Predicting Behavioral Responses to Population-Level Cancer Control Strategies (R21 Clinical Trial Optional) | PAR 18 024

Opportunity Information: Apply for PAR 18 024

The grant opportunity "Predicting Behavioral Responses to Population-Level Cancer Control Strategies (R21 Clinical Trial Optional)" (Funding Opportunity Number PAR 18 024) is a National Institutes of Health (NIH) discretionary grant designed to support early-stage, exploratory research on why people respond differently to broad, population-level cancer control policies and interventions. The core purpose is to identify individual-level influences that shape how effective large-scale strategies are at changing cancer-related behaviors, recognizing that policies and public health approaches often do not affect all groups equally and that behavior change depends on more than just access or information. The FOA is built around the idea that improving cancer prevention and control at scale requires a better understanding of how individuals perceive, interpret, and act on policy signals, environmental changes, and implementation efforts.

A central feature of this opportunity is its strong encouragement of interdisciplinary collaboration. NIH is explicitly seeking projects that bring together traditional health policy and implementation researchers with investigators from fields that do not typically focus on cancer control or policy research. Examples called out in the announcement include psychological science (including social and developmental psychology), affective and cognitive neuroscience, judgment and decision-making, consumer behavior and marketing, organizational behavior, sociology, cultural anthropology, behavioral economics, linguistics, and political science. The intent is to spark new ways of predicting and measuring behavioral responses to population-level strategies by using theories, methods, and analytic tools from these disciplines, such as models of decision-making, insights about persuasion and messaging, social and cultural frameworks, and behavioral economic approaches to incentives and choice.

The research focus is on population-level cancer control strategies that aim to influence cancer-related behaviors. While the announcement does not list specific behaviors in the provided text, the framing typically includes prevention and risk-related behaviors that contribute to cancer incidence and outcomes, and the emphasis is on understanding variation in effectiveness across individuals. In practical terms, the FOA is looking for studies that can explain and predict which individuals or groups are more or less likely to change behavior in response to interventions like policy changes, public health campaigns, organizational or system-level implementation approaches, or other broad strategies intended to shift behavior across entire populations.

This is an R21 mechanism, which generally supports exploratory, developmental projects that may be high-risk/high-reward and aimed at generating foundational evidence, new measurement approaches, preliminary models, or early testing of novel hypotheses. The opportunity is labeled "Clinical Trial Optional," meaning applicants may propose a study that includes a clinical trial component if it fits the research question, but a clinical trial is not required. The award ceiling listed in the source data is $200,000, and the funding activity category is listed under Education and Health. The CFDA number provided is 93.393, which is associated with NIH cancer-related research and program areas.

Eligibility is broad and includes a wide range of public and private entities. Eligible applicants include state, county, and city or township governments; special district governments; independent school districts; public and state-controlled institutions of higher education; private institutions of higher education; federally recognized Native American tribal governments; Native American tribal organizations other than federally recognized tribal governments; public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities; nonprofits with and without 501(c)(3) status (excluding institutions of higher education in that category); for-profit organizations other than small businesses; and small businesses. In addition, the FOA explicitly highlights other eligible applicants, including Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions, Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutions (AANAPISIs), Hispanic-serving Institutions, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCCUs), faith-based or community-based organizations, eligible federal agencies, regional organizations, U.S. territories or possessions, and even non-U.S. entities (foreign organizations). This wide eligibility aligns with the FOA's emphasis on collaboration and on reaching diverse populations and settings where population-level strategies are implemented.

Key administrative details from the source include an original closing date of 2019-04-11 and a creation date of 2017-11-28. Overall, the opportunity is best understood as support for research that connects policy and implementation actions with the psychology and social dynamics of individual behavior, with the goal of improving the design, targeting, and real-world impact of large-scale cancer control strategies.

• The National Institutes of Health in the education, health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Predicting Behavioral Responses to Population-Level Cancer Control Strategies (R21 Clinical Trial Optional)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.393.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2017-11-28.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2019-04-11. (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 $200,000.00 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 PAR 18 024

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