BRAIN Initiative: Data Archives for the BRAIN Initiative (R24 Clinical Trial Optional) | RFA MH 25 110

Opportunity Information: Apply for RFA MH 25 110

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is offering a discretionary grant opportunity titled "BRAIN Initiative: Data Archives for the BRAIN Initiative (R24 Clinical Trial Optional)" under Funding Opportunity Number RFA-MH-25-110. The purpose of this Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) is to support the development of web-accessible data archives that can capture, store, and curate datasets generated through BRAIN Initiative activities. The central emphasis is on building durable, community-oriented infrastructure that makes BRAIN-related data broadly available, well described, and easy for researchers to access and reuse in order to accelerate neuroscience discovery.

A key goal of the program is to create community resource archives that do more than simply hold files. These archives are expected to curate data and provide appropriate standards-based descriptions and summary information so that outside researchers can understand what the data are, how they were generated, and how they can be responsibly analyzed. While the archives are expected to work with the research community and support the incorporation of tools that let users analyze and visualize the archived data, the NOFO is clear that building those analysis and visualization tools is not itself what NIH is funding here. In other words, applicants should focus on the archive: ingestion, curation, documentation, accessibility, and long-term usability, rather than proposing a full suite of new analytics or visualization software as the main deliverable.

Similarly, the program expects archives to use appropriate data standards to describe the datasets they host, improving interoperability and reuse across the BRAIN ecosystem. However, the NOFO also makes clear that creating new standards is outside the scope of this funding. The expectation is that awardees will adopt, implement, and operationalize suitable existing standards (or community-accepted approaches) to ensure the data are consistently described and broadly usable, rather than using the grant to invent new standards frameworks.

The funding instrument is an NIH grant using the R24 activity code, and the announcement notes "Clinical Trial Optional," meaning applications may include clinical trial elements if relevant, but clinical trials are not required. The overall activity category is listed as Education, Health, Income Security and Social Services, and the program is associated with multiple CFDA numbers, including 93.173, 93.213, 93.242, 93.273, 93.279, 93.286, 93.853, 93.865, 93.866, and 93.867, reflecting NIH’s cross-institute footprint for BRAIN-related research and infrastructure investments.

Eligibility is broad and includes a wide range of domestic applicant types such as state, county, city or township governments, special district governments, independent school districts, and public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities. Higher education institutions are eligible, including public/state-controlled and private institutions. Tribal eligibility includes federally recognized Native American tribal governments and other Native American tribal organizations that are not federally recognized. The NOFO also allows applications from nonprofits with or without 501(c)(3) status (as long as they are not institutions of higher education), for-profit organizations (other than small businesses), and small businesses. In addition, NIH explicitly highlights other eligible applicants such as Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions, Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutions (AANAPISIs), Hispanic-serving Institutions, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), and Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCCUs). Faith-based or community-based organizations, eligible federal agencies, regional organizations, U.S. territories or possessions, and non-domestic (non-U.S.) entities (foreign organizations) are also listed as eligible, underscoring NIH’s intent to support archives that can serve a broad and diverse research community.

The opportunity was created on 2024-03-19, with an original closing date of 2026-06-24. The provided source information does not specify an award ceiling or the expected number of awards, which usually means applicants should consult the full NOFO text for budget expectations, project period details, review criteria, and any program-specific requirements around governance, data access policies, cybersecurity, sustainability planning, and coordination with existing BRAIN data ecosystem resources.

In practical terms, a competitive application would be expected to describe how the proposed archive will accept and manage incoming BRAIN Initiative datasets, how it will curate and document them using appropriate standards, how it will make them discoverable and accessible on the web, and how it will coordinate with the broader research community to ensure the archive remains useful and aligned with community needs. The end result NIH is aiming for is a reliable, widely accessible data archive that lowers barriers to data sharing and reuse, helping researchers build on prior BRAIN-funded work and speeding up progress in understanding the brain.

• The National Institutes of Health in the education, health, income security and social services sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "BRAIN Initiative: Data Archives for the BRAIN Initiative (R24 Clinical Trial Optional)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.173, 93.213, 93.242, 93.273, 93.279, 93.286, 93.853, 93.865, 93.866, 93.867.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2024-03-19.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2026-06-24. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Independent school districts, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities, Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments), Nonprofits having a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Nonprofits that do not have a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education, For-profit organizations other than small businesses, Small businesses, Others.

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