Slots: 1
Deadlines
Internal Deadline: Friday, June 21st, 2024, 5pm PT Contact RII.
LOI: September 9, 2024
External Deadline: October 24, 2024
Award Information
Award Type: Grant
Estimated Number of Awards: 1
Anticipated Award Amount: Application budgets are limited to $625,000 Direct Costs in year one and $565,000 Direct Costs per year in years 2-5 exclusive of consortium F&As.
Who May Serve as PI: Standard NIH requirements.
Link to Award: https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-DK-25-011.html
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 (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
This Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) invites applications for a Nutrition Obesity Research Center (NORC) Research Resource Center (RRC) grant proposing to manage common NORC activities with a goal of enhancing the rigor and reproducibility of nutrition and obesity research; providing support for the early-to-midcareer nutrition and obesity researchers from diverse backgrounds, including individuals from underrepresented groups (see, NOT-OD-20-031); managing an Opportunity Program; providing a Pilot and Feasibility Program; and supporting other related needs for the NORC program more broadly. The mission of the NORC program is to serve as a key component of the NIDDK-supported nation-wide effort to advance nutrition and obesity research across the research spectrum. The NORCs promote new discoveries and enhance scientific progress through support of cutting-edge basic, clinical, translational, and health disparities research in nutrition science and obesity with the ultimate goal of improving public health for all.
The NORC program consists of 11 independent but highly collaborative P30 Centers across the United States. Each NORC is associated with an existing program of excellence in nutrition and obesity research as evidenced by a consistent and outstanding record of productivity and peer-reviewed research funding in those areas. NORC funding provides support for core facilities (shared resources), pilot and feasibility studies, and program enrichment activities. Except for pilot and feasibility studies, NORCs do not fund or otherwise support individual biomedical or behavioral research projects other than through core usage. Rather the goal of the NORC program is to bring together investigators from a variety of scientific disciplines in a manner that enhances and extends the effectiveness of their research and collaborative activities. More information about the NORC program can be found on www.NORCcentral.org and https://www.niddk.nih.gov/research-funding/research-programs/nutrition-obesity-research-centers.
The NORC Program is collectively pursuing the following goals:
- Attracting and retaining early-stage investigators and investigators new to nutrition/obesity research, including those from groups underrepresented in the biomedical research workforce;
- Enhancing nutrition and obesity research education and training opportunities, including career development and mentoring of early career scientists;
- Providing core services that leverage funding and unique expertise and advancing nutrition and obesity research methods and tools;
- Improving and sustaining rigor and reproducibility in nutrition and obesity research;
- Fostering interdisciplinary collaborations, especially in emerging areas of research, to catalyze new ideas and scientific approaches;
- Raising awareness and interest in fundamental and clinical nutrition and/or obesity research at the local, regional, and national level; and
- Promoting the dissemination and implementation of scientific discoveries from bench to bedside to the community to improve public health.
The NORC RRC will be expected to facilitate and contribute to common activities and collaborations across the entire NORC program, to serve as a resource for projects related to career advancement and approaches, consistent with applicable law, to enhance the diversity and retention of the early career nutrition and obesity research workforce, and to assist with the identification and development of approaches to fill gaps in nutrition and obesity research methodologies. The NORC program will have an Executive Committee composed of selected NORC PIs/PDs and the RRC PIs/PDs. The NORC RRC will not conduct or otherwise support individual biomedical or behavioral research projects other than through a Pilot and Feasibility Program. Please note that consistent with NIH practices and applicable law, funded programs may not use the race, ethnicity, or sex (including gender identity, sexual orientation, or transgender status) of a trainee, faculty candidate, or other program participant as an eligibility or selection criteria.
RRC expectations will include but are not limited to:
- Providing valuable administrative support, facilitation, and project management to the entire Consortium, including organization of annual NORC meetings, facilitation of standing working groups or committees, and conduct of other activities, as needed;
- Assisting with efforts to synergize services and programs across the NORCs to reduce duplication, increase innovation, and expand access to services that may be of value to researchers outside the affiliated NORC institutions and collaborators;
- Managing the NORC website and improving a central portal that successfully shares unique resources, tools, technologies, services available across the NORCs to the broader nutrition and obesity research community;
- Providing expertise and supporting research that addresses fundamental challenges in nutrition and obesity research, including health disparities and health equity research, dissemination and implementation, and community-engaged research;
- Assisting and supporting the NORC effort to provide training resources, mentoring, and other program support designed to advance the careers and to retain early-to-mid-career investigators, including scientists from groups underrepresented in the biomedical research workforce (see NOT-OD-20-031);
- Participating and assisting with the leadership of highly collaborative Consortium-wide working groups and committees;
- Implementing a NORC Opportunity Program, supported by appropriate oversight and rigorous external peer review, which will have a goal of addressing scientific gaps, rigor and reproducibility, data sharing, and promotion of collaboration across the fields of nutrition and obesity research;
- Managing a Pilot and Feasibility program available to external investigators in the nutrition and obesity research field(s); and
- Other activities as determined collaboratively with the NORC program as a whole.
Visit our Institutionally Limited Submission webpage for more updates and other announcements.