The NIH Common Fund seeks big ideas for biomedical and behavioral research challenges and opportunities that will inform research activities in scientific areas relevant to human health.
If you have ideas for broad challenges and opportunities that can benefit the NIH Common Fund, share them through the Request for Information (RFI): NIH Common Fund Is Soliciting Ideas for NIH-wide Challenges and Opportunities.
What is the NIH Common Fund?
The NIH Common Fund is a funding entity within NIH that supports bold, innovative scientific programs that catalyze discovery across all biomedical and behavioral research. The Common Fund Programs support scientific areas important to multiple NIH institutes and centers (ICs).
These Programs also create space for investigators and ICs to collaborate on innovative research expected to address high-priority challenges and make a broader impact in the scientific community.
Generally, Common Fund investments all share the following characteristics:
- Transformative—high potential to dramatically affect biomedical and/or behavioral research over the next decade.
- Catalytic—must achieve a defined set of high-impact goals within a defined period of time.
- Synergistic—outcomes must synergistically promote and advance individual missions of NIH ICs to benefit health.
- Crosscutting—programs must cut across missions of multiple ICs, to be relevant to multiple diseases/conditions, and be sufficiently complex to require a coordinated, trans-NIH approach.
- Unique—programs should provide new solutions to specific challenges that no single IC is likely or able to accomplish on its own.
Information Requested
NIH requests ideas for biomedical and behavioral research challenges and opportunities that may be of interest to the Common Fund. These ideas may inform activities to advance areas of science relevant to these challenges/opportunities, including, but not limited to, scientific workshops, pilot initiatives, or future Common Fund Programs.
NIH encourages concise ideas to facilitate the review process. Submissions should focus on broad concepts rather than detailed descriptions. These could include the following:
- A critical challenge or exciting emerging opportunity in biomedical/behavioral research.
- Resources, tools, or knowledge needed to address your important challenge or opportunity.
- Scientific advancements or other factors that make addressing your important challenge or opportunity particularly timely.
Please consider the following:
- Opportunities that consider the potential impact on human health.
- Research that could be accomplished in 5 to 10 years.
Consider, as examples of broad topics capable of advancing human health, the following recent Common Fund Programs: Human Virome Program, Bridge to Artificial Intelligence, Community Partnerships to Advance Science for Society (ComPASS), and Cellular Senescense Network.
How to Submit a Response
Submit all responses by August 11, 2023, at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time through the RFI website. Responses to this RFI are voluntary and should not include any proprietary, classified, confidential, or sensitive information.
Direct all inquiries to Dr. Stephanie Courchesne at cf-ideas@mail.nih.gov