Key Dates

Anticipated Challenge Announcement Date: September 30, 2024

Related Announcements

• November 15, 2024 - Notice of Technical Webinar: NCATS Translational Science Education and Training Challenge Competition. See Notice NOT-TR-25-001.

Issued by

National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS)

Purpose

The Education Branch of the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) intends to publish a Challenge announcement to solicit entries for the NCATS Translational Science Education and Training Challenge. This Notice is being provided to inform potential participants of the upcoming opportunity to compete in the Challenge.

This Challenge will identify, amplify and disseminate exemplary models of translational science education and training from across the nation to a broad national audience. The Challenge announcement will invite submissions from participants who have already designed and implemented exemplary translational science education and training opportunities that have the potential for broader dissemination. These education and training opportunities may take any form, including but not restricted to courses, workshops, seminar series, consulting, coaching, certificate programs, and badging programs.

Publication of the Challenge announcement is planned for September 30, 2024.  Launch of the submission portal is planned for the same date. This Challenge competition will be open for a maximum of three years. Submissions for year one will be accepted on a rolling basis beginning September 30, 2024, and closing on April 30, 2025. Submission opening and closing dates for subsequent years will be included in the Challenge announcement. This Challenge will offer a total of $50,000 in cash prizes, comprising five prizes of $10,000 each. NCATS reserves the right to close the Challenge early if five worthy prize winners are identified in less than three years.

Background

The field of translational science aims to transform the process of turning biomedical research discoveries into health solutions, to deliver more health solutions, to all people, more quickly. Translational science identifies longstanding challenges that slow or stop translational research progress and generates innovations that overcome these challenges. These include scientific and operational innovations that make our research faster, more efficient, and more impactful. A key feature of translational science innovations is that they are designed to advance research across diseases and conditions, as well as research initiatives and projects.

To contribute to developing and implementing transformative translational science initiatives, the translational science workforce requires specialized knowledge and skills for identifying and overcoming translational challenges and advancing translational progress.  This workforce includes the many varied contributors to the translational enterprise, including scientists across the translational continuum; science leaders, administrators, and managers; and patient advocacy groups and community organizations that are critical research partners.

Nationally, trailblazers in translational science education and training are creating novel training and education opportunities that convey knowledge and skills for translational science to varied participants. A number of these education and training opportunities have been described in the scientific literature or shared at conferences and on websites that serve as clearinghouses for the translational science community.  Yet many more exist that have not been disseminated broadly, that may serve as excellent models for colleagues and that have the potential to be expanded or adapted to reach broader audiences.

This Challenge competition will create an avenue to identify and amplify these exemplary models of translational science education and training, toward disseminating them to broader audiences. Competition prize winners will be announced broadly via a robust communications and outreach campaign using all communications channels typically employed by NCATS. As part of this effort, a detailed description of each winner’s education or training opportunity will be shared on the NCATS website, to facilitate dissemination and implementation.

Eligibility

Participation in the Challenge is open to individuals who are citizens or permanent residents of the United States, or private entities that are incorporated in or maintain a primary place of business in the United States. However, non-U.S. citizens and non-permanent residents can participate as a member of a team that otherwise satisfies the eligibility criteria.

Full eligibility criteria and full details about registration, competition rules, judging criteria, and requirements and deadlines for submissions will be available in the Challenge announcement, which will be posted on Challenge.gov.

Prize Competition Details

Competing individuals, teams and entities are invited to register and then submit brief (up to 6 page) submission narratives that showcase innovative approaches to translational science education and training that help to develop a highly skilled, large, and diverse translational science workforce. Successful submissions will:

• Provide an overview of the translational science education or training opportunity,
• Describe the translational science focus of the education or training opportunity,
• Describe how the education or training opportunity is designed to serve key learners, and
• Demonstrate the potential for broader dissemination and uptake of the education or training opportunity.

Detailed guidelines will be provided in the Challenge announcement.

Registration and Submission of an Entry 

The Challenge announcement will be posted at Challenge.gov. To compete, participants must submit a completed submission package, including both a completed registration form and submission narrative, by the specified deadlines. The submission package also may include an optional package of supporting documents. Guidelines for the content of these components will be provided in the Challenge announcement. The submission package must be submitted on the Challenge.gov submission portal.  Submission packages that do not include both the registration form and submission narrative will not be judged.

Payment of the Prize

Prizes awarded under this competition will be paid by electronic funds transfer and may be subject to federal income taxes. HHS/NIH will comply with the Internal Revenue Service withholding and reporting requirements, where applicable.

Inquiries

We encourage interested parties to contact the NCATS Program Lead listed below to discuss potential submissions at: NCATSEducationandTrainingChallenge@mail.nih.gov

Program Lead
Amanda Vogel, Ph.D. MPH
National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences