The goal of the Supporting Programs to Advance Research Knowledge in Environmental Health Sciences (SPARK-EHS) initiative is to extend the institutional, geographical, and research reach of NIEHS training. This initiative proposes to launch new and innovative environmental health training programs for research-focused predoctoral trainees at institutions that have not had a funded NIEHS T32 during the preceding five years. Training programs must be responsive to the mission of NIEHS, which is to support research on how the environment affects biological systems across the lifespan, and to translate this knowledge to reduce disease and promote human health. NIEHS will provide support for a two-phased award to eligible institutions to develop (UE5) and implement (T32) training programs specifically oriented to the research interests of NIEHS.
This is a Forecast for a Limited Competition that will invite application(s) from eligible organization(s) to apply. Please see Eligibility Section for additional information. In accordance with NIH standard peer-review processes, the application(s) will be peer-reviewed, and only meritorious application(s) will be considered for funding.
Environment and ConservationHealth and MedicalMental Health
This NOFO is a call to action in response to the mental health crisis in the United States. We seek applications that will study methods to increase access to evidence-based interventions and services for youth mental health, including those living in rural areas, inner cities, and other under-resourced areas, and youth experiencing housing and food insecurities and out-right homelessness. Applications should address research related to optimizing assessment, intervention and service strategies, overcoming challenges related to the workforce shortage, wait lists for treatment, integration of treatment and preventive interventions into settings where people are most likely to be best identified as needing care (eg: schools, social service, pediatric medicine and justice), and service interventions that address systemic barriers to access and quality of mental health care (structural, policy, organizational, value (cost/financing), management).
Health and MedicalMental HealthYouth and At-Risk Youth
The purpose of the BH2I program is to improve the physical, mental, social, and spiritual health of American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) individuals by expanding integrated, coordinated behavioral health care. The program supports Tribal and Urban Indian Organization (UIO) health systems in delivering culturally responsive, trauma-informed services that integrate behavioral health with primary care, nutrition, exercise, and social, spiritual, and cultural supports. The goal is to improve access to comprehensive behavioral health services, promote early identification and treatment of mental health and substance use disorders, strengthen care coordination, and improve overall health outcomes and quality of life.
The overall goal of this NOFO is to solicit applications to create a national network of Children's Environmental Health Research Translation Centers (CEHRT). Through external collaboration with the children's environmental health community, the Centers will protect and improve children's health by developing and testing new scientific questions and public health interventions/strategies with an eye towards translation; and mentoring a pipeline of new investigators interested in translational Children's Environmental Health (CEH). The CEHRT Centers will serve as national leaders in CEH translational research and research methodology development, with a focus on creating actionable steps to move evidence-informed biomedical children's environmental health research findings to the wider community of practice to protect children from harm and to ensure a healthy future. The CEHRT program will also serve as a national research resource to support response efforts to emerging environmental exposures affecting children.
WorkforceEnvironment and ConservationHealth and Medical
The RCORP-Child and Adolescent Behavioral Health Program provides funding to rural communities to establish and expand behavioral health care services, including mental health and substance use disorder for rural children and adolescents.
Community and Economic DevelopmentHealth and MedicalMental Health
This Notice of Funding Opportunity Announcement (NOFO) invites grant applications for Environmental Health Sciences Core Centers (EHSCC). As intellectual hubs for environmental health science research, the EHSCC's are expected to be the thought leaders for the field and advance the goals of the 2025-2029 NIEHS Strategic Plan (http://www.niehs.nih.gov/about/strategicplan/). The Core Centers provide critical research infrastructure, shared facilities, services and/or resources, to groups of investigators conducting environmental health sciences research. An EHSCC enables researchers to conduct their independently-funded individual and/or collaborative research projects more efficiently and/or more effectively. The overall goal of an EHSCC is to identify and capitalize on emerging issues that advance improving the understanding of the relationships among environmental exposures, human biology, and disease. The EHSCC supports community engagement and translational research as key approaches to improving public health.
Environment and ConservationHealth and MedicalMental Health
The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) seeks research applications to support the NIMH HIV/AIDS Research Centers (ARC) program, including Developmental Centers (D-ARCs) and full AIDS Research Centers (ARCs). These Research Centers aim to capitalize on the coordinated infrastructure to advance high-impact, interdisciplinary HIV/AIDS research. The ARC program supports innovative research across basic, neuro-HIV, behavioral and social, clinical, translational, implementation science, and data science domains. Centers are expected to foster scientific collaboration, accelerate innovation, and strengthen dissemination of research advances to implementing agencies, affected communities, and other stakeholders.
Applications should align with the National HIV/AIDS Strategy, the NIH Office of AIDS Research (OAR) Strategic Plan, and the NIMH Strategic Plan for HIV research. Applications are not being solicited at this time. This notice is being issued to provide potential applicants with ample time to develop strong, collaborative, and responsive project plans. Research teams that have expertise in establishing and sustaining collaborations with academic institutions, community partners, government agencies, industry, and other scientific networks to enhance the impact of Center-supported activities are encouraged to apply to this NOFO.
Health and MedicalMental HealthResearch and Evaluation
Clinical Trials to Test the Effectiveness of Treatment, Preventive, and Services Interventions (R01 Clinical Trial Required). This NOFO is a key element of NIMHs set of NOFOs to support clinical trials research across the intervention development and testing pipeline. The NOFO supports (1) clinical trials to test the effectiveness of optimized therapeutic and preventive interventions for use in community and practice settings; and (2) clinical trials to evaluate the effectiveness of patient-, provider-, organizational-, or systems-level services interventions to improve access, continuity, quality, equity, and/or value of mental health services. This NOFO is intended to support trials that: address a significant problem, such that the findings have potential to inform practice; are adequately powered to definitively answer the primary research question(s), with well-justified hypotheses supported by pilot data; and are designed to examine questions regarding mediators and moderators of effects. Consistent with the NIMH experimental therapeutics approach, this NOFO is intended to support effectiveness trials that explicitly address whether the intervention engages the target(s)/mechanism(s) presumed to underlie the intervention effects (i.e., the mechanism(s) that accounts for changes in clinical/functional outcomes, changes in provider behavior, improved access or continuity of services, etc.). The collaborative R01 mechanism provides support for multisite trials when two or more sites are necessary for completion of the trial (e.g., to increase sample size, accelerate recruitment, or increase sample diversity and representation).
This R61/R33 concept complements NIMHs suite of clinical trial NOFOs by supporting feasibility and infrastructure development (R61) followed by well-powered clinical trials (R33) to test the effectiveness of system interventions and strategies for improving the organization, delivery, coordination, and clinical and functional outcomes of mental health services. System interventions - which may span, for example, structural, policy, organizational, and interpersonal domains - attend to issues about the access, equity, engagement/utilization, value (cost/financing), management, or quality and safety of mental health services, with the goal of improved care processes and clinical and functional outcomes. Accordingly, the focus of system interventions may include a variety of care settings, such as health systems and organizations, mental health and community clinics, schools, and child welfare or juvenile justice systems
Pilot Effectiveness Trials for Treatment, Preventive and Services Interventions (R01 Clinical Trial Required). As part of NIMH's clinical trials pipeline NOFOs, this announcement encourages pilot effectiveness studies focused on 1) optimizing the effectiveness of preventive and therapeutic interventions with previously demonstrated efficacy, for use with broader target populations or for use in community practice settings, and 2) developing and preliminary testing innovative services interventions. Consistent with the NIMH experimental therapeutics approach, this NOFO is intended to support pilot studies of intervention effectiveness or service delivery approaches that explicitly address whether the intervention engages the target(s)/mechanism(s) presumed to underlie the intervention effects (i.e., the mechanism(s) that accounts for changes in clinical/functional outcomes, changes in provider behavior, improved access or continuity of services, etc.).