Funder: National Institutes of Health
Due Dates: October 11, 2024 | October 10, 2025 | October 9, 2026 (New, Renewal, Resubmission, Revision)
Funding Amounts: Up to $300,000 direct costs per year, for up to 4 years; typical total program funding ~$3M/year, ~8 new awards/year.
Summary: Supports multi-disciplinary research on the ethical implications of neurotechnology and brain science advances, in alignment with the BRAIN Initiative.
Key Information: Updated March 31, 2025: Review the full NOFO for recent changes; clinical trials are optional; limited submission applies.
Description
This NIH funding opportunity supports research addressing core ethical issues associated with research on the human brain, particularly those arising from emerging neurotechnologies and scientific advances supported by the BRAIN Initiative. The program encourages applications from multi-disciplinary teams to explore key neuroethics questions, aiming to complement and integrate with transformative neuroscience discoveries.
Research topics of interest include, but are not limited to:
- Informed consent and participant engagement, especially in special populations (e.g., pediatric, cognitively impaired)
- Social and cultural implications of neurotechnology, including health disparities and inclusion
- Data privacy, cybersecurity, and ethical data sharing in brain research
- Long-term obligations to research participants using neural devices
- Ethical considerations in predictive/diagnostic brain research
- Integration of neuroethics into neuroscience research and technology development
Projects should propose novel, transformative approaches and demonstrate how the research will advance ethical integration in neuroscience.
Due Dates
- October 11, 2024 (New, Renewal, Resubmission, Revision)
- October 10, 2025 (New, Renewal, Resubmission, Revision)
- October 9, 2026 (New, Renewal, Resubmission, Revision)
Letters of intent are requested 30 days prior to each due date.
Funding Amount
- Direct costs: Up to $300,000 per year
- Project period: Up to 4 years
- Total program funding: NIH expects to fund up to 8 new awards per year, with a total of ~$3M/year (subject to appropriations)
Budget requests must reflect the actual needs of the proposed project.
Eligibility
Eligible applicants include:
- Public and private institutions of higher education
- Nonprofits (with or without 501(c)(3) status)
- For-profit organizations (including small businesses)
- State, county, city, township, and special district governments
- Native American tribal governments and organizations
- Independent school districts
- Public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities
- Faith-based and community-based organizations
- Regional organizations
- U.S. territories and possessions
- Non-domestic (non-U.S.) entities and components of U.S. organizations
Note: Applicant organizations may submit more than one application, provided each is scientifically distinct. Foreign organizations are eligible to apply.
Application Process
- Submission: Applications must be submitted electronically via Grants.gov or the NIH ASSIST system.
- Required registrations: All applicant organizations and key personnel must be registered with SAM.gov, eRA Commons, and Grants.gov.
- Letter of intent: Strongly encouraged, due 30 days before the application deadline.
- Application format: Follow the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide and the specific instructions in the NOFO.
- Clinical trials: Applications may propose clinical trials, but this is optional.
- Data management: All applications must include a Data Management and Sharing Plan.
- Annual milestones: Applications must include annual milestones; failure to do so will result in administrative withdrawal.
Additional Information
- Review criteria: Applications will be evaluated for significance, investigator(s), innovation, approach, and environment, with additional attention to the integration of neuroethics and neuroscience.
- Non-responsive applications: Projects focused solely on specific disease mechanisms, existing therapeutics, or bioethical issues not central to BRAIN Initiative research will not be reviewed.
- Data sharing: Awardees are expected to deposit data in BRAIN Initiative-designated archives.
- Updated policies: The NOFO was updated March 31, 2025; applicants should review the latest version for changes.
- Companion opportunity: For exploratory/pilot projects, see the R21 companion NOFO.
External Links
Contact Information
For additional contacts, see Section VII of the NOFO.