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Issued by

National Eye Institute (NEI)

Purpose

The National Eye Institute (NEI) has issued a Request for Information (RFI) to gather input from the scientific community, health professionals, professional societies, patient advocates, and the public to aid in the development of its 2026-2031 strategic plan. The plan aims to guide vision research priorities over the next five years, building on the previous 2021-2025 strategic plan and aligning with the NIH’s mission through a unified strategy.

Purpose and Background

The National Eye Institute, established in 1968 as part of the National Institutes of Health, focuses on eliminating vision loss and improving quality of life through vision research. For its strategic plan, developed in coordination with the National Advisory Eye Council (NAEC), NEI seeks broad engagement from stakeholders (scientists, clinicians, professional societies, patient advocates, and the public) to identify research needs, gaps, opportunities, and emerging areas of emphasis for vision research over the next five years.

Information Requested

NEI invites feedback in four core pillar framework areas (described below) on several key topics:

• Significant scientific or technological advancements that may enable new opportunities.
• Current needs, gaps, opportunities, and emerging areas in research, health, and quality of life that NEI should consider addressing.
• Alignment with the NIH Unified Strategy, which includes artificial intelligence, real-world data platforms, new approach methodologies (NAMs, including organoids, complex microphysiological or stem cell-based systems, digital twins, in chemico and in silico approaches that mimic human tissue, and biomedical data to facilitate discovery, testing, and refinement of new therapies), replication and reproducibility, nutrition, solution-oriented approaches in health disparities research, training future biomedical scientists, and others.
• NEI emphasizes that while it is structuring input in these areas, and around four core pillars described below, it is committed to funding high-quality investigator-initiated research across all vision research fields.

Core Pillar Framework

To organize the strategic planning process, NEI seeks information in relation to four core pillars designed to foster cross-disciplinary collaboration and capitalize on recent scientific opportunities:

1. Foundational Science

NEI seeks to support foundational research that drives new methodologies applicable to ophthalmology and vision science, and generalizable to broader biomedical fields.

2. Translational Science

NEI seeks to encourage research that facilitates the progression of new therapies and disease detection methods to early-phase clinical trials.

3. Clinical & Population Science

NEI seeks to encourage collaborative research to improve disease prevention, screening, early detection, treatment, and access to care. It also supports multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary rehabilitative strategies aimed at enhancing quality of life for individuals with vision loss.

4. Training & Metascience

NEI seeks to more effectively address complex problems by strengthening the vision research workforce, promoting team science, enhancing data sharing and interoperability, developing large data-based models, advancing transparent and rigorous research practices, and fostering a strong culture of reproducibility in vision science.

Response and Contact Information

Responses to this RFI are voluntary and intended solely for information and planning purposes. They do not constitute a solicitation for grant application, or an obligation on the part of NEI to provide support for any ideas identified in response to it. Respondents are advised not to submit proprietary or sensitive information. Please note that NEI will not pay for the preparation of any information submitted,or for use of that information. The response deadline and contact details are provided for inquiries and submissions.

Staff will carefully review all responses and will not provide comments to any individual respondent’s submission. Any identifiers (e.g., names, institutions, e-mail addresses, etc.) will be removed when responses are compiled. The NEI will use the information submitted in response to this RFI anonymously at its discretion (e.g., on public websites, in reports, in summaries of the state of the science, in possible resultant solicitation(s), or in the development of future notices of funding opportunity).

Please respond by April 15, 2026 using the following form:  https://forms.office.com/g/6jfBL4uhyG.

Please share this request broadly with your colleagues and community.

Inquiries

Please direct all inquiries to:

IC Name: National Eye Institute (NEI) 

Email: [email protected].