This monthly newsletter has been created to assist FAS researchers across all domains who are looking for funding opportunities related to "Big Data". In response to the need for new conceptual and computational approaches for big data processing as well as education, sponsors like NSF, DoD, DoE, NIH and private foundations are offering more funding opportunities for Big Data research.

This newsletter will be sent electronically each month. To receive this and other funding opportunity newsletters, please sign up here.  All opportunities will be archived and recipients may unsubscribe at any time.

Funding Opportunities for BIG DATA  
 
Social Science
 (Computer-) Science and Engineering
 
 
Biomedical Science
 
 
Education and Training
 

  SOCIAL SCIENCE  
NSFCyberlearning
National Science Foundation (NSF) Directorate for Computer & Information Science & Engineering (CISE)
Cyberlearning and Future Learning Technologies
Sponsor Deadline: December 7, 2015 for Capacity-Building Projects (CAP); December 18, 2015 for Exploration Projects (EXP); January 18, 2016 for Development and Implementation Projects (DIP); May 9, 2016 for Integration Projects (INT) (LOIs); July 11, 2016 for INT Full Proposals 
OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission
Award Information: CAP awards vary; EXP awards are $550,000 over 2-3 years; DIP awards are $1,350,000 over 3-4 years; INT awards are $2,500,000 over 4-5 years

The purpose of the Cyberlearning and Future Learning Technologies program is to integrate opportunities offered by emerging technologies with advances in what is known about how people learn to advance three interconnected thrusts: Innovation; Advancing understanding of how people learn in technology-rich learning environments; and Promoting broad use and transferability of new genres. Proposals are expected to address all three of the program's thrusts. 

Applications in the following area are encouraged:

What new technology and socio-technical models are needed so that the big data generated by scientists and engineers can be made available and accessible to learners at all levels in ways that will engage them and help them learn? Under what conditions do these approaches work and why? What can be learned about learning processes and influences on learning by examining the effects with and of these new technologies? 

Awards will be made in three research categories, each focusing on a different stage of research and development: Exploration (EXP), Design and Implementation (DIP), and Integration (INT). The program will also support small Capacity-Building Projects (CAP), e.g., conferences, workshops, and partnership-building activities, and will continue to participate in NSF's Foundation-Wide programs: EAGER, RAPID, INSPIRE, and CAREER.

Additional information:
S2
National Science Foundation (NSF) Directorates for Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences (SBE) and Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE)
Dear Colleague Letter: Research on Privacy in Today's Networked World
Sponsor Deadline: Program-dependent, contact program officer Dr. Heng Xu at [email protected]
OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission


The directorates for Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences (SBE) and Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) invite investigators to submit proposals that address the need to develop new and deeper understandings of privacy in today's networked world. Our interest spans both disciplinary and interdisciplinary research in an array of SBE sciences. Proposals for workshops to explore novel and interdisciplinary SBE and SBE/CISE approaches to privacy are also welcome. This is not a special competition or new program. Proposals in response to this Dear Colleague Letter must meet the requirements and deadlines of the program to which they are submitted. Interested investigators are encouraged to contact Program Officer Dr. Heng Xu ([email protected]) with up to a two-page statement explaining the core idea of their projects. Dr. Xu will assist investigators in identifying the most appropriate program(s) to which to submit their proposals.

Additional information:
NSFRIDIR2
National Science Foundation (NSF) Directorate for Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences (SBE)
Resource Implementations for Data Intensive Research in the Social Behavioral and Economic Sciences (RIDIR)
Sponsor Deadline: February 29, 2016
OSP Deadline: February 22, 2016
Award Information: Subject to the availability of funds. Total maximum amount for all awards per year is $4.5 million and 3-4 awards will be made per year.

As part of NSF's Cyberinfrastructure Framework for 21st Century Science and Engineering (CIF21) activity, the Directorate for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences (SBE) seeks to develop user-friendly large-scale next-generation data resources and relevant analytic techniques to advance fundamental research in SBE areas of study. Successful proposals will, within the financial resources provided by the award, construct such databases and/or relevant analytic techniques and produce a finished product that will enable new types of data-intensive research. The databases or techniques should have significant impacts, either across multiple fields or within broad disciplinary areas, by enabling new types of data-intensive research in the SBE sciences.

Additional information:
 (COMPUTER-) SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING
DARPABTO
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
Biological Technologies Office 
Biological Technologies
Sponsor Deadline for Abstracts (strongly recommended) and Full Proposals: Rolling through April 28, 2016
OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission
Award Information: Awards will be commensurate with project needs and the availability of funds
 
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is soliciting innovative research proposals of interest to the Biological Technologies Office (BTO). Proposed research should investigate leading edge approaches that enable revolutionary advances in science, technologies, or systems at the intersection of biology with engineering and the physical and computer sciences. Specifically excluded is research that primarily results in evolutionary improvements to the existing state of the art. BTO seeks unconventional approaches that are outside the mainstream, challenge assumptions, and have the potential to radically change established practice, lead to extraordinary outcomes, and create entirely new fields.

BTO is interested in receiving applications in the following area: Leveraging new computational techniques from computer science, big data, and biology to enable investigation and generation of knowledge from biological data at scale. 
 
Additional information:
DARPAI2O
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
Information Innovation Office (I20)
Information Innovation Office (I2O) Office-wide
Sponsor Deadline for Abstracts (strongly encouraged): Rolling through June 10, 2016
Sponsor Deadline for Full Proposals: Rolling through August 2, 2016
OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission
Award Information: Awards will be commensurate with project needs and the availability of funds
 
I2O develops high-payoff information science and technology to provide a decisive information advantage for the U.S. and its allies. I2O invites research proposals in its thrust areas: 1) Empower the human within the information ecosystem; and 2) Guarantee trustworthy computing and information. I2O may also consider submissions outside these areas if the proposal involves the development of novel software-based capabilities having promise to provide decisive information advantage for the U.S. and its allies.

I2O seeks unconventional approaches that are outside the mainstream, challenge accepted assumptions, and have the potential to radically change established practice. Proposed research should investigate innovative approaches that enable revolutionary advances in science, devices, or systems. Specifically excluded is research that primarily results in evolutionary improvements to the existing state of the art. 
 
Additional information:
CS1
United States Department of Commerce
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
Measurement Science and Engineering (MSE) Research Grant Program for the Information Technology Laboratory (ITL) 
Sponsor Deadline: Rolling
OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission
Award Information: $10,000 - $500,000
 
 
Additional information:
Fusion
United States Department of Defense (DOD)
Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR)
Broad Agency Announcement: Research Interests of the Air Force Office of Scientific Research - Science of Information, Computation and Fusion 
Sponsor Deadline: Rolling (current BAA is active until superseded)
OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission 

AROcs
United States Department of Defense (DOD)
Army Research Office (ARO)
Broad Agency Announcement for Basic and Applied Scientific Research for Fiscal Years 2012 through 2017 - Computing Science 
Sponsor Deadline: Rolling (current BAA is active until March 31, 2017 or until superseded)
OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission 

Math
United States Department of Defense (DOD)
Army Research Office (ARO)
Broad Agency Announcement for Basic and Applied Scientific Research for Fiscal Years 2012 through 2017 - Mathematical Sciences 
Sponsor Deadline: Rolling (current BAA is active until March 31, 2017 or until superseded)
OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission 

Proposals are expected to be for cutting-edge innovative research that could produce discoveries that would have a significant impact on enabling new and improved Army operational capabilities and related technologies. One of ARO's priority research areas is mathematical science, with a particular emphasis on: Probability and Statistics (Statistical Theory and Techniques for Real Time Analysis of Data Stream, and Statistical Analysis of Very Large and Very Small Data Sets); Biomathematics (Multiscale Modeling/Inverse Problems); and Computational Mathematics. 
 
Additional information:  
CS5
United States Department of Defense (DOD)
U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC)
Broad Agency Announcement - Geospatial Research Laboratory - Big Spatial Data
Sponsor Deadline: Rolling (current BAA is active until January 31, 2016 or until superseded)
OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission 
 
 
Additional information:
CS6
United States Department of Defense (DOD)
U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC)
Broad Agency Announcement - Geospatial Research Laboratory - On Demand Complex Spatio-Temporal Information Delivery
Sponsor Deadline: Rolling (current BAA is active until January 31, 2016 or until superseded) 
OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission
 
The GEOSPATIAL RESEARCH LABORATORY's (GRL) mission is to provide the Warfighter with a superior knowledge of the battlefield. GRL's Information Generation and Management Branch invites proposals related to on demand complex spatio-temporal information delivery. With extensive amounts of information available, some spatial, some temporal, some spatial-temporal, some neither, decision makers are surrounded by an unprecedented amount of data inputs when making decisions. When applied to the domain of Humanitarian Assistance/Disaster Relief, information feeds shift even more rapidly. The object of this program is to conduct research and development in the areas of foundational information pre-event, necessary information for decision making during and shortly after an event, and long-term information requirements. Of particular interest is the ability to exploit different decision making paradigms, the relationship of the actors, the physical, social, natural environments, and the event. Additional work to create new spatial-temporal statistics that enhance decision making of social phenomena can be explored. Research is needed in topic areas related to a) spatial-temporal statistics and b) information retrieval for near real-time to real-time decision making; and c) visualization of static and dynamic 3/4/Nth dimension information.

Additional Information:
ONR
United States Department of Defense (DOD)
Office of Naval Research (ONR)
Broad Agency Announcement for Navy and Marine Corps Science and Technology - Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance 
Sponsor Deadline: Rolling (current BAA is active until September 30, 2016 or until superseded)
OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission 

The Office of Naval Research (ONR) is interested in receiving proposals for Long-Range Science and Technology (S&T) Projects which offer potential for advancement and improvement of Navy and Marine Corps operations. ONR's Division of Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance invests in areas of science and their applications such as data science, mathematical and computational science, computer and information sciences, quantum information sciences, cyber security, electronics, command and control and combat systems, communications, cyber operations, electronic warfare, sensing and surveillance, and precision timing and navigation. One of this Division's specific thrusts and focused research areas is: Mathematics, Computers and Information Sciences, which sponsors basic and applied research, and advanced technology development efforts in mathematics, computer and information sciences that address Navy and Department of Defense needs in computation, information processing, information operation, information assurance and cybersecurity, decision tools, and command and control with specific focus on enabling rapid, accurate decision making. Specific scientific and technical areas include: a) Applied and computational analysis; b) Command and control; c) Computational methods for decisionmaking; d) Cyber security and complex software systems; e) Machine learning, reasoning, and intelligence; f) Mathematical data science; g) Mathematical optimization and operations research; h) Quantum information sciences.
 
Additional information:  
DOEASCR
United States Department of Energy (DOE)
FY 2016 Continuation of Solicitation for the Office of Science Financial Assistance Program - Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR) 
Sponsor Deadline: Rolling (current solicitation is active until September 30, 2016 or until superseded)
OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission 

The Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR) program's mission is to advance applied mathematics and computer science; deliver, in partnership with disciplinary science, the most advanced computational scientific applications; advance computing and networking capabilities; and develop, in partnership with the research community, including U.S. industry, future generations of computing hardware and tools for science. The strategy to accomplish this has two thrusts: developing and maintaining world-class computing and network facilities for science; and advancing research in applied mathematics, computer science and advanced networking.

The priority areas for ASCR include the following:
  1. Develop mathematical models, methods and algorithms to accurately describe and predict the behavior of complex systems involving processes that span vastly different time and/or length scales.
  2. Advance key areas of computer science that enable the design and development of extreme scale computing systems and their effective use in the path to scientific discoveries; and transform extreme scale data from experiments and simulations into scientific insight.
  3. Advance key areas of computational science and discovery that support the missions of the Office of Science through mutually beneficial partnerships.
  4. Develop and deliver forefront computational, networking and collaboration tools and facilities that enable scientists worldwide to work together to extend the frontiers of science.
DOEAtmospheric
United States Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science
Atmospheric System Research Program--New Data Products
Sponsor Deadline for Pre-Applications (required): November 3, 2015
Sponsor Deadline for Full Applications: January 13, 2016
OSP Deadline: January 6, 2016
Award Information: $75,000 to $250,000 per year for 2 years 

Sponsor Deadline for Preliminary Proposals (required): November 10, 2015 
Sponsor Deadline for Full Proposals: January 20, 2016
OSP Deadlines: November 3, 2015 and January 13, 2016
Award Information: II awards will range from $200,000 to $1.000,000; CI awards will range from $500,000 to $2,500,000; and CI-Planning awards will be in the $50,000 to $100,000 range
 

The CISE Research Infrastructure (CRI) program drives discovery and learning in the core CISE disciplines of the three participating CISE divisions (Divisions of Computer and Network Systems; Information and Intelligent Systems; and Computing and Communication Foundations) by supporting the creation and enhancement of world-class research infrastructure that will support focused research agendas in computer and information science and engineering. This infrastructure will enable CISE researchers to advance the frontiers of CISE research. 


The CRI program supports two classes of awards:

  • Institutional Infrastructure (II) awards support the creation of new (II-NEW) CISE research infrastructure or the enhancement (II-EN) of existing CISE research infrastructure.
  • Community Infrastructure (CI) awards support the planning (CI-P) for new CISE community research infrastructure, the creation of new (CI-NEW) CISE research infrastructure, the enhancement (CI-EN) of existing CISE infrastructure, or the sustainment (CI-SUSTAIN) of existing CISE community infrastructure to enable world-class CISE research opportunities for broad-based communities of CISE researchers that extend well beyond the awardee institutions. Each CI award may support the operation of such infrastructure, ensuring that the awardee institution(s) is (are) well positioned to provide a high quality of service to CISE community researchers expected to use the infrastructure to realize their research goals.
CRI proposals that are based on Big Data as the underlying research driver for the infrastructure must clearly describe a more focused research agenda related to specific types of Big Data and detail the Big Data to which the researchers involved in the associated research projects have access or reasonably expect to have access if the infrastructure is developed, enhanced, or sustained.

In each annual competition, an individual may participate in at most two proposals, across all classes, as PI, Co-PI, or Senior Personnel. Note that CRI does not typically support researchers in other disciplines who are simply employing existing computing and computational science approaches in their research; these researchers might look to infrastructure programs in their related NSF Directorate for possible support.

Additional information:
CS7
National Science Foundation (NSF) 
Directorate for Geosciences (GEO)
Climate and Large-Scale Dynamics (CLD)
Sponsor Deadline: Rolling
OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission
 
The goals of the Program are to: (i) advance knowledge about the processes that force and regulate the atmosphere's synoptic and planetary circulation, weather and climate, and (ii) sustain the pool of human resources required for excellence in synoptic and global atmospheric dynamics and climate research. Research topics include theoretical, observational and modeling studies of the general circulation of the stratosphere and troposphere; synoptic scale weather phenomena; processes that govern climate; the causes of climate variability and change; methods to predict climate variations; extended weather and climate predictability; development and testing of parameterization of physical processes; numerical methods for use in large-scale weather and climate models; the assembly and analysis of instrumental and/or modeled weather and climate data; data assimilation studies; development and use of climate models to diagnose and simulate climate and its variations and change.


Additional information
:
CDSE
National Science Foundation (NSF) Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences (MPS)
Computational and Data-Enabled Science and Engineering in Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (CDS&E-MSS)
Sponsor Full Proposal Window: November 25-December 9, 2015
OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission
 
 
Additional information:
CCF
National Science Foundation (NSF) Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE)
Computing and Communication Foundations (CCF): Core Programs 
Sponsor Full Proposal Window: November 4-18, 2015 (Small)
OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission
 
NSFSaTC
National Science Foundation (NSF) 
Secure and Trustworthy Cyberspace (SaTC)
Sponsor Submission Windows:  November 04, 2015 - November 18, 2015 (Large Projects); and December 03, 2015 - December 16, 2015 (Cybersecurity Education Projects)
OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission
CS9
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
Digital Information Technology - Data and Computational Research
Sponsor Deadline: Rolling, requires Letter of Inquiry
OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission
Award Information: Two types of applications, <$125,000 and >$125,000

From the natural sciences to the social sciences to the humanities to the arts, the availability of more data and cheaper computing is transforming research. As costs for sensors, sequencing, and other forms of data collection decline, researchers can generate data at greater and greater scale, relying on parallel increases in computational power to make sense of it all and allowing the investigation of phenomena too large or complex for conventional observation. Grants in the Data and Computational Research sub-program aim to help researchers develop tools, establish norms, and build the institutional and social infrastructure needed to take full advantage of important developments in data-driven, computation-intensive research. Emphasis is placed on projects that encourage access to and sharing of scholarly data, that promote the development of standards and taxonomies necessary for the interoperability of datasets, that enable the replication of computational research, and that investigate models of how researchers might deal with the increasingly central role played by data management and curation.

Grant requests can be made at any time. A brief letter of inquiry is the first step for an applicant.

Additional information:
BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH
AHRQR03
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)
Special Emphasis Notice (SEN) Announcing Interest in Innovative Methods Research to Increase the Utility of Systematic Reviews (R03)
Sponsor Deadline: February 16, 2016 
OSP Deadline: February 9, 2016
Award Information: Up to $100,000 in total costs for up to 1 year

This SEN is intended to generate new methods for systematic review that address the opportunities and challenges of the current era of data abundance and that facilitate the integration of systematic reviews into healthcare decisions. Now that there are widely shared standards for how to conduct a high quality systematic review, the next challenge is developing novel or improved methods that optimize the efficiency, comprehensiveness, and predictive value of systematic reviews. Some potential areas of interest are described below:

  • Efficiency. Traditional systematic review approaches may not be sustainable given the ever increasing volume of studies and increasing demand for timely synthesized evidence.  Faster techniques, without sacrificing validity and reliability, are increasingly valuable.  
  • New forms of data. We are on the verge of having access to large data sets - both observational data and individual patient data from randomized controlled trials and patient registries. Tapping directly into this data could greatly enhance the power of systematic reviews and reduce the lag between knowledge generation and implementation.  
  • Predictive value. Systematic review methodology is highly detailed for processes, but much less developed regarding outcomes. Now that a substantial number of systematic reviews have been completed and indexed, it may be possible to empirically examine how accurately different reviews predict future research findings and to use this information to develop more robust methods.  

Innovative applications addressing systematic review methods and issues not mentioned above are also welcomed. Applicants should describe the significance of their proposed research to enhancing the speed, power, predictive value, or otherwise advancing the utility of systematic reviews.

 
Additional information:
USAMRMC
Department of Defense (DOD) United States Army Medical Research and Materiel Command (USAMRMC)
FY16 Broad Agency Announcement for Extramural Medical Research
Sponsor Deadline for Preliminary Proposals (required): Rolling through September 30, 2016 
Sponsor Deadline for Full Proposals (by invitation only): Rolling through September 30, 2016
OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission
Award Information: No budget limits; award duration is up to 5 years

The USAMRMC mission is to provide solutions to medical problems of importance to the American Service member at home and abroad, as well as to the general public at large. Projects must be for scientific study and experimentation directed toward advancing the state of the art or increasing knowledge or understanding rather than focusing on a specific system or hardware solution. Research and development funded through this BAA are intended and expected to benefit and inform both military and civilian medical practice and knowledge. 

Under USAMRMC's Health Informatics and Health Information Technology Portfolio, one of its priority areas is Big Data/Analytics as they relate to Military Healthcare Services. USAMRMC is interested in the development and application of methods for analysis, interpretation, prediction, and modeling of health system and patient-generated data. The objective is to use mathematical and/or intelligent learning/machine learning tools to extract practical information, usable/actionable clinical knowledge, and/or predict disease or adverse events from health system and patient-generated data.
 
Additional information:
NIHGynecologic
National Institutes of Health (NIH) Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)
Collaborative Research in Genomics, Epigenomics, and Bioinformatics in Gynecologic Health and Disease (R01) 
Sponsor LOI Deadline (requested): November 10, 2015 
Sponsor Deadline for Full Proposals: December 10, 2015
OSP Deadline: December 3, 2015
Award Information: Up to $499,999/year in direct costs for up to 5 years

The purpose of this FOA is to encourage the application of existing and newly emerging genomic, epigenomic, and bioinformatics tools to generate novel insights into the development, progression, and treatment of select disorders in gynecologic health and disease.

Multiple technologies have recently developed which allow high-throughput analysis of genomic and epigenomic profiles, including so-called "next generation" sequencing. For the purposes of this FOA, the epigenome refers to stable, long-term DNA or histone modifications impacting gene expression which may or may not be heritable across generations. When coupled with powerful bioinformatics tools, unbiased, genome-wide approaches have provided significant opportunities for the generation of novel insights into the pathophysiology of specific disease states with the potential for development of new, patient-specific, treatments. Unfortunately, a limited number of studies have utilized these technologies to address fundamental questions related to common gynecologic disorders, a scientific gap to be addressed by this funding opportunity. Due to the huge amount of data generated by these emerging technologies, it is imperative for investigators to obtain substantial expertise in the acquisition, manipulation, and statistical analysis of large datasets. As a result, successful studies often require multi-disciplinary collaborations between clinical investigators, molecular biologists, bioinformatics specialists, and statisticians, among others.
 
Additional information:
NIHNCIR21
National Cancer Institute (NCI)
Development of Innovative Informatics Methods and Algorithms for Cancer Research and Management (R21)
Sponsor LOI Deadline (requested): 30 days prior to deadline 
Sponsor Deadlines for Full Proposals: November 20, 2015; June 14, 2016; November 21, 2016
OSP Deadline: 5 business days prior to submission
Award Information: Up to $275,000 in direct costs over a 2 year period

The purpose of this FOA is to invite exploratory/developmental research grant (R21) applications for the development of innovative methods and algorithms in biomedical computing, informatics, and data science addressing priority needs across the cancer research continuum, including cancer biology, cancer treatment and diagnosis, cancer prevention, cancer control and epidemiology, and/or cancer health disparities.  As a component of the NCI's Informatics Technology for Cancer Research (ITCR) Initiative, this FOA encourages applications focused on the development of novel computational, mathematical, and statistical algorithms and methods that can considerably improve acquisition, management, analysis, and dissemination of relevant data and/or knowledge. 
 
Additional information:
NIHAlzheimers
National Institute on Aging (NIA)
Major Opportunities for Research in Epidemiology of Alzheimer's Disease and Cognitive Resilience (R01)
Sponsor Deadline for Full Proposals: December 11, 2015
OSP Deadline: December 4, 2015
Award Information: Budgets are not limited; award duration is up to 5 years. NIA intends to fund an estimate of 10 - 15 awards, corresponding to a total of $12 million for fiscal year 2016. 

This FOA encourages investigator-initiated applications addressing the epidemiology of Alzheimer's disease (AD) as well as protective factors for cognitive health and resilience. All projects in cognitive epidemiology and genetics/genomics relevant to AD are welcome. 

NIA's priority areas include: 
  • The harmonization of complex data sets relevant to AD. Although there have been substantial efforts at NIH to develop brief, reliable measures as well as recommendations for the use of off-the-shelf phenotypic measures in large epidemiological studies, there has been less work on creating crosswalks between these measures and those that have been historically used in cohort studies. The need for harmonization across these platforms is particularly acute in studies that include longitudinal clinical, neuroimaging, genetic and genomic, and biomarker data that are costly to obtain. Coordination and harmonization of data from existing cohort studies with the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative, the Accelerating Medicines Partnership effort for AD, and the ADSP are also welcome.
  • Enabling precision medicine for AD through deep molecular phenotyping. The large-scale multidimensional data generated with newly developed data collection approaches could serve as the basis for future systems biology and gene-environment studies and the development of a new taxonomy for AD prevention.
  • Electronic archiving of cohort studies. There is currently a wealth of information relevant to cognitive epidemiology that is trapped in non-digitized or obsolete formats. NIH-NIA believes, however, that these resources can be reclaimed & revitalized by modern archiving methods and technology. 
Additional information:
NICHDP41
National Institutes of Health (NIH) Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)
Resource Program Grants in Bioinformatics (P41)
Sponsor Deadlines for LOIs (requested): December 24, 2015 and April 25, 2016
Sponsor Deadlines for Full Applications: January 25, 2016 and May 25, 2016
OSP Deadlines: January 20, 2016 and May 20, 2016
Award Information: $500,000-$1,750,000 in direct costs per year for up to 5 years
 
This FOA announces the Resource Program Grants in Bioinformatics program supporting the continued operation, enhancement, and dissemination of databases or software tools that are unique, and of major importance to research using animal models of embryonic developmental processes. These grants will support ongoing research, maintenance, and enhancement, of the tool or resource, user training and services, provision of community generated data storage and archiving, and wide dissemination of the tool or resource. To qualify for support, bioinformatics resources software, algorithms, or knowledge resources must be of demonstrable value toward advancing research utilizing animal model systems in the biomedical sciences and must also be of particular importance to those seeking to understand the biological basis of human and animal development and the etiology of structural birth defects. The resources must be sufficiently mature to have verifiable support and utility for users within the developmental biology research community.

Applicants are strongly encouraged to consult with the Scientific/Research Contact for this program to ensure that the proposed project reflects the objectives of this FOA and the programmatic interests of the NICHD.  

Additional information:
NSFCRCNS
National Science Foundation (NSF) Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE)
Collaborative Research in Computational Neuroscience (CRCNS)
Sponsor Deadline: October 29, 2015
OSP Deadline: October 22, 2015
Award Information: Research Projects (both domestic and international) are expected to range from approximately $100,000 to $250,000 per year in direct costs, with durations of 3 to 5 years. Awards for Data Sharing Projects will be scaled according to the needs of the project; typically they will be smaller in size than research awards.
 

Computational neuroscience provides a theoretical foundation and a rich set of technical approaches for understanding complex neurobiological systems, building on the theory, methods, and findings of computer science, neuroscience, and numerous other disciplines. Through the CRCNS program, the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (Bundesministerium f�r Bildung und Forschung, BMBF), the French National Research Agency (Agence Nationale de la Recherche, ANR), and the United States-Israel Binational Science Foundation (BSF) support collaborative activities that will advance the understanding of nervous system structure and function, mechanisms underlying nervous system disorders, and computational strategies used by the nervous system.

 

Two classes of proposals will be considered in response to this solicitation:

  • Research Proposals describing collaborative research projects, and
  • Data Sharing Proposals to enable sharing of data and other resources.


D
omestic and international projects will be considered. As detailed in the solicitation, international components of collaborative projects may be funded in parallel by the participating agencies. Opportunities for parallel funding are available for bilateral US-German Research Proposals, US-German Data Sharing Proposals, US-French Research Proposals, US-French Data Sharing Proposals, US-Israel Research Proposals, and multilateral proposals involving the United States and 2 or more additional countries. NSF will coordinate and manage the review of proposals jointly with participating domestic and foreign funding organizations, through a joint panel review process used by all participating funders.

 
Additional information:
EDUCATION AND TRAINING 
NIHR25CompNeuro
National Institutes of Health (NIH)
BRAIN Initiative: Short Courses in Computational Neuroscience (R25)
Sponsor Deadline for Full Applications: November 6, 2015
OSP Deadline: October 30, 2015
Award Information: Maximum of $200,000 in direct costs annually for up to 3 years
 
The NIH Research Education Program (R25) supports research education activities in the mission areas of the NIH. The over-arching goal of this BRAIN Initiative R25 program is to support educational activities that complement and/or enhance the training of a workforce to meet the nation's biomedical, behavioral and clinical research needs. To accomplish the stated over-arching goal, this FOA will support creative educational activities with a primary focus on Courses for Skills Development. This FOA will support short courses to facilitate the development of a sophisticated cadre of investigators with the requisite knowledge and skills in computational neuroscience perspectives and techniques for analyzing and interpreting complex, high-dimensional neuroscience data to advance the BRAIN Initiative. For the purposes of this FOA, computational neuroscience encompasses theoretical neuroscience, computational and mathematical modeling of neural systems, and/or statistical perspectives and techniques. Each short course is expected to include both didactics and in-person/hands-on experiences. This FOA is intended for participants who are graduate students, medical students, postdoctoral scholars, medical residents, and/or early-career faculty.      

A major goal of the BRAIN Initiative is to attract new investigators to neuroscience from quantitative disciplines such as computer science, mathematics, physics, statistics, materials science, and engineering. As such, plans to recruit participants with these diverse scientific backgrounds to the proposed short courses are strongly encouraged.
 
Additional information:
Contact Us:
Questions about this announcement or proposal submission may be directed to Jennifer Corby
([email protected], 617-495-1590) or Susan Gomes ([email protected] 617-496-9448).

 

For Research Development Support (Finding Funding, Proposal Development Resources), go to research.fas.harvard.edu/research-development-support