The NIH Research Education Program (R25) supports research education activities in the mission areas of the NIH. The overarching goal of this NHGRI R25 program is to support educational activities that encourage individuals from diverse backgrounds, including those from groups underrepresented in the biomedical and behavioral sciences, to pursue further studies or careers in research.

Limited Submissions Internal Call for Proposals: NIH Research Experience in Genomic Research for Data Scientists (R25)
UNC Internal Deadline: 11:59PM, Monday, February 22, 2021
NIH LOI Deadline: April 25, 2021
NIH Full Proposal Deadline: May 25, 2021
Eligibility: This FOA is explicitly intended to support the entry of master’s degree students in data science into the genomics workforce.
- Undergraduate or doctoral students will not be supported under this FOA
- The following groups explicitly cannot be supported under this announcement:
- Data scientists who have completed an undergraduate degree but are not enrolled in a data science master’s degree.
- Data scientists currently with extensive genomics research experience.
- Master’s degree students currently enrolled in genomics programs who are interested in gaining exposure to data science.
Number of Applications per Institution: 1
Award Budget: Application budgets are limited to $250,000 direct cost.
Award Project Period: The maximum project period is five years.
Program Description: The NIH Research Education Program (R25) supports research education activities in the mission areas of the NIH. The overarching goal of this NHGRI R25 program is to support educational activities that encourage individuals from diverse backgrounds, including those from groups underrepresented in the biomedical and behavioral sciences, to pursue further studies or careers in research. To accomplish the stated over-arching goal, this funding opportunity announcement (FOA) will support creative educational activities with a primary focus on Research Experiences.
The NIH Research Education Program (R25) supports research educational activities that complement other formal training programs in the mission areas of the NIH Institutes and Centers. The overarching goals of the NIH R25 program are to:
- complement and/or enhance the training of a workforce to meet the nation’s biomedical, behavioral and clinical research needs;
- encourage individuals from diverse backgrounds, including those from groups underrepresented in the biomedical and behavioral sciences, to pursue further studies or careers in research;
- help recruit individuals with specific specialty or disciplinary backgrounds to research careers in biomedical, behavioral and clinical sciences; and
- foster a better understanding of biomedical, behavioral and clinical research and its implications.
Research Experiences: For students currently enrolled in master’s degree programs in data science (including programs in statistics/biostatistics, mathematics, computer science or equivalent fields) to provide hands-on exposure to genomics data sets as a substrate for their analytical skills. Through this announcement, NHGRI hopes to attract such students to the genomics workforce. NHGRI also seeks to both encourage data scientists who plan to opt for a terminal master’s degree to join genomics research, as well as reinforce the intent of current master’s degree students who are considering entering a doctoral program with an eventual dissertation focused on genomic data science.
Research education programs may complement ongoing research training and education occurring at the applicant institution, but the proposed educational experiences must be distinct from those training and education programs currently receiving Federal support. R25 programs may augment institutional research training programs (e.g., T32, T90) but cannot be used to replace or circumvent Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) programs.
To Apply: Submit the following (in a SINGLE .pdf) to Limited_Submission@unc.edu by 11:59PM, Monday, February 22, 2021.
- PI/ Team members NIH-formatted biosketch
- Project Summary (four-page maximum)
- List of potential collaborators (internal and external to UNC)
- Names (along with title, department, and email) of three internal (to UNC) experts who could speak knowledgeably about the candidate’s research and who could potentially serve on an internal review panel.
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- Please do not include the names of faculty named on the project, chairs, deans, directors, direct reports, or others who have a conflict of interest
- Please notify all potential internal reviewers before submitting the pre-proposal
packet to ORD
Full solicitation: https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PAR-21-075.html