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Issued by

National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)

Purpose

The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) has launched a new Challenge Competition, the NINDS Rigor Champions Prize.

This Notice is being provided to allow potential entrants sufficient time to participate in the Challenge and assemble their teams (if applicable) and submit entries to the Challenge.

The Challenge is currently open for submissions through August 15th, 2023.

NINDS intends to award up to five monetary prizes of $10,000 each. Additional information about the planned Challenge competition is provided below.

Background

The NINDS Rigor Champion Prize is being run by the Office of Research Quality at NINDS. This challenge will recognize rigor champions who have promoted or enhanced research rigor and transparency practices relevant to the field of neuroscience. It is expected that the participants in this challenge will have championed these activities outside their typical job duties and that the activities have or are changing the culture of science on a local (e.g., laboratory, departmental) or broader (e.g., institution-wide, national, field-wide) level.

The goals of this prize are to:

1. Identify individuals or small teams who are exemplars of promoting enhanced research rigor and transparency practices (i.e., rigor champions),
2. Recognize and reward these rigor champions, and
3. Help raise awareness of these efforts so that these activities may be taken up by the community at large.

We encourage submissions from rigor champions across sectors of the academic community, including trainees and other early-career researchers, administrators, librarians, staff scientists, faculty, and other integral members of the scientific community from diverse disciplines and types of organizations. 

Challenge Details

Individuals and small teams (up to 5 individuals) are invited to submit short essays detailing how they have championed activities related to enhancing attention to rigor and transparency relevant to the field of neuroscience. Specifically, participants will be asked to describe the significance and impact of these activities and to what extent they have championed the activity.

Details about the prize competition are posted at https://www.challenge.gov/?challenge=ninds-rigor-champions-prize. 

NINDS intends to conduct this challenge under the America Creating Opportunities to Meaningfully Promote Excellence in Technology, Education, and Science (COMPETES) Reauthorization Act of 2010, as amended [15 U.S.C. 3719].

Inquiries

Please direct all inquiries to:

We strongly encourage interested parties to contact the NINDS Office of Research Quality Program staff listed below to discuss potential submissions. Inquiries may also be sent to: RigorChampions@nih.gov.

Devon Crawford, Ph.D.
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)
Telephone: 301-827-7758
Email: devon.crawford@nih.gov

Mariah Hoye, Ph.D.
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)
Telephone: 240-753-8319
Email: mariah.hoye@nih.gov