NIDA Small Research Grant Program (R03 Clinical Trial Required) | PA 20 146

Opportunity Information: Apply for PA 20 146

The NIDA Small Research Grant Program (R03 Clinical Trial Required), Funding Opportunity Number PA 20 146, is a discretionary NIH grant opportunity from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) designed to fund smaller, tightly scoped research studies that can be completed relatively quickly and with limited resources. The focus is on projects that generate early or proof-of-concept evidence, strengthen the groundwork for larger studies, or address targeted questions where a full-scale award is not necessary. A defining requirement of this announcement is that applicants must propose a clinical trial, meaning the project needs to involve prospective assignment of human participants to an intervention in order to evaluate effects on health-related biomedical or behavioral outcomes, consistent with NIH clinical trial definitions.

The program is intentionally broad in the kinds of clinical trials and intervention approaches it will consider, as long as the work aligns with NIDA programmatic interests in substance use, addiction, and related public health challenges. Supported projects can include pilot studies, feasibility studies, or other small clinical trials that test medications, behavioral interventions, immunotherapies, therapeutic devices, therapeutic digital applications (such as software-based or app-based therapeutics), health services interventions, prevention strategies, biomarker-related studies, or efforts that develop and refine clinical research methods. In practice, this means the R03 mechanism can be a fit for early-stage testing of a new intervention approach, evaluating whether recruitment and retention strategies work in a specific population, assessing adherence and acceptability of a digital tool, or running a small trial to estimate effect sizes and variability to plan a future, larger R01 or cooperative agreement study.

The award information provided for this opportunity lists an award ceiling of $50,000, reflecting the small-grant nature of the R03 mechanism and reinforcing that the proposed scope should be modest, focused, and achievable. While the source data lists an original closing date of 2023-05-07 and a creation date of 2020-03-24, applicants typically need to verify the current status and active receipt dates of PA 20 146 through NIH/Federal postings, since NIH announcements can have multiple standard due dates over several years and may be reissued, updated, or expired depending on policy cycles.

Eligibility is wide-ranging and includes many types of domestic applicant organizations, such as 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; public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities; Native American tribal organizations other than federally recognized tribal governments; nonprofits with or without 501(c)(3) status (excluding institutions of higher education in those nonprofit categories); for-profit organizations other than small businesses; small businesses; and other eligible entities. The announcement also explicitly highlights additional eligible applicant groups, including 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), eligible federal agencies, faith-based or community-based organizations, regional organizations, U.S. territories or possessions, and even non-domestic (non-U.S.) entities (foreign organizations). This breadth is meant to encourage participation from a wide variety of research settings and communities, including those that may be especially impacted by substance use and related disparities.

Overall, this opportunity is best understood as a practical on-ramp for clinical trial work in NIDA-relevant areas: it funds smaller, faster studies that can answer specific clinical questions, test whether an intervention or study approach is workable, and produce the preliminary clinical trial data needed to justify and shape a larger, definitive project later.

• The National Institutes of Health in the education, health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "NIDA Small Research Grant Program (R03 Clinical Trial Required)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.279.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2020-03-24.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2023-05-07. (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 $50,000.00 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 PA 20 146

[Watch] Creating a grant proposal using the step-by-step wizard inside the applicant portal: