OppNet has multiple active funding opportunities for investigator-career development and research projects. All our Notices of Funding Opportunities (NOFOs) focus on basic social, psychological, and biological sciences to advance the understanding of mechanisms and processes that can occur individually, synergistically, and within environments and lead to behavioral and social functions with specific implications on health and wellbeing. Applications to OppNet NOFOs may involve animal models, human subjects, or existing data. NIH policies require multiple versions of NOFOs to accommodate project types and design; be certain your proposed project aligns with the appropriate version of a NOFO and that the NIH Institutes, Centers, and Offices that interest you participate in that OppNet NOFO.
Researcher Career Development
Mid-career enhancement awards to integrate basic behavioral, biomedical, and/or social scientific processes (K18)
The K18 is designed for researchers who investigators who need dedicated time and support funds to become proficient in a new discipline or to expand research trajectories by working with another research group’s expertise in the areas of basic psychological processes, sociological processes, and/or biomedical pathways. OppNet K18s can support a variety of career development experiences and projects that will empower grantees to conduct independent research projects that more thoroughly integrate behavioral, biological, endocrine, epigenetic, immune, inflammatory, neurological, psychological, and/or social processes. Check our Answers to frequently asked questions, List of funded OppNet K18 projects, and the NOFOs for more information.
- PAR-20-226: Mid-career enhancement awards to integrate basic behavioral, biomedical, and/or social scientific processes (K18, Basic Experimental Studies with Humans Required)
- PAR-20-211: Mid-career enhancement awards to integrate basic behavioral, biomedical, and/or social scientific processes (K18, No Independent Clinical Trials)
Research Projects
Dyadic Interpersonal Processes and Biopsychosocial Outcomes (R01)
These NOFOs invite applications that propose basic and/or methodological research projects to illuminate and/or measure independent and interdependent health-related effects within dyads across relationships and settings.
Dyads are social relationships that extend beyond the individual and have strong bidirectional influences on physical and mental health. In addition, for these NOFOs, independent effects are effects that affect each member of the dyad individually (i.e., by nature of being part of the dyad), whereas interdependent effects are those that affect one member of the dyad contingent upon the other member of the dyad (i.e., not only because the individual is part of a dyad but also because being part of the dyad influences the other individual within the dyad as well). For these NOFOs, a dyad is a unit of two individuals whose interactions and influences on one another are nested within larger social contexts and networks.
Current Federal Policy for the Protection of Human Subjects influences the ways NIH uses the term clinical trial for classification and reporting purposes. Consider both versions of this initiative before contacting a program official and submitting an application:
- PAR-21-280: Dyadic Interpersonal Processes and Biopsychosocial Outcomes (R01, Basic Experimental Studies with Humans)
- PAR-21-281: Dyadic Interpersonal Processes and Biopsychosocial Outcomes (R01, Clinical Trials Not Allowed)
Research on Biopsychosocial Factors of Social Connectedness and Isolation on Health, Wellbeing, Illness, and Recovery (R01)
This series of NOFOs invite research projects that seek to explain underlying mechanisms, processes, and trajectories of social relationships and how these factors affect outcomes in human health, illness, recovery, and overall wellbeing. Both animal model and human subjects research projects are welcome. Select the version that most closely aligns with your project’s study design.
- PAR-21-349: Research on Biopsychosocial Factors of Social Connectedness and Isolation on Health, Wellbeing, Illness, and Recovery (R01 Basic Experimental Studies with Humans Required)
- PAR-21-350: Research on Biopsychosocial Factors of Social Connectedness and Isolation on Health, Wellbeing, Illness, and Recovery (R01 Clinical Trials Not Allowed)
- PAR-21-352: Research on Biopsychosocial Factors of Social Connectedness and Isolation on Health, Wellbeing, Illness, and Recovery (R01 Clinical Trial Required)
NIH Policies on Human Subjects Research and OppNet Funding Opportunities
OppNet acknowledges that disease-, risk-, and wellness-contexts can provide opportunities to study basic behavioral or social processes, basic biobehavioral or biosocial interrelationships, or methodology and measurement relevant to the NIH definition of basic behavioral and social science research (b-BSSR). Given the NIH mission, OppNet NOFOs welcome applications that propose projects in a broad variety of settings, including general population and clinical samples. Projects also can include disease (or risk-factor) outcomes, so long as the focus of a study is on basic behavioral or social processes, basic biobehavioral or biosocial interrelationships, or methodology and measurement relevant to BSSR research.
Consequently, OppNet strongly encourages interested researchers to consult the bBSSR and BSSR definitions and the scientific contacts listed on each OppNet NOFO before deciding whether and how to apply.
Federal Policy for the Protection of Human Subjects ('Common Rule') and the NIH’s efforts to improve rigor, reproducibility, and reporting across scientific disciplines involved in health-related research, the NIH uses the term clinical trial broadly, "A research study in which one or more human subjects are prospectively assigned to one or more interventions (which may include placebo or other control) to evaluate the effects of those interventions on health-related biomedical or behavioral outcomes." Click the graphic below for NIH resources to determine whether your proposed research study with human subjects meets NIH’s definition of a clinical trial.
