 weeks prior to the application due date is strongly encouraged. Once applicants have identified overall program objectives and PD/PI participants, NIGMS staff may be able to advise applicants whether the proposed research strategy meets the goals and mission of the Institute, whether it addresses one or more high priority research areas, and whether it is appropriate for a Collaborative team program. A collaborative program that is closely related to the goal of a PD/PI’s existing NIGMS-funded research might require that funding be relinquished to avoid scientific overlap. Institute staff will not evaluate the technical and scientific merit of the proposed program in advance; technical and scientific merit will be determined during peer review using the review criteria indicated in this FOA. During the consultation phase, if the proposed research strategy does not meet NIGMS’ programmatic needs, is not appropriate as a Collaborative Program Grant, or is outside the NIGMS mission, applicants will be encouraged to consider other funding opportunities.

Visit our Institutionally Limited Submission webpage for more updates and other announcements.

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