NIDCD Research Career Enhancement Award for Established Investigators (K18 Clinical Trial Not Allowed) | PAR 24 143

Opportunity Information: Apply for PAR 24 143

The NIDCD Research Career Enhancement Award for Established Investigators (K18 Clinical Trial Not Allowed) is a National Institutes of Health (NIH) career development grant from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD). Its main goal is to help well-established investigators meaningfully expand, refresh, or redirect their research programs by gaining new research skills, approaches, or expertise. Rather than functioning like a traditional research project grant that primarily funds a specific set of experiments, this opportunity is designed to support a proven researcher who wants structured time and support to learn something new that can open up different directions or strengthen the scientific toolkit they bring to NIDCD-relevant questions.

The scientific scope is centered on NIDCD’s mission areas: hearing, balance, smell, taste, voice, speech, and language sciences. The program is geared toward investigators who already have a track record of productivity and independence, but who now need a defined period of mentored or otherwise structured career enhancement to acquire capabilities they do not currently have. In practice, that could mean building competence in a new methodology, moving into a new model system, adding a different analytical or computational skill set, learning a cutting-edge measurement technique, or crossing into a complementary discipline that will allow the investigator to tackle communication-disorders-related questions in a more powerful way. The “career enhancement” framing is key: the emphasis is on the applicant’s plan to obtain new skills and how those skills will reposition or expand their research trajectory in areas relevant to NIDCD.

As indicated by the title, clinical trials are not allowed under this funding opportunity. That means applications should be structured so the proposed activities do not meet NIH’s definition of a clinical trial (for example, prospective assignment of human participants to an intervention to evaluate effects on health-related biomedical or behavioral outcomes). Applicants who work with humans should be careful to align proposed work with the “clinical trial not allowed” requirement and ensure the planned training or research activities fit within allowable human subjects research, if any, without crossing the clinical trial threshold.

Eligibility is broad and includes many types of U.S.-based organizations and governmental units. Eligible applicants listed include state, county, and city or township governments; special district governments; independent school districts; public and state-controlled institutions of higher education; private institutions of higher education; Native American tribal governments (federally recognized); public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities; and Native American tribal organizations other than federally recognized tribal governments. The opportunity also allows nonprofits (both 501(c)(3) and non-501(c)(3), outside of higher education), for-profit organizations other than small businesses, and small businesses. In addition, the announcement highlights that certain institution types are explicitly included among “other eligible applicants,” 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, regional organizations, eligible federal agencies, and U.S. territories or possessions.

At the same time, the opportunity draws clear boundaries around foreign involvement. Non-domestic (non-U.S.) entities (foreign organizations) are not eligible to apply as the applicant organization, and non-domestic components of U.S. organizations are also not eligible to apply. However, “foreign components,” as NIH defines them in the NIH Grants Policy Statement, are allowed. In practical terms, that means the applicant organization must be domestic and the award cannot be held by a foreign institution, but the project may include certain justified foreign components (for example, specific elements of training, collaboration, or resource access abroad) as long as they meet NIH policy requirements and are appropriately described and approved.

From an administrative standpoint, this is a discretionary grant mechanism in the NIH “Health” activity area, with CFDA number 93.173. The funding opportunity number is PAR-24-143, and the posting indicates an original closing date of May 7, 2027. The notice does not specify an award ceiling or expected number of awards in the provided text, so applicants would need to consult the full funding opportunity announcement and related NIH/NIDCD guidance for budget limits, project period expectations, salary support rules, and other standard K18 program requirements.

Overall, this K18 is best understood as a structured way for an established investigator to deliberately invest in new expertise that will strengthen their long-term ability to contribute to NIDCD mission areas. A competitive application will typically make a clear case that the investigator is already successful, that the new skill set is genuinely additive (not simply “more of the same”), that there is a feasible and well-supported plan to acquire those skills, and that the payoff will be a sustained, mission-relevant research direction beyond the K18 period, all while staying within the “clinical trial not allowed” boundary.

• 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 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 2024-02-08.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2027-05-07.
• 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 24 143

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