Key Dates

Related Announcements

• March 6, 2024, NIH Support for Conferences and Scientific Meetings (Parent R13 Clinical Trial Not Allowed) see NOFO PA-24-141

Issued by

Office of Research on Women's Health (ORWH)

National Eye Institute (NEI)

National Institute on Aging (NIA)

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)

National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS)

National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR)

National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS)

National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD)

Purpose

Purpose

The purpose of this notice is to encourage the submission of “permission-to-submit” applications for R13 proposals seeking funding for the support of scientific conferences and workshops that will bring together subject matter experts in autoimmune disease research with the goal of developing and refining Common Data Elements (CDEs) for autoimmune disease research.

The use of CDEs supports the 2023 NIH Data Management and Sharing Policy by facilitating harmonization of data from different studies and interoperability. 

Background

In 2022, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine report, Enhancing NIH Research on Autoimmune Disease, examined NIH research efforts related to autoimmune diseases. Subsequently, Congress, via the Joint Explanatory Statement accompanying the Fiscal Year 2023 Consolidated Appropriations Act, directed the establishment of the Office of Autoimmune Disease Research in the Office of Research on Women’s Health (OADR-ORWH) and instructed the office to:

• Coordinate development of a multi-institute and center (IC) strategic research plan;
• Identify emerging areas of innovation and research opportunity;
• Coordinate and foster collaborative research across ICs;
• Annually evaluate the NIH autoimmune disease research portfolio;
• Provide resources to support planning, collaboration, and innovation; and
• Develop a publicly accessible central repository for autoimmune disease research.

The NIH Strategic Plan for Data Science and the National Library of Medicine (NLM) Strategic Plan 2017-2027 identify common data elements (CDEs) as a mechanism to facilitate data interoperability.

The NIH CDE Repository was launched in 2015 and provides access to structured human and machine-readable definitions of data elements that have been recommended or required by NIH institutes and centers (ICs) and other organizations for use in research and for other purposes. The NIH CDEs endorsement process involves review by an expert panel to ensure that proposed CDEs meet established criteria and approved CDEs are included in the NIH CDE Repository.

Currently, numerous CDEs are utilized by researchers in autoimmune disease research but very few CDEs have been endorsed by the NLM. To provide resources to support planning and collaboration for CDEs endorsement for the autoimmune disease research community, OADR is seeking letters of interest from groups interested in developing endorsed CDEs for specific areas of autoimmune disease research.

Description

Successful applicants are expected to work in consultation with OADR and respective NIH institute, center, and office (ICO) program staff to establish an organizing committee. This should include representatives from across the autoimmune disease research community and other interested parties.

OADR, respective ICO program staff, and staff from the NIH Office of Data Science Strategy (ODSS) will assist the Program Director(s) (PD(s))/Principal Investigator(s) (PI(s)) with the processes required for obtaining NLM endorsement of CDEs. The PD(s)/PI(s) will have primary responsibility for defining objectives and approaches, planning, coordinating, and validating proposed CDEs.

Funding Mechanism

The website, NIH Support for Conferences and Scientific Meetings, centralizes information regarding grants for scientific conferences. The Contacts and Special Interests section of that website includes contact information for the participating ICs as well as information about each IC's specific interests and funding parameters.

Note: Applicants are encouraged to look at the R13 Frequently Asked Questions for a listing of common questions regarding the preparation and submission of conference grant applications. Applicants are also recommended to consult the OADR portfolio list to ensure their focus area is within the scope of OADR.

The application budget should reflect the actual needs of the proposed project but should not exceed $75,000 total costs requested annually. Depending on the needs of the community, this may be divided into several workshops over the course of a year to allow the community to come together to build consensus on CDE development. 

Permission to Submit Letter

The OADR “permission-to-submit” letter is required in the R13 application. Applicants are urged to initiate contact with OADR at least six weeks prior to the anticipated receipt date. Please note that agreement to consider an application does not guarantee funding. 

Once permission to submit a full R13 application is obtained, applications should be submitted through PA-24-141.

Application and Submission Information

This notice applies to due dates on or after August 12, 2024, and subsequent receipt dates through December 14, 2026 

Submit applications for this initiative using one of the following notice of funding opportunity (NOFO) or any reissues of these announcement through the expiration date of this notice.

• PA-24-141 NIH Support for Conferences and Scientific Meetings (Parent R13 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)

All instructions in the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide and the notice of funding opportunity used for submission must be followed, with the following additions:

• For funding consideration, applicants must include "NOT-OD-24-145" (without quotation marks) in the Agency Routing Identifier field (box 4B) of the SF424 R&R form. Applications without this information in box 4B will not be considered for this initiative.

Applications nonresponsive to terms of this NOSI will not be considered for the NOSI initiative.

Inquiries

Please direct all inquiries to the contacts in Section VII of the listed notice of funding opportunity with the following additions/substitutions:

Scientific/Research Contact(s)

Victoria Shanmugam, MBBS, MRCP, FACR, CCD
Director of the Office of Autoimmune Disease Research 
Office of Research on Women’s Health 
E-mail: OADRInfo@nih.gov

Examine your eRA Commons account for review assignment and contact information (information appears two weeks after the submission due date).