Community-Engaged Health Equity Research in Neuroscience Initiative (R34 CT Not Allowed) | RFA NS 24 007

Opportunity Information: Apply for RFA NS 24 007

The Community-Engaged Health Equity Research in Neuroscience Initiative (R34; Clinical Trial Not Allowed) is a National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding opportunity that supports short-term planning grants focused on neurological disorders in communities that experience health disparities. The central purpose is not to run a full clinical study right away, but to do the foundational work needed to make future community-engaged health equity research feasible, rigorous, and genuinely collaborative. Projects are expected to assess feasibility and/or identify best practices for conducting community-engaged research that addresses inequities in neurological health outcomes, care access, diagnosis, treatment, or other disparity-related issues. If the planning work is successful, it should position the team to pursue a later, larger clinical study or trial that is better designed, better aligned with community priorities, and more likely to recruit and retain participants from the affected populations.

A key requirement is that applicants must do more than simply propose a topic in health disparities and neurology; they must also be addressing a clear gap in either (1) their engagement with one or more health disparity populations (HDPs) and/or (2) their multidisciplinary team expertise. In practice, this means the application should show intentional capacity-building: strengthening or formalizing relationships with HDP communities, establishing equitable partnerships with community organizations, and/or bringing together the right mix of expertise across neurological disorders, health disparities research, and community-engaged research methods. The emphasis is on authentic community engagement, which typically includes shared decision-making, bidirectional communication, and methods that reflect community needs and lived experience rather than only academic priorities.

The expected outcomes are geared toward building a strong platform for future impact. NIH is looking for planning efforts that advance understanding of the drivers of neurological health disparities and the barriers that prevent neurological health equity. At the same time, the initiative aims to create or solidify collaborative research teams that include community partners and have the necessary skill sets to do this work well. A competitive planning grant would typically produce tangible outputs such as community partnership structures (for example, advisory boards or formal agreements), pilot feasibility data, recruitment and retention strategies tailored to the population, culturally and contextually appropriate measurement approaches, and refined research questions and protocols that are ready to be scaled into a subsequent clinical study. Even though the goal is to enable later clinical research, this specific R34 opportunity does not allow clinical trials, reinforcing that the funded work should remain in the planning, development, and feasibility space rather than intervention testing.

Eligibility is broad and includes many types of U.S.-based organizations and governments. Eligible applicants include state, county, city/township, and special district governments; independent school districts; public and state-controlled institutions of higher education; private institutions of higher education; federally recognized tribal governments; tribal organizations that are not federally recognized; public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities; nonprofits with or without 501(c)(3) status (outside of higher education); for-profit organizations (other than small businesses); and small businesses. The opportunity also highlights additional eligible applicants that align with the health equity and community-engagement focus, 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, regional organizations, eligible federal agencies, and U.S. territories or possessions.

Foreign participation is explicitly restricted. Non-domestic (non-U.S.) entities are not eligible to apply, non-domestic components of U.S. organizations are not eligible to apply, and foreign components (as defined by the NIH Grants Policy Statement) are not allowed. This means the work, partnerships, and supported activities must be structured within allowable U.S.-based organizational arrangements.

Administratively, the opportunity is listed as RFA-NS-24-007 under NIH, categorized as a discretionary grant in the health funding activity area (CFDA 93.853). The original application closing date provided is February 2, 2024. The notice emphasizes planning grant objectives and does not provide an award ceiling or expected number of awards in the provided excerpt, so applicants would need to consult the full NOFO for budget limits, project period details, and specific review criteria. Overall, the program is designed to help teams do the careful relationship-building and methodological groundwork that community-engaged neuroscience health equity research requires, so that subsequent studies are both scientifically strong and meaningfully accountable to the communities most affected by neurological health disparities.

• The National Institutes of Health in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Community-Engaged Health Equity Research in Neuroscience Initiative (R34 CT Not Allowed)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.853.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2023-08-11.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2024-02-02. (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 RFA NS 24 007

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