Advancing “Science of Science” Research to Understand and Strengthen the Biomedical Research Ecosystem

Areas of interest include, but are not limited to, research in the following areas:  

• The factors and mechanisms that promote interest, preparedness, retention and success in careers in the biomedical research workforce.
• Strategies to promote rigorous and reproducible research.
• Mechanisms to promote innovative and impactful research.
• Fostering greater collaboration and team science.
• Approaches to sustainably enhancing research capacity and infrastructure.
• Economic outcomes of biomedical science investments.

ICO Scientific Contact:
Moushumi Paul, Ph.D.
[email protected]

Areas of interest include, but are not limited to, the following areas:

• Factors that enhance recruitment, interdisciplinary career development, and retention of ophthalmologists and optometrists in biomedical research to foster a sustainable, well-trained workforce in vision research. 
• Identifying barriers that slow or prevent the transition of basic research findings into community health, clinical, or commercial spaces to improve the vision health of the American population.
• New metrics (e.g., S-index) and strategies to evaluate data sharing in the vision research community.
• Pathways to promote data standardization, rigor and reproducibility of research findings.
• Development of effective models for cross-disciplinary collaboration and team science.

ICO Scientific Contact:
Charles Wright, Ph.D.
[email protected]

Areas of interest include, but are not limited to:

• Identifying drivers of scientific innovation, collaboration, and idea development in aging and AD/ADRD research, including peer review, incentives, team structures, and researcher behavior.
• Mapping pathways from discovery to intervention to pinpoint bottlenecks and assess how funding strategies, risk-taking, and disruptive science influence translation.
• Developing metrics to capture novelty, rigor, and quality through studies of prediction limits, reproducibility, and workforce dynamics.
• Applying analytics to evaluate data reuse, cost-effectiveness, societal returns, and spillover effects of investments.
• Building shared tools and interdisciplinary networks to enhance the research ecosystem and decision-making.

ICO Scientific Contact:
Joseph Chiarenzelli, MPH
[email protected]

Areas of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Strategies to promote rigorous training for clinical trials
• Long-term approaches to enhancing research capacity and organizational structure to support long-term and impactful training program
• Fostering approaches to recruit and retain scientific talent at all levels of the biomedical workforce
• Strategies to spur research and training innovation, including through team science approach
• Secure long-term support for bench to bedside training and research programs
• Strategies to promote rigorous and reproducible research and scientific accountability and integrity in training

ICO Scientific Contact:
Jyothi Arikkath, PhD
[email protected]

Areas of interest to NIBIB include: 

• Development of science of science methods related to the development of platform biomedical technologies to accelerate translation 
• Mechanisms to support a workforce emphasizing rigorous, ethical, and reproducible biomedical technology development 
• Approaches to enhance research capacity and infrastructure within biomedical imaging and bioengineering

ICO Scientific Contact:
Luisa Russell, PHD
[email protected]

Areas of interest to NIDCR include:

• Strategies to develop and sustain a robust dental, oral and craniofacial (DOC) research workforce
• Approaches to promote research capacity building in DOC health research at institutions across the nation
• Mechanisms to support collaborative and team science research that integrate DOC with systemic health research 
• Pathways that advance innovative training to enhance rigor and reproducibility, entrepreneurship and commercialization, and engage material, physical, data and AI scientists in collaborative DOC health research

ICO Scientific Contact:
Shoba Thirumangalathu, PhD
[email protected]

ICO Scientific Contact:
Nathaniel Stinson, MD, Ph.D.
[email protected]

Larissa Avilés-Santa, MD, MPH, FACP. FACE
[email protected]

Deborah Linares, Ph.D.
[email protected]

ICO Scientific Contact:
Clayton Bingham, PhD
[email protected]

OBSSR is interested in behavioral and social science aspects of the "science of science." 

As OBSSR does not award or manage grants, applications must be relevant to the objectives of at least one of the NIH Institutes or Centers listed in the topic. 

ICO Scientific Contact:
Emily Evans, Ph.D.
[email protected]

ICO Scientific Contact:
Sean Klein
[email protected]

ORWH interests include, but are not limited to, research in the following areas:    

• The factors and mechanisms that promote interest, preparedness, retention and success in careers related to the research on women’s health.
• Strategies to promote rigorous and reproducible research related to sex as a biological variable.
• Mechanisms to promote innovative and impactful research related to conditions that uniquely or predominantly affect women or that affect women differently, especially mechanisms that foster greater collaboration and team science. 

ORWH does not award or manage grants. Applications must be relevant to the objectives of at least one of the NIH Institutes or Centers listed in the topic. 

ICO Scientific Contact:
Xenia Tigno, Ph.D.
[email protected]