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 joint initiative between the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). This interagency funding opportunity is designed to support high-risk, high-reward interdisciplinary research that fuses computer and information science, engineering, mathematics, statistics, behavioral, cognitive, and biomedical sciences to address pressing challenges in health and biomedical research. The program aims to catalyze transformative advances by promoting collaboration across scientific disciplines to develop novel methods for collecting, analyzing, and interpreting complex data to optimize health outcomes. Established to meet the urgent need for new approaches in public health and medicine, the SCH program supports fundamental research that goes beyond traditional medical or disease-focused studies. It focuses on applications of artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), cyber-physical systems, robotics, biomedical imaging, and multimodal sensing to develop innovative technologies and frameworks that can be applied broadly across health domains. The goal is to enable real-time, personalized, and predictive models that enhance diagnostic, therapeutic, and preventive capabilities. This includes, but is not limited to, developing explainable AI models, integrated sensor platforms, image interpretation technologies, and fair, trustworthy computational systems. Eligible applicants include U.S.-based institutions of higher education (two- and four-year), including community colleges, and non-profit, non-academic organizations such as independent research labs and professional societies directly engaged in education or research. Individuals may serve as Principal Investigators (PIs) or Co-PIs on up to two proposals per year. All proposals must clearly demonstrate interdisciplinary collaboration and include a required collaboration plan outlining roles, management strategies, and integration mechanisms across institutions and disciplines. The program is currently open with a full proposal deadline of October 3, 2025, by 5 p.m. local time of the submitting organization. While no letters of intent or preliminary proposals are required, all applications must adhere to the current NSF Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG) and include supplemental documentation such as a two-page collaboration plan, evaluation plan, data management and sharing plan, and if applicable, plans for human subjects or vertebrate animal research. Projects are expected to span up to four years with a maximum award size of $1,200,000 per project ($300,000 annually). NSF anticipates making 10 to 16 awards annually, depending on the availability of funds. The total anticipated program funding is between $15 million and $20 million per year. No matching funds are required, and voluntary committed cost sharing is prohibited. Special attention is given to proposals that align with the strategic plans of both NSF and NIH, and randomized control trials are specifically excluded. Contacts for the program span both NSF and NIH. General inquiries can be directed to sch-correspondence@nsf.gov, and specific NIH contacts are available for each participating institute. For example, Thomas Martin (NSF) can be reached at 703-292-2170 and dana.wolff@nih.gov (NCI) is available for cancer-related inquiries. Webinars and public briefings will be held before the submission deadline, and application status updates are provided through Research.gov or Grants.gov systems depending on submission method.

Ensure that proposals make a clear interdisciplinary contribution to two or more scientific domains and include a Collaboration Plan. Randomized control trials are not permitted.