OppNet Announces its First FY2014 RFA

OppNet, NIH’s Basic Behavioral and Social Science Opportunity Network, announces its first FY2014 RFA:

Short-term mentored career enhancement awards in the basic behavioral and social sciences: Cross-training at the intersection of animal models and human investigation (K18: RFA-DA-14-002)

For more information visit: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-DA-14-002.html

Application due date: December 11, 2013, by 5:00 p.m. local time of applicant organization

Purpose:

This OppNet RFA invites applications for short-term mentored career enhancement awards in basic behavioral and social sciences research (b-BSSR) to support development of research capability in b-BSSR with specific emphasis on cross-training and establishing collaborations between researchers with expertise in animal models of basic behavioral and social processes and those studying similar or related processes in human subjects. Basic research using any non-human species or with human subjects in laboratory- or field-based settings is appropriate for this RFA. OppNet intends to commit $1 million in Fiscal Year 2014 to support an estimated 10 awards.

Eligible candidates may be at any rank or level of research/academic development beyond three years of postdoctoral experience, and either,

• Scientists conducting b-BSSR in animal models who seek training in the study of similar or related behavioral or social processes in humans, or,
• Investigators conducting b-BSSR in human subjects who seek training in the study of similar or related processes in animal models.

OppNet strongly recommends that candidates review the set of Frequently Asked Questions and Answers (FAQs) created expressly for this RFA.

Background

Scientific experts who participated in an October 2010 meeting, OppNet: Expanding Opportunities in Basic Behavioral and Social Science Research and an OppNet workshop, Improving Animal Models of Behavioral and Social Processes, in July 2012, identified the need for increased collaboration between researchers working with animal models and those working with human subjects, in order to improve the back-and-forth translation of b-BSSR findings between animal studies and the human condition.  This FOA begins to address this need using a career enhancement strategy.  Its goal, to develop a cadre of researchers who will be better equipped to work across species, will help address the challenges of modeling complex human social and behavioral processes in non-human organisms.

For more information about OppNet, its NIH members, its grant portfolio, and all its current funding opportunities, visit http://oppnet.nih.gov.

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