| Funding Landscape and New Limited Submission Opportunities for the Week of September 21, 2026 | Click here to share this information with department heads and eligible faculty. | | Funding Landscape
NIMH Seeks Applications for Silvio O. Conte Centers for Neuroscience and Mental Health Research
This opportunity supports multidisciplinary teams pursuing innovative, high-risk, high-impact research to advance understanding of brain and behavior mechanisms underlying mental disorders, integrate basic and clinical neuroscience research on severe mental illness, and investigate the developmental neurobehavioral mechanisms and trajectories of psychopathology. The program is intended for ambitious, integrative projects that could not be accomplished through more traditional grant mechanisms. Applications are due October 15, 2026, and May 25, 2027.
ARPA-H Launches SPECTRA Program to Advance Autism Research and Care
ARPA-H has announced the launch of Systems for Phenotypic Evaluation, Clinical Trajectories, Response, and Agency (SPECTRA), which is focused on transforming how autism is understood, diagnosed, and supported across the lifespan. SPECTRA will integrate biological, clinical, behavioral, and real-world data with advanced computational tools to support earlier and more accurate diagnosis, better understand individual health and developmental trajectories, and enable more precise, personalized approaches to care. Solution summaries are required, with deadlines based on Technical Area (TA): TA 4 – October 18, 2026; TA 1 & TA 2 – December 2, 2026, and TA 3 – January 18, 2027. | | | New Limited Submission Opportunities | | Description: These grants are for specific research projects which are hypothesis driven and may be either laboratory, clinical, or epidemiological in nature. Current funding priorities are divided into four categories: 1) New discovery research, 2) Translational research and early phase clinical trial, 3) Phase III clinical trials & infrastructure support of participating institutions (primarily the fall grant cycle), and 4) Education of new pediatric oncology researchers
Limitation: one application per institution; see InfoReady for exception and more details.
Internal Submission Deadline: Wednesday, September 30, 2026
Sponsor LOI Deadline: Friday, October 16, 2026
Sponsor Application Deadline: Friday, March 5, 2027
| Description: The Scholar (Career Development) Award is meant to help develop the independent research of highly qualified individuals still early in their careers.
Eligibility: early career researchers
Limitation: one application per institution; see InfoReady for exception and more details.
Internal Submission Deadline: Wednesday, September 30, 2026
Sponsor LOI Deadline: Tuesday, December 8, 2026
Sponsor Application Deadline: Friday, March 5, 2027 | | Description: This award is to train researchers from low and middle income countries (as classified by the World Bank) to prepare them to fill specific stated needs in an area of childhood cancer research upon returning to their country of origin.
Limitation: one application per institution; see InfoReady for exception and more details.
Internal Submission Deadline: Wednesday, September 30, 2026
Sponsor LOI Deadline: Tuesday, December 8, 2026
Sponsor Application Deadline: Friday, March 5, 2027 | Description: These grants are for specific one-year research projects which are hypothesis-driven and focus on areas related to the supportive care of children and adolescents with cancer. Examples include but are not limited to: studies related to symptom clusters, patient-reported outcomes or quality of life, health communication, health promotion, and psychosocial support across the trajectory from diagnosis to survivorship or end-of-life care.
Limitation: one application per institution; see InfoReady for exception and more details.
Internal Submission Deadline: Wednesday, September 30, 2026
Sponsor LOI Deadline: Tuesday, December 8, 2026
Sponsor Application Deadline: Friday, March 5, 2027 | | Description: St. Baldrick’s offers Summer Fellowship Awards, funding stipends for one undergraduate, graduate, or medical school student to work in a pediatric oncology research setting for a summer.
Limitation: one application per institution
Internal Submission Deadline: Wednesday, November 4, 2026
Sponsor Application Deadline: Friday, February 19, 2027 | | | |
