Newton Award for Transformative Ideas during the COVID-19 Pandemic
RFP Summary provided by the agency
This award will be presented to a single investigator or team of up to two investigators that develops a “transformative idea” to resolve challenges, advance frontiers, and set new paradigms in areas of immense potential benefit to DoD and the nation at large. Proposals should aim to produce novel conceptual frameworks or theory-based approaches that present disruptive ways of thinking about fundamental scientific problems that have evaded resolution, propose new, paradigm-shifting scientific directions, and/or address fundamental and important questions that are argued to be undervalued by the scientific community. Approaches can include analytical reasoning, calculations, simulations, and thought experiments. While data collection and production are therefore allowed, all supporting data should be generated without the use of laboratory-based experimentation or instrumentation.
Given the novelty of and circumstances surrounding this one-time Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA), the objective of this program is to generate proposals that are equally novel and pioneering. Therefore, this FOA should be viewed as an opportunity to propose work outside the bounds of traditional proposals.
Expectations of Award Recipients: Newton Award recipients will produce novel conceptual frameworks or theoretical approaches to addressing outstanding or emerging challenges facing the scientific community. The resulting frameworks and approaches should include clear predictions that can be tested by the scientific community in the years following the return to the laboratory environment. Findings must be submitted as pre-publication material in open archives and disseminated through open publication in a journal. Award winners will brief the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (OUSD(R&E)) leadership at the end of the award period of performance and may be asked to design and chair a Future Directions Workshop on the topic of their findings. In addition, OUSD(R&E) will support winners with successful projects in finding pathways to continue the funding of their transformative ideas.
Additional Links:
https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=326034
What is the mission and focus of the program: research, social, economic or others?
Science and Technology and other Research and Development
How do you submit to this opportunity?
Apply on grants.gov
Who are the target applicants: cities, universities, companies, small business, nonprofits, or others?
Public and State controlled institutions of higher education
Private institutions of higher education