RFA-AG-26-011: NIA Expanding Research in AD/ADRD (ERA) Summer Research Education Program (R25 Independent Clinical Trial Not Allowed)

RFA-AG-26-011: NIA Expanding Research in AD/ADRD (ERA) Summer Research Education Program (R25 Independent Clinical Trial Not Allowed)

The National Institute on Aging (NIA), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), is accepting applications for a summer research education program focused on Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and Alzheimer’s disease-related dementias (ADRD). The mechanism is an R25 Education Project, not a conventional investigator-initiated research grant. Its purpose is to give people early in their education or teaching careers a sustained, hands-on introduction to AD/ADRD research and to encourage further study or participation in biomedical and behavioral research.

The first application round listed in the Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) was due May 27, 2026. That date has passed, but the NOFO lists a second round due May 26, 2027. The 2027 round is the current announced opportunity for applicants planning from this page. It is a fixed-deadline call, not a rolling program. Applications are due by 5:00 PM local time of the applicant organization, and the NOFO states that late applications will not be accepted.

At a glance

What NIA wants to support

The R25 program supports education that complements formal training in an NIH mission area. This NOFO addresses the shortage of researchers prepared to work across the basic biomedical, behavioral, clinical, translational, prevention, and treatment dimensions of AD/ADRD. It also addresses a more specific gap: many potential researchers do not receive early, high-quality, hands-on exposure to this field.

An application should therefore propose a real research education experience, not a generic science camp or a loosely related lecture series. The proposed work should be centered on AD/ADRD research and should expose participants to authentic, open-ended questions as they relate to aging. NIA also expects complementary educational activities that help participants develop as scientists. Examples named in the NOFO include scientific writing and presentation workshops, journal clubs, and technical laboratory coursework.

Each proposed program needs a clear educational rationale, mission, objectives, and plan. The applicant should explain why its target group needs this experience, how the activities fit that group’s educational level, and how the institution can deliver the program well. The application should also show how the ERA program adds value over existing institutional opportunities. A program that simply repackages an already federally supported training activity risks being considered nonresponsive or duplicative.

The NOFO permits a participant to obtain research experience in a clinical trial led by a mentor or co-mentor. It does not permit participants to lead an independent clinical trial through the proposed R25 program. Applications primarily outside AD/ADRD research, or applications with only a general STEM focus, are also subject to the NOFO’s non-responsiveness rule.

Who can apply and who can participate

Eligible applicant categories listed in the NOFO include higher education institutions, nonprofit organizations, for-profit organizations, local governments, state governments, federal governments, and regional organizations. The applicant must be a U.S. organization for purposes of this opportunity. Non-U.S. entities are not eligible, and a non-U.S. component of a U.S. organization or a foreign component is not allowed.

The proposed program must identify its participant career level. The allowed target groups are high school students, undergraduate students, or science teachers. An applicant should not treat those groups as interchangeable: the recruitment method, curriculum, research placement, mentoring approach, and outcome measures need to match the group selected.

The NOFO says that, unless an applicant gives a strong justification based on exceptional relevance to NIH, research education programs should be used primarily for U.S. citizens and permanent residents. That participant rule is separate from the rule that excludes foreign organizations. A U.S. institution still needs to explain its recruitment and participant eligibility approach in the application.

The opportunity also limits overlapping submissions. An institution may submit more than one scientifically distinct application, but no more than two applications are allowed per institution. If two applications are submitted, they must serve different target groups. NIH will not accept duplicate or highly overlapping applications under review at the same time.

Funding, participant support, and project length

NIA intends to commit $1,000,000 in FY 2027 and $1,000,000 in FY 2028, with up to five new awards in each of those fiscal years. Applicants may request direct costs of up to $200,000 per year. The project period may be as long as five years, and each year’s research education experience must run for at least 8 weeks and no more than 14 weeks.

The budget should tie each cost to the proposed educational experience. Salary and fringe benefits may be requested for people who design, direct, and implement the program, subject to the institution’s policies and the applicable salary cap. Mentoring that is already part of a person’s regular academic duties is not automatically an allowable grant expense.

Participant support has specific rules. High school and undergraduate participants must be provided salary and fringe benefits for the duration of the program, consistent with institutional salary policies and with justification in the budget. Science teachers may receive salary and fringe benefits of up to $20,000 per teacher. Participants supported by another NIH training mechanism, such as a T award or another R25 education program, may not receive additional salary from this award.

The budget may include housing at the program site, travel between a participant’s residence and the training institution, program-related expenses, and travel to a relevant scientific meeting during the period of appointment. Registration fees or tuition may not be charged for participation in the program. Consultant costs, equipment, supplies, key-person travel, and other program-related expenses must be specifically required by the program and must not duplicate resources generally available at the institution.

Limited program evaluation costs are allowed up to $3,000 per year, including an evaluation consultant’s salary when applicable. Indirect costs are reimbursed at 8% of modified total direct costs, excluding tuition and fees, equipment expenditures, and consortium costs above $25,000, rather than at a negotiated institutional rate. These limits make early budget review important: a program can have a strong educational plan and still submit an unrealistic request if participant compensation, evaluation, or indirect costs are calculated under a different mechanism.

Building a credible program

The application should make the relationship between the participants, the research environment, and the intended outcomes easy to follow. A high school program might connect laboratory or data experiences to preparation for college-level STEM study and explain the skills needed for later AD/ADRD research. An undergraduate program might focus on retaining students in STEM degrees, preparing them for graduate or medical school, or helping them assess a research career. A science-teacher program must include a clear plan for how the summer experience will be used during the school year, such as improving a STEM curriculum or increasing the number of STEM courses taught.

Regardless of target group, the program should offer more than a single placement. The NOFO asks applicants to describe the overall didactic philosophy, educational concepts, research experiences, scientific development activities, and benchmarks for success. It also asks for a plan to address foreseeable problems and alternative strategies. A practical design might pair a supervised research placement with group meetings, a journal club, training in research communication, and a final presentation. The application must explain why that combination is appropriate for its chosen participants rather than copying a generic summer schedule.

Mentorship is a substantive part of the review. Participating researchers should have expertise relevant to the proposed program and be committed for the full period of a participant’s involvement. The application must address mentor preparation, available effort, responsible research practices, and how mentors will be evaluated. It must also describe how participant-faculty matches will be monitored and what will happen if a mentor’s conduct or support is unacceptable. Multiple PDs/PIs may be useful when the team combines AD/ADRD science, educational design, administration, and mentoring expertise, but the application needs a clear governance and succession plan.

The institutional environment section should cover facilities, laboratories, participating departments, computer services, and other resources used for the program. The institution must demonstrate support for adequate staff, facilities, and educational resources. It should also address safety, scientific rigor, reproducibility, responsible conduct of research, protection from harassment and other prohibited practices, accessibility for participants with disabilities, and support for any core facilities or technology needed for the experience.

Application package and submission route

The NOFO’s application package is not a form that applicants should assemble from an old PDF. Applicants must access the package through NIH ASSIST, an institutional system-to-system solution, or Grants.gov Workspace. An organization should coordinate with its research administration office before drafting because registration and electronic-submission problems can prevent a timely application.

The practical submission sequence is:

1. Confirm the organization’s active registrations and identifiers. The NOFO calls out System for Award Management (SAM), eRA Commons, and Grants.gov. The organization’s unique entity identifier must match the identifier in its eRA Commons and SAM profiles. Every PD/PI must have an eRA Commons ID entered in the Senior/Key Person Profile.
2. Select the submission route: prepare, submit, and track through ASSIST; use an institutional system-to-system solution to submit to Grants.gov and track in eRA Commons; or prepare and submit through Grants.gov Workspace and track in eRA Commons.
3. Read the NIH How to Apply - Application Guide together with the program-specific instructions in this NOFO. The Research (R) Instructions and the applicable table of page limits are strictly enforced. Applications that are incomplete, non-compliant, or nonresponsive will not be reviewed.
4. Build the SF424(R&R) package and the Research Education Program Plan. The plan must cover the proposed program, PD/PI, program faculty, participants, institutional environment and commitment, responsible conduct of research instruction, evaluation, and dissemination.
5. Add the required supporting material. The application should include the educational environment and related support information, program faculty biosketches, an institutional commitment letter, and the other attachments required by the application instructions. An advisory committee is optional, but if one is proposed the application should describe its composition, responsibilities, meeting frequency, and evaluation role.
6. Submit early enough to inspect the application in eRA Commons and correct errors. NIH and Grants.gov perform checks after submission. A corrected application submitted after the due date and time is late, even if the original submission was made earlier. The final 2027 deadline is May 26, 2027 at 5:00 PM local time of the applicant organization.

A letter of intent is not required, is not binding, and is not part of the review of the application. The NOFO says that a letter of intent helps NIA estimate review workload and should contain the proposed activity title, PD/PI contact information, key personnel, participating institutions, and the funding opportunity number and title. Applicants who plan to send one should follow the letter-of-intent date and contact instructions in Part 1 and Section VII of the NOFO.

Required plans and review focus

The Research Education Program Plan is the core of the application. The rationale should connect the proposed education experience to the NIA mission and AD/ADRD workforce needs. The applicant should explain the target group, recruitment and selection process, instructional approach, participant-faculty matching, research setting, schedule, benchmarks, anticipated problems, and alternative strategies. The plan should distinguish the ERA activities from existing federally supported training at the institution.

An RCR plan is required. It must address five elements: the format of instruction, the subject matter, faculty participation, duration, and frequency. The format cannot be online-only; the NOFO gives face-to-face lectures, coursework, and real-time discussion groups as examples. Subject matter may include conflict of interest, authorship, data management, human subjects and animal use, laboratory safety, research misconduct, and research ethics. The plan should be proportionate to the participants and the length of the summer experience.

The evaluation plan must establish baseline information, including participant numbers, educational levels, and demographic characteristics, and must describe short- and long-term measures of success. NIA’s listed measures differ by audience. For high school participants, they include high school completion, enrollment in a STEM undergraduate program, and later research participation. For undergraduates, they include STEM degree completion, enrollment in an advanced STEM degree program, and later employment in research or a related field. For science teachers, they include enhanced STEM courses, later STEM courses taught, and changes to pre-existing curriculum. The application should explain how feedback will be collected, how weaknesses will be addressed, and how participant outcome data will be protected and retained.

The dissemination plan must describe how findings and materials developed through the program will be shared nationally. Examples in the NOFO include posting curricula and related materials online, presenting at scientific meetings, and conducting workshops. Reviewers will consider significance, investigators, innovation, approach, institutional support, participant recruitment and retention, mentoring, accessibility, safety, RCR, and whether the budget and period of support are reasonable.

Applications are evaluated for scientific and technical merit by an appropriate Scientific Review Group convened by the NIH Center for Scientific Review. Each application receives a written critique, and only applications judged to have the highest merit may be discussed and assigned an overall impact score. Recommended applications receive a second level of review by the National Advisory Council on Aging. Final decisions also consider available funds and relevance to program priorities. Appeals of initial peer review are not accepted for applications submitted to this NOFO.

A sensible preparation calendar

For the May 26, 2027 round, an institution should first decide which of the three target groups it can serve well and identify the AD/ADRD research settings that will support the experience. Next, it should confirm registrations, select the submission route, and map the proposed curriculum to the Research Education Program Plan headings. Faculty availability, participant compensation, housing, accessibility, safety, and mentor training should be resolved before the narrative is finalized.

The final drafting phase should include a page-limit check, a budget justification check, a duplicate-program check, and an administrative review of SAM, eRA Commons, Grants.gov, and the unique entity identifier. The institution should submit before the deadline so that it can open the application in eRA Commons and correct any errors while there is still time. A proposal that is scientifically promising but not successfully submitted by 5:00 PM local time will not enter review.

The official NOFO is the controlling source for eligibility, allowable costs, attachments, page limits, and submission instructions. It is available at grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-AG-26-011.html. The page currently lists the May 26, 2027 round; applicants should recheck the official notice before preparing a final package for any later action.