Integrative Strategies for Understanding Neural and Cognitive Systems | 17 519

Opportunity Information: Apply for 17 519

The National Science Foundation (NSF) funding opportunity titled "Integrative Strategies for Understanding Neural and Cognitive Systems" (NSF 17-519) is aimed at tackling big, stubborn questions about how brains produce behavior and cognition. The core premise is that brain and behavior are too complex to be explained well from a single discipline, so the program is designed to push research teams to cross boundaries between fields like neuroscience, cognitive science, engineering, computer and information science, education research, and the social and behavioral sciences. NSF is explicitly looking for proposals that are integrative rather than simply collaborative, meaning the work should blend theories, methods, data, and perspectives in ways that create new capabilities or new explanatory power that would not emerge from a traditional single-field approach.

A major emphasis of the solicitation is on ambitious, high-risk, high-reward work. NSF signals that conventional, incremental projects are not the target; instead, the program wants bold ideas that may be difficult, uncertain, or technically challenging, but that could lead to transformative advances if they succeed. Applicants are expected to be clear and direct about what makes the project risky, what the potential payoff is, and how the team will manage or mitigate those risks. In other words, risk is not a drawback here as long as it is thoughtfully justified and paired with credible strategies for execution, evaluation, and learning if initial approaches fail.

The opportunity sits within NSF's broader multi-year "Understanding the Brain" activity and connects to NSF's participation in the national BRAIN Initiative. Consistent with that positioning, NSF describes an intended outcome that goes beyond individual awards: it envisions a connected portfolio of projects that create synergy across investigators and research communities, producing new ways to study the brain "in action and in context." This framing reflects an interest in linking foundational theory, experimental and computational methods, and enabling technologies in order to move toward more complete explanations of neural and cognitive function in realistic settings.

The solicitation highlights four integrative research themes that proposals may address. The first is Neuroengineering and Brain-Inspired Concepts and Designs, which broadly covers engineering approaches to understanding, interfacing with, or drawing inspiration from neural systems, including brain-inspired computing and novel neurotechnologies. The second theme is Individuality and Variation, emphasizing the need to account for differences across individuals, which could include biological variability, developmental pathways, learning histories, or other factors that shape neural and cognitive processes. The third theme, Cognitive and Neural Processes in Realistic, Complex Environments, focuses on moving beyond simplified laboratory tasks toward understanding cognition and neural function as they operate in messy, dynamic, real-world conditions. The fourth theme is Data-Intensive Neuroscience and Cognitive Science, centered on leveraging large, complex datasets and modern computational methods to extract insight, build models, and connect multiple levels of analysis.

Across all four themes, NSF indicates that a wide range of contributions are valued, not only new scientific findings. The program explicitly welcomes advances in theory and methods, technological innovation, educational approaches, research infrastructure, and workforce development. This means competitive proposals can be oriented toward creating new measurement tools, modeling frameworks, data resources, training pipelines, or educational strategies, as long as they are tightly tied to meaningful questions about neural and cognitive systems and align with the missions of the participating NSF directorates. The solicitation also notes that proposals must be consistent with the goals and scopes of the directorates involved, reinforcing that even very adventurous projects need to clearly fit within NSF's programmatic responsibilities.

For the FY2017 cycle described in the notice, NSF planned to consider two classes of submissions. The first is Integrative Foundations awards, supported across multiple directorates (CISE, EHR, ENG, SBE), intended for projects that develop foundational advances connected to a broad set of important questions in neural and cognitive systems, with strong potential for transformative impact within one or more of the four themes. The second is Core Supplements (CISE, EHR, ENG), which provide additional funding to new or existing awards in participating directorates to extend or connect those projects to new integrative opportunities in neural and cognitive systems. In practice, this structure supports both brand-new, deeply integrative projects and strategic expansions of ongoing work to create stronger cross-disciplinary links.

Administratively, the opportunity is a discretionary NSF grant program, listed under CFDA numbers 47.041, 47.070, 47.075, and 47.076, and it is open to a broad range of applicant types (unrestricted eligibility, subject to any clarifications in the full solicitation). The posting indicates an award ceiling of $1,000,000 and an expectation of around 30 awards. The opportunity was created on November 8, 2016, with an original closing date of February 6, 2017. Overall, the program is best understood as NSF's push to fund integrative, cross-directorate efforts that combine disciplines, tools, and communities to make meaningful leaps in how neural and cognitive systems are measured, modeled, and understood.

• The National Science Foundation in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Integrative Strategies for Understanding Neural and Cognitive Systems" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 47.041, 47.070, 47.075, 47.076.
• This funding opportunity was created on Nov 08, 2016.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Feb 06, 2017. (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 $1,000,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 30 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Unrestricted (i.e., open to any type of entity above), subject to any clarification in text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility.

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