The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) has announced funding opportunity RFA-DA-25-038, titled *Translating Socioenvironmental Influences on Neurocognitive Development and Addiction Risk (TranSINDA)*, aimed at establishing a Data Coordination Center (DCC) to support the TranSINDA Consortium's research. The DCC will serve as the centralized organizational hub to manage data, develop data-sharing resources, and integrate socioenvironmental data related to neurocognitive development and addiction risk. This cooperative agreement, categorized under U24 Resource-Related Research Projects, does not allow for clinical trials. The TranSINDA DCC will be responsible for creating a modern data ecosystem, implementing data standards, managing extensive datasets, supporting advanced computational analysis, and fostering an inclusive research environment through a Plan for Enhancing Diverse Perspectives (PEDP).

The TranSINDA DCC will operate across four essential functions: (1) establishing data standards for socioenvironmental and neurocognitive research, (2) creating a data management and integration ecosystem, (3) providing statistical and modeling support, and (4) coordinating consortium activities, training, and dissemination. The data standards component requires the DCC to define and implement consistent data and metadata protocols for TranSINDA projects, including controlled vocabularies, ontologies, and best practices aligned with common data repositories. Data management efforts will involve developing a cloud-based access and analysis platform to host TranSINDA data, ensuring data quality, and facilitating secure and comprehensive data sharing to support secondary research and public access.

The award provides up to $1 million for one five-year project, with budget needs tailored to the proposed research activities. Eligible applicants include domestic and international institutions, such as higher education institutions, government entities, nonprofits, and for-profit organizations. Applicants are encouraged to collaborate across diverse scientific and institutional backgrounds to enhance inclusivity and innovation in research. Essential team expertise should include coordination of large-scale, multi-project studies, cloud data management, longitudinal research designs, and computational modeling, with emphasis on supporting a cohesive data-sharing and management infrastructure.

Applications must include a robust PEDP to enhance the inclusion of diverse scientific perspectives and backgrounds. Applicants should provide specific, actionable plans to advance inclusivity in research, such as collaborating with minority-serving institutions, engaging underrepresented communities, and integrating varied scientific expertise. The absence of a PEDP will result in administrative withdrawal of the application. Submission requirements also stipulate alignment with NIH’s data management and sharing guidelines, and budget provisions for PEDP activities are allowable.

The deadline for the application is December 3, 2024, with a recommended Letter of Intent by November 4, 2024. Applicants must use NIH ASSIST, institutional system-to-system solutions, or Grants.gov Workspace for submission. Funding decisions will consider scientific merit, inclusivity, technical feasibility, budget appropriateness, and alignment with NIDA’s program priorities. Selected projects will undergo peer review, with awards anticipated to start in July 2025. The DCC will work closely with NIH staff and TranSINDA project leaders to maintain high standards in data management, consortium coordination, and resource dissemination throughout the project lifecycle.