Learning Disabilities Innovation Hubs

Overview

<p><span>This funding opportunity announcement (FOA) invites exploratory grant applications, hereafter referred to as the Learning Disabilities Innovation Hubs or LD Hubs, addressing the etiology, manifestation, prevention and remediation of reading, writing and/or mathematics learning disabilities (LDs). The constitution of an LD Hub includes a single research project and an Administration Core that support the goals and aims of the LD Hub. </span></p> <p><span>Scope<br></span>This announcement encourages foundational and translational (e.g., intervention-based) research approaches to learning disabilities that impact the acquisition and mastery of mathematics, reading, and writing. The constitution of an LD Hub must include a single focused research project and a single Administration Core that supports the broader goals and aims of the LD Hub. The research investigations developed and conducted within the scope of the LD Hub are intended to (1) inform the understanding of underlying etiology, manifestation, prevention and/or remediation of the focal LD(s) and related comorbidities, (2) provide project-embedded career enhancement opportunities for the next generation of LD investigators and (3) serve to develop a body of research and cadre of investigators that is sufficiently compelling and mature to compete for a LDRC or other NIH investigator-initiated funding opportunities. Proposed research projects must include a behavioral sciences component as the scientific core of their project; applicants are encouraged, but not required, to integrate this approach with other approaches (e.g., neurobiological and/or genetic) as appropriate to answer the research question(s) proposed. Specifically, NICHD is interested in behavioral and biobehavioral research topics that are significantly understudied as they relate to LDs and/or research topics that involve significantly understudied populations at high risk for, or diagnosed with, LDs in mathematics, reading, and/or writing.</p> <p>Specific Areas of Research Interest<br>This FOA seeks to support developmentally sensitive, LD Hub projects that address 1 (or more) of 3 target areas - all applications must address at least one of the 3 target areas. These topic areas are not mutually exclusive, and applicants may choose to address more than one of the target areas listed; regardless of their choice to address one or more topics, applicants will need to select the most central focus from the three options below and explicitly indicate this focus in the application:</p> <p>1) Primary focus on historically under-studied and under-represented populations who are at risk for, or diagnosed with, one or more learning disabilities impacting reading, writing, or mathematics.</p> <p>2) Nascent, understudied, and highly innovative and/or high risk research topics, involving LDs impacting mathematics, reading and/or writing, which may or may not be wholly focused on at-risk or understudied populations with LDs.</p> <p>3) Historically challenging, yet established, research topics involving populations at risk for or diagnosed with one or more of these LDs where progress has been limited despite high public health need.</p>