Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)

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Mission Statement

The NICHD Mission is to lead research and training to understand human development, improve reproductive health, enhance the lives of children and adolescents, and optimize abilities for all.

Interest Areas

General Topics

NICHD leads research and training to understand human development, improve reproductive health, enhance the lives of children and adolescents, and optimize abilities for all. 

  • Understanding the Molecular/Cellular/Structural Basis of Development
    • Mechanisms for pre/postnatal development, including typical/atypical development
    • Advanced techniques/tools to enhance developmental research
  • Advancing Gynecologic/Andrologic/Reproductive Health
    • Diagnosis/treatment interventions for gynecologic conditions
    • Reproductive aging and its impact
    • Factors leading to infertility
    • Understanding puberty/andropause/perimenopause
    • Contributors to gynecologic pain
  • Setting the Foundation for Healthy Pregnancies and Lifelong Wellness
    • Etiology/prevention of perinatal/preterm birth complications, and strategies to improve long-term outcomes for preterm infants
    • Analyses to inform interventions for pregnancy complications and adverse maternal outcomes
    • Community-informed maternal health interventions
    • Biology of the placenta
    • Human milk and lactation
  • Improving Child/Adolescent Health and the Transition to Adulthood
    • Strategies to prevent infant morbidity/mortality/stillbirth
    • Social/environmental determinants of child health and interventions to improve outcomes
    • Interventions to prevent trauma/other harms and aid recovery
    • Physical/cognitive/social/emotional development
    • Pediatric/adult care system integration, including children with disabilities
    • Implementation research for effective preventive primary care
  • Fostering Safe and Effective Therapeutics and Devices for Pregnant/Lactating Women, Children/People with Disabilities
    • Pharmacology/dosing/formulation studies
    • Biomarkers/models/outcome measures to support regulatory approval
    • Scalable, accessible therapeutics/diagnostics/medical devices
    • Interventions for people with disabilities
    • Data science to assess health outcomes/therapeutics/patient engagement

Assistance Listing

Assistance listings are detailed public descriptions of federal programs used across government agencies that provide grants, loans, scholarships, insurance, and other types of assistance awards. They are maintained in the System for Award Management (SAM) and can be used to search for opportunities in Grants.gov.

View NICHD Assistance Listing Numbers

  • 93.865 - Child Health and Human Development Extramural Research

Highlighted Topics

Title Lead ICO Participating ICOs Posted Date Expiration Date

Funding Opportunities and Notices

Search for NICHD’s funding opportunities and notices

Additional Information by Funding Category

Administrative Supplements
In addition to our Administrative Supplements overview, consider the following NICHD-specific information.
Administrative Supplement Interest Areas:

Administrative supplements to NICHD awards are contingent on the availability of NICHD funds and must support work within the approved scope of the parent award and address needs that cannot be met through rebudgeting or unobligated balances such as unanticipated project costs, equipment needs, preservation of key research resources, recruitment or retention costs, or emergency situations.

Administrative Supplement Due Dates:

Applications are accepted year-round but must be submitted by June 17 for consideration in the current fiscal year.

Administrative Supplement Contact:

Investigators should consult with their NICHD Program Officer prior to submission or address inquiries to [email protected].

Conferences and Meetings
In addition to our Conferences and Meetings overview, consider the following NICHD-specific information.
Conferences and Meetings Interest Areas:

NICHD provides limited support for scientific conferences and meetings that directly align and are within the areas of research supported by NICHD in response to funding announcements for support of conferences and scientific meetings in which NICHD participates. 

Conferences and Meetings Budget Considerations:
  • Awards are generally limited to $20,000 in direct costs per year for applications assigned to NICHD. Applicants may seek co-funding from other NIH Institutes or Centers (ICs). 
  • Co-funding of applications assigned to other ICs is generally limited to $5,000 in direct costs per year.
  • Applications that include funding for junior investigator and/or trainee participation are strongly encouraged.
Conferences and Meetings Key Date Considerations:

Conference applications should be submitted as early as possible to allow adequate time for review and award processing. 

For NICHD funding consideration:

  • Events held December–March: submit by the April 12 application due date.
  • Events held April–June: submit by the August 12 application due date.
  • Events held July–November: submit by the December 12 application due date. 
Conferences and Meetings Project Period Considerations:

NICHD will consider support requests for single event conferences or for a series of recurring conferences for up to 5 years. 

Conferences and Meetings Contacts:

Applicants are strongly encouraged to contact NICHD prior to submission, and ideally at least 10 weeks before the intended submission date, to confirm relevance of the conference or workshop to the NICHD mission. 

Inquiries should be addressed to your current Program Director or to NICHD R13 Conference Grants Email: [email protected].

Small Business
In addition to our Small Business overview, consider the following NICHD-specific information.
Small Business Interest Areas:

NICHD supports research that includes, but not limited to the following:

  • Reproductive health, including fertility, conception, contraception, and pregnancy
  • Health of women before, during, and after pregnancy, and fetal development and infant survival
  • Typical and atypical development and growth in children and adolescents, including experiences of trauma and critical illness 
  • Gynecologic health and disease; safe and effective therapeutics and devices for children and pregnant and lactating women; dynamics of human populations across the lifespan
  • Optimizing function in people with intellectual, developmental, and physical disabilities
Phase IIB & Commercialization Readiness Pilot (CRP):
NICHD accepts Phase IIB SBIR projects
NICHD accepts Commercialization Readiness Pilot (CRP) projects
Clinical Trials:
NICHD accepts clinical trials through the SBIR programs
NICHD accepts clinical trials through the STTR programs
NICHD accepts clinical trials through the Phase IIB SBIR program
NICHD accepts clinical trials through the Commercialization Readiness Pilot (CRP)
Small Business Contact:

NICHD Small Business Program

Email: [email protected]

See Also

Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)

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