School Nutrition and Physical Activity Policies, Obesogenic Behaviors and Weight Outcomes (R01) | Apply Online

Opportunity Summary:

The School Nutrition and Physical Activity Policies, Obesogenic Behaviors and Weight Outcomes (R01) funding opportunity (PA-13-100) was a National Institutes of Health (NIH) Research Project Grant (R01) announcement aimed at building stronger evidence on how policy decisions shape student health. It was jointly issued by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), the National Cancer Institute (NCI), the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), and the Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (OBSSR). At its core, the announcement sought multidisciplinary, policy-relevant research that connects school nutrition and physical activity policies to real-world changes in school environments, youth behaviors linked to obesity risk, and resulting weight outcomes.

A central purpose of the FOA was to support studies that evaluate how policies at multiple levels, including federal, state, and school district levels, influence the on-the-ground school nutrition and physical activity environment. That includes research examining how rules, standards, and requirements translate into what students actually experience day to day, such as the availability and marketing of foods and beverages, the structure and quality of physical education, opportunities for physical activity during the school day, and other environmental factors that can promote or discourage healthy behaviors. The focus is not only on whether policies exist, but whether they meaningfully shift conditions in schools in ways that can change eating patterns, activity levels, and ultimately body weight or other weight-related outcomes.

Another major emphasis was implementation, meaning how schools and districts adopt, interpret, and carry out these policies in practice. The FOA encouraged applicants to study why implementation varies, what helps or hinders schools in meeting policy requirements, and how decision-making and capacity at different levels of the system shape success. This includes multilevel influences spanning federal and state contexts, district governance and resources, and school-level leadership and constraints. In other words, the announcement was designed for research that does not treat policy as a simple on/off switch, but instead examines how policy moves through complex education systems, where staffing, budgets, competing priorities, community norms, vendor relationships, and local politics can all affect what gets implemented and how faithfully it is carried out.

The FOA also highlighted the need to understand interactions across settings, particularly how school policies may work together with, or sometimes against, influences from the home and community. It encouraged research on whether school nutrition and physical activity policies have synergistic effects that reinforce healthier behavior outside school, or counteractive effects where improvements in one setting are offset by factors in another. For example, the announcement signaled interest in studies that consider whether healthier school meals, limits on competitive foods, or expanded physical activity opportunities are amplified or undermined by neighborhood food environments, household routines, community recreation resources, or broader media and marketing exposures, and how those combined forces relate to body weight.

From an administrative standpoint, this was a discretionary grant opportunity using the NIH R01 mechanism, with no cost-sharing or matching requirement. The opportunity was posted on February 1, 2013, and the original and final closing date listed was May 7, 2016, with an archive date of June 7, 2016, meaning the announcement is no longer active but remains accessible for reference. It was categorized under funding activity areas that include education, health, income security, and social services, and it mapped to multiple CFDA program areas reflecting the participating NIH institutes: cancer control (93.399), cardiovascular diseases research (93.837), and child health and human development extramural research (93.865).

Eligibility was broad and intentionally inclusive, covering many organization types that could credibly conduct or partner on rigorous policy and school-based research. Eligible applicants included state, county, city or township governments; special district governments; independent school districts; public and state-controlled institutions of higher education; private higher education institutions; nonprofits with and without 501(c)(3) status; public housing authorities and Indian housing authorities; small businesses; and for-profit organizations other than small businesses. The FOA also explicitly included a wide range of additional eligible applicants 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 and Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutions (AANAPISIs), as well as faith-based and community-based organizations, regional organizations, U.S. territories or possessions, and eligible federal agencies. Foreign organizations and foreign institutions were eligible to apply, and foreign components of U.S. organizations were allowed consistent with NIH policy, indicating the NIH was open to international perspectives or comparative work when relevant to the scientific aims.

In practical terms, this FOA was trying to push the field beyond simple descriptions of school wellness policies and toward stronger causal and implementation-focused evidence: what policies change, how they get implemented, why they succeed or stall, and how policy-driven changes in schools interact with children’s broader environments to influence diet, physical activity, and weight outcomes. The full announcement was hosted on the NIH grants website under PA-13-100, and technical access issues were directed to the NIH Office of Extramural Research (OER) webmaster.

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Previous opportunity: School Nutrition and Physical Activity Policies, Obesogenic Behaviors and Weight Outcomes (R03)

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