National Institutes of Health (NIH)

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This Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) invites applications from institutions/organizations that propose to establish core centers that are part of an integrated and existing program of nutrition and/or obesity research. The Nutrition Obesity Research Centers (NORC) program is designed to support and enhance the national research effort in nutrition and obesity. NORCs support three primary research-related activities: Research Core services, a Pilot and Feasibility (P and F) program, and an Enrichment program. All activities pursued by Nutrition Obesity Research Centers are designed to enhance the efficiency, productivity, effectiveness, and multidisciplinary nature of research in nutrition and obesity.

This NOFO requires a Plan for Enhancing Diverse Perspectives (PEDP), which will be assessed as part of the scientific and technical peer review evaluation. Applications that fail to include a PEDP will be considered incomplete and will be withdrawn. Applicants are strongly encouraged to read the NOFO instructions carefully and view the available PEDP guidance material.

Eligibility Requirements

Because a NORC has a large and complex administrative structure, the PD/PI(s) must have strong leadership abilities and demonstrated proficiency in managing large, multi-component programs. The NORC PD(s)/PI(s) must also be willing to participate in annual meetings of the NORC Program. 

Only institutions at which there is an ongoing, strong base of nutrition and/or obesity-related research are eligible. For new applications, at least 50% of the nutritional sciences and obesity or other related research comprising the research base must be supported with funds from Federal Agencies. In renewal applications, the NIH-supported research base may be less than 50% due, typically, to a growing number of investigators entering nutrition and/or obesity research from other fields. Each proposed core must be utilized by a minimum of two federally-funded investigators.

Application budgets are limited to $750,000 direct costs per year but need to reflect actual needs of the proposed Center. This budget limit is exclusive of F&A costs for consortium and subcontract arrangements. It is anticipated that the award budget will be directly correlated to the breadth, quality, and relevance to nutrition/obesity and related areas of the research base being served by the Center. Within the direct cost cap, up to $150,000 per year may be requested for the Pilot and Feasibility program.

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This Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) invites applications from institutions/organizations that propose to establish a Research Resource Center (RRC) for the NIDDK Nutrition Obesity Research Centers (NORC) Program. The NORC Program consists of eleven Centers across the nation that support and enhance the national research effort in nutrition and obesity through cutting-edge basic, clinical, translational, and health disparities research in nutrition science and obesity. In collaboration with the existing NORC program, the RRC will (1) provide administrative support for the entire NORC Program, (2) establish and curate a NORC Program website and centralized repository of research resources, (3) implement a multi-pronged approach to support and grow a diverse early-to-midcareer research workforce with a goal of maximizing national outreach and impact, (4) administer and manage a NORC Opportunity Program to address gaps and promote collaboration, and (5) manage a Pilot and Feasibility Program.

This NOFO requires a Plan for Enhancing Diverse Perspectives (PEDP), which will be assessed as part of the scientific and technical peer review evaluation. Applications that fail to include a PEDP will be considered incomplete and will be withdrawn.

Applicants are strongly encouraged to read the NOFO instructions carefully and view the available PEDP guidance material.

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. 

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Only one application per institution is allowed.

NIEHS invites applications for cooperative agreements to support the development of model programs for the training and education of workers engaged in activities related to hazardous materials and waste generation, removal, containment, transportation, and emergency response within the Department of Energy (DOE) nuclear weapons complex. 

The aim of this funding opportunity is to prevent work-related harm through safety and health training. The training programs consist of information and practical exercises with the objective of raising the knowledge of workers in protecting themselves and the community from being exposed to hazardous materials encountered during hazardous waste operations; facility decommissioning and decontamination; hazardous materials' transportation; environmental restoration of contaminated facilities; or chemical emergency response. Currently, tens of thousands of DOE employees are required to complete safety and health training. The goal of this training is to help reduce the risk of workers being exposed during work activities to hazardous materials and hazardous waste products. The NIEHS/DOE Nuclear Worker Training Program enhances training capabilities at these sites. 

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Only one application per institution (normally identified by having a unique entity identifier (UEI) or NIH IPF number) is allowed.

The NIH Research Education Program (R25) supports research education activities in the mission areas of the NIH.  The overarching goal of this R25 program is to support educational activities that complement and/or enhance the training of a workforce to meet the nation’s biomedical, behavioral and clinical research needs.

To accomplish the stated over-arching goal, this NOFO will support educational activities with a primary focus on:

• Courses for Skills Development

This R25 program will support the development and implementation of short courses to prepare nurse scientists, and scientists in aligned fields, to conduct firearm injury prevention research in support of the NINR Strategic Plan (https://www.ninr.nih.gov/aboutninr/ninr-mission-and-strategic-plan). Applications for courses that build on the existing knowledge, approaches, methods, and techniques related to injury prevention to advance research specifically in the area of firearm injury are encouraged. Proposed courses should include content related to inequities in firearm injuries (e.g., race, ethnicity, socioeconomic position, gender, geography, and their intersections) and research at the individual, community, institutional, and structural levels.

This NOFO requires a Plan for Enhancing Diverse Perspectives (PEDP), which will be assessed as part of the scientific and technical peer review evaluation. Applications that fail to include a PEDP will be considered incomplete and will be withdrawn.

Applicants are strongly encouraged to read the NOFO instructions carefully and view the available PEDP guidance material.

Budgets are limited to $200,000 direct costs per year and need to reflect the actual needs of the proposed project.

The scope of the proposed project should determine the project period. The maximum project period is three (3) years

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The NIH Research Education Program (R25) supports research education activities in the mission areas of the NIH. The overarching goal of this R25 program is to support educational activities that encourage individuals from diverse backgrounds, including those from groups underrepresented in the biomedical and behavioral sciences, to pursue further studies or careers in research
To accomplish the stated over-arching goal, this FOA will support creative educational activities with a primary focus on:

• Courses for Skills Development

• Research Experiences

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) provides support to eligible, domestic institutions to develop and implement effective, evidence-informed approaches to biomedical research education and mentoring that will keep pace with the rapid evolution of the research enterprise. NIGMS expects that the proposed research education programs will incorporate extensive research experiences and well-designed courses for skills development to prepare recent baccalaureates from diverse backgrounds to transition into and complete rigorous, research-focused biomedical doctoral degree programs (e.g., Ph.D. or M.D./Ph.D.). This program is limited to applications from doctoral degree-granting institutions that are research-intensive (i.e., those with NIH research project grant (RPG) funding averaging greater than or equal to $7.5 million in total costs per year over the last three fiscal years).
This FOA does not allow appointed participants to lead an independent clinical trial but does allow them to obtain research experience in a clinical trial led by a mentor or co-mentor.

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Summary

The purpose of this NOFO is to solicit proposals from highly qualified clinical sites in the US to join the Network through an X01 Resource Access Program award. Accepted sites will be designated as a Diagnostic Center of Excellence (DCoE) and will be responsible for generating participant clinical, phenotypic and sequencing data to be submitted to the DMCC through a Data Use Agreement with the Center. X01 recipients will have access to DMCC resources and infrastructure including access to high-quality phenotypic and genotypic data and collaboration with highly skilled physicians, researchers, and bioinformaticians. Using team science, DCoEs will be able to collaborate with Network members to implement strategies that will expand equity and access to health disparity populations and increase the discovery of new disease-associated genes and genomic variants, immunologic and metabolic abnormalities, as well as environmental insults that are causative in previously undiagnosed patients. DCoEs will be invited to submit their most challenging, unsolved cases for acceptance into the Network, and partner in their evaluation with the Network’s virtual case review committee(s), which will be coordinated by the DMCC.

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Only one application per institution (normally identified by having a unique DUNS number or NIH IPF number) is allowed.

The Jointly Sponsored NIH Predoctoral Training Program in the Neurosciences (JSPTPN) is an institutional program that supports broad and fundamental research training in the neurosciences. In addition to a broad education in the neurosciences, a key component will be a curriculum that provides a strong foundation in experimental design, statistical methodology and quantitative reasoning. JSPTPN programs are intended to be 2 years in duration and students may only be appointed to this training grant during the first 2 years of their graduate research training. The primary objective is to prepare students to be well-trained scientists equipped to pursue careers in neuroscience.

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) does not allow appointed Trainees to lead an independent clinical trial, but does allow them to obtain research experience in a clinical trial led by a mentor or co-mentor.

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The NIH Research Education Program (R25) supports research education activities in the mission areas of the NIH. The overarching goal of this R25 program is to support educational activities that encourage individuals from diverse backgrounds, including those from groups underrepresented in the biomedical and behavioral sciences, to pursue further studies or careers in research.

To accomplish the stated over-arching goal, this NOFO will support educational activities with a primary focus on:

• Courses for Skills Development

• Research Experiences

• Mentoring Activities

The fully integrated educational activities should prepare undergraduate students from diverse backgrounds, including those from groups underrepresented in biomedical and behavioral sciences, to enter Ph.D. degree programs in the neurosciences. To accomplish this goal, this initiative will provide institutional awards to develop neuroscience research education programs comprised of collaborative partnerships integrated across different educational institution types.

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This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is designed to support highly integrated research teams of three to six Program Directors/Principal Investigators (PDs/PIs) to address ambitious and challenging research questions that are within the mission of NIGMS. Project goals should not be achievable with a collection of individual efforts or projects. Collaborative program teams are expected to accomplish goals that require considerable synergy and managed team interactions. Teams are encouraged to consider far-reaching objectives that will produce major advances in their fields.

This FOA is not intended for applications that are mainly focused on the creation, expansion, and/or maintenance of community resources, creation of new technologies, or infrastructure development.

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This FOA is intended to enable the community to develop and implement evidence-informed approaches to biomedical research training and mentoring to enhance diversity in the biomedical research workforce. The President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) report provided evidence that financial concerns and the absence of a community of peers from similar backgrounds can erode self-confidence and the desire to remain in STEM majors (PCAST Report, 2012). NIGMS diversity enhancing institutional training grants offset the cost of appointed trainee stipends, tuition and fees, and training related expenses, including health insurance, in accordance with approved NIH support levels. Additionally, funded programs are expected to provide activities that will build a strong cohort of research-oriented individuals while enhancing the science identity, self-efficacy, and a sense of belonging among the cohort members. Programmatic activities include, but are not limited to, providing authentic research experiences, academic enhancements, skills development, and additional mentoring -- activities proven to increase persistence in STEM fields (cited in PCAST Report, 2012, Graduate STEM Education for the 21st Century, 2018, and The Science of Effective Mentoring in STEMM, 2019).

Each Bridges to the Baccalaureate Research Training Program must consist of a strong partnership/consortium composed of at least two institutions: an associate degree-granting institution that offers the associate degree as the terminal degree in STEM, and a baccalaureate degree-granting institution with STEM degrees in disciplines related to the biomedical sciences. Each program should provide high-quality training that equips individuals with the technical (e.g., appropriate methods, technologies, and quantitative/computational approaches), operational (e.g., independent knowledge acquisition, rigorous experimental design, and interpretation of data, conducting research in the safest manner possible) and professional (e.g., management, leadership, communication, and teamwork) skills required for careers in the biomedical research workforce.

Program Objective

The Overarching Objective of this Bridges to the Baccalaureate Research Training Program is to develop a diverse pool of research-oriented undergraduates who transition from an associate degree-granting institution to a baccalaureate degree-granting institution and complete a baccalaureate STEM degree, positioning them to pursue research-oriented biomedical higher degree programs, or enter careers in the biomedical research workforce. The long-term goal is to develop a diverse pool of well-trained biomedical scientists, who have the following technical, operational, and professional skills:

• A broad understanding across biomedical disciplines and the skills to independently acquire the knowledge needed to advance their chosen fields;
• Expertise in a biomedical scientific discipline and the skills to think critically and independently, and to identify important biomedical research questions and approaches that push forward the boundaries of their areas of study;
• A strong foundation in scientific reasoning, rigorous research design, experimental methods, quantitative and computational approaches, and data analysis and interpretation;
• The skills to conduct research in the safest manner possible, and a commitment to approaching and conducting biomedical research responsibly, ethically, and with integrity;
• Experience initiating, conducting, interpreting, and presenting rigorous and reproducible biomedical research with increasing self-direction;
• 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 skills to teach and communicate scientific research methodologies and findings to a wide variety of audiences (e.g., discipline-specific, across disciplines, and the public); and
• The knowledge, professional skills and experiences required to identify and transition into careers in the biomedical research workforce (i.e., the breadth of careers that sustain biomedical research in areas that are relevant to the NIH mission).

Diversity at all levels from the kinds of science to the regions in which it is conducted, to the backgrounds of the people conducting it is integral to excellence in research training environments and strengthens the research enterprise. This FOA is intended to support outstanding research training programs that will enhance diversity in the biomedical research workforce. As part of NIGMS strategy to support the development of a diverse pool of well-trained biomedical scientists, the Bridges to the Baccalaureate Research Training Program supports trainees at a critical transition point in the biomedical research training pathway (i.e., the transition from associate degree-granting institutions to baccalaureate degree-granting institutions), and prepares them to enter a research-oriented biomedical higher degree program, or careers in the biomedical research workforce.

Program Considerations

NIGMS intends to fund applications that propose feasible academic and research focused training programs that will enhance diversity in the biomedical workforce. Programs are expected to have mentors from biomedical disciplines relevant to the NIGMS mission to provide a breadth of research experiences to trainees. Proposed programs focused on disciplines outside of the NIGMS mission (e.g., allied health professions, forensic science) will be considered a low priority for funding.

The Bridges to the Baccalaureate Research Training Program requires strong partnerships between associate degree-granting institutions and baccalaureate degree-granting institutions. At least one partner must be an institution that offers the associate degree as the highest STEM degree and the other partner(s) must offer baccalaureate degrees in disciplines related to the biomedical sciences. Two different scenarios are anticipated for these partnerships:

• One associate degree-granting institution as the applicant institution partnering with one or more baccalaureate degree-granting institutions, or
• One baccalaureate degree-granting institution as the applicant institution partnering with one or more associate degree-granting institutions.

The program does not support single institutions offering both associate and baccalaureate degrees where graduates or transfers from the associate degree programs enter the baccalaureate programs, even if the students are moving to another department, school, or college. To reinforce strong partnerships, the Bridges to the Baccalaureate Research Training Program requires the participation of least one Program Director/Principal Investigator (PD/PI) from each partner institution.

The Bridges to the Baccalaureate Research Training Program recognizes the heterogeneity of institutional settings and institutional missions. Therefore, each application must include a self-assessment of each participating institution that includes baseline data on student demographics, enrollment, transfer rates, research experience, and degree attainment rates. Program objectives should be based on this self-assessment and must align with the purpose of the Bridges to the Baccalaureate Research Training Program. Applicants are expected to identify training objectives (i.e., specific, measurable, and obtainable outcomes the program intends to achieve) and to develop plans to implement evidence-informed training and mentoring activities that are grounded in the literature and from evaluations of existing relevant programs. Funded programs are expected to provide evidence of accomplishing the training objectives in progress reports and in renewal applications, to make training and career outcomes publicly available, and are strongly encouraged to disseminate successful training practices to the broader community.

Funded programs are also expected to implement robust plans to enhance diversity and to promote inclusive, safe, and supportive research environments. Specifically, funded programs should have institutional and departmental environments where individuals from all backgrounds are welcomed and feel integrated into and supported by the biomedical community. Programs are also expected to implement plans to enhance trainee retention, i.e., to sustain the scientific interests and participation of trainees from all backgrounds. Additionally, safety in research training should encompass (1) environments free from harassment and intimidation, in which everyone participating is treated in a respectful and supportive manner, (2) laboratory and clinical settings where individuals exercise the highest standards of practice for chemical, biological and physical safety, and (3) practices at the institutional leadership and research community levels that demonstrate core values and behaviors to emphasize safety over competing goals.

Institutional commitment and support for the proposed training program are important elements of the application. The Bridges to the Baccalaureate Research Training Program may complement and synergize with other ongoing federally supported research training programs at the applicant and partnering institution(s); however, the Bridges to the Baccalaureate Research Training Program goals and activities to achieve those goals must be distinct from related programs currently receiving federal support at the applicant and partnering institution(s). In cases where an institution has multiple NIGMS training grants, it is expected that these programs will create administrative and training efficiencies to reduce costs and improve trainee services and outcomes. The training grant should be well integrated within one or more department(s)/program(s) and should exert a strong, positive influence on the development and execution of the outreach and recruitment of potential trainees, curriculum, training opportunities, and mentoring. Training grant funds may not be used solely as a vehicle to provide stipends for trainees to conduct research.

Training grants are usually awarded for five years. The grant offsets the cost of stipends, tuition and fees, and training related expenses, including health insurance, for the appointed trainees in accordance with the approved NIH support levels. Trainees are typically provided full-time support for two years of undergraduate studies within the Bridges to the Baccalaureate Research Training Program partnership. There is flexibility in how the two years of support can be administered, but there must be robust support at both the associate degree-granting and baccalaureate degree granting-institutions. Research-oriented trainees must be enrolled at the associate degree-granting institution at the time of initial appointment. Typically, one year of full-time support is provided at the associate degree-granting institution and one year of full-time support at the baccalaureate degree-granting institution. However, at baccalaureate institutions where other NIH undergraduate research training programs (e.g., U-RISE, MARC) exist, the Bridges to the Baccalaureate trainees may transition into or benefit from these training programs. In this case, trainees may receive up to two years of full-time support at the associate degree-granting institution.

This FOA does not allow appointed trainees to lead an independent clinical trial but does allow them to obtain research experience in a clinical trial led by a mentor or co-mentor. NIH strongly supports training towards a career in clinically relevant research and so gaining experience in clinical trials under the guidance of a mentor or co-mentor is encouraged.

See Section VIII. Other Information for award authorities and regulations.