Highlights of the 2019 NIH Behavioral and Social Sciences Research Festival. The fourth NIH Behavioral and Social Sciences Research Festival was held on December 6, 2019. The festival serves two purposes, to highlight some of the recent behavioral and social science supported by the NIH, and to bring together behavioral and social science program officers, review administrators, and intramural scientists across the NIH to network face-to-face. This year’s festival showed the breadth, innovation, and potential impact of the behavioral and social sciences research that the NIH supports.
In addition to highlighting some of the recent behavioral and social sciences research supported by the NIH, we also took the opportunity at this year’s festival to acknowledge the considerable effort of more than 50 NIH staff, particularly the leadership of Melissa Riddle, Bill Elwood, and Elyse Sullivan, who worked on various committees and workgroups to assist the behavioral and social sciences research community in adhering to the NIH Clinical Trials Policies and assist the NIH to adapt these policies to the unique needs of behavioral and social sciences researchers.
The videocast of this year's festival is now available on the NIH Videocast website.
Read Full Blog
Mixed Methods Training Program for the Health Sciences
The Mixed Methods Research Training Program for the Health Sciences is funded by OBSSR and administered by NIMH. Selected scholars will have access to webinars and resources and attend an in-person retreat to discuss their research project and will be matched with mixed methods expert consultants. This program has reported results in three peer-reviewed publications.
Mixed methods research is defined as the collection, analysis, and integration of both quantitative (e.g., RCT outcome) data and qualitative (e.g., observations, interviews) data to provide a more comprehensive understanding of a research problem than might be obtained through quantitative or qualitative research alone. Typical applications of mixed methods in the health sciences involve adding qualitative interviews to follow up on the outcomes of intervention trials, gathering both quantitative and qualitative data to assess patient reactions to a program implemented in a community health setting, or using qualitative data to explain the mechanism of a study correlating behavioral and social factors to specific health outcomes.
Applications are due by Monday January 20, 2020, at 5 p.m. ET.
Read More
2020 Annual Summer Institute on Randomized Behavioral Clinical Trials
OBSSR in collaboration with NHLBI will hold the 20th Annual Summer Institute on Randomized Behavioral Clinical Trials July 19-27, 2020, at the Bolger Center in Potomac, Maryland. The Summer Institute provides an intermediate/advanced course in planning, designing, and conducting high-impact randomized controlled trials of health-related behavioral interventions. It emphasizes programmatic research and prepares fellows to lead or collaborate on rigorous, high-impact behavioral trials and on systematic efforts to develop and improve health-related behavioral interventions.
The application deadline is February 15, 2020.
Learn More
CHIPS Research Training Institute
The 2020 CHIPS Research Training Institute will be hosted by Arizona State University, Phoenix, AZ, May 11-15. CHIPS (Child Intervention, Prevention, and Services) is an interdisciplinary training consortium, created to enhance career development for early career scientists pursuing research careers in the areas of intervention, prevention, and the provision of services for children and adolescents. CHIPS is funded through the NIMH Division of Services and Intervention Research (DSIR), which supports two critical areas of research, intervention research to evaluate the effectiveness of preventive and treatment interventions and mental health services research.
Each CHIPS fellow participates in a one-week training institute followed by a year or more of ongoing supervision by their assigned CHIPS mentor, and participation in CHIPS web seminars.
Post-doctoral trainees and early career faculty are eligible to apply. Trainees must be working broadly in areas of prevention, intervention, or services in child psychiatric mental disorders funded by the NIMH.
Applications are due by February 17, 2020.
Read More
mHealth Training Institute 2020
The NIH mHealth Training Institute (mHTI) was created to serve as an incubator for developing transdisciplinary scientists capable of co-creating mHealth solutions for “wicked” healthcare problems. A competitive renewal (5 R25 DAO38167), funded by OBSSR and ODP and administered by NIDA, Version 2.0 of the mHTI builds on the experiences of earlier mHTIs and the feedback of its graduates. The annual institute identifies academic unicorns—from disciplines ranging from medicine and psychology to computer science and biomedical engineering—with an aptitude for interdisciplinarity and a passion for translational research with societal impact. Through a weeklong, residential workshop, the mHTI helps the selected scholars develop a shared vocabulary and conceptual framework, acquire core domain expertise in latest mHealth technologies and methodologies, and get the practical experience in cross-disciplinary mHealth innovation.
Deadline to submit applications: 11:59 p.m., ET, Sunday, March 1, 2020.
Learn More
Request for Information: 2020 National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Strategic Plan for Research
The NIMH welcomes your feedback to help guide the future of mental health research efforts and priorities at NIMH. Every five years, NIMH publishes a Strategic Plan for Research to accelerate progress in basic, translational, and clinical science. We have made huge strides in understanding and treating mental illnesses through basic and clinical research since the last Strategic Plan was published in 2015, and now we’re looking ahead to the next five years.
The 2020 Strategic Plan includes four goals that form a broad roadmap for the Institute’s priorities over the next five years, beginning with the fundamental science of the brain and behavior and continuing through to the public health impact of the research we support. Aimed at helping individuals living with mental illnesses and promoting both prevention and cure, NIMH’s high-level goals are as follows:
- Define the Brain Mechanisms Underlying Complex Behaviors
- Examine Mental Illness Trajectories Across the Lifespan
- Strive for Prevention and Cures
- Strengthen the Public Health Impact of NIMH-Supported Research
To ensure consideration, responses must be submitted by January 2, 2020, 11:59:59 p.m. EDT.
Read the Draft Plan and Submit Your Feedback
Request for Information on the Development of the FY 2021-2025 NIH-Wide Strategic Plan for Sexual & Gender Minority Health Research
The NIH Sexual & Gender Minority Research Office (SGMRO) announced the publication of a Federal Register Notice (FRN) soliciting public feedback on the Development of the FY 2021-2025 NIH-Wide Strategic Plan for Sexual & Gender Minority (SGM) Health Research. This strategic plan will describe future directions in sexual and gender minority (SGM) health and research to optimize NIH's research investments. Through this Request for Information (RFI), the SGMRO invites feedback from stakeholders throughout the scientific research community, clinical practice communities, patient and family advocates, scientific or professional organizations, federal partners, internal NIH stakeholders, and other interested constituents. Please see the supplementary information within the FRN to view the draft scientific and operational goals. Comments on these draft goals are strongly encouraged to be submitted by email to SGMRO@nih.gov.
Comments must be received on or before COB (5 p.m. ET) January 24, 2020, to ensure consideration.
Review the Full FRN and Submit Comments
2020 Cross Border Collaboration Awards
CRDF Global is requesting applications on behalf of Fogarty International Center to support the development of new research partnerships to address childhood obesity prevention. These awards are intended to promote new collaborations between U.S. and Latin American investigators as well as among investigators across different Latin American countries. Three types of awards will be funded: travel, conference, and capacity building.
In this solicitation, the Fogarty International Center supports collaborative partnerships between U.S. investigators and investigators in Latin America to expand capacity in performing high-quality childhood obesity research. Examples of relevant awards include but are not limited to:
- Travel to a country to develop a collaboration with a new part on a new research project or modify an existing project related to childhood obesity prevention.
- Develop a conference across multiple countries on topics relevant to childhood obesity prevention research to disseminate findings or identify areas of need and opportunities for follow-on activities.
- Host a course on an area of critical need and sponsor participants from under-capacitated countries.
Successful proposals will address an area of critical need for childhood obesity prevention research and promote new global South/South or North/South collaborations.
All proposals must be submitted electronically through CRDF Global’s Electronic Proposal Submission (EPS) website, no later than Friday, February 28, 2020, 23:59 ET.
Go There Now
Digital Clinical Trials: Creating a Vision for the Future
This article is the result of a meeting supported, in part, by OBSSR and was co-authored by Drs. Steven R. Steinhubl (Scripps Research Translational Institute & Wave Research Center), Dana L. Wolff-Hughes (OBSSR), Wendy Nilsen (National Science Foundation), Erin Iturriaga (NHLBI), and Robert M. Califf (Verily Life Sciences).
Digital technologies have transformed almost every aspect of our lives over the past decade including the way we communicate, shop, and read. Digital health technologies, despite their reputation for over-promising and under-delivering, can potentially offer the solutions needed to transform clinical trials, if backed by sufficient investment and regulatory support. However, this cannot be accomplished by replicating the current research processes and just transforming them from paper to digital form. Rather, a complete re-thinking and re-engineering of the clinical trial experience around the participant rather than the research site is needed. While some trials could be entirely digital in a virtual environment, many will need a hybrid of virtual and clinical site-based activities.
Read More on Nature.com
Charting the Course for the Next Phase of the NIH BRAIN Initiative
This blog was written by NINDS Director Dr. Walter J. Koroshetz.
The BRAIN Initiative is a collaborative effort between multiple federal research agencies and 10 NIH Institutes, funded by the U.S. Congress through the 21st Century Cures Act. In the six years since the inception of the BRAIN Initiative, a tremendous number of scientific advances have generated exciting new tools for exploring neural circuits that underlie brain function. For instance, BRAIN-funded scientific advances include: new probes for recording and perturbing the activity of neurons and neuronal ensembles (e.g., improved DREADDs, genetically-encoded sensors for dopamine and calcium); advances in single-cell genomic profiling (e.g., Drop-seq); microscopy (e.g., Swept Confocally-Aligned Planar Excitation Microscopy (SCAPE) and 3-photon microscopy); and human neuroimaging (e.g., calcium sensors for direct readout of neural activity by MRI). These new tools are already contributing to an advanced understanding of how brain circuit activity enables behavior.
Read More
The Social Side of Health: Understanding Social and Behavioral Research in the NIH Intramural Research Program (IRP)
This blog was written by Dr. Christopher Marcum, staff scientist and methodologist, NHGRI.
The NIH IRP is world-renowned for its high-risk, high-reward biomedical research. While the NIH may be best known for its clinical and biomedical research on topics from cancer to allergies to addiction, IRP investigators have also produced a rich body of work conducted in the area of social and behavioral research (SBR). In this post, I will describe how SBR furthers the NIH’s goals of improving human health with some examples of the excellent work done by SBR investigators in the IRP.
SBR represents the union of two domains of scientific inquiry: social science and behavioral science. Social science aims to determine how individuals and groups construct and adjust to social systems, environments, and organizations. Similarly, behavioral science is predominantly focused on how cognitive, communicative, and behavioral processes occur and adapt to change. Together, these two domains of study inform us about the many ways in which humans and other animals behave, interact, and respond to their environments.
Go There Now
NCI Behavioral Research Program Seeking Letters of Interest
The Behavioral Research Program (BRP), within the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences, welcomes letters of interest from cancer researchers for several positions.
Senior Scientist
Candidates should hold a current position at the level of Full Professor (or equivalent). Those with experience in editorial and other peer review roles, past and/or current leadership in relevant professional organizations, and a strong record of scholarship, including an exceptional record of funding and peer-reviewed publications, are encouraged to apply.
Cancer Survivorship Program Director
Candidates with a research or clinical focus on survivorship-related basic behavioral, biobehavioral, and psychological processes or behavioral interventions are especially encouraged to apply.
Health Communication Program Director
Candidates with experience in any relevant area of health communication and informatics research are welcomed, especially those with expertise in behavior change and health informatics, connected health, mHealth, health IT, telehealth, and digital health.
Tobacco Cessation Program Director
Candidates with experience in any relevant area of tobacco control research are welcomed, particularly those with expertise in tobacco cessation and demonstrated experience in the development and evaluation of interventions, including the initiation, oversight, and/or conduct of clinical trials research.
Read More
Strategies for Team Science Success: Handbook of Evidence-Based Principles for Cross-Disciplinary Science and Practical Lessons Learned from Health Researchers
The editors of this handbook include Drs. Kara L. Hall, Amanda L. Vogel, and Robert T. Croyle, NCI.
More than 100 experts—including scientists, administrators, and funders from a wide range of disciplines and professions—contributed to the book’s 45 Chapters. The Handbook:
- Summarizes evidence-based principles for cross-disciplinary team science derived from a range of disciplines and fields.
- Highlights state-of the-art tools and resources for effective team science.
- Discusses comprehensive strategies to reduce barriers, address challenges, and maximize success.
- Includes first-person accounts of how these strategies have been applied in successful team science initiatives, with related practical guidance for adapting them to one’s own setting.
The publisher has provided free access to the book's final chapter this month.
Go There Now
Request for Information (RFI): Increasing the diversity of applications to the NIH Common Fund High-Risk, High-Reward Research Program
Notice Number: NOT-RM-20-002
Issued by: Office of Strategic Coordination (Common Fund)
Response Date: January 15, 2020
NIH seeks input from the broad scientific community on factors that may limit or discourage applications from certain groups or institutions and approaches that might be taken to increase the application diversity to the Common Fund’s HRHR Program. Topics that could be addressed include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Factors that may limit or discourage applications from:
- Women
- Underrepresented groups
- Geographically diverse institutions
- Clinical and/or behavioral/social science investigators
- Approaches to increase the number of applications to the HRHR program as a whole or to particular HRHR initiatives from:
- Women
- Underrepresented groups
- Geographically diverse institutions
- Clinical and/or behavioral/social science investigators
Responses to this RFI will be accepted through January 15, 2020. All comments will be considered anonymous and must be submitted via email to HRHR@nih.gov.
NIH Guide Notice (NOT-RM-20-002)
Notice of Special Interest: Administrative Supplements for Research on Sexual and Gender Minority (SGM) Populations (Admin Supp Clinical Trial Optional)
Notice Number: NOT-OD-20-032
First Available Due Date: January 31, 2020
Expiration Date: January 26, 2021
The mission of the NIH is to seek fundamental knowledge about the nature and behavior of living systems and the application of that knowledge to enhance health, lengthen life, and reduce illness and disability. The NIH is committed to supporting research that will increase scientific understanding of the health and wellbeing of various population and subpopulation groups and that will help to establish the effectiveness of evidence-based health interventions and services for individuals within these groups. NIH places high priority on research with populations that appear to have distinctive health risk profiles and who have also received insufficient attention from investigators. To this end, this Notice of Special Interest (NOSI) announces the availability of administrative supplements to provide funding for the expansion of existing research projects to incorporate sexual and gender minority (SGM) populations, which include, but are not limited to, those populations described in Notice NOT-OD-19-139. Basic, social, behavioral, clinical, translational, and health services research relevant to the missions of the sponsoring NIH Institutes or Centers (ICs) may be proposed in response to this solicitation. Potential applicants are also encouraged to review the FY 2017 Portfolio Analysis of NIH-funded SGM research to identify potential research gaps that may be relevant to this NOSI.
NIH Guide Notice (NOT-OD-20-032)
Practice-Based Research for Implementing Scalable Evidence-Based Prevention Interventions in Primary Care Settings (R01 Clinical Trial Optional)
Notice Number: RFA-MH-20-505
Application Due Dates: February 10, 2020 and October 15, 2020
Expiration Date: October 16, 2020
The purpose of this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is to encourage practice-based research aimed at testing the effectiveness of developmentally-focused theory-based efficacious prevention interventions which may impact mental health outcomes, including suicide behaviors and serious mental illness. The research should test prevention approaches that are both scalable and sustainable for implementation in pediatric-serving primary care settings, with an emphasis on populations experiencing mental health disparities. This FOA seeks to support clinical trials to establish the effectiveness of scalable prevention interventions when implemented using available resources within pediatric-serving primary care settings.
NIH Guide Notice (RFA-MH-20-505)
Practice-Based Research for Implementing Scalable Evidence-Based Prevention Interventions in Primary Care Settings (R34 Clinical Trial Required)
Notice Number: RFA-MH-20-506
Application Due Dates: February 10, 2020 and October 15, 2020
Expiration Date: October 16, 2020
The purpose of this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is to encourage practice-based research aimed at refining and pilot testing developmentally-focused, theory-based efficacious prevention interventions that may impact mental health outcomes, including suicide behaviors and serious mental illness. The research should test prevention approaches that are both scalable and sustainable for implementation in pediatric-serving primary care settings, with an emphasis on populations experiencing mental health disparities.
NIH Guide Notice (RFA-MH-20-506)
Addressing Suicide Research Gaps: Understanding Mortality Outcomes (R01 Clinical Trial Not Allowed )
Notice Number: RFA-MH-20-305
Application Due Date: February 10, 2020
Expiration Date: February 11, 2020
This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) seeks to support efforts focused on linking pertinent data from healthcare system records (e.g., suicide attempt events) to mortality data so that a more accurate understanding of the risk factors for, and the burden of, suicide among those seen in structured healthcare settings can be discerned. Specifically, data are needed on the type, severity, and timing of suicide predictors in the U.S. In addition to improving our national knowledge of the burden of suicide, these data offer the hope of yielding essential benchmarks for both public and private care providers/insurers, who increasingly will be seeking improvements to reduce the frequency of suicide events in their systems.
NIH Guide Notice (RFA-MH-20-305)
Addressing Suicide Research Gaps: Aggregating and Mining Existing Data Sets for Secondary Analyses (R01 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)
Notice Number: RFA-MH-20-307
Application Due Date: February 10, 2020
Expiration Date: February 11, 2020
This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) seeks to leverage data from existing basic, clinical, and intervention research on suicide risk and behaviors as well as social media and healthcare records data, by encouraging the integration of existing data sets for novel secondary analyses aimed at identifying potential biological, experiential, and other predictors, moderators, and mitigators of suicide risk. The use of dimensional variables and inclusion of multiple levels of analyses are particularly encouraged. A secondary goal of this FOA is to support innovative projects that will generate foundational work for research studies on suicide-related behaviors that inform a Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) approach in this area.
NIH Guide Notice (RFA-MH-20-307)
Laboratories to Optimize Digital Health (R01 Clinical Trial Required)
Notice Number: RFA-MH-20-510
Application Due Dates: March 2, 2020 and November 2, 2020
Expiration Date: November 3, 2020
NIMH seeks applications for innovative research projects to test strategies to increase the reach, efficiency, effectiveness, and quality of digital mental health interventions which may impact mental health outcomes, including suicide behaviors and serious mental illness. This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is intended to support the development of digital health test beds that leverage well-established digital mental health platforms and infrastructure to rapidly refine and optimize existing evidence-based digital health interventions and to conduct clinical trials testing digital mental health interventions that are statistically powered to provide a definitive answer regarding the intervention's effectiveness.
NIH Guide Notice (RFA-MH-20-510)
