External Funding

OPPORTUNITY: Academic-Industrial Partnerships (AIP) to Translate and Validate In Vivo Imaging Systems (R01 Clinical Trial Optional)

FUNDING AGENCY: NIH

AWARD AMOUNT: $499,999

FULL PROPOSAL DEADLINE: October 5, 2026

DESCRIPTION: Through this Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO), the National Cancer Institute (NCI) intends to stimulate translation of scientific discoveries and engineering developments in imaging / quantifiable imaging, data science and/or spectroscopic technologies into tools or methods that address contemporary problems in understanding the fundamental biology, potential risk of development, diagnosis, and/or treatment for cancer

A characteristic feature of each application submitted in response to this NOFO will be the formation of an academic-industrial partnership: a strategic alliance of academic and industrial investigators who work together as partners to identify and translate a novel technological solution towards detection /diagnosis or treatment of cancers. In this sense, the NOFO acts more as funding mechanism for driving translational research in imaging more than for a specific scientific or clinical research area. The partnerships formed between academia and industries are expected to solidify pre-existing collaborations or establish new ones that would drive the field of imaging, as a whole, further than if they had not been formed.

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OPPORTUNITY: HEAL Initiative: Pain Research Enhancement Program (PREP) (R15 Clinical Trial Optional)

FUNDING AGENCY: NIH

AWARD AMOUNT: $375,000

FULL PROPOSAL DEADLINE: October 27, 2026

DESCRIPTION: The purpose of this HEAL Initiative program is to: (1) support basic and mechanistic pain research from R15-eligible undergraduate-focused serving institutions, health professional schools or graduate schools; (2) promote integrated, interdisciplinary research partnerships between Principal Investigators (PIs) from R15-eligible institutions and investigators from U.S. domestic institutions; and (3) enhance the pain research environment at the R15-eligible institution for health professional students, undergraduate and/or graduate students through active engagement in pain research.

Applications in response to this notice of funding opportunity (NOFO) should include plans to accomplish these goals. Specifically, applications should include a rigorous plan for conducting basic and mechanistic pain research in the Research Strategy section of the application. In addition, a research partnership between the PI’s institution and at least one investigator from a separate U.S. domestic institution that provides resources and/or expertise that will enhance the proposed pain research program must be included in a separate Team Management Plan. The proposed partnership will be a sub-award agreement(s) with at least one partnering institution, which does not need to be R15-eligible. The budget of all sub-awards must not exceed one third of the total budget. Furthermore, applications must include a Facilities & Other Resources document that demonstrates active involvement of health professional students, undergraduate and/or graduate students from the R15-eligible institution(s) in the proposed pain research projects.

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OPPORTUNITY: Frontiers Planet Prize to Accelerate Scientific Solutions for Healthy Lives on a Healthy Planet

FUNDING AGENCY: NASEM

AWARD AMOUNT: $1,000,000

FULL PROPOSAL DEADLINE: October 30, 2026

DESCRIPTION: The Frontiers Research Foundation (FRF) is organizing the “Frontiers Planet Prize”, a program with the goal of accelerating scientific solutions for healthy lives on a healthy planet. The program will begin in the area of sustainability science through the launch of the Frontiers Planet Prize competition for scientific breakthroughs that have the greatest potential to stabilize the planet’s ecosystem.

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OPPORTUNITY: Multilateral Partnerships Leveraging Excellence (MultiPLEx)

FUNDING AGENCY: NSF

AWARD AMOUNT: Varies

FULL PROPOSAL DEADLINE: Rolling Deadline

DESCRIPTION: Many of the most pressing challenges in research and innovation require collaboration across national and disciplinary boundaries to achieve important advances. A growing number of topics are best addressed on a multilateral basis, building partnerships that leverage diverse expertise, data, infrastructure, and perspectives to advance understanding on critical topics of regional or global importance. At the same time, funders, research organizations, and researchers alike typically have limited experience with multilateral partnerships.

The Office of International Science and Engineering’s MultiPLEx program seeks to support visionary, and ambitious international multilateral research partnerships that are required to hasten progress in addressing grand challenges by leveraging research excellence in the U.S. and around the globe. The program also seeks to advance understanding of effective multilateral collaboration

MultiPLEx welcomes proposals that: Address urgent research and/or societal challenge of global importance (including but not limited to critical and emerging technology research) and require an inherently international multilateral approach to achieve impactful research results, partnering with at least two countries other than the U.S. Proposals that engage partners across distinct geographic regions are an area of interest. Make clear how the proposed international collaboration will enable research advances and broader impacts that go beyond what can be accomplished by a narrower team. Include a diverse group of U.S. institutions and/or individuals, leveraging the full range of talent that society has to offer

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OPPORTUNITY: Division of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences Core Programs (MCB)

FUNDING AGENCY: NSF

AWARD AMOUNT: TBD

FULL PROPOSAL DEADLINE: Rolling Deadline

DESCRIPTION: MCB supports research that promises to uncover the fundamental properties of living systems across atomic, molecular, sub-cellular, and cellular scales. The program gives high priority to projects that advance mechanistic understanding of the structure, function, and evolution of molecular, sub-cellular, and cellular systems, especially research that aims at quantitative and predictive knowledge of complex behavior and emergent properties. MCB encourages research exploring new concepts in molecular and cellular biology, while incorporating insights and approaches from other scientific disciplines, such as chemistry, computer science, engineering, mathematics, and physics, to illuminate principles that govern life at the molecular and cellular level. MCB also encourages research that exploits experimental and theoretical approaches and utilizes a diverse spectrum of model and non-model animals, plants, and microbes across the tree of life. Proposals that pursue potentially transformative ideas are welcome, even if these entail higher risk.

This solicitation calls for proposals in research areas supported by the four MCB core clusters, including: (i) structure, dynamics, and function of biomolecules and supra-molecular assemblies, especially under physiological conditions (Molecular Biophysics); (ii) organization, processing, expression, regulation, and evolution of genetic and epigenetic information (Genetic Mechanisms); (iii) cellular structure, properties, and function across broad spatiotemporal scales (Cellular Dynamics and Function); and (iv) systems and/or synthetic biology to study complex interactions through modeling or manipulation or design of living systems at the molecular-to-cellular scale (Systems and Synthetic Biology). All MCB clusters prioritize projects that integrate across scales, investigate molecular and cellular evolution, synergize experimental research with computational or mathematical modeling, and/or develop innovative, broadly applicable methods and technologies. Projects that bridge the intellectual edges between MCB clusters are welcome. Projects that integrate molecular and cellular biosciences with other sub-disciplines of biology are also welcome through the new Integrative Research in Biology (IntBIO) track.

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OPPORTUNITY: IDEA Programs (Innovations Deserving Exploratory Analysis)

FUNDING AGENCY: Transportation Research Board

AWARD AMOUNT: Variies

FULL PROPOSAL DEADLINE: Deadline Varies

DESCRIPTION: Innovations Deserving Exploratory Analysis (IDEA) consists of three programs focused on early-stage, high-risk, high pay-off, investigator led research in highways, transit, and railroad safety and performance. IDEA has three available programs: NCHRP IDEA: Foster innovative concepts for design, construction, safety, maintenance, operations, and management of highway systems. Rail Safety IDEA: Foster innovative approaches to improving railroad safety or performance. Transit IDEA: Foster innovative approaches with potential to enhance security, increase ridership, and improve efficiency for transit systems. Every IDEA program supports two types of projects: Proof-of-concept projects, which investigate the feasibility of a concept and its potential for application to transportation. Prototype projects, which develop concepts that show particular promise

NOTE: Highway Innovations Due 14 March or 01 September 2026; Transit Innovations Due 15 May 2026; Rail Safety Innovations Due 15 December 2026.

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OPPORTUNITY: Dissemination and Implementation Research in Health (R01 Clinical Trial Optional)

FUNDING AGENCY: NIH

AWARD AMOUNT: TBD

FULL PROPOSAL DEADLINE: February 5, 2025

FULL PROPOSAL DEADLINE: Deadline Varies

DESCRIPTION: The purpose of this Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) is to support studies that will identify, develop, and/or test strategies for overcoming barriers to the adoption, adaptation, integration, sustainability, scale-up, and spread of evidence-based interventions, practices, programs, tools, treatments, guidelines, and policies (hereafter referred to as evidence-based interventions). Studies that promote equitable dissemination and implementation of evidence-based interventions among underrepresented communities are encouraged. Conversely, there is a benefit in understanding circumstances that create a need to stop or reduce (de-implement) the use of practices that are ineffective, unproven, low-value, or harmful. In addition, studies to advance dissemination and implementation research methods and measures are encouraged. Applications that focus on re-implementation of evidence-based health services that may be disrupted amidst disasters (e.g., pandemics, climate change) remain relevant.

All applications must be within the scope of the mission of one of the Institutes/Centers listed above. This Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) requires a Plan for Enhancing Diverse Perspectives (PEDP).

Components of Participating Organizations: National Cancer Institute (NCI) National Eye Institute (NEI) National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) National Institute on Aging (NIA) National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS) Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR) National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR) National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD) National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) Tribal Health Research Office (THRO) All applications to this funding opportunity announcement should fall within the mission of the Institutes/Centers. The following NIH Offices may co-fund applications assigned to those Institutes/Centers. Division of Program Coordination, Planning and Strategic Initiatives, Office of Disease Prevention (ODP) Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (OBSSR)

NOTE: See NOFO for other deadlines

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OPPORTUNITY: Air Dominance Broad Agency Announcement(BAA)

FUNDING AGENCY: DOD

AWARD AMOUNT: https://www.grants.gov/search-results-detail/356937

FULL PROPOSAL DEADLINE: October 31, 2029

FULL PROPOSAL DEADLINE: Rolling Deadline

DESCRIPTION: This is a BAA of the Air Force Research Laboratory, Munitions Directorate (AFRL/RW) under the provisions of Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) paragraph 6.102(d)(2), which provides for competitive selection of research proposals. Proposals submitted in response to the BAA that are selected for award are considered to be the results of full and open competition and in full compliance with the provisions of PL 98-369, the Competition in Contracting Act of 1984.

For purposes of this announcement, research is defined to be scientific study and experimentation directed at increasing knowledge and understanding in relation to long term national security needs. It is an enhancement to related exploratory and advanced development programs. A program should be designed to demonstrate well-defined and substantive research results, should not be overly ambitious or open-ended, and should not be a paper study that inherently requires a substantial testing effort. Any significant testing is unlikely; however, there is a possibility of experimental testing to support battle lab experiments proposed under this BAA. Programs to support Team Eglin Technology Demonstration Programs may also be considered under this BAA.

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OPPORTUNITY: Energy & Environment

FUNDING AGENCY: Alfred P. Sloan Foundation

AWARD AMOUNT: TBD

FULL PROPOSAL DEADLINE: Rolling Deadline

DESCRIPTION: Letter of Inquiry only, 2 page limit The goal of the program is to inform the societal transition toward low-carbon energy systems in the United States by investigating economic, environmental, technological, and distributional issues. The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation’s Energy and Environment program looks to achieve its mission by supporting research, training, networking, and dissemination efforts in this domain that shape the direction of scholarship by investigating under-explored questions that warrant further attention, advance collaborative and interdisciplinary research across the social and natural sciences, involve early career faculty and train the next generation of students, link research with practice, and partner with other funders to amplify programmatic impact. The program looks to support research in the following selected topic areas:

Energy Markets and Policy Analysis: This topic reflects the program’s ongoing and longstanding interest in supporting scholarship that examines issues related to how energy markets function, assesses the impact of energy policies implemented at various levels of government, and thinks about the design and functionality of key institutional mechanisms across the energy system. Electricity generation, transmission, and distribution systems are undergoing rapid transformation and warrant further study to understand how they are likely to evolve in the years ahead.

Net Zero Innovation and Negative Emissions Technologies: Many recent analyses have suggested that the development and deployment of net zero innovation and negative emissions technologies need to be scaled-up quickly and dramatically. The Foundation looks to help advance activities that examine the factors that contribute to net zero energy innovation and explore both the opportunities and challenges faced by emerging negative emissions technologies.

Transportation and Mobility: The program is interested in supporting projects that look to understand how transportation and mobility systems are changing. Potential activities could explore a range of questions related to the rise of electric, autonomous, and shared personal transportation vehicles, in addition to studying how heavy-duty transport, commercial shipping, and the movement of freight might be impacted by these and related developments.

Place-based Energy Transitions: There is a need for place-based, locally oriented research that explores how changes in the energy system might have differing impacts across a broad array of populations, regions, and communities. The program looks to support research that illuminates how changes in the energy system might be better designed to address the needs across a variety of groups and geographies in a more comprehensive manner.

Industrial Decarbonization: The program aims to support studies that examine a range of emerging economic, social, policy, and technological developments that offer more promise going forward and help to understand how this component of the energy transition might be accelerated. Additionally, the program is looking to consider research that examines the promise and challenges faced by various developments that could enhance industrial decarbonization, such as the rise of digital economy or distributed manufacturing. Systems

Resilience and Adaptation: Recent events have showed that energy systems face numerous vulnerabilities. Research is needed to examine how these impacts are affecting different components of energy infrastructure and to study how energy systems may need to be redesigned to mitigate against potential future impacts.

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OPPORTUNITY: Marine Geology and Geophysics (MG&G)

FUNDING AGENCY: NSF

AWARD AMOUNT: Varies

FULL PROPOSAL DEADLINE: Rolling Deadline

DESCRIPTION: The Marine Geology and Geophysics Core Program supports research on all aspects of the geology and geophysics of the present ocean basins and margins, as well as those of the Great Lakes. The Program supports science that includes: Structure, composition, tectonics, and evolution of the oceanic lithosphere Paleoceanography, paleoclimate, and sea level change Submarine volcanology, petrology and geochemistry of the oceanic crust and upper mantle lithosphere Marine hydrogeology, water-rock interaction, seeps and gas hydrates Hydrothermal venting and in situ fluid processes, and associated geochemistry Geochemical indicators of life operating below the seafloor Marine sedimentology, stratigraphy, sediment transport, and diagenesis Mid-ocean ridge spreading, back-arc rifting, transform processes, and ocean island/seamount formation and evolution Submarine components of subduction zone systems and passive margins Marine geohazards (e.g., earthquakes, faulting, mass wasting, geological aspects of tsunamis) Coastal processes (e.g., geological aspects of hurricanes, sea-level change, erosion, offshore deposition) The Marine Geology and Geophysics Program supports acquisition of new field data and the leveraging of and/or synthesis of existing data. The program supports analytical and laboratory experimental projects, methods development, and modeling. All activities should have relevance to and advance the understanding of marine geoscience processes. The Program interfaces with NSF programs across the Geosciences and across the Agency. For proposals that cross between Programs, proposers should contact the relevant Programs to seek guidance on submission.

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OPPORTUNITY: Linguistics Program

FUNDING AGENCY: NSF

AWARD AMOUNT: Amounts vary, previous awards up to $300,000

FULL PROPOSAL DEADLINE: July 15, 2026

DESCRIPTION: The program supports basic science in the domain of human language, encompassing investigations of the grammatical properties of individual human languages, and of natural language in general. Research areas include syntax, semantics, morphology, phonetics, and phonology. The program encourages projects that are interdisciplinary in methodological or theoretical perspective, and that address questions that cross disciplinary boundaries, such as (but not limited to): – What are the psychological processes involved in the production, perception, and comprehension of language? – What are the computational properties of language and/or the language processor that make fluent production, incremental comprehension or rapid learning possible? – How do the acoustic and physiological properties of speech inform our theories of language and/or language processing? – What role does human neurobiology play in shaping the various components of our linguistic capacities? – How does language develop in children? – What social and cultural factors underlie language variation and change? The program accepts proposals for a variety of project types: research proposals from scholars with Ph.D.s or equivalent degrees, proposals for Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grants, and CAREER proposals. The program will also consider proposals for workshops, conferences, and training activities.

NOTE: Second deadline on 15 Jan 2027

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OPPORTUNITY: Cultural Anthropology Program Senior Research Awards (CA-SR)

FUNDING AGENCY: NSF

AWARD AMOUNT: $100,000

FULL PROPOSAL DEADLINE: August 15, 2026

DESCRIPTION: The primary objective of the Cultural Anthropology Program is to support fundamental, systematic anthropological research and training to increase understanding of the causes, consequences and complexities of human social and cultural variability. The Cultural Anthropology Program welcomes proposals from researchers in all sub-fields of cultural anthropology and research at any temporal or spatial scale. Methodologies and approaches employed may include ethnographic field research, surveys, remote sensing, the collection of bio-markers, experimental research inside or outside of laboratory settings, archival research, the analysis of materials collections and extant data bases, mathematical and computational modeling and other research tools as appropriate for the proposed research. The overarching research goals should be to produce empirically grounded findings that will be generalizable beyond particular case studies and contribute to building a more robust anthropological science of human society and culture. The U.S. National Science Foundation’s mandate is to support basic scientific research. Basic research in cultural anthropology means theory-generating and theory-testing research that creates new knowledge about human culture and society. Therefore, the Cultural Anthropology Program cannot support research that takes as its primary objective improved clinical practice, applied policy or other immediate application. Research that seeks to advance scientific cultural anthropological theories in a way that advances use-inspired objectives may be supported, but the theory-advancing objectives must be clearly at the center of the proposal. A proposal to use anthropological methods and approaches only to find solutions to social, medical or other problems without specifically proposing to make a theory-testing or theory-expanding contribution to anthropological science will be returned without review.

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OPPORTUNITY: Short Courses on Innovative Methodologies and Approaches in the Behavioral and Social Sciences (R25)

FUNDING AGENCY: NIH

AWARD AMOUNT: $200,000/yr up to 4 years

FULL PROPOSAL DEADLINE: April 9, 2027

DESCRIPTION: This RFA is to support courses for skills development in cross-cutting methodologies and analytics that are needed to advance behavioral and social sciences research (BSSR) but are not well-addressed by existing educational programs widely available to the BSSR community. A definition of BSSR can be found at (https//obssr.od.nih.gov/about/bssr-definition/). Short courses supported by this RFA should develop, implement, evaluate, and disseminate education and training focused on innovative methods for BSSR. Methodological domains of focus include, but are not limited to, innovative data collection methodologies and analytic techniques, analysis and linking of big data (“Big data” in this NOFO refers to large, complex, longitudinal, and/or distributed data sets generated from administrative data systems or health systems, instruments, sensors, devices, internet transactions, email, video, click streams, and/or all other digital sources available today and in the future), or needed but underutilized designs to advance research across the translational spectrum

Proposed educational programs should be integrative, both in the transdisciplinary nature of the skills and approaches taught and in applicability across a wide range of BSSR areas. The content of the course should focus on knowledge and skills necessary for the advancement of behavioral and social sciences and/or the integration of BSSR with other areas of science and technology. Content should not be limited to specific disease applications but rather focus on generally applicable research methodologies and analytics crucial for more advanced BSSR.

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OPPORTUNITY: Laboratory Flexible Funding Model (LFFM)

FUNDING AGENCY: Food and Drug Administration

AWARD AMOUNT: up to $1,500,000

FULL PROPOSAL DEADLINE: Deadline Varies

DESCRIPTION: This cooperative agreement is intended to enhance the capacity and capabilities of state human and animal food testing laboratories in support of an integrated food safety system (IFSS). This is achieved through prioritized sample testing and food defense preparedness in the areas of microbiology, chemistry, and radiochemistry, as well as method development and capacity/capability development projects that support and expand food safety and food defense testing.

This project will strengthen and improve FDA’s efforts to prevent foodborne illnesses and minimize foodborne exposures through building a nationally integrated laboratory science system and equip our partner laboratories with additional resources that can be employed to build and increase sample throughput capacity within their state.

NOTE: Other deadlines

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OPPORTUNITY: Foundations of Trusted Systems

FUNDING AGENCY: DOD

AWARD AMOUNT: up to $5,000,000

FULL PROPOSAL DEADLINE: December 4, 2028

DESCRIPTION: The Air Force Research Laboratory is soliciting white papers under this Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) for research, development, integration, test and evaluation of technologies/techniques to establish trusted foundations for hardware and software that enables secure, resilient and affordable Command, Control, Communications, Computers, and Intelligence (C4I) and Cyber technologies (C4I and Cyber Technologies) information processing systems.

Research Areas: ● Trusted, Secure, and Resilient Computational Systems ● Trusted and Assured Software ● Cyber Physical Systems (CPS) ● AI in Trusted Systems ● Digital Engineering Model-based Analysis

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