NIDCD Research Career Enhancement Award for Established Investigators (K18 Independent Basic Experimental Studies with Humans Required) | PAR 21 096

Opportunity Information: Apply for PAR 21 096

The NIDCD Research Career Enhancement Award for Established Investigators (K18) is a National Institutes of Health grant opportunity designed for established, successful researchers who want to broaden, strengthen, or pivot their research programs by deliberately acquiring new skills. The intent is career enhancement rather than simply adding more funding to an existing line of work: the award is meant to create a structured opportunity for an investigator to learn techniques, approaches, or methods that will open up new directions or allow them to answer important questions in NIDCD mission areas. Those mission areas span the hearing, balance, smell, taste, voice, speech, and language sciences, so the program is aimed at investigators whose work either already sits in those domains or is being redirected to address them.

This particular announcement (PAR-21-096) is specifically for basic science experimental studies that involve humans and that meet the NIH definition of a clinical trial while still being considered basic research. In practice, that means the proposed project must prospectively assign human participants to one or more conditions and intentionally manipulate an independent variable (for example, changing a stimulus, task condition, sensory input, training exposure, or experimental context) and then measure biomedical or behavioral outcomes in people. The key point is the purpose of the experiment: it must be aimed at understanding fundamental mechanisms or phenomena, without a specific product-development or process-implementation goal driving the work. If a study is instead designed with a clear applied objective, such as developing or testing an intervention, device, clinical procedure, or implementation process, the applicant is expected to use a different, appropriate NIH funding opportunity that is intended for independent clinical trials with applied aims.

The announcement also draws a bright line about what does and does not belong here in terms of trial leadership. It is meant for applicants who will be conducting an independent basic experimental study with humans. Investigators who are not planning an independent human experiment of this kind, or who mainly want to gain experience by participating in a clinical trial or human experimental study that is led by someone else, are directed to a companion funding opportunity where an independent clinical trial is not allowed. In other words, this FOA is the correct home when the applicant is proposing to lead a prospective, experimentally manipulated, human-participant basic science study; it is not meant for projects that avoid human experiments altogether or for projects where the applicant is only a trainee/participant under another PI's trial.

Eligibility is broad across many types of U.S.-based organizations and government entities. Eligible applicants 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; federally recognized Native American tribal governments; tribal organizations that are not federally recognized; public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities; nonprofits with and without 501(c)(3) status (as long as they are not institutions of higher education when applying under the nonprofit category); for-profit organizations other than small businesses; and small businesses. The announcement also highlights additional eligible organizational categories often emphasized in NIH programs, including Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Hispanic-serving Institutions, Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCCUs), Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions, and Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutions (AANAPISIs), as well as faith-based or community-based organizations, eligible federal agencies, regional organizations, and U.S. territories or possessions.

At the same time, the FOA includes important restrictions related to foreign involvement. Non-domestic (non-U.S.) entities and foreign institutions 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 may be included when allowed under NIH policy (as defined in the NIH Grants Policy Statement), meaning a U.S. applicant can sometimes incorporate certain international elements if they meet NIH requirements and are well-justified.

From the administrative details provided, this is a discretionary NIH grant mechanism in the health funding area (CFDA 93.173), managed under the National Institutes of Health and tied to NIDCD priorities. The opportunity was created on January 19, 2021, and the listed original closing date is January 7, 2024. No award ceiling or expected number of awards is specified in the text you provided, which often means applicants need to consult the full FOA and NIH policy pages for budget structure and program expectations. Overall, the takeaway is that PAR-21-096 supports established investigators who want to acquire new capabilities and apply them in an investigator-led, prospective, experimentally controlled human-participant basic science study that advances foundational understanding in NIDCD-relevant domains.

• 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 Basic Experimental Studies with Humans Required)" 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.

Apply for PAR 21 096

[Watch] Creating a grant proposal using the step-by-step wizard inside the applicant portal: