NINDS Institutional AD/ADRD Research Training Program (T32 Clinical Trial Not Allowed) | PAR 22 021

Opportunity Information: Apply for PAR 22 021

The NINDS Institutional AD/ADRD Research Training Program (T32 Clinical Trial Not Allowed), PAR-22-021, is an NIH training grant opportunity designed to fund institution-based research training programs focused on Alzheimers disease and Alzheimers disease-related dementias (AD/ADRD). The central goal is workforce development: building a pipeline of well-trained neuroscientists who finish the program with strong, practical research skills and the scientific grounding needed to make meaningful contributions to understanding, preventing, and treating cognitive impairment and dementia across the AD/ADRD landscape. The program is explicitly training-oriented rather than a mechanism to fund stand-alone research projects, and it emphasizes structured, mentored research experiences combined with formal instruction and career development.

A key feature of this FOA is its broad view of AD/ADRD. Training programs are expected to deepen trainee expertise across a range of dementias and related conditions, not just Alzheimers disease alone. Examples called out include vascular contributions to cognitive impairment and dementia (VCID), Lewy body dementia (LBD), frontotemporal dementia (FTD), and mixed dementias. Programs can be built around basic science, clinical research, and/or translational research, allowing institutions to tailor their training environment to their strengths while still keeping a clear thematic focus on AD/ADRD cognitive impairment and dementia.

The FOA sets expectations for what a strong institutional training program should contain. In addition to mentored research, programs must include formal educational components that ensure trainees develop a solid understanding of experimental design, statistical principles, methodological and analytical approaches, and scientific communication. Communication expectations are broad: trainees should be prepared to present and explain their science both orally and in writing, and to do so for a wide variety of audiences, which can include scientific peers, clinicians, community stakeholders, and other non-specialist groups. Another explicit requirement is quantitative development. Programs are expected to create structured opportunities that build quantitative literacy and encourage the real application of quantitative approaches in the trainees research, reflecting the increasing importance of rigorous analytics, reproducibility, and data-driven methods in neuroscience and dementia research.

The training period is intended to be two years. The supported trainee populations are advanced trainees who are positioned to benefit from focused, research-intensive development: dissertation-stage predoctoral students in their third and/or fourth year of graduate school, postdoctoral fellows, and fellowship-stage clinicians. The FOA also makes a clear boundary: NINDS does not support first- or second-year graduate students under this program, reinforcing the expectation that trainees entering the program already have foundational training and are ready for advanced research specialization.

Eligibility is broad and reflects the institutional nature of T32 programs. A wide range of U.S.-based entities may apply, including public and private institutions of higher education, state and local governments, special district governments, independent school districts, tribal governments and tribal organizations, public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities, nonprofits (with or without 501(c)(3) status), and for-profit organizations (including small businesses, though T32s are most commonly housed in academic or research institutions). The FOA explicitly highlights additional eligible applicant types 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 faith-based or community-based organizations and certain regional organizations. Foreign institutions (non-U.S. entities) are not eligible to apply, but non-U.S. components of U.S. organizations are allowable, meaning a U.S. applicant organization can include certain international elements as part of the overall program when justified and compliant with NIH policy.

Administrative details from the listing show this is a discretionary grant mechanism under NIH, with activity in the health category and CFDA numbers 93.853 and 93.866. The funding opportunity was created on 2021-09-27, with an original closing date listed as 2023-03-22 in the provided record. The title includes the phrase "Clinical Trial Not Allowed," which signals that the supported training and trainee research experiences under this FOA are not intended to involve NIH-defined clinical trials; the emphasis is on training and research activities that stay within the non-clinical-trial boundaries described by NIH policy for that designation.

Overall, this FOA supports institutions in building cohesive, dementia-focused training programs that combine rigorous research mentorship, structured instruction in methods and statistics, strong scientific communication practice, and deliberate quantitative skill-building. The expected outcome is a group of trainees, at the advanced predoctoral, postdoctoral, and clinician-fellow stages, who are better prepared to contribute high-quality, methodologically sound AD/ADRD research across multiple dementia etiologies and research approaches.

• The National Institutes of Health in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "NINDS Institutional AD/ADRD Research Training Program (T32 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.853, 93.866.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2021-09-27.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2023-03-22. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• 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.

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