Learning Disabilities Research Centers (P50) | RFA HD 17 006

Opportunity Information: Apply for RFA HD 17 006

The Learning Disabilities Research Centers (P50) opportunity (RFA-HD-17-006) is a National Institutes of Health (NIH) center grant offered through the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). It is designed to support large, collaborative research centers that can tackle learning disabilities (LDs) and their frequent co-occurring or comorbid conditions using integrated, team-based, transdisciplinary science. Rather than funding a single project in isolation, the P50 center structure is meant to create a coordinated set of activities and research projects that work together, share methods and data resources, and produce findings that would be difficult to achieve through standard, stand-alone research mechanisms.

The scientific scope is broad and covers both foundational and translational research. NICHD is looking for work that advances how learning disabilities are defined and classified, and that improves understanding of etiology and developmental pathways. The announcement also emphasizes practical, real-world impact areas such as diagnosis, epidemiology, and early identification, along with prevention-oriented strategies and remediation approaches. Research may focus on LDs affecting oral language components, reading, written expression, and mathematics, as well as how these domains relate to each other. A key feature is the explicit encouragement to study relationships between LDs and other disabilities or co-occurring conditions, reflecting the reality that many individuals experience overlapping challenges that cannot be fully understood within a single disciplinary lens.

A major rationale for using the P50 mechanism is to enable richly integrative, multi-method approaches. In practice, this points toward center-level designs that can combine multiple perspectives (for example, developmental, cognitive, educational, clinical, neuroscientific, genetic, and social or environmental approaches) and multiple methodologies (such as longitudinal cohorts, intervention trials, measurement development, computational modeling, or harmonized data collection across projects). The goal is synergy: individual projects should strengthen each other through shared infrastructure, shared populations or recruitment pipelines, common measures, and cross-project analytic plans, ultimately producing a more coherent and impactful body of evidence than separate grants would.

The program also highlights the role of LDRCs as hubs for engagement and workforce development. These centers are expected to function as platforms that connect with external researchers and relevant community stakeholders, which can include practitioners, schools, families, and other partners who influence identification and support for individuals with LDs. In addition, NICHD notes that the center environment should provide career-enhancing opportunities for early career investigators, helping them expand their reach, collaborate across disciplines, and increase their impact through participation in a well-resourced, high-visibility research enterprise.

Eligibility is broad and includes many types of U.S.-based organizations: state, county, city, and special district governments; independent school districts; public and state-controlled and private institutions of higher education; federally recognized tribal governments and other tribal organizations; public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities; nonprofits with or without 501(c)(3) status; for-profit organizations (other than small businesses) and small businesses; and other eligible entities. The announcement explicitly calls out additional eligible applicant categories such as Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Hispanic-serving institutions, Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCCUs), Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian serving institutions, and Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutions (AANAPISIs), as well as eligible federal agencies and faith-based or community-based organizations. U.S. territories or possessions are also listed as eligible.

There are important restrictions related to foreign participation. Non-domestic (non-U.S.) entities (foreign organizations and foreign institutions) are not eligible to apply as the applicant organization, and non-domestic components of U.S. organizations are not eligible to apply. However, foreign components are allowed as defined in the NIH Grants Policy Statement, meaning a U.S. applicant can include certain foreign collaborations or elements when justified and compliant with NIH policy, even though a foreign institution cannot serve as the primary applicant.

From the published opportunity data, the award instrument is a grant under the health-related activity category (CFDA 93.865). The original closing date listed is December 28, 2016, with an award ceiling of $1,400,000 (as provided in the source data). Overall, the opportunity is aimed at building sustained, collaborative center-based programs that can generate new, high-value scientific knowledge about learning disabilities across the lifespan while also improving pathways for identification, prevention-oriented approaches, and remediation in ways that reflect the complex, often comorbid nature of LDs.

• The National Institutes of Health in the health, income security and social services sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Learning Disabilities Research Centers (P50)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.865.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2016-09-23.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2016-12-28. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $1,400,000.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Independent school districts, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities, Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments), Nonprofits having a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Nonprofits that do not have a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education, For-profit organizations other than small businesses, Small businesses, Others.

Apply for RFA HD 17 006

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