The FY22 HRRP FRA mechanism is intended to support promising research that accelerates drug discovery and therapeutic development for hearing restoration after military-relevant auditory system injury or accelerates advances in diagnosis of auditory dysfunction in austere environments.
Applicants are encouraged to leverage resources and expertise at the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) to improve efficiency and accelerate the translational process. A list of NCATS programs and resources supporting preclinical innovation can be found at https://ncats.nih.gov/preclinical.
Applications involving multidisciplinary collaborations among academia, industry, the military Services, the VA, and other federal government agencies are highly encouraged.
Funding Levels: The FY22 HRRP FRA may be used to support preclinical studies in animals and/or clinical research involving human subjects and human anatomical substances. To support research projects at different stages and the exploration/development of ideas of different maturity levels, three funding levels are available under this program announcement. When submitting the pre-application, it is the responsibility of the applicant to select the funding level that is most appropriate for the research proposed. The funding level should be selected based on the stage and maturity level of the research project, rather than the amount of the budget.
Funding Level 1 supports exploratory, high-risk/high-reward research that is in the earliest stages of idea development. Research must have the potential to yield new avenues of investigation, such as new approaches, new research tools, or new paradigms.
Funding Level 2 supports the advancement of more mature research toward clinical translation.
Funding Level 3 supports translational research that includes a Pilot Clinical Trial (PCT).
Deadlines:
• Required Pre-Application Deadline: July 22, 2022
• Application Submission Deadline: November 30, 2022
To meet the intent of the award mechanism, all applications to the FY22 HRRP Focused Research Award (FRA) must address research in one or more of the following Focus Areas:
Independent investigators at all academic levels (or equivalent) are eligible to be named by the recipient organization as Principal Investigator (PI) on the applications. An eligible Principal Investigator (PI), regardless of ethnicity, nationality, or citizenship status, must be employed by, or affiliated with, an eligible organization.
The anticipated direct costs budgeted for the entire period of performance for an FY22 HRRP FRA – Funding Level 1 will not exceed $250,000. The anticipated direct costs budgeted for the entire period of performance for an FY22 HRRP FRA – Funding Level 2 will not exceed $1,000,000. The anticipated direct costs budgeted for the entire period of performance for an FY22 HRRP FRA - Funding Level 3 will not exceed $1,250,000. Refer to Section II.D.5, Funding Restrictions, for detailed funding information.
