Federal Science and Technology Grants

This funding opportunity supports U.S. institutions conducting research to improve health and performance for astronauts during human space exploration missions.

With this solicitation, NIJ seeks rigorous, applied evaluative research on: (1) police training; (2) police accountability policies and practices; (3) investigative practices to enhance clearance rates; and (4) police officer health and wellness programs. Successful applicants should propose the most rigorous design to answer their proposed research questions. NIJ will consider research designs that include qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods designs. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and strong quasi-experimental designs are required for proposals to conduct outcome evaluations. NIJ will give special consideration to proposals with methods that include meaningful engagement with the people closest to the subject of study, including practitioners as well as community members representing crime victims, people under criminal justice supervision, and members of high-crime communities. Applicants are encouraged to propose multidisciplinary research teams to build on the complementary strengths of different methods and areas of subject matter expertise. NIJ also seeks proposals that include consideration and measurement of issues of diversity, discrimination, and bias across age, gender, race, ethnicity, religion, and sexual orientation, as applicable. Applications proposing research involving partnerships with juvenile justice, criminal justice or other agencies should include a strong letter of support, signed by an appropriate decisionmaking authority from each proposed, partnering agency. A letter of support should include the partnering agency’s acknowledgment that de-identified data derived from, provided to, or obtained through an award funded by NIJ will be archived by the grant recipient with the National Archive of Criminal Justice Data (NACJD) at the conclusion of the award. Applicants and their potential partners are encouraged to review NIJ’s data archiving guidance. If selected for an award, grantees will be expected to have a formal agreement in place with partnering agencies by January 1, 2025. That formal agreement must include a provision to meet the data archiving requirements of the award. NIJ seeks proposals that include robust, creative, and multi-pronged dissemination strategies that include strategic partnerships with organizations and associations that are best equipped to ensure that research findings lead to changes in policies and practices. Special consideration will be given to proposals that dedicate at least 15% of the requested project award funding toward implementing such strategies, as demonstrated in the “Budget Worksheet and Budget Narrative.” In the case of partnerships that will involve the use of federal award funds by multiple partnering agencies to carry out the proposed project, only one entity/partnering agency may be the applicant (as is the case with any application submitted in response to this solicitation); any Page 8 O-NIJ-2024-172011 others must be proposed as subrecipients. The applicant is expected to conduct the preponderance of the work proposed.

The purpose of the RRTCs, which are funded through the Disability and Rehabilitation Research Projects and Centers Program, is to achieve the goals of, and improve the effectiveness of, services authorized under the Rehabilitation Act through well-designed research, training, technical assistance, and dissemination activities in important topical areas as specified by NIDILRR. These activities are designed to benefit people with disabilities, family members, rehabilitation service providers, policymakers and other research stakeholders. The purpose of this particular RRTC is to conduct research, training, technical assistance, and related activities to contribute to improved employment outcomes of adults with Serious Mental Illness. NIDILRR plans to make one grant under this opportunity. The grant will have a 60-month project period, with five 12-month budget periods.

The FY24 VRP MCRA is intended to support patient-oriented vision injury research and develop research expertise of highly motivated military or civilian clinicians in training. Research supported by the MCRA can be a standalone study of high impact to vision injury care or the generation of clinical research data in preparation for a more expansive study.Each MCRA must be led by an established clinician or Ph.D. clinical scientist who will serve as Principal Investigator (PI) of the award. Key personnel must include a clinician in training (e.g., a fellow, resident, junior clinician, clinician in a Ph.D. program). The clinician in training should have sufficient time remaining in their training program to complete the research proposed under the MCRA. The clinician in training will conduct the proposed research under the mentorship of the PI, with support from supporting personnel as appropriate. While additional junior scientists or clinicians may participate in the research, only one clinician in training may be designated as mentee. A Letter of Organizational Support and Mentee Eligibility, signed by the Department Chair or appropriate organization official, and a Letter of Commitment, signed by the mentee, should be submitted as part of Attachment 2: Supporting Documentation.For the purposes of this award mechanism, clinical research is defined as research conducted with human subjects or research on material of human origin, such as tissues or specimens or data obtained from human subjects. Documentation of Institutional Review Board (IRB)/ Ethics Committee (EC) approval or exemption by December 1, 2024, is required for an MCRA application to be considered for funding. See Attachment 2: Supporting Documentation for additional detail.The MCRA may not be used to conduct preclinical research (including animal research) or clinical trials.A clinical trial is defined in the Code of Federal Regulations, Title 45, Part 46.102 (45 CFR 46.102) as a research study in which one or more human subjects are prospectively assigned to one or more interventions (which may include a placebo or another control) to evaluate the effects of the interventions on biomedical or behavioral health-related outcomes.Studies that do not seek to measure safety, effectiveness, and/or efficacy outcome(s) of an intervention are not considered clinical trials.Studies that retrospectively analyze data generated from previously conducted clinical trial(s) are not considered a clinical trial.

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is issuing this Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) to seek participants to co-create, co-design, co-invest, and collaborate on creating, piloting, and scaling innovative research and development interventions utilizing innovative health practices to help reduce disease and mortality rates worldwide. USAID invites organizations and companies to submit an Expression of Interest (EOI) and participate in generating novel tools and approaches that accelerate and sustain improved health outcomes in low-and-middle-income countries (LMICs). The intent of the BAA is to allow co-creation and co-design to the maximum extent to create high quality, effective partnerships with great efficiency in time and resources. USAID is seeking new applications of research development, science, partnerships, and innovative practices in global health that provide the best value to the Government. USAID will invite selected for-profit and non-profit, public and private organizations, as detailed below, to co-create innovative research and development (R) solutions to the Problem and Challenge Statements stated in this BAA, including those organizations that have ideas, expertise, resources, and/or funding to add to potential solutions. In particular, this BAA welcomes co-creation from local partners based in LMICs, including the private sector, faith-based organizations, and other non-traditional USAID partners, to increase the presence and voices of local populations in solving their own health challenges.The intent of the BAA is to enable and encourage co-creation and co-design in order to generate high quality ideas and effective partnerships with improved efficiency in time and resources. Other types of collaboration can also include co-investing:Co-Investing: USAID wants to align goals with the partners under this BAA, to facilitate shared responsibility, shared risk, and shared resourcing. Shared resourcing requires that cash and other resources, both tangible and intangible, such as in-kind contributions, expertise, intellectual property, brand value, high-value coordination, and access to key people, places, and information, are directed towards reaching the solution to the Problem/Challenge. Co-investing does not require equal shared resources (such as 1:1 leverage), but rather resource contributions that are appropriate to the specific projects objectives, considering the comparative advantages brought by the participation of each party.

This funding opportunity provides financial support for institutions involved in scientific research and conservation efforts to restore native mussel populations in the Great Lakes region, specifically targeting the Indiana Dunes National Park.

This competition provides financial incentives for U.S.-based manufacturers of solar photovoltaic modules and inverters to achieve environmental certification, enhancing their marketability and sustainability efforts.

This funding opportunity provides financial support for innovative research in advanced scientific computing and extreme-scale science, targeting a wide range of applicants including universities, for-profit companies, and federal laboratories, to tackle challenges in high-performance computing, quantum technologies, and artificial intelligence.

This grant provides funding for experienced researchers at U.S. higher education institutions to explore new engineering fields or reestablish their research after a break, with a focus on innovation, societal impact, and promoting diversity and inclusion.

The overall goal of ProCON Global is to promote open, interoperable, reliable, and secure commercial undersea cable systems around the world. The project will provide technical assistance to key decision-makers, including policymakers, regulators, and technology companies in emerging economies, to promote evaluation processes and investment in secure and trusted vendors when establishing undersea cable network supply chains. Technology companies include telecommunications operators/carriers, major technology and security firms, innovators, and content and cloud providers.

The intent of the Breakthrough Award is to support promising research that has high potential to lead to or make breakthroughs in breast cancer. The critical components of this award mechanism are:Impact: Research supported by the Breakthrough Award will have the potential for a major impact and accelerate progress toward ending breast cancer. The impact may be near-term or long-term, but must move beyond a minor advancement and have the potential to lead to a fundamentally new approach that is significantly more effective than interventions already approved or in clinical development. Applications are expected to identify the breast cancer patients or at-risk individuals who would ultimately benefit from the proposed research.Research Scope: The Breakthrough Award is structured with four different funding levels. The levels are designed to support major (but not all) stages of research that will lead to clinical application. Each level has a defined research scope. It is the responsibility of the Principal Investigator (PI) to select the level that aligns with the scope of the proposed research. The funding level should be selected based on the research scope defined in the program announcement, and not on the amount of the budget.The current program announcement discusses the Breakthrough Award Level 3. Funding Levels 1, 2, and 4 are available under other program announcements (HT942524BCRPBTA12 for Levels 1 and 2 and HT942524BCRPBTA4 for Level 4). The PI is strongly encouraged to review the research scope defined under each funding level as described in the corresponding Breakthrough Award program announcements before submitting the pre-application. An application that does not meet the intent of the funding level selected will not be recommended for funding, even if it might meet the intent of a different funding level.The following is a general description, although not all-inclusive, of the scope of research projects that would be appropriate to propose under the current program announcement:Funding Level 3: Advanced translational studies with a high degree of project readiness. Where relevant, proof of availability of and access to necessary data, human samples, cohort(s), and/or critical reagents must be provided. If the proposed research would ultimately require U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) involvement, applications must demonstrate availability of, and access to, clinical reagents (e.g., therapeutic molecules) and patient population(s). Applications must state a realistic timeline for near-term clinical investigation. Small-scale clinical trials (e.g., first in human, phase 1/1b) may be appropriate.Partnering PI Option: The Breakthrough Award encourages applications that include meaningful and productive partnerships between investigators. The Partnering PI Option is structured to accommodate two PIs. One PI will be identified as the Initiating PI and will be responsible for the majority of the administrative tasks associated with application submission. The other PI will be identified as a Partnering PI. Both PIs should contribute significantly to the development of the proposed research project, including the Project Narrative, Statement of Work (SOW), and other required components. The PIs may have expertise in similar or disparate scientific disciplines, but each PI is expected to bring distinct contributions to the application. The application should clearly demonstrate that both PIs have equal intellectual input into the design of the project and will devote similar and appropriate levels of effort to the conduct of the project. It is expected that funding will be balanced between both PIs unless appropriately justified. New partnerships are encouraged, but not required. The application is expected to describe how the PIs unique expertise combined as a partnership will better address the research question, how the unique expertise that each individual brings to the application is critical for the research strategy and completion of the SOW, and why the work should be done together rather than through separate efforts. To meet the intent of the Partnering PI Option, applicants are discouraged from being named as a Partnering PI on multiple Breakthrough Award Level 3 applications unless they are clearly addressing distinct research questions. Applications where one PI is providing samples, animal models, or investigational agents while the other PI is conducting most or all of the experiments and analyses do not meet the intent of the Partnering PI Option. If recommended for funding, each PI will be named on separate awards to the recipient organization(s). Each award will be subject to separate reporting, regulatory, and administrative requirements. For individual submission requirements for the Initiating and Partnering PIs, refer to Section II.D.2, Content and Form of the Application Submission.Personnel: Applications are expected to include an appropriate and robust research team with the combined backgrounds and breast cancer-related expertise to enable successful conduct of the project.Consumer Advocates: Applications are required to include consumer advocate involvement. The research team must include two or more breast cancer consumer advocates, who will be integral throughout the planning and implementation of the research project. Consumer advocates should be involved in the development of the research question, project design, oversight, recruitment, and evaluation, as well as other significant aspects of the proposed project. Interactions with other team members should be well integrated and ongoing, not limited to attending seminars and semi-annual meetings. As lay representatives, the consumer advocates must be individuals who have been diagnosed with breast cancer, and they should be active in a breast cancer advocacy organization. Their role in the project should be independent of their employment, and they cannot be employees of any of the organizations participating in the application. Their role should be focused on providing objective input on the research and its potential impact for individuals with, or at risk for, breast cancer. The consumer advocates should have a high level of knowledge of current breast cancer issues and the appropriate background and/or training in breast cancer research to contribute to the project.A congressionally mandated Metastatic Cancer Task Force was formed with the purpose of identifying ways to help accelerate clinical and translational research aimed at extending the lives of advanced state and recurrent patients. As a member of the Metastatic Cancer Task Force, CDMRP encourages applicants to review the recommendations (https://health.mil/Reference-Center/Congressional-Testimonies/2018/05/03/Metastatic-Cancer-Research) and submit research ideas to address these recommendations provided they are within the limitations of this funding opportunity and fit within the FY24 BCRP priorities.Innovative research involving nuclear medicine and related techniques to support early diagnosis, more effective treatment, and improved health outcomes of active-duty Service Members and their Families is encouraged. Such research could improve diagnostic and targeted treatment capabilities through noninvasive techniques and may drive the development of precision imaging and advanced targeted therapies.The proposed research must be relevant to active-duty Service Members, Veterans, military beneficiaries, and/or the American public. Collaborations between researchers at military or Veteran institutions and non-military institutions are strongly encouraged. These relationships can leverage knowledge, infrastructure, and access to unique clinical populations that the partners bring to the research effort, ultimately advancing cancer research that is of significance to the Warfighter, military Families, and the American public.Title 45, Part 46.102 (45 CFR 46.102) as a research study in which one or more human subjects are prospectively assigned to one or more interventions (which may include a placebo or another control) to evaluate the effects of the interventions on biomedical or behavioral health-related outcomes.Studies that do not seek to measure safety, effectiveness, and/or efficacy outcome(s) of an intervention are not considered clinical trials.For the purposes of this funding opportunity, research that meets the definition of a clinical trial is distinct from clinical research. Clinical research encompasses research with human data, human specimens, and/or interaction with human subjects. Clinical research is observational in nature and includes:(1) Research conducted with human subjects and/or material of human origin such as data, specimens, and cognitive phenomena for which an investigator (or co-investigator) does not seek to assess the safety, effectiveness, and/or efficacy outcomes of an intervention. Research meeting this definition may include but is not limited to: (a) mechanisms of human disease, (b) diagnostic or detection studies (e.g., biomarker or imaging), (c) health disparity studies, and (d) development of new technologies.(2) Epidemiologic and behavioral studies that do not seek to assess the safety, effectiveness, and/or efficacy outcomes of an intervention.(3) Outcomes research and health services research that do not fit under the definition of clinical trial.Excluded from the definition of clinical research are in vitro studies that utilize human data or specimens that cannot be linked to a living individual and meet the requirements for exemption under 46.104(d)(4) of the Common Rule.The funding instrument for awards made under the program announcement will be grants (31 USC 6304).The anticipated direct costs budgeted for the entire period of performance for an FY24 BCRP Breakthrough Award Level 3 should not exceed $4M for applications with a single PI or $5M if applying under the Partnering PI Option. Refer to Section II.D.5, Funding Restrictions, for detailed funding information.Awards supported with FY24 funds will be made no later than September 30, 2025.The CDMRP expects to allot approximately $13.95M to fund approximately two BCRP Breakthrough Award Level 3 applications. Funding of applications received is contingent upon the availability of federal funds for this program, the number of applications received, the quality and merit of the applications as evaluated by peer and programmatic review, and the requirements of the government. Funds to be obligated on any award resulting from this funding opportunity will be available for use for a limited time period based on the fiscal year of the funds. It is anticipated that awards made from this FY24 funding opportunity will be funded with FY24 funds, which will expire for use on September 30, 2030.

This grant provides funding to organizations focused on environmental stewardship and land management to support military training land sustainability at Fort McCoy in Wisconsin.

The Human Networks and Data Science program (HNDS) supports research that enhances understanding of human behavior by leveraging data and network science research across a broad range of topics. HNDS research will identify ways in which dynamic, distributed, or heterogeneous data can provide novel answers to fundamental questions about individual or group behavior. HNDS is especially interested in proposals that provide data-rich insights about human networks to support improved health, prosperity, and security. HNDS has two tracks: (1) Human Networks and Data Science Infrastructure (HNDS-I). Infrastructure proposals will address the development of data resources and relevant analytic techniques that support fundamental Social, Behavioral and Economic (SBE) research. Successful infrastructure proposals will construct, within the financial resources provided by the award, databases or relevant analytic techniques and produce a finished product that will enable previously impossible data-intensive research in the social sciences. The databases or techniques should have significant impacts, either across multiple fields or within broad disciplinary areas, by making possible new types of data-intensive research in the SBE sciences. (2) Human Networks and Data Science Core Research (HNDS-R). Core research proposals will advance theory in a core SBE discipline by the application of data and network science methods. This includes the leveraging of large data sets with diverse spatio-temporal scales of measurement and linked qualitative and quantitative approaches, as well as multi-scale, multi-level network data and techniques of network analysis. Supported projects are expected to yield results that will enhance, expand, and transform theory and methods, and that generate novel understandings of human behavior particularly understandings that can lead to significant societal benefits or opportunities. HNDS-R encourages core research proposals that make innovative use of NSF-supported data networks, databases, centers and other forms of scientific infrastructure including those developed by HNDS-I (formerly RIDIR) projects.

This funding opportunity provides resources to enhance the genome sequencing capabilities of laboratories in Latin America to investigate potential biological weapons attacks.

This funding opportunity supports research projects that use genome editing techniques to explore the genetic factors contributing to substance use disorders, encouraging diverse organizations to participate in advancing addiction science.

This funding opportunity supports the development of user-centered decision-support tools that utilize advanced Earth science models to improve environmental decision-making across various sectors.

This funding opportunity provides up to $2 million for federal, state, tribal, and academic partners to conduct research on public lands and assess geological, water, mineral, and biological resources in alignment with USGS priorities.

This grant provides funding for researchers and organizations to develop innovative technologies and processes that improve water treatment methods, reduce costs and environmental impacts, and enhance the efficiency of desalination and water purification systems.

The long-range goal of the Research Training Groups in the Mathematical Sciences (RTG) program is to strengthen the nation's scientific competitiveness by increasing the number of well-prepared U.S. citizens, nationals, and permanent residents who pursue careers in the mathematical sciences, be they in academia, government, or industry. The RTG program supports efforts to improve research training by involving undergraduate students, graduate students, postdoctoral associates, and faculty members in structured research groups pursuing coherent research programs. Research groups supported by RTG must include vertically-integrated activities that span the entire spectrum of educational levels from undergraduates through postdoctoral associates.

This funding opportunity provides financial support to organizations affiliated with the Californian Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit to develop a risk assessment model for managing invasive dreissenid mussels in Washington State's watersheds.