NIDCD Research Career Enhancement Award for Established Investigators (K18 Independent Clinical Trial Not Allowed) | PAR 21 095

Opportunity Information: Apply for PAR 21 095

The NIDCD Research Career Enhancement Award for Established Investigators (K18) (PAR-21-095) is a National Institutes of Health discretionary grant opportunity designed for mid-career or senior investigators who already have a strong research track record but want to meaningfully expand, update, or redirect their work by gaining new skills. The central aim is career enhancement rather than launching a brand-new independent clinical trial program. NIDCD is looking for established researchers who can use a defined period of mentored research and training to learn methods, approaches, or technologies that will let them tackle new questions or move into a new area that is clearly relevant to the Institute's mission areas: hearing, balance, smell, taste, voice, speech, and language sciences.

A key feature of this specific FOA is the clinical trial limitation. Applications must be structured so the candidate is not proposing to lead an independent clinical trial, a clinical trial feasibility study, or an ancillary study to a clinical trial as the lead investigator. In other words, this announcement is for research and skill acquisition that does not place the applicant in charge of a clinical trial. That said, the FOA does allow applicants to gain experience on a clinical trial if the trial is led by a mentor or co-mentor. So, a candidate could, for example, train in clinical trial-related methods, data collection, or analysis within a larger mentor-led trial as part of their career enhancement plan, as long as they are not the person leading the trial. Applicants who want to be the lead investigator on a clinical trial or on an ancillary study tied to an ongoing clinical trial are directed to apply to the companion clinical-trial-allowed FOA referenced in the text (PAR-21-nnn).

The intended use of K18 support is to create a focused, credible plan for acquiring new research capabilities. This typically means a structured, mentored experience that gives an established investigator access to expertise, tools, or environments they do not currently have, such as new analytic techniques, new experimental models, new instrumentation, new computational methods, new approaches for human subjects research that do not rise to the level of leading a clinical trial, or cross-disciplinary training that repositions their research program. The expectation is that the award will strengthen the applicant's long-term research trajectory and enable them to answer important NIDCD-relevant questions that they could not effectively address without this targeted career enhancement period.

Eligibility is broad across many U.S.-based organization types, reflecting NIH's typical institutional eligibility rules and an emphasis on allowing diverse settings to host and support established investigators. Eligible applicants include state, county, city or township, and special district governments; independent school districts; public and state-controlled institutions of higher education; private institutions of higher education; federally recognized Native American tribal governments; tribal organizations (including those other than federally recognized tribal governments); public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities; nonprofit organizations with or without 501(c)(3) status (as long as they are not institutions of higher education, when specified); for-profit organizations (other than small businesses); and small businesses, as well as other eligible entities. The FOA also explicitly highlights additional eligible organizational categories such as 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; U.S. territories or possessions; and Indian/Native American tribal governments other than federally recognized. At the same time, the announcement clearly states that non-domestic (non-U.S.) entities and foreign institutions are not eligible to apply directly, 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 means a U.S. applicant organization can, when justified, include certain project elements or collaborations abroad under NIH rules even though a foreign institution cannot be the primary applicant.

From an administrative standpoint, the opportunity is run by the National Institutes of Health under the health-related funding activity category, with CFDA number 93.173. The funding instrument is a grant. The opportunity record shows an original closing date of 2024-01-07, and the announcement was created on 2021-01-19. The listing does not provide an award ceiling or expected number of awards in the provided text, so applicants would typically consult the full FOA and NIH policy documents for budget structure, allowable costs, project period expectations, and any institute-specific limits.

Overall, this K18 is best read as a mechanism for an already successful investigator to deliberately step into a new skill set or direction with mentored support, while staying within NIDCD's scientific mission areas and avoiding the role of leading an independent clinical trial.

• 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 Independent Clinical Trial Not Allowed)" 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 2021-01-19.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2024-01-07. (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.

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