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Call for Clinical Trial Proposals

The NBER Roybal Center for Behavior Change in Health seeks proposals for research projects that involve randomized controlled trials (RCTs) or other NIH-defined clinical trials, and that, if approved for funding by the National Institute on Aging (NIA), would receive support during the period June 1, 2025 through May 31, 2026. Eligible projects must explore some aspect of the relationship between health and human behavior and must be adequately powered to detect meaningful treatment effects. Potential project funding is likely to fall in the range of $175,000 to $260,000 of direct costs.


Is your project an NIH-defined clinical trial? The answers to the following four questions must be “yes”:
  1. Does the study involve human participants?

  2. Are the participants prospectively assigned to an intervention?

  3. Is the study designed to evaluate the effect of the intervention on the participants?

  4. Is the effect being evaluated a health-related biomedical or behavioral outcome?


     

Proposals will be evaluated by the Center co-PIs (Marcella Alsan and Joseph Doyle) and Advisory Committee for research design, relevance, feasibility, scalability, and timeliness. We look for projects that propose to test scalable interventions with the potential to broadly improve population health as people and prioritize those with the potential to advance through the NIH Stage Model for Behavioral Intervention Development. Projects that evaluate mechanisms of behavior change are of particular interest.


To be eligible for support, subject recruitment for the study may not have started yet, and it must be possible to delay recruitment until after formal NIH approval.  The project must comply with all NIH clinical trial policies.

We welcome proposals from affiliates and non-affiliates, junior researchers, and scholars who are members of groups that are under-represented in the economics profession.


Please direct questions to the Associate Director of the NBER Roybal Center, Sarah Holmes Berk (sholmes@nber.org, 617-588-1445). 

Next steps / How to apply: 
  • This summer/fall:  Reach out to us about potential project ideas and determine suitability for an application.

  • By Monday, January 6, 2025: Submit a brief description of your project (including power calculations) and anticipated budget needs. Upload a PDF with this information here.

  • By Friday, January 24, 2025: We will tell you if we are able to include your project.

  • By Monday, February 24, 2025: Using templates and instructions we will provide, submit your Specific Aims, 2-page Research Design, Human Subjects Questionnaire, Planned Inclusion Enrollment Report(s), Budget, Biosketch, and Other Support.

  • During March 2025: Review and approve your Human Subjects System record, which we will draft. Complete applicable NBER and NIH administrative requirements.

  • Summer 2025: We will learn if your study has been approved by the NIH. Depending on the risks associated with your study, the NIH may require your study to receive Data & Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB) and/or Safety Officer (SO) approval before recruitment can begin.

  • For as long as your study continues: Update us periodically on your progress. If applicable, update the DSMB and/or SO periodically and submit monthly enrollment data to NIA. Help us maintain your ClinicalTrials.gov and Human Subjects System records.

  • The University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) Midwest Roybal Center for Health Promotion and Translation seeks to advance the science, translation, and practice of health promotion programs for underserved older adults at risk of Alzheimer’s Disease and Alzheimer’s Disease Related Dementias (AD/ADRD) in order to improve the functioning and quality of life of this growing segment of our population.



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