Grants for Public and State controlled institutions of higher education - Federal

This funding opportunity provides financial support for early-stage researchers in the U.S. to explore innovative studies on HIV-related health issues, such as comorbidities and coinfections, with the potential to transform understanding and treatment in this field.

Middle East Regional Cooperation (MERC): This grant program, managed by USAID, aims to fund collaborative research projects between Israeli and MENA region partners to address shared challenges, particularly in food security, and promote lasting peace through applied scientific research and technological development.

The "Reducing Barriers that Impede Access to Education and Decent Work for LGBTQI+ Youth in Brazil and the Latin American and Caribbean Region" grant is a $4 million funding opportunity from the U.S. Department of Labor to support a project that enhances understanding of, coordination for, and capacity to provide safe environments for LGBTQI+ youth, thereby improving their access to education and decent work in Brazil and the Latin American and Caribbean region.

This funding opportunity supports researchers and organizations developing innovative tissue grafts to restore damaged brain tissue, targeting chronic neurological conditions affecting millions of people.

The purpose of this initiative is to advance research that reduces firearm injury and disparities through the development and evaluation of firearm injury primary prevention interventions leveraging community healthcare settings. This funding opportunity solicits applications that focus on primary prevention of firearm injury leveraging community healthcare settings. Applications may propose intervention studies with a rigorous design including, but not limited to, policy implementation studies, natural experiments and other studies with a quasi-experimental design, as well as those meeting the NIH definition of a clinical trial. Aims may focus on efficacy, effectiveness, or hybrid effectiveness/implementation research. Health or behavioral outcomes for this funding opportunity should be appropriate to the aims and should include, but are not limited to, changes in behavior related to firearm injury prevention and firearm safety procedures, and implementation outcomes. Change in knowledge of firearm injury prevention measures may be a secondary outcome (e.g., as a mechanism of action) but should not be the focus of the project. Multi-level, multi-disciplinary interventions and outcomes are encouraged, including individual, interpersonal, organizational, and community levels. Individual level outcomes should be one of the outcome levels included. Rigorous methods that address potential sources of bias that are appropriate to the study design are expected. Intervention studies are expected to include a theory-informed examination of the mechanisms of intervention effects. Projects that are responsive to this funding opportunity include R01 studies of all size, from small, single-site, three-year projects such as to adapt an intervention to the community or to test efficacy of an intervention, to large multi-site trials to test effectiveness and implementation strategies. Applications that meet any of the non-responsiveness criteria will be considered non-responsive and will not be reviewed. Implementation studies should include an evaluation of the effectiveness of the intervention in the site or sites. Years requested and project budgets should reflect the scope of the project. A description of plans for community engagement, including clear justification of the planned approach, is required. Projects that focus on populations that experience health disparities are highly encouraged.

This grant provides funding for innovative research to develop noninvasive techniques that improve sleep quality and cognitive performance for military personnel facing extreme sleep deprivation.

This grant invites innovative research proposals from a wide range of organizations to develop groundbreaking technologies in artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, and information systems that enhance U.S. national security.

This grant provides funding to nonprofit organizations that train instructors to educate hazardous materials employees on safe handling and transportation practices.

The "CCRP Initiative: Countermeasures Against Chemical Threats (CounterACT) Therapeutics Discovery and Early-Stage Development" grant aims to fund the early-stage development of treatments to reduce the harmful health effects caused by exposure to toxic chemicals, which could be used in terrorist attacks or accidentally released from industrial sites, with the end goal of producing at least one well-characterized therapeutic candidate.

This funding opportunity is designed to support research centers in developing innovative vaccines against hepatitis C virus, targeting a wide range of applicants including universities, nonprofits, and government entities.

Through this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA), the National Cancer Institute (NCI) invites applications for support of investigator-initiated studies addressing mechanisms by which bariatric surgery impacts cancer risk, and seeks to draw in talented scientists who study bariatric surgery to investigate its effects on cancer, rather than shorter-term outcomes such as weight loss and diabetes.Through this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA), the National Cancer Institute (NCI) invites applications for support of investigator-initiated studies addressing mechanisms by which bariatric surgery impacts cancer risk, and seeks to draw in talented scientists who study bariatric surgery to investigate its effects on cancer, rather than shorter-term outcomes such as weight loss and diabetes. Background Obesity: Obesity will soon surpass smoking tobacco as the number one cause of preventable death both in the United States and worldwide. Bariatric (metabolic) surgery is the most effective strategy to achieve significant initial and sustained weight loss among individuals who are morbidly obese. Bariatric surgery provides dramatic improvement in metabolic function, associated with a reduction in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and cardiovascular (CV) risk. Bariatric surgery also appears to reduce the risk of certain obesity-related cancers, although which cancers are favorably impacted vary by study, and the mechanism(s) driving this risk reduction is mostly speculative. Bariatric surgery is performed in over 250,000 people in the U.S. annually, and the frequency is rising. Studies evaluating which bariatric surgery procedure(s) are most effective in cancer risk reduction could help bring to light new pathways to target for cancer prevention. Bariatric Surgery: Importantly, it is not yet clear from clinical and preclinical studies if the benefit from bariatric surgery arises from weight loss alone or if there is also a surgery-specific benefit. One mechanism for a possible surgery-specific effect is elevated bile acids (BA), both intestinal and circulating, after gastric bypass surgery such as Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) that are proposed to be central to weight loss and other metabolic benefits. The interaction between BA and intestinal microbes is also an area of intense interest. Studies have identified important changes after bariatric surgery in the composition and function of the gut microbiome, which may mediate bariatric surgery effects. Fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) from humans or mice that had undergone bariatric surgery to germ-free recipient mice showed decreased weight gain and decreased adiposity are both transmissible traits. In addition, FMT induced important host metabolic changes including decreased energy harvest from the diet, increased resting energy expenditure, and increased lipid utilization. The data suggest a causal link between gut microbiota and the metabolic and weight loss effects of bariatric surgery. If validated, the findings will provide insight into the mechanisms driving the benefit of bariatric surgery on cancer risk and would be useful to further scientific understanding and patient care. Animal Models: Several diets or genetically induced animal models of obesity have consistently demonstrated the benefits of weight loss on cancer risk, and these obesity-induced tumor models may be adaptable to bariatric surgery studies, such as the Kras model of pancreatic cancer. Animal models have been developed to study the effects of bariatric surgery. Rodent animal models are most often used due to feasibility (low cost, ease of housing) and have been used extensively to study the mechanism(s) of bariatric surgery responsible for the reduction or elimination of T2DM and CV risk. However, very little has been reported on bariatric surgery and cancer risk despite the fact that both rat and murine models of mammary and other cancers develop in 6 months or less, making it feasible to assess mechanistic changes that influence cancer risk. Bariatric Surgery and Cancer Risk: Obese patients undergo bariatric surgery for a variety of reasons, including weight loss and improvement in metabolic dysfunction. Physician advice regarding the potential benefit of bariatric surgery and cancer risk reduction can currently only be given in generalities based on large-scale studies and not targeted to the individual. Many but not all bariatric surgery investigations document an overall cancer risk reduction among women but not men. Some but not all bariatric surgery studies have found that both women and men undergoing bariatric surgery have an increased risk of colorectal cancer (CRC). Older studies which assessed bariatric surgery and cancer risk may not be useful to guide targeted advice to patients, as one of the most common procedures performed in the past, gastric banding, is only performed in 1% of bariatric surgery procedures today. The two most common bariatric surgery procedures currently performed are sleeve gastrectomy and RYGB. As such, planned animal and/or human studies should focus on the mechanistic effects of the two procedures that are currently in common use. Human biospecimens and/or data may be available from cohorts to enhance the studies proposed including the Longitudinal Assessment of Bariatric Surgery (LABS), Adolescent Bariatrics: Assessing Health Benefits & Risks (Teen-LABS), and NCI Cohort Consortium Members. Applications that include collaborators from fields outside of cancer research will be given special programmatic consideration. Responsive applications may investigate animal models, human studies, or a combination of both. General Area of Research and Scope of Work for this FOA General Area of Research Examples of relevant areas of research include but are not limited to: Do alterations in cancer risk biomarkers occur before weight loss? If so, in what organ, tissue, or cell type do they originate? Is maximum weight loss or long-term weight loss more important for cancer risk reduction? If so, how do the two differ at a cellular and/or biochemical level? What mechanism(s) explain the evidence that bariatric surgery is more beneficial in cancer risk reduction in women than men? Does bariatric surgery increase or decrease the risk of CRC, and if so, what are the mechanism(s)? Which cancers are decreased in incidence by bariatric surgery, and what are the mechanism(s) that explain the effect? Are any cancers increased in incidence by bariatric surgery? If so, through what mechanism(s)? Does the specific bariatric surgery procedure have an impact on cancer risk? If so, what are the mechanism(s) driving the difference in impact? Does racial or ethnic background influence the impact of bariatric surgery on cancer risk, and if so, what are the mechanism(s) involved? How does bariatric surgery affect the penetrance of high-risk genetic predisposition to cancer? Scope of Work and Additional Guidance It is anticipated that studies will evaluate bariatric surgery animal models where a significant proportion of the animals develop cancer. Similarly, human studies involving individuals who will or have undergone bariatric surgery are also encouraged, so long as within the cohort to be studied the number of enrolled subjects who develop cancer is adequate to for a statistically powered endpoint linking cancer (and not a biomarker of cancer) to a molecular mechanism as the driver of cancer. When appropriate and feasible, the investigators may want to evaluate mechanisms influenced by bariatric surgery in animal models of cancer and evaluate potential changes that might correlate with humans due to bariatric surgery. We define mechanism as a biologic endpoint based on analyzed samples from bariatric surgery animal models or from subjects who have or are planned to undergo bariatric surgery. This FOA does not support studies where an epidemiologic endpoint is the primary aim of the project. The mechanism(s) to be studied should evaluate samples collected from animals or humans who have undergone bariatric surgery who did or did not develop cancer. If both animals and humans are studied, the mechanisms chosen should be based on a cancer endpoint. Applications Not Responsive to This FOA The following types of activities remain outside the scope of this FOA, and applications proposing them are non-responsive to this FOA and will not be reviewed. This FOA is not intended for epidemiologic studies, where the primary endpoint is the assessment of cancer in a cohort of animals or humans, which has undergone bariatric surgery and mechanistic studies evaluating bodily fluid or tissue samples are nonexistent or of secondary endpoints. Application that focuses entirely on in vitro investigations. Epidemiologic investigations as the primary focus of the application. Animal or human studies that do not evaluate tissue and/or bodily fluid samples collected from participants who have undergone bariatric surgery, some of which developed cancer after surgery. Application, which includes a clinical trial that does not have a bariatric surgeon as a key investigator on the team. NOTE: Applicants to this FOA are strongly encouraged to contact NCI staff as soon as possible in the development of the application (preferably no later than 12 weeks prior to the application due date) to discuss the details of their proposed clinical trial, so that NCI staff can help the applicant understand whether the proposed clinical trial is within the goals and mission of the NCI and is appropriate for this FOA.

This funding opportunity supports academic institutions, including HBCUs and MIs, in conducting research on advanced technologies relevant to naval operations, such as hypersonics, artificial intelligence, and cybersecurity.

The purpose of this project is to support Hondurans National Police (HNP) in the implementation of the Police Athletic League (PAL) program in Honduras. The targeted population is at-risk youth in Honduras between the ages of seven (7) and eighteen (18) who live in communities at high risk of violence and gang activity. The Police Athletic League will be launched by HNP Officers in November 2024 as a pilot program with approximately 2,500 children enrolled in 6 principal cities in Honduras: Tegucigalpa, San Pedro Sula, La Ceiba, Tela, La Paz and Roatan. Soccer will be one of the main target activities available nationwide, including leagues for both females and males for primary and middle school students. This initiative aims to promote inclusivity and equitable athletic development, with teams comprised of 18 participants each, including 6 female and 6 male players in primary and secondary schools.

This funding opportunity provides financial support for research projects that aim to improve the adoption and sustainability of effective health interventions, particularly in underrepresented communities, by addressing barriers and promoting equitable health outcomes.

This program provides funding to organizations worldwide for projects that preserve and protect cultural heritage, including historic sites, museum collections, and traditional practices.

This funding opportunity supports clinical trials for innovative treatments and interventions targeting Alzheimer's disease, related dementias, and age-related cognitive decline, inviting applications from a wide range of eligible organizations, including universities, nonprofits, and small businesses.

This funding opportunity supports a wide range of organizations in developing and sharing innovative neuroscience technologies to enhance research and understanding of brain function.

The FY24 PCRP Implementation Science Award supports studies that are expected to bridge the gap between research, practice, and policy through establishment of a knowledge base of interventions, clinical practices/guidelines, tools, and policies that can be deployed to targeted populations at the appropriate time and point of need. For the purposes of this funding opportunity, an implementation science study accesses strategies used and develops tools to enhance the systematic uptake of evidence-based health interventions into clinical and/or community settings in order to improve patient outreach, patient outcomes, and/or the effectiveness of health care.Impact: Research supported by the Implementation Science Award is expected to have the potential for major, near-term impact that will accelerate the widespread adoption of evidence-based practices in prostate cancer care, prevention, and survivorship. Applications are expected to identify the prostate cancer patients or at-risk individuals who would ultimately benefit from the proposed research. Applications must also include a detailed research transition plan that articulates the pathway to moving the projects findings to the next phase for widespread clinical impact after successful completion of the award. Research transition plans are encouraged to consider future strategies targeting the patient, physician/provider, community, and/or healthcare system levels as applicable.Community Engagement: Applications are required to include members of the targeted population and/or community in the development and execution of the research project where appropriate. The research team must include one or more prostate cancer consumer advocate(s) or member(s) of the community, who will be integral throughout the planning and performance of the research project. Consumer advocates and/or community-based members should be involved in the development of the research question, project design, oversight, recruitment, and evaluation and dissemination of outcomes, as well as other significant aspects of the proposed project. Interactions with other team members should be well integrated and ongoing, not limited to attending seminars and semi-annual meetings; communication between the research team and the community should be frequent and bidirectional. The consumer advocates can be individuals who have been diagnosed with prostate cancer, a direct caregiver for someone who has been diagnosed with prostate cancer, or other representatives from the targeted community who are positioned to effect change. The consumer advocates and/or community-based members should have a high level of knowledge of current prostate cancer issues and the appropriate background in prostate cancer research and/or clinical care to contribute to the project or be otherwise positioned within the target community to effect changes in behavior based on projected outcomes. A list of implementation science resources and community or advocacy organizations is provided at the end of the Implementation Science Award Information section.Health Equity and Disproportionately Affected Populations: Regardless of the FY24 PCRP Overarching Challenge(s) being addressed, all research projects are strongly encouraged to consider health equity (e.g., access to evidence-based care) and/or have a focus on addressing the needs of disproportionately affected populations in the application.Research Scope: The Implementation Science Award mechanism is intended to fund studies including, but not limited to, the following: Small-scale clinical trials (up to phase 2) that contain clear reporting and implementation strategies to narrow the research-to-practice timeline and improve care for prostate cancer survivors, particularly within disproportionately affected populations Interventions that focus on behavioral or lifestyle changes at the patient, provider, community, and/or policy level Comparative effectiveness research establishing the benefits and harms of emerging or standard-of-care interventions and strategies to prevent, diagnose, treat, and monitor health conditions in real-world settings Development and evaluation of strategies to overcome barriers to health care access across the cancer care continuum Altering the adoption, adaptation, integration, scale-up, and sustainability of evidence-based interventions, tools, policies, and guidelines.Preliminary data to support the scientific rationale and feasibility of the research approaches are required. These preliminary data do not need to have been generated solely in prostate cancer. The inclusion of additional preliminary data to support the clinical relevance of the idea is strongly encouraged.Investigators proposing a clinical trial are highly encouraged to consider leveraging the PCRP Prostate Cancer Clinical Trials Consortium (https://pcctc.org) to facilitate the rapid initiation and completion of the trial.Correlative studies that are associated with ongoing clinical trials, and preclinical studies involving the use of animals do not meet the intent of the FY24 PCRP Implementation Science Award.Partnering Principal Investigator (PI) Option: The FY24 PCRP Implementation Science Award encourages applications that include meaningful and productive collaborations between two investigators. The PIs may have expertise in similar or disparate scientific and/or clinical disciplines, but each PI is expected to bring distinct contributions to the application. The Partnering PI Option is structured to accommodate two PIs. One PI will be identified as the Initiating PI and will be responsible for the majority of the administrative tasks associated with application submission. The other PI will be identified as a Partnering PI. Both PIs should contribute significantly to the development and execution of the proposed research project. If recommended for funding, each PI will be named on separate awards to the recipient organization(s). Each award will be subject to separate reporting, regulatory, and administrative requirements. For individual submission requirements for the Initiating and Partnering PIs, refer to Section II.D.2, Content and Form of the Application Submission.A congressionally mandated Metastatic Cancer Task Force was formed with the purpose of identifying ways to help accelerate clinical and translational research aimed at extending the lives of advanced state and recurrent patients. As a member of the Metastatic Cancer Task Force, the CDMRP encourages applicants to review the recommendations (https://health.mil/Reference-Center/Congressional-Testimonies/2018/05/03/Metastatic-Cancer-Research) and submit research ideas to address these recommendations provided they are within the limitations of this funding opportunity and fit within the FY24 PCRP prioritiesInnovative research involving nuclear medicine and related techniques to support early diagnosis, more effective treatment, and improved health outcomes of active duty Service Members and their Families is encouraged. Such research could improve diagnostic and targeted treatment capabilities through noninvasive techniques and may drive the development of precision imaging and advanced targeted therapies.Applications from investigators within the military services and applications involving multidisciplinary collaborations among academia, industry, the military services, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), and other federal government agencies are highly encouraged. These relationships can leverage knowledge, infrastructure, and access to unique clinical populations that the collaborators bring to the research effort, ultimately advancing research that is of significance to Service Members, Veterans, and/or their Families. If the proposed research relies on access to unique resources or databases, the application must describe the access at the time of submission and include a plan for maintaining access as needed throughout the proposed research.All projects should adhere to a core set of standards for rigorous study design and reporting to maximize the reproducibility and translational potential of clinical and preclinical research. The standards are described in SC Landis et al., 2012, A call for transparent reporting to optimize the predictive value of preclinical research, Nature 490:187-191 (https://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v490/n7419/full/nature11556.html). While these standards are written for preclinical studies, the basic principles of randomization, blinding, sample-size estimation, and data handling derive from well-established best practices in clinical studies.A Clinical Trial Option allows for studies proposing small-scale clinical trials with a focus on implementation science. A clinical trial is defined in the Code of Federal Regulations, Title 45, Part 46.102 (45 CFR 46.102) as a research study in which one or more human subjects are prospectively assigned to one or more interventions (which may include a placebo or another control) to evaluate the effects of the interventions on biomedical or behavioral health-related outcomes. Applications proposing a clinical trial are expected to provide detailed plans for initiating the clinical study within the first year, including U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Investigational New Drug/Investigational Device Exemption application submission plans, within 60 days of the award.Studies that do not seek to measure safety, effectiveness, and/or efficacy outcome(s) of an intervention are not considered clinical trials.For the purposes of this funding opportunity, research that meets the definition of a clinical trial is distinct from clinical research. Clinical research encompasses research with human data, human specimens, and/or interaction with human subjects. Clinical research is observational in nature and includes:(1) Research conducted with human subjects and/or material of human origin such as data, specimens, and cognitive phenomena for which an investigator (or co-investigator) does not seek to assess the safety, effectiveness, and/or efficacy outcomes of an intervention. Research meeting this definition may include but is not limited to: (a) mechanisms of human disease, (b) diagnostic or detection studies (e.g., biomarker or imaging), (c) health disparity studies, and (d) development of new technologies.(2) Epidemiologic and behavioral studies that do not seek to assess the safety, effectiveness, and/or efficacy outcomes of an intervention.(3) Outcomes research and health services research that do not fit under the definition of clinical trial.Excluded from the definition of clinical research are in vitro studies that utilize human data or specimens that cannot be linked to a living individual and meet the requirements for exemption under 46.104(d)(4) of the Common Rule.Implementation Sciences Resources: Potential applicants for this award are encouraged to seek collaborations and access to appropriate study populations through the following (or similar) resources: CDMRP: Search the CDMRP awards database at https://cdmrp.health.mil. The North Carolina Louisiana Prostate Cancer Project (PCaP): The PCaP was supported by the PCRP to conduct prostate cancer health disparity studies and developed a large biorepository of health disparity-related epidemiological data and biospecimens that may be requested for use by the research community. Information on PCaP investigators, data, and specimens is available at https://pcap.bioinf.unc.edu. National Cancer Institute Center to Reduce Cancer Health Disparities: Search for health disparity research and researchers at https://crchd.cancer.gov/index.html. National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) Initiative: Contact the NIMHD at https://www.nimhd.nih.gov/programs/extramural/community-based-participatory.html for information on current CBPR programs and scientists and communities engaged in health disparity research. Cancer Prevention and Control Research Network (CPCRN): Contact the CPCRN at https://cpcrn.org/ for information on community participatory research to reduce cancer in disproportionately affected populations. Health Resources and Services Administration, Office of Minority Health: Search for health disparity programs and funded investigators at https://www.hrsa.gov/index.html. NIH Research Portfolio Online Reporting Tool (NIH RePORTER): Search for NIH awards at https://projectreporter.nih.gov/reporter.cfm. Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC): Search for Department of Defense (DOD) and other government-funded investigators through DTIC Technical Reports at https://discover.dtic.mil/. National Library of Medicine, NIH, PubMed: Search for investigators publishing studies on prostate cancer health disparities at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed. U.S. Department of Education: Search for institutions that may have increased access to disproportionately affected populations at https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/edlite-minorityinst.html. International Cancer Research Partnership: Search for investigators and studies relevant to health disparity that are supported by cancer research funders from several countries including the United States, European Union, United Kingdom, and Canada at https://www.icrpartnership.org. National Coalition for LGBT Health: For more information on programs focused on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) research, policy, education, and training, search https://www.healthlgbt.org. National LGBT Cancer Network: To obtain more information, search https://www.cancer-network.org.In addition, the following is a list of potential community and/or advocacy organizations that applicants may find helpful to satisfy the requirement for community engagement within their proposed studies: the American Indian Health Care Association, National African American Outreach Program of the Patient Advocate Foundation, National Alliance for Hispanic Health, National Medical Association, National Rural Health Association, and Prostate Health Education Network, as well as international organizations such as the African-Caribbean Cancer Consortium, African Organization for Research and Training in Cancer, Europa Uomo, European Cancer Patient Coalition, Global Prostate Cancer Alliance, Malecare, Men of African Descent and Carcinoma of the Prostate Consortium, Prostate Cancer Transatlantic Consortium, Urban League, and The Prostate Net.The funding instrument for awards made under the program announcement will be grants (31 USC 6304).The anticipated direct costs budgeted for the entire period of performance for an FY24 PCRP Implementation Science Award should not exceed $2.0M. Refer to Section II.D.5, Funding Restrictions, for detailed funding information.Awards supported with FY24 funds will be made no later than September 30, 2025.The CDMRP expects to allot approximately $9.6M to fund approximately three PCRP Implementation Science Award applications. Funding of applications received is contingent upon the availability of federal funds for this program, the number of applications received, the quality and merit of the applications as evaluated by peer and programmatic review, and the requirements of the government. Funds to be obligated on any award resulting from this funding opportunity will be available for use for a limited time period based on the fiscal year of the funds. It is anticipated that awards made from this FY24 funding opportunity will be funded with FY24 funds, which will expire for use on September 30, 2030.

The Distributed Array of Small Instruments (DASI) solicitation is designed to address the increasing need for high spatial and temporal resolution measurements to determine the local, regional, and global scale processes that are essential for addressing the fundamental questions insolar and space physics. This solicitation will be formally divided into two tracks: 1) development of instrumentation for future deployment in arrays and 2) deployment and operation of existing instruments in distributed arrays.This DASI solicitation emphasizes both strong scientific merit and a well-developed plan for student training and involvement of a diverse workforce.

Background: Since 2017, the U.S. Mission to Kazakhstan has funded the University Partnership Program (UPP) to connect U.S. and Kazakh higher education institutions, traditionally by awarding sub-awards to U.S. partners who applied for funding with Kazakh institutions. As a result, 34 Kazakh universities have partnered with 31 U.S. universities to strengthen educational programs, teaching approaches, and institutional and research capacities, and to pursue joint projects addressing issues such as air pollution, environmental protection, and economic diversification. In addition to the projects achieved under each UPP, many partnerships have successfully resulted in sustainable, continued partnerships separate from USG funding. In most cases, Kazakh universities do not have a clear strategy to engage the private sector in education and research projects that could potentially lead to research commercialization and bring investment from sources other than the Government and student tuition fees. Kazakh universities could benefit from using a diversified-income model used by U.S. universities, which would generate profit to reinvest into university operations. Building partnerships with the private sector could also generate income through commercialization while at the same time offer practical experience for university students. This will allow Kazakh universities to raise their institutional profile, improve their facilities and equipment, be better positioned to support faculty professional development, and be able to offer more student services. Since U.S. universities have a longstanding history of working with private sector and successful financial management models, pairing them with Kazakh universities through research projects in high growth economic fields can help Kazakh universities adjust to the per capita funding system that was introduced in November 2021 and speed up the design of more competitive programs for students and address private sector workforce development needs. Supporting Kazakh universities to learn more about American university best practices in managing business accelerators and research incubators to tailor Kazakh HEIs approach to pursue greater collaboration with the private sector and integrate a system will enable students to get competitive workforce development skills. Collaborating with the private sector and diversifying financial sources can also motivate university management to become more financially transparent and accountable. Medium to long-term successes in Kazakhstan would include the implementation of international management practices, research standards, and student-oriented programs and services. Success will also be gauged on increasing the sharing of best practices among Kazakh institutions with each other. This would help Kazakh universities have well-run, efficient university management models which would be better placed to be an equal and contributing partner with U.S. universities and academic associations. This is also expected to increase the number of Kazakh students and scholars studying in the United States and to contribute to a more competitive workforce equipped with the skills to support economic diversification in Kazakhstan. This NOFO looks to support innovative project mechanisms that advance U.S.-Kazakh institutional partnerships in the form of sub-awards or activities organized directly by the implementer. This can include incubation hubs, basic research capability, or professional development centers. The program should focus on building greater institutional and research capacity in fields that support diversified economic growth through joint U.S.-Kazakh research collaboration including through commercialization opportunities in research, partnerships with private sector, and workforce development programs. Partnerships that focus on curriculum development should be directed toward developing existing curricula rather than creating new curricula. Project Audience(s): Public universities in Kazakhstan (private universities can be additional partners, but not the main partner), and U.S. universities especially research universities, community colleges, and technical institutions. Beneficiaries may include students, teaching professionals, or university managers. Competitive proposals would consider working with several institutions to foster a network. Project Goal: Strengthen institutional and research capacities of Kazakh universities in fields that support workforce development and diversified economic growth through joint U.S.-Kazakh program partnerships and research collaborations. Project Objectives: Objective 1: Equip at least five Kazakh university administrators with the knowledge and skills necessary to attract investment and collaborate with U.S. universities and research centers. Objective 2: Improve the ability of at least two Kazakh HEIs to revise existing curricula and course content that incorporate U.S. best practices, real work application, and hands on learning experiences in high growth fields to address youth unemployment and workforce development. High growth fields include but are not limited to coding, IT, STEM, agriculture, and digital media. Objective 3: Facilitate at least two joint research projects between U.S. and Kazakh universities in high growth fields that demonstrate potential for commercialization. Note: Competitive proposals will include plans for preliminary discussions between American and Kazakh universities on potential roadblocks, challenges, and specifics of the local context in Kazakhstan before starting partnership activities.