NIDDK Early Research Partnership Engagement Challenge
The NIDDK Early Research Partnership Engagement Challenge funds innovative strategies to build early community-academic research partnerships in diseases prioritized by the NIDDK, especially for underserved populations.
Funder: NIH Challenges
Due Dates: November 30, 2026: Registration deadline
Funding Amounts: Up to $1,000,000 total; Phase 1: up to 15 awards of $25,000 each; Phase 2: Grand Prize $300,000, plus runner-up prizes
Summary: Supports innovative strategies to foster early community-academic partnerships for research in diabetes, metabolic, digestive, liver, nutritional, obesity, kidney, urologic, and hematologic diseases.
Key Information: Registration required by November 30, 2026; only Phase 1 winners are eligible for Phase 2.
Description
This challenge, co-sponsored by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) and the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD), seeks innovative, actionable, and practical strategies to foster early community engagement and build new academic-community partnerships for research aligned with the NIDDK mission. The focus is on developing equitable, sustainable partnerships to expand research participation among rural, medically underserved, and low-resource communities disproportionately affected by diabetes and related diseases. The challenge incentivizes co-development of research ideas at the earliest stages to improve feasibility, impact, and real-world relevance, ultimately strengthening implementation and dissemination of research findings for underrepresented populations.
