Smart Health and Biomedical Research in the Era of Artificial Intelligence and Advanced Data Science

The Smart Health and Biomedical Research in the Era of Artificial Intelligence and Advanced Data Science (SCH) program is a collaborative initiative supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and multiple institutes within the National Institutes of Health (NIH). This interagency program seeks to fund innovative, high-risk, high-reward interdisciplinary research aimed at addressing complex challenges in the biomedical and public health domains. The program’s overarching goal is to catalyze fundamental advancements in computer and information science, engineering, mathematics, statistics, behavioral, cognitive, and social sciences, enabling significant improvements in human health and healthcare delivery systems. The SCH program supports projects that integrate expertise from at least two scientific domains and make transformative contributions to both. The research must not be focused solely on clinical, pharmacological, or biological interventions, nor be restricted to randomized control trials, which are deemed out of scope for this solicitation. Instead, the focus is on early-stage, disease-agnostic, generalizable research with fundamental contributions to areas such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, data science, human-AI collaboration, reconfigurable sensing systems, cyber-physical systems, robotics, and biomedical imaging interpretation. Projects must demonstrate a strong collaborative component involving experts across institutions and disciplines. Proposals must include a detailed Collaboration Plan outlining roles, collaboration mechanisms, and budget justifications. Additionally, an Evaluation Plan must be integrated within the project description to describe how the scientific and engineering contributions will be assessed. Proposals must adhere to the NSF Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG) or the NSF Grants.gov Application Guide, depending on submission portal, and must include various supplementary documents such as a Data Management and Sharing Plan, Human Subjects or Vertebrate Animal plans if applicable, and Letters of Collaboration for significant partnerships. Eligibility for this program includes accredited U.S. institutions of higher education, both two- and four-year colleges (including community colleges), as well as non-profit, non-academic organizations such as museums, observatories, and professional societies with educational or research affiliations. There are no restrictions on who may serve as a principal investigator (PI), but each individual may only participate in up to two proposals per annual cycle as a PI, co-PI, senior/key personnel, or consultant. Duplicate or substantially similar proposals submitted to other NSF or NIH programs will be returned without review. Funding awards for this program may take the form of standard grants, continuing grants, or cooperative agreements. Each project can receive up to $300,000 annually for a maximum of four years, totaling up to $1,200,000. An estimated $15 million to $20 million will be allocated annually, funding approximately 10 to 16 projects per year, contingent on the availability of funds and the quality of submissions. Cost sharing is not permitted, and NIH-funded foreign subawards are limited to 8% indirect costs. The deadline for full proposals is October 3, 2025, by 5:00 p.m. local time of the submitting organization. Proposals can be submitted via Research.gov or Grants.gov. Contact for the program is centralized under sch-correspondence@nsf.gov, with several NSF and NIH officers listed individually for specific domains. Additional guidance and updates are available on the official NSF and NIH program pages.

Include collaboration and evaluation plans; set aside budget for annual PI meetings.