Promoting Research on Music and Health: Phased Innovation Award for Music Interventions (R61/R33 Clinical Trial Optional) | PAR 20 266

Opportunity Information: Apply for PAR 20 266

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding opportunity titled "Promoting Research on Music and Health: Phased Innovation Award for Music Interventions (R61/R33 Clinical Trial Optional)" (Funding Opportunity Number PAR-20-266) supports innovative, early-stage research that uses music-based interventions to improve health and address a wide range of diseases, disorders, and other conditions. The central goal is not just to test whether music interventions "work," but to build a stronger scientific foundation for them by clarifying how they work, what biological or behavioral mechanisms they engage, and how those mechanisms might translate into meaningful clinical applications. A key feature of this program is its explicit openness to high-innovation projects, including those with little or no preliminary data, which is intended to lower the barrier for novel ideas that are still emerging but scientifically compelling.

This FOA uses a two-phase grant structure called the R61/R33 phased innovation mechanism. The first phase (R61) is designed for early, proof-of-concept work focused on mechanisms or enabling capabilities. In practice, R61 funds can be used to investigate biological mechanisms (for example, neural, physiological, molecular, or other systems-level pathways) or behavioral processes that may explain how music interventions affect health-related outcomes. That mechanistic work can occur in relevant animal models, in healthy human participants, and/or in clinical populations, depending on what best fits the hypothesis and the intended clinical direction. The R61 phase can also support the creation of new technologies or research approaches that make music intervention science more rigorous or scalable, such as tools for precision delivery of musical stimuli, measurement platforms, adaptive or personalized music systems, or other methods that strengthen intervention fidelity and mechanistic measurement.

The second phase (R33) supports the next step once the foundational R61 milestones have been met. R33 funding can continue and deepen mechanistic investigations in humans or animal models, further develop and refine the intervention itself, and/or support pilot clinical studies. These pilot studies are not meant to be full-scale definitive trials; instead, they focus on practical and scientific groundwork needed to justify and design future clinical research. That can include optimizing or refining the intervention (for example, dose, timing, personalization, delivery format), evaluating feasibility in real-world or clinic-relevant settings, testing participant adherence and engagement, and identifying outcome measures that are sensitive, meaningful, and appropriate for subsequent larger studies. Clinical trials are described as "optional," which signals that applicants may propose studies that do or do not meet the NIH definition of a clinical trial, depending on the aims and design.

Movement from the R61 phase to the R33 phase is not automatic. The FOA emphasizes that transition depends on successful completion of pre-specified milestones established during the R61 portion of the award. This milestone-driven structure is meant to keep projects focused on measurable progress, such as demonstrating that a mechanistic signal can be reliably observed, showing that the intervention can be delivered with fidelity, validating a technology tool, meeting recruitment or feasibility benchmarks, or identifying outcome measures that are credible for future work. In other words, applicants need to propose a plan where early-phase goals are concrete enough to evaluate, and where the later-phase activities logically build on what is learned in the first phase.

Because music-and-health research often spans neuroscience, psychology, medicine, public health, rehabilitation, music therapy, engineering, and data science, the FOA strongly encourages multidisciplinary teams. It highlights the value of collaborations among basic researchers, translational scientists, music intervention experts, clinical researchers, music health professionals, and technology development researchers. The program is structured to reward projects that combine strong mechanistic reasoning with practical intervention design, recognizing that progress in this area often depends on both rigorous biology/behavior measurement and thoughtful intervention implementation.

In terms of administrative details, this is a discretionary NIH grant opportunity in the education and health domains, tied to CFDA numbers 93.213, 93.242, 93.273, 93.393, and 93.866. A wide range of applicant organizations are eligible, including state, county, and local governments; public and private institutions of higher education; independent school districts; special district governments; federally recognized tribal governments; tribal organizations that are not federally recognized; public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities; nonprofits with or without 501(c)(3) status; for-profit organizations (other than small businesses); and small businesses. The FOA also explicitly includes eligibility for several institution types and community-based entities, such as Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions, AANAPISIs, Hispanic-serving Institutions, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCCUs), faith-based or community-based organizations, regional organizations, eligible federal agencies, and U.S. territories or possessions. Foreign institutions are not eligible to apply directly, and non-U.S. components of U.S. organizations are also not eligible to apply; however, "foreign components" as defined by the NIH Grants Policy Statement are allowed, which generally means limited, justified elements of the research may occur abroad under NIH rules when scientifically necessary.

The opportunity lists an award ceiling of $350,000, identifies NIH as the sponsoring agency, and shows an original closing date of 2023-06-19, with a creation date of 2020-07-15. Taken together, the FOA is aimed at accelerating the quality and credibility of music intervention research by funding early, innovative, milestone-driven projects that can explain mechanisms, improve intervention tools, and generate the pilot data needed to support future definitive clinical studies.

• The National Institutes of Health in the education, health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Promoting Research on Music and Health: Phased Innovation Award for Music Interventions (R61/R33 Clinical Trial Optional)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.213, 93.242, 93.273, 93.393, 93.866.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2020-07-15.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2023-06-19. (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 $350,000.00 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 20 266

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