Funder: National Institutes of Health
Due Dates: May 10, 2025 (Earliest submission) | June 10, 2025 (New) | June 10, 2026 (Renewal/Resubmission/Revision)
Funding Amounts: No budget cap; budgets must reflect actual project needs. Maximum project period: 4 years.
Summary: Supports the creation of data and metadata standards for wearable devices, enabling easier access and integration of device data for research.
Key Information: Clinical trials are not allowed; device manufacturer collaboration is required.
Description
This opportunity, administered by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) at NIH, funds the development of standards and related activities to enable researchers to easily access and integrate data from wearable devices and cell phones. The goal is to create data and metadata standards—analogous to DICOM or NIfTI for medical imaging—that facilitate data aggregation, interoperability, and secondary analysis across devices and platforms. Awardees are expected to partner with device manufacturers, the research community, and other stakeholders to ensure broad adoption and utility of the standards.
Due Dates
- Earliest Submission Date: May 10, 2025
- Letter of Intent Due: 30 days prior to application due date (recommended, not required)
- Application Due Dates:
- New Applications: June 10, 2025; June 10, 2026
- Renewal/Resubmission/Revision: June 10, 2026
- Expiration Date: June 11, 2026
All applications are due by 5:00 PM local time of the applicant organization.
Funding Amount
- Budget: No specific budget limit; budgets must be well-justified and reflect the actual needs of the proposed project.
- Project Period: Up to 4 years.
- Number of Awards: Contingent on NIH appropriations and the number of meritorious applications.
Applicants requesting $500,000 or more in direct costs in any year must contact a Scientific/Research Contact at least 6 weeks before submission.
Eligibility
Eligible applicants include:
- Public/State 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
- Independent School Districts
- Public Housing Authorities/Indian Housing Authorities
- Native American tribal governments and organizations (federally recognized and other)
- Faith-based and community-based organizations
- Regional organizations
- U.S. Territories and Possessions
- Non-domestic (non-U.S.) entities (foreign organizations) and foreign components of U.S. organizations
Individuals with the skills, knowledge, and resources necessary to carry out the proposed research are encouraged to apply.
Application Process
- Submission: Applications must be submitted electronically via Grants.gov, NIH ASSIST, or an institutional system-to-system solution.
- Required Registrations: Applicant organizations must have active registrations in SAM, eRA Commons, and Grants.gov. Registration can take 6+ weeks.
- Letter of Intent: Not required but recommended; should be sent to nimhpeerreview@mail.nih.gov.
- Application Instructions: Follow the NIH Research (R) Application Guide and the specific instructions in the funding announcement.
- Forms: Use SF424 (R&R) forms, including detailed budget (no modular budget for foreign applicants or budgets >$250,000/year).
- Data Management and Sharing Plan: Required for all applications.
- Clinical Trials: Not allowed under this opportunity.
Additional Information
- Scope: The standards should address data formats, metadata, device descriptions, and related information to promote data reuse and integration from wearable devices and cell phones.
- Collaboration: Teams must include researchers experienced with wearable data and must involve device manufacturers. Engagement with end users and ethics experts is encouraged.
- Development Pathway: Applicants should propose a process for developing, prototyping, soliciting feedback, updating, and disseminating the standard.
- Dissemination and Training: Plans for making the standard widely available and for training the research community are required.
- Non-Responsive Applications: Proposals focused on standards for data types other than wearable devices/cell phones, or on unrelated aspects of wearable data, will not be reviewed.
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Contact Information