DoW Military Burn, Discovery Award

The Military Burn Research Program Discovery Award is administered by the Defense Health Agency through the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs. This program was established to address the significant and ongoing burden of burn injuries among military service members, particularly those sustained in combat or training environments. Since its inception in 2011, the program has received substantial congressional appropriations to support research aimed at improving outcomes for burn-injured personnel. The Discovery Award specifically focuses on fostering innovative, early-stage research that can generate foundational knowledge and preliminary data to guide future translational or clinical advancements in burn care. The primary objective of this funding opportunity is to support groundbreaking and high-risk research that introduces new ideas, paradigms, or technologies relevant to combat-related burn care. Projects funded under this award are expected to explore untested concepts or generate hypotheses rather than build incrementally on existing work. Research may be exploratory, hypothesis-driven, or hypothesis-generating, but it must be supported by a strong scientific rationale and a well-developed study design. The program emphasizes relevance to austere and resource-limited operational environments, such as battlefield or prolonged field care settings, where timely and effective burn treatment is critical. Funding for this opportunity is limited, with approximately two awards anticipated and a total program allocation of about $400,000. Each award has a maximum total cost cap of $200,000 and a performance period of up to two years. Funds may be used for a range of research-related expenses, including personnel, supplies, and limited travel for dissemination of results. However, certain costs, such as tuition or excessive travel, are not allowable. Cost sharing is not required for this program, and applicants may request the full allowable funding regardless of project duration within the maximum performance period. Eligibility for the Discovery Award is broad and inclusive. Both domestic and international organizations may apply, including for-profit and nonprofit entities, academic institutions, and government agencies. Principal Investigators at all career stages are eligible, regardless of citizenship or nationality, provided they are affiliated with an eligible organization. The program encourages multidisciplinary collaborations across academia, industry, and government entities, including partnerships with military research facilities and veterans’ organizations, to enhance the impact and applicability of proposed research. The application process is conducted in two stages. Applicants must first submit a pre-application through the Electronic Biomedical Research Application Portal. This preproposal includes a concise narrative outlining the innovation, research strategy, focus area alignment, potential impact, and military relevance of the proposed work. Only selected applicants are invited to submit a full application, which requires comprehensive documentation, including a detailed project narrative, technical and lay abstracts, statement of work, and various supporting materials. Full applications must be submitted through either Grants.gov or eBRAP, depending on the applicant organization type. Applications are evaluated through a rigorous two-tier review process. Pre-applications are screened based on innovation, impact, and military relevance. Full applications undergo peer review to assess technical merit, including innovation, feasibility, and research strategy, followed by programmatic review to determine alignment with program priorities and portfolio balance. Innovation is the most heavily weighted criterion, reflecting the program’s emphasis on high-risk, high-reward research. Additional considerations include the qualifications of the research team, appropriateness of the budget, and adequacy of the research environment. The timeline for this funding opportunity includes a pre-application deadline of July 7, 2026, followed by invitations for full applications issued on August 26, 2026. Full applications are due by October 21, 2026, with a verification period ending October 28, 2026. Peer review is scheduled for January 2027, and programmatic review will occur in March 2027. Awards are expected to be finalized by September 30, 2027. The program does not specify recurring cycles, and applicants should monitor future announcements for subsequent funding opportunities. For assistance, applicants may contact the eBRAP Help Desk or Grants.gov Support Center as listed in the program materials.

Focus heavily on innovation and non incremental research ideas ensure strong alignment with combat relevant burn care and austere environments clearly demonstrate potential impact and military relevance design rigorous and feasible study plans