NIH Director’s Transformative Research Award for Individual and Group Science (R01 Clinical Trial Optional) | RFA RM 27 003

Opportunity Information: Apply for RFA RM 27 003

The NIH Director's Transformative Research Award for Individual and Group Science is a competitive NIH R01 funding opportunity designed for research that aims well beyond incremental advances. It is meant for investigators or teams proposing bold, unconventional, and highly innovative ideas that could fundamentally change how a field thinks or operates. The central emphasis is on transformation: projects should have a credible path to creating new scientific paradigms, delivering entirely new or significantly improved clinical approaches, or producing technologies that could reshape biomedical research or healthcare practice. This program sits within the NIH Common Fund's High-Risk, High-Reward Research (HRHR) portfolio, which is specifically built to support ambitious concepts that may be difficult to fund through more traditional mechanisms.

A key feature of this opportunity is its openness to topic area and research stage. Applications are welcomed from across the biomedical sciences, and proposals may be basic, translational, or clinical in nature. The notice also indicates that clinical trials are optional under this R01, meaning applicants can propose studies that include clinical trial elements if appropriate, but they are not required to do so. Another defining characteristic is that no preliminary data are required. Instead of relying on extensive prior results, the application must convince reviewers through the strength of its rationale, logic, and overall vision that the approach is sound enough to justify the risk and that the potential payoff is unusually high.

The award expects applicants to make a clear case for broad, major impact. In practice, that means the proposal should not only solve a narrow problem but should plausibly influence a wider area relevant to NIH's mission. The review lens is therefore likely to focus heavily on originality, potential to disrupt existing assumptions or methods, and the likelihood that success would meaningfully move an entire domain forward. Because the program is explicitly framed around exceptional innovation, proposals that challenge prevailing models, combine fields in surprising ways, or introduce radically different methodologies are aligned with the intent, as long as the underlying reasoning is compelling and the project is feasible at a high level.

Eligibility is broad across U.S.-based organizations. Eligible applicants include various levels of government (state, county, city or township, and special district governments), independent school districts, public and private institutions of higher education, federally recognized tribal governments and other eligible tribal organizations, public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities, nonprofits (both 501(c)(3) and non-501(c)(3), excluding institutions of higher education in those nonprofit categories), for-profit organizations (other than small businesses), small businesses, and other eligible entities as described in the full notice. While institutional eligibility is expansive domestically, there are clear limits on foreign participation: non-U.S. entities (foreign organizations) are not eligible to apply, and non-U.S. components of U.S. organizations are not eligible to apply. However, foreign components are allowed as defined by the NIH Grants Policy Statement, which typically means certain international activities or collaborations can be included when justified and properly structured under NIH rules, even though the primary applicant organization must be U.S.-based.

Administrative details from the opportunity listing include the funding opportunity number RFA-RM-27-003 and an original application due date of 2026-09-03. The opportunity is categorized as a discretionary grant in the health area (CFDA/Assistance Listing 93.310) and anticipates making approximately 7 awards. The listing does not specify an award ceiling amount in the provided excerpt, so applicants would need to consult the full Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for budget limits, project period expectations, and any special submission or review requirements specific to this Transformative Research Award mechanism.

• The National Institutes of Health in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "NIH Director’s Transformative Research Award for Individual and Group Science (R01 Clinical Trial Optional)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.310.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2026-06-29.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2026-09-03. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 7 candidate(s).
• 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 RM 27 003

[Watch] Creating a grant proposal using the step-by-step wizard inside the applicant portal: