Exploratory/Developmental Clinical Research Grants in Obesity (R21) | Apply Online

Opportunity Summary:

The NIH funding opportunity PA 15-163, titled "Exploratory/Developmental Clinical Research Grants in Obesity (R21)," is designed to support early-stage, exploratory clinical research aimed at speeding up the creation and testing of interventions that prevent or treat overweight and obesity in both adults and children. The emphasis is on developmental studies where investigators are still refining ideas, generating preliminary clinical evidence, testing feasibility, or developing approaches that could later grow into larger, more definitive clinical trials. Alongside clinical studies, the announcement also supports exploratory epidemiological research, as long as the clear purpose is to inform translational or clinical work, meaning the findings should be positioned to move toward practical interventions, clinical testing, or implementation rather than remaining purely descriptive.

This opportunity uses the NIH R21 mechanism, which is typically intended for high-impact, early-stage projects that may involve more uncertainty than later-phase clinical research but have strong potential to open new directions. The listed award ceiling is $200,000, reflecting the program's role in helping teams launch pilot studies, gather early outcomes, validate measures, or establish proof-of-concept that can justify future, larger applications. There is no cost sharing or matching requirement, so applicants are not required to contribute non-federal funds as a condition of receiving an award.

The announcement is categorized as a discretionary grant program within federal activity areas that include education, food and nutrition, health, and income security/social services, which fits obesity research because it often crosses medical, behavioral, environmental, and community systems. It is associated with multiple CFDA numbers spanning dietary supplement research, cancer prevention and control, diabetes/digestive/kidney diseases research, and child health and human development research. In practice, that signals that obesity is treated as a cross-cutting public health issue tied to many disease areas and life stages, and that projects may be relevant to multiple NIH components depending on the scientific focus.

Eligibility is broad and includes many common applicant types such as public and private institutions of higher education, nonprofits (including those with 501(c)(3) status and certain nonprofits without it), for-profit organizations (including small businesses), and a wide range of government entities (state governments, county governments, city/township governments, special district governments, independent school districts, and public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities). The eligible applicant list also extends to tribal governments and organizations, including federally recognized tribal governments and other tribal entities, and it explicitly includes a range of mission-driven institutions such as Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Hispanic-serving institutions, Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCCUs), Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian-serving institutions, and Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutions (AANAPISIs). Faith-based and community-based organizations are also included, as are eligible agencies of the federal government, regional organizations, and U.S. territories or possessions. Notably, the eligibility language also allows non-U.S. entities (foreign organizations), which can be important for research questions that require international populations, settings, or collaborations, as long as the proposed work aligns with NIH rules and the goals of the FOA.

Key dates in the source record show the opportunity was posted and created on March 27, 2015, with an original and current closing date of May 7, 2018, and an archive date of June 7, 2018. That means the specific announcement as listed is no longer open for new submissions under that closing date, but it remains useful as a reference for the type of research NIH sought to fund under this program and for tracking related or successor opportunities.

From a practical standpoint, the kinds of projects that fit this FOA are those that are clearly tied to intervention development or early clinical testing in obesity. That can include piloting behavioral, dietary, physical activity, family-based, clinical care, community, or technology-assisted strategies; refining intervention components; assessing feasibility, acceptability, adherence, and preliminary signals of efficacy; or establishing methods and measures that will be used in later trials. The allowance for exploratory epidemiological work is important, but the intent is not broad surveillance; it is to support epidemiology that directly informs intervention targets, risk stratification, timing, setting, delivery strategies, or translation to clinical practice.

The sponsoring agency is the National Institutes of Health, and the full announcement was made available through the NIH grants guide at the provided link (http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-15-163.html). For access or technical issues, the contact listed is the NIH Office of Extramural Research webmaster (FBOWebmaster@OD.NIH.GOV), which is primarily for problems reaching the announcement rather than scientific program guidance.

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