BD2K is a trans-NIH initiative that funds research and training activities supporting the use of Big Data to advance biomedical research and discovery. This includes efforts in enhancing training, resource indexing, methods and tools development, and other data science-related areas.

Yesterday, the NIH posted a new funding opportunity that seeks to accelerate the availability and re-use of biomedical research data by transforming the processes used to curate digital data assets. Applications should propose the development of new tools and approaches, or build upon existing open-source tools and pipelines in order to enhance the efficiency, control the costs, and improve the quality of digital curation. Letters of intent are due on November 1, 2016. For more information, see: Big Data to Knowledge (BD2K) Enhancing the Efficiency and Effectiveness of Digital Curation for Biomedical Big Data (U01).

Also, check out another funding opportunity recently announced under the BD2K initiative: Big Data to Knowledge (BD2K) Community-Based Data and Metadata Standards Efforts (R24). This opportunity focuses on making data more FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable) by promoting and facilitating the use of data and metadata standards. Letters of intent are due 30 days before the application due date of October 19, 2016.

The National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NN/LM) is a nationwide program coordinated by the NLM to advance the progress of medicine and improve public health by providing equal access to biomedical information. The Middle Atlantic Region of the NN/LM is currently inviting applications for the following awards:

• Clinical and Public Health Outreach – Enhance clinicians’ and public health workers’ abilities to find and use health information
• Emergency Preparedness/Library Partnership – Strengthen the involvement of public and health sciences libraries in assisting with health and disaster information needs
• Health Literacy Project – Promote a culture of health literacy within the organization
• Health Sciences Library Project – Support health sciences librarians as conduits of information management, access, and delivery
• Outreach to Consumers – Improve health information literacy for patients, family members, students and members of the general public

Up to $15,000 is available for each project. Applications are due August 22, 2016.  For more information, see Middle Atlantic Region: Funding.

The NIH/NCI recently announced a new funding opportunity for projects that will develop, adapt, apply, scale up, and validate tools and methods to improve the collection and integration of cancer registry data and to expand the data items collected.

The NCI’s Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program and the CDC’s National Program of Cancer Registries collect data for the US population in order to report on cancer trends and identify needs for more cancer prevention and control efforts (see fact sheet at left for an example). However, in recent years, there have been challenges due to the increasing complexity of health care information. For example, with more care being delivered at outpatient facilities, it’s increasingly difficult to collect relevant information on all cancer cases diagnosed in their catchment areas.

The new funding opportunity will help advance surveillance science by improving data collection methods, expanding on data elements being captured, and creating tools and methods to be incorporated in the routine process that can be scaled up to multiple registries. For more information, see FOA: PAR-16-349. Applications will be accepted starting September 14, 2016.