Forecasted · Cooperative Agreement
Establishing a Research Network to Guide Foundational Research on Human Consciousness
National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services
Key facts
Copied from the official Grants.gov record. Last verified October 29, 2026.
- Program name
- Establishing a Research Network to Guide Foundational Research on Human Consciousness
- Issuing agency
- National Institutes of Health (Department of Health and Human Services)
- Opportunity number
- RFA-AT-27-002
- Funding type
- Cooperative Agreement
- Funding purpose
- Health
- Status
- Forecasted
- Application deadline
- Forecasted · estimated close February 8, 2027 (agency estimate)
- Agency estimates
- Estimated posting: December 1, 2026. Estimated award date: September 27, 2027. Estimates can change.
- Published award range
- Not published by the agency
- Estimated total program funding
- $600,000
- Expected number of awards
- 1
- Cost sharing or match required
- No
- Eligible applicants (official categories)
- 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 (see Additional Information on Eligibility)
- Relevant to
- Businesses and NonprofitsHow we determined this: Grants.gov eligibility includes small businesses or for-profit organizations. Grants.gov eligibility includes nonprofit organizations.
- Geographic restrictions
- None stated in structured data (federal opportunities are often nationwide). Check the eligibility details and full announcement for any limits.
- Assistance Listing (CFDA)
- 93.213, 93.476
- Official source
- View on Grants.gov ↗
- Application URL
- www.grants.gov/search-results-detail/362097 ↗Apply through Grants.gov (Workspace) using the application package on the official listing, unless the full announcement names a different submission system.
- Source identifier
- Grants.gov opportunity ID 362097 · Funding opportunity number RFA-AT-27-002
- Posted
- April 28, 2026 · Source last updated April 28, 2026
- Last verified
- October 29, 2026 (against Grants.gov)
- Data completeness
- 92% of key fields published by the sourceNot published: published funding range.
- Record confidence
- mediumforecast — dates and amounts are agency estimates.
Eligibility details (from the agency)
Other Eligible ApplicantsIndian/Native American Tribal Governments (Other than Federally Recognized);Eligible Agencies of the Federal Government;U.S. Territory or Possession;Faith-based or Community-based Organizations;Regional Organizations
Description (from the official listing)
This Funding Opportunity will establish the NIH Blueprint for Neuroscience Research Network to Guide Foundational Research on Human Consciousness, leveraging a trans-NIH collaboration of 14 Institutes, Centers, and Offices dedicated to reducing the burden of nervous system disorders. Consciousness is central to numerous serious biomedical conditions, including coma, delirium, dementia, traumatic brain injury, stroke, sleep disorders, metabolic disorders, and seizures - conditions central to NIH's biomedical mission. Yet the neural mechanisms that support conscious states remain insufficiently understood, limiting clinicians’ ability to diagnose and treat patients effectively. Advancing foundational science on human consciousness will strengthen clinical decision-making and improve outcomes for patients with costly and hard-to-treat neurologic and systemic illnesses by:Detecting consciousness in minimally responsive patients to guide prognosis, treatment, and ethical decisions (e.g., organ harvesting).Improving understanding of consciousness in Alzheimer’s disease, related dementias, and delirium.Investigating altered states in mental disorders to inform treatments.Identifying sentience and state transitions under anesthesia and during recovery.Advancing knowledge of sleep states and improving treatments for insomnia and other sleep disorders.Exploring non-sensory visual perception (e.g., hallucinations, aphantasia) to deepen insight into mental health.Evaluating therapeutic effects of consciousness-modulating interventions such as meditation, hypnosis, and…
Read the full description
This Funding Opportunity will establish the NIH Blueprint for Neuroscience Research Network to Guide Foundational Research on Human Consciousness, leveraging a trans-NIH collaboration of 14 Institutes, Centers, and Offices dedicated to reducing the burden of nervous system disorders. Consciousness is central to numerous serious biomedical conditions, including coma, delirium, dementia, traumatic brain injury, stroke, sleep disorders, metabolic disorders, and seizures - conditions central to NIH's biomedical mission. Yet the neural mechanisms that support conscious states remain insufficiently understood, limiting clinicians’ ability to diagnose and treat patients effectively. Advancing foundational science on human consciousness will strengthen clinical decision-making and improve outcomes for patients with costly and hard-to-treat neurologic and systemic illnesses by:Detecting consciousness in minimally responsive patients to guide prognosis, treatment, and ethical decisions (e.g., organ harvesting).Improving understanding of consciousness in Alzheimer’s disease, related dementias, and delirium.Investigating altered states in mental disorders to inform treatments.Identifying sentience and state transitions under anesthesia and during recovery.Advancing knowledge of sleep states and improving treatments for insomnia and other sleep disorders.Exploring non-sensory visual perception (e.g., hallucinations, aphantasia) to deepen insight into mental health.Evaluating therapeutic effects of consciousness-modulating interventions such as meditation, hypnosis, and neurostimulation.Applying New Approach Methodologies (NAMs) to study human consciousness.Despite its importance, biomedical research on consciousness lacks shared standards, resulting in fragmented efforts and limiting understanding of underlying neurocircuitry. To accelerate rigorous, reproducible, and ethically grounded research, this initiative will create a national interdisciplinary Research Network to strengthen and integrate consciousness-related neuroscience, rather than support discrete, hypothesis-driven projects. The Network will develop coordination frameworks, standards, and infrastructure, uniting expertise from neuroscience, neurology, psychiatry, psychology, anesthesiology, sleep and meditation research, computational science, AI, bioethics, and philosophy.The Network’s goal is capacity building: developing and providing needed research resources to advance understanding of the neural mechanisms supporting conscious states. It will lead planning and consensus-building activities to:Harmonize operational definitions across consciousness research.Identify research settings, model systems, and experimental designs with the greatest potential.Evaluate indicators and measures of consciousness for diverse scientific approaches.Determine which measures best reflect preserved or perturbed neurobiological function.Address essential ethical considerations.To strengthen U.S. leadership and cultivate a highly trained workforce, the Network will provide interdisciplinary cross-training opportunities, such as workshops and visiting scholar programs, not feasible in siloed environments. This initiative will create resources that enable rigorous biomedical research on the neural mechanisms of conscious states, aligning with NIH's strategic priorities to improve population health and well-being.
Agency contact
NCCIH Division of Extramural Research Program Officer
NCCIHDERFunding@nih.gov