Accelerating Data and Metadata Standards in the Environmental Health Sciences (R24 Clinical Trial Not Allowed) | RFA ES 23 002

Opportunity Information: Apply for RFA ES 23 002

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding opportunity "Accelerating Data and Metadata Standards in the Environmental Health Sciences (R24 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)" (RFA-ES-23-002) supports resource-focused projects that help environmental health sciences (EHS) communities create and improve shared ways of organizing and describing data. The main goal is to speed up open, community-driven development of data standards and metadata standards, along with practical tools and guidance that make those standards easier to adopt in real research settings. Rather than funding hypothesis-driven experiments or clinical trials, this R24 mechanism is aimed at building the common infrastructure that allows many different researchers and organizations to generate, share, integrate, and reuse environmental health data more consistently.

Projects funded under this announcement can work at any stage of a "data standards lifecycle." That includes early work like convening stakeholders to agree on core concepts and definitions, mid-stage work like extending or refining an existing standard to cover new exposure types or assay technologies, and later-stage work like building software, templates, validation tools, pipelines, or best-practice documentation that help labs and data centers implement a standard reliably. A central expectation is that applicants will not start from scratch without a strong reason; they are encouraged to build on existing standards, tools, partnerships, and infrastructure whenever possible, and to focus on adaptation, extension, harmonization, and implementation where that will move the field forward faster.

A key deliverable theme is broad dissemination and uptake. The FOA emphasizes that outputs such as standards, software, documentation, and implementation resources should be made available in ways that support adoption by the relevant biomedical and environmental health communities. In practice, that implies open development processes, clear governance and versioning, public documentation, and distribution channels that make it straightforward for other groups to use what is created. The opportunity is framed as a catalyst: the intent is to enable community alignment and practical interoperability so that EHS data can be compared across studies, linked with other biomedical datasets, and reused for secondary analyses with fewer barriers caused by inconsistent formats or incomplete metadata.

The opportunity sits within the federal assistance category for Environment and Health (CFDA 93.113) and uses a discretionary grant instrument. The listed award ceiling is $400,000, indicating that projects are expected to be scoped as focused resource and coordination efforts rather than large-scale research programs. The original closing date for the opportunity was May 10, 2023, and it was created on January 11, 2023.

Eligibility is broad across government, academic, nonprofit, and private-sector organizations. Eligible applicants include state, county, city/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 that are not federally recognized tribal governments; public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities; nonprofits with or without 501(c)(3) status (other than institutions of higher education); for-profit organizations other than small businesses; small businesses; and other organizations. The FOA also explicitly 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), faith-based or community-based organizations, regional organizations, eligible federal agencies, and U.S. territories or possessions. At the same time, it draws clear boundaries around foreign participation: non-domestic (non-U.S.) entities and foreign institutions are not eligible to apply, and non-domestic components of U.S. organizations are not eligible to apply. However, foreign components, as defined in the NIH Grants Policy Statement, are allowed, meaning a U.S.-based applicant may be able to include certain international elements in the project structure when permitted under NIH policy.

Overall, this FOA is best understood as NIH support for the shared connective tissue of environmental health science: common data and metadata standards, plus the practical tooling and community processes that make those standards real, usable, and widely adopted. The expected impact is improved interoperability, better data quality and documentation, and stronger ability for the EHS field to integrate diverse datasets across laboratories, platforms, and studies.

• The National Institutes of Health in the environment, health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Accelerating Data and Metadata Standards in the Environmental Health Sciences (R24 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.113.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2023-01-11.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2023-05-10. (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 $400,000.00 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 ES 23 002

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