Take Note of New Data Science-Related NOSIs

If your interest lies in data science, check out two new notices of special interest (NOSIs).

Notice of Special Interest (NOSI): Administrative Supplements to Prepare Data Assets for Infectious and Immune-mediated Diseases for Inclusion into the NIAID Data Ecosystem

This NOSI highlights interest in supporting supplemental funding applications for award recipients currently funded by participating NIH institutes and centers (ICs) to prepare data assets relevant for infectious- and immune-mediated disease research for inclusion in the NIAID Data Ecosystem.

Research may include studies that strive to generate a better understanding of mechanisms for the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of infectious and immune-mediated diseases. Note that relevant data must already have been collected and applicants must demonstrate that the data assets have value to other researchers for studies of infectious and immune-mediated disease.

The supplemental funding will enable applicants to prepare their data assets for meeting technical specifications for inclusion in the NIAID Data Ecosystem. The proposed supplemental activities must be within the scope of the approved aims of the parent award.

Examples of projects that might be candidates for supplement activities include, but are not limited to, data repositories, data management and coordination centers, and projects that create unique datasets. Depending on their situation, applicants could propose to make their repository compatible with Ecosystem specifications to create metadata that can be included in the Ecosystem Data Discovery Portal, to deposit their dataset in a repository and create high-quality metadata, or similar work. See the NOSI for examples of eligible activities.

Examples of activities to prepare data assets for inclusion in the NIAID Data Ecosystem include, but are not limited to:

• Augmenting metadata by improving completeness (e.g., include biologically relevant metadata elements) and FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable, reusable) compliance, including representing metadata elements according to standard vocabularies and ontologies.
• Registering complete and FAIR compliant metadata with highly used metadata catalogues, such as the Data Discovery Engine, FAIRSharing, DataCite, or others.
• Re-representing metadata according to schema.org or alternative schema’s that are highly used and that can be mapped to Schema.org.
• Exposing FAIR-compliant metadata via a well-documented application programming interface (API), Elasticsearch, or FHIR service.
• Exposing data assets via a well-documented API that follows GA4GH DRS, the FAIR Data Point specification, or similarly highly used and well-documented API standards.
• Depositing data in a professionally managed data repository (see NIH and OSTP guidance on selecting a repository) or an established data coordination/management center, and creating high-quality and complete metadata.

Eligibility

Be sure to read the Eligibility section of the NOSI, which includes information such as:

• Only awardees currently funded by one of the participating NIH ICs are eligible to apply. Applicants are strongly encouraged to consult the program officer and the grants management officer of the parent award to confirm eligibility and that the supplement falls within the scope of the parent award.
• The proposed project period of the supplement cannot extend beyond the project period of the parent award.
• The parent grant may not be in its first or last 12 months of award at the time the supplement is requested. Awards in a No Cost Extension (NCE) by the time the supplement would be made are ineligible.

Application and Submission Information

Applications for this initiative must be submitted using the following opportunity or its subsequent reissued equivalent: Administrative Supplements to Existing NIH Grants and Cooperative Agreements (Parent Admin Supp, Clinical Trial Optional).

Applications are due February 13, 2023, February 13, 2024, and February 13, 2025, by 5 p.m. local time of the applicant organization.

For funding consideration, applicants must include “NOT-AI-23-009” (without quotation marks) in the Agency Routing Identifier field (box 4B) of the SF 424 R&R form. Applications without this information in box 4B will not be considered for this initiative.

Budget Information

Requests may be for 1 year of support only. Examples of allowable effort include, but are not limited to, programmer effort to create API’s and curator effort to prepare or augment (meta)data for more effective sharing or submitting data to repositories.

Applicants are strongly encouraged to notify the program contact at the institute supporting the parent award that a request has been submitted in response to this NOSI to facilitate efficient processing of the request.

If you have questions, send them to NIAID’s Office of Data Science and Emerging Technologies at datascience-FOA@niaid.nih.gov.

Webinar

If you missed the December 16, 2022 Webinar, go to NIAID’s Data Science Funding website for a recording, updates, and frequently asked questions.

Notice of Special Interest (NOSI): Administrative Supplements for R25 Data Science Training for Infectious and Immune-mediated Disease Research

This NOSI highlights the interest of participating NIH ICs to enhance existing NIH research education (R25) awards with data science training relevant to infectious- and immune-mediated disease research. Data science is a rapidly evolving field in infectious- and immune-mediated diseases. Some of the most impactful data science takes place in transdisciplinary collaborations between biomedical, behavioral, clinical, and computational scientists.

This NOSI is also intended to support projects that are relevant to infectious- and immune-mediated disease research and reach a significant number of trainees in a relevant subdomain. Supplemental training modules should bring relevant data science expertise and computational components to the existing R25 training and mentorship program.

Note: Applications are strongly encouraged from programs with strong Diversity Recruitment Plans and demonstrated capability of principal investigators to successfully recruit and engage diverse participants.

The supplemental work supported by this NOSI will enable existing R25 training programs to offer data science mentoring and training to engage a broader community in data science by improving training programs and transdisciplinary collaboration between biomedical, behavioral, clinical, and computational scientists for research on infectious- and immune-mediated diseases, consistent with the NIH Strategic Plan for Data Science.

The goal of the supplementary funding is to add data science training components that enable stronger transdisciplinary collaboration between biomedical, behavioral, clinical, and computational scientists.

Examples of data science topics for R25 training programs include, but are not limited to: data curation, metadata creation, data management and sharing approaches, understanding and applying FAIR Guiding Principles, computational analytical methods such as artificial intelligence/machine learning, systems modeling, and automated reasoning.

Check the NOSI for examples of program elements that could be added to existing R25 training programs. For example:

• Course modules that provide basic knowledge and skills in computational methods to biomedical, behavioral, and clinical trainees, so that trainees would be better equipped for transdisciplinary data science research collaborations.
• Collaborative projects that expose biomedical, behavioral, and clinical trainees to scientists from computational disciplines and improve transdisciplinary communication and collaborative skills.
• Biomedical research informatics and data science training to maximize data comparability and facilitate data harmonization.
• Provide skills development activities that focus on the development of independent researchers who may wish to refocus their careers on data science/innovation for infectious diseases.

Eligibility

Be sure to read the Eligibility section of the NOSI, which includes information such as:

• Only existing R25 awardees currently funded by one of the participating ICs are eligible to apply.
• Domestic (U.S.) entities are eligible to apply. Non-domestic (non-U.S.) entities (foreign institutions) are eligible to apply. Non-domestic (non-U.S.) components of U.S. organizations are eligible to apply.
• Parent grant may not be in its first or last 12 months of award at the time the supplement is requested.
• Project must be within scope of the parent award.

Applicants are strongly encouraged to contact the program contact at the IC supporting the parent award before submitting an application in response to this NOSI in order to ensure that the proposed training aligns with priorities of the IC.

Application and Submission Information

Applications for this initiative must be submitted using the following opportunity or its subsequent reissued equivalent: Administrative Supplements to Existing NIH Grants and Cooperative Agreements (Parent Admin Supp, Clinical Trial Optional).

All instructions in the SF 424 (R&R) Application Guide must be followed, with the following additions:

• Applications are due on February 13, 2023, and February 13, 2024, by 5 p.m. local time of the applicant organization.
• For funding consideration, applicants must include “NOT-AI-23-010” (without quotation marks) in the Agency Routing Identifier field (box 4B) of the SF 424 R&R form. Applications without this information in box 4B will not be considered for this initiative.

Budget Information

Requests may be for 1 year of support only. The maximum requested direct costs may not exceed $100,000.

Questions?

If you have questions, send them to NIAID’s Office of Data Science and Emerging Technologies at datascience-FOA@niaid.nih.gov.