Open Call for NIDA REI: Research at Minority Serving Institutions on Neurocognitive Mechanisms (US)

Deadline: 14-Oct-22

Applications are now open for the NIDA REI: Research at Minority Serving Institutions on Neurocognitive Mechanisms Underlying the Impact of Structural Racism on the Substance Use Trajectory.

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is a part of NIDA’s Racial Equity Initiative (REI) and invites clinical research applications that are exploratory/developmental in nature and seek to parse the complex effects of structural racism and investigate their impact on neurocognition, with an emphasis on reducing SUD risk and informing preventative interventions.

Topics

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

Development and application of assessment tools towards capturing multidimensional socio-environmental influences that minimize participant burden and increase inclusion of underserved racial and ethnic minority groups
Application of sophisticated analytical methods to investigate multivariate and/or non-linear relationships within large, complex socio-environmental datasets (e.g., testing non-linear dynamics involving structural factors and individual characteristics)
Identification of novel mediating pathways linking the experience of structural inequities and racism (including effects of stigmatization and discrimination) to neurocognition pertaining to SUD risk (e.g., brain-gut interactions, CNS-immune and CNS-endocrine system interactions, epigenetic modifications)
Secondary analysis of large longitudinal datasets (e.g., Adolescent Brain Cognitive DevelopmentSM (ABCD), HEALthy Brain and Child Development (HBCD)) to examine causal pathways between exposure to structural racism and psychophysiological or neurobiological risks that may affect the onset or course of substance use
Identification of the neurocognitive mechanisms through which protective factors (e.g., support from and connections with racial and ethnic minority community) moderate the influence of racism, specifically those that could inform development of novel interventions
Investigation of the neurocognitive effects of structural or interpersonal interventions designed to address the impacts of racism
Development of novel interventions targeting the neurocognitive level that modulate behavior and/or cognition relevant to the intersection of SUD and racismc

Funding Information

For the R61 planning phase, the combined budget for direct costs for up to two years may not exceed $500,000.
For the R33 phase, the budget for direct costs may not exceed $500,000 in any single year.
The maximum period of the combined R61 and R33 phases is 5 years, with up to 2 years for the R61 phase and up to 3 years for the R33 phase. The scope of the proposed project should determine the requested project period.