NIH Directors Pioneer Award Program (DP1 Clinical Trial Optional) | RFA RM 21 015

Opportunity Information: Apply for RFA RM 21 015

The NIH Directors Pioneer Award Program (DP1, clinical trial optional) is a National Institutes of Health grant opportunity designed to back individual scientists who show exceptional creativity and who want to pursue research ideas that are genuinely bold, unconventional, and potentially transformative for human health. It sits within the NIH Common Fund High-Risk, High-Reward Research program, which is meant to give investigators room to try approaches that might be too novel or uncertain for more traditional funding mechanisms. The central expectation is that the work is "pioneering," meaning it should push into substantially different scientific directions than what the investigator is already doing in their current research program and should not simply mirror well-established lines of work already underway elsewhere.

The scope is intentionally broad and welcoming across NIHs mission space. Proposed projects can fall anywhere across behavioral, social, biomedical, applied, and formal sciences, and they may be basic, translational, or clinical in nature. Because the FOA is labeled "clinical trial optional," applicants may propose studies that include a clinical trial if it fits the transformative vision, but a clinical trial is not required. The emphasis is less on incremental next steps and more on an idea that could shift how a field thinks or operates if it succeeds.

NIH also signals a strong commitment to expanding who applies and who is supported. The announcement explicitly encourages applications that reflect the full diversity of the research workforce and invites participation from investigators across all geographic regions and from the full spectrum of eligible institutions. In practice, this means the program is not narrowly aimed at a single discipline, region, or type of organization; it is trying to attract standout people and standout ideas wherever they are found.

Eligibility spans a wide range of U.S.-based organizations and governmental entities. Eligible applicants include state, county, city or township, and special district governments; independent school districts; public and state-controlled institutions of higher education; private institutions of higher education; federally recognized Native American tribal governments; tribal organizations other than federally recognized tribal governments; public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities; nonprofit organizations with or without 501(c)(3) status (other than institutions of higher education); for-profit organizations (other than small businesses); and small businesses. The FOA also highlights additional eligible applicant types 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), Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCCUs), eligible federal agencies, faith-based or community-based organizations, regional organizations, Indian/Native American tribal governments other than federally recognized, and U.S. territories or possessions.

There are important limits related to foreign participation. Non-domestic (non-U.S.) entities (foreign organizations and foreign institutions) are not eligible to apply, and non-domestic components of U.S. organizations are also not eligible to apply. However, foreign components, as defined in the NIH Grants Policy Statement, are allowed, which can permit certain parts of the work to be carried out abroad under NIH rules as long as the applicant organization itself is eligible and U.S.-based.

From the posted opportunity details, the funding instrument is a grant under the health funding activity category, with CFDA number 93.310. The funding opportunity number is RFA-RM-21-015, administered by NIH. The opportunity was originally listed with a closing date of 2021-09-10, and it shows an award ceiling of $700,000. The bottom-line message of the program is that NIH is looking to invest in individual investigators with unusually original thinking who are ready to take a major scientific leap that could meaningfully advance human health if it works.

• The National Institutes of Health in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "NIH Directors Pioneer Award Program (DP1 Clinical Trial Optional)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.310.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2021-04-06.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2021-09-10. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $700,000.00 in funding.
• 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.

Apply for RFA RM 21 015

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