04/26/2024 Edition 124
----- Division of Research -----
Pilot Projects Common Fund Data Sets
NIH Pilot Projects Enhancing Utility and Usage of Common Fund Data Sets (R03 Clinical Trial Not Allowed, RFA-RM-24-006. CFDA #93.310. Up to $200,000 in direct costs (excluding subcontract F&A) for one year. Application Deadline: June 27, 2024

This Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) aims to promote innovative research to enhance the utility and usability of selected Common Fund (CF) data sets. The submission of small research (R03) applications is encouraged from institutions and organizations proposing projects that lead to enhanced use of selected Common Fund data sets by the wider scientific community.

Small research (R03) grants provide flexibility for initiating discrete, well-defined projects that can be completed in one year and require only limited levels of funding. To be eligible for consideration through this NOFO, the proposed research plan must substantially leverage data from at least TWO eligible Common Fund programs (see the complete list in the Objectives and Scope section). “Substantial leverage” is defined as the use and citation of the relevant dataset(s) in the envisioned research products of the proposed work (e.g., manuscripts, presentations, book chapters, portals, etc.) Data from other publicly available datasets, including Common Fund programs not listed above, can be included as needed.

This initiative is funded through the NIH Common Fund, which supports cross-cutting programs that are expected to have an exceptionally high impact. All Common Fund initiatives invite investigators to develop bold, innovative, and often risky approaches to address problems that may seem intractable or to seize new opportunities that offer the potential for rapid progress.

Biodiversity on a Changing Planet
NSF Biodiversity on a Changing Planet (BoCP), NSF 23-542. CFDA #s 47.050 and 47.074. Up to $2,500,000. Proposal Deadline: September 5, 2024

The biodiversity found in nature is essential for healthy ecosystems and human well-being. However, the disruption and decline of Earth’s biodiversity is currently occurring at an unprecedented rate. The resulting shifts in biodiversity dynamics-- including changes in the scope and structure of biodiversity-- are increasingly significant but not well-understood. Shifting biodiversity dynamics in turn influence functional biodiversity, which includes the roles of traits, organisms, species, communities, and ecosystem processes in natural systems. Changes in biodiversity dynamics and functional biodiversity are essential factors for future planetary resilience under environmental change, including climate change. The connection between functional biodiversity and biodiversity dynamics on a changing planet is the main focus of the Biodiversity on a Changing Planet (BoCP) program. The program encourages proposals that integrate pattern- and process-based research approaches in the context of the constant gain, loss, and reorganization of biodiversity on a changing planet. To advance a comprehensive understanding of functional biodiversity requires a highly integrative approach - including consideration of spatial and temporal dimensions from the organismal to the ecosystem level and from recent to deep timescales. The program therefore places a strong emphasis on multidisciplinary research among climatic, geological, paleontological, ecological, organismal, phylogenetic and evolutionary sciences.

The BoCP program is a cross directorate and international program led by NSF that invites submission of interdisciplinary proposals addressing grand challenges in biodiversity science within the context of unprecedented environmental change, including climate change. Successful BoCP proposals will test novel hypotheses about functional biodiversity and its connections to shifting biodiversity dynamics on a changing planet, with an emphasis on integrative research into the complex intersections among climatic, geological, paleontological, and biological processes. Integrative research is likely to combine multiple perspectives--including organismal, species, ecological, evolutionary, phylogenetic, geological, and/or paleontological approaches-- at various scales. Proposals that seek to improve predictive capability about functional biodiversity across temporal and spatial scales by considering the linkages between past, present, and future biological, climatic, and geological processes are also encouraged. While this focus complements several core programs at NSF, it differs by requiring an integrative approach to understanding functional biodiversity as it relates to shifting biodiversity dynamics under changing environmental conditions.

Economics Program
NSF Economics Program, PD 23-1320. CFDA #47.075. Proposal Deadline: August 19, 2024

The Economics program supports research designed to improve the understanding of the processes and institutions of the U.S. economy and of the world system of which it is a part. This program also strengthens both empirical and theoretical economic analysis as well as the methods for rigorous research on economic behavior. It supports research in almost every area of economics, including econometrics, economic history, environmental economics, finance, industrial organization, international economics, labor economics, macroeconomics, mathematical economics, and public finance.

The Economics program welcomes proposals for individual or multi-investigator research projects, doctoral dissertation improvement awards, conferences, symposia, experimental research, data collection and dissemination, computer equipment and other instrumentation, and research experience for undergraduates. The program places a high priority on interdisciplinary research. Investigators are encouraged to submit proposals of joint interest to the Economics Program and other NSF programs and NSF initiative areas. The program places a high priority on broadening participation and encourages proposals from junior faculty, women, other underrepresented minorities, Research Undergraduate Institutions, and EPSCoR states.

The program also funds conferences and interdisciplinary research that strengthens links among economics and the other social and behavioral sciences as well as mathematics and statistics.

The Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grants (DDRIG) funding opportunity is designed to improve the quality of dissertation research. DDRIG proposals are submitted by a faculty member on behalf of the graduate student. DDRIG awards provide funds for items not normally available through the student's university such as enabling doctoral students to undertake significant data-gathering projects and to conduct field research in settings away from their campus. DDRIGs do not provide cost-of-living or other stipends or tuition. Outstanding DDRIG proposals specify how the knowledge to be created advances economics science.

Proposals for Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grants (DDRIGS) in Economics should follow the directions for submissions in the PAPPG. Please contact an Economics program officer if you plan to submit a DDRIG proposal.

Althea Sheets, Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activities Development Manager, Office of Sponsored Programs, althea.sheets@unlv.edu, 702-895-1880