NIDCD Research Career Enhancement Award for Established Investigators (K18 - No Independent Clinical Trials) | PAR 18 564

Opportunity Information: Apply for PAR 18 564

The NIDCD Research Career Enhancement Award for Established Investigators (K18 - No Independent Clinical Trials), PAR-18-564, is an NIH discretionary grant program meant for researchers who are already established in their careers but want to deliberately expand, update, or pivot their research direction. The central idea is professional research development: it supports proven investigators who need time, mentorship, and structured research experiences to gain new skills, methods, or conceptual approaches that will let them tackle new questions aligned with NIDCDs mission areas. Those mission areas cover hearing and balance (auditory and vestibular science), smell and taste (chemosensory science), and communication sciences including voice, speech, and language. In practice, this award is designed to help someone add a new technique, enter a related field, build a new collaboration, or retool their program so they can pursue innovative research questions they could not easily address with their current expertise alone.

A key restriction is baked into the specific version of the K18 described here: it is for projects that do not involve the applicant leading an independent clinical trial. That means the proposed work under this FOA cannot be built around the candidate serving as the lead investigator for an independent clinical trial, a clinical trial feasibility study, or an ancillary study to a clinical trial. At the same time, the announcement makes room for clinical trial exposure as a training or research experience, as long as the trial itself is led by a mentor or co-mentor. In other words, the program can support skill-building that occurs in a clinical trial environment, but it is not intended to fund applicants to run their own clinical trials under this particular FOA.

Eligibility is broad on the organizational side, reflecting standard NIH grant-making categories plus a number of specifically called-out institution types. Eligible applicants include a wide range of U.S.-based entities such as state, county, and local governments; special district governments; independent school districts; public and state-controlled institutions of higher education; private institutions of higher education; nonprofits (both 501(c)(3) and non-501(c)(3)); public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities; federally recognized Native American tribal governments and other Native American tribal organizations; for-profit organizations other than small businesses; small businesses; and other eligible organizations. The FOA also explicitly highlights additional eligible organizational categories including Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions, Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutions (AANAPISIs), Hispanic-serving Institutions, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCCUs), faith-based or community-based organizations, eligible federal government agencies, regional organizations, Indian/Native American tribal governments that are not federally recognized, and U.S. territories or possessions. While it references "Non-domestic (non-U.S.) Entities (Foreign Organizations)" in the list of other eligible applicants, the opportunity statement clarifies an important limitation: non-domestic (non-U.S.) entities (foreign institutions) are not eligible to apply, and non-domestic components of U.S. organizations are not eligible to apply. However, foreign components, as NIH defines them in the NIH Grants Policy Statement, are allowed, which typically means a U.S. applicant organization may include certain project elements conducted abroad when properly justified and approved under NIH policy.

Administratively, this opportunity is offered by the National Institutes of Health and falls under the health funding activity category, with CFDA number 93.173. The posted original closing date in the source information is January 7, 2021, and the FOA creation date is January 9, 2018. The source data does not list an award ceiling or an expected number of awards, which usually means applicants need to rely on the full FOA and NIH institute guidance for budget and competition expectations. Overall, the program is best understood as a targeted career enhancement mechanism for established researchers who want to acquire new research capabilities in NIDCD-relevant science areas, while staying within a non-independent-clinical-trial scope for the proposed award activities.

• The National Institutes of Health in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "NIDCD Research Career Enhancement Award for Established Investigators (K18 - No Independent Clinical Trials)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.173.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2018-01-09.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2021-01-07. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Independent school districts, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities, Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments), Nonprofits having a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Nonprofits that do not have a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education, For-profit organizations other than small businesses, Small businesses, Others.

Apply for PAR 18 564

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