Diet and Physical Activity Assessment Methodology (R21 Clinical Trial Not Allowed) | PAR 18 857

Opportunity Information: Apply for PAR 18 857

Diet and Physical Activity Assessment Methodology (R21 Clinical Trial Not Allowed) is a National Institutes of Health (NIH) discretionary grant opportunity (PAR-18-857) focused on improving how researchers measure what people eat and how physically active they are. The central goal is not to test an intervention in a clinical trial, but to push measurement science forward by creating, refining, and validating better ways to capture dietary intake and physical activity with higher accuracy, lower bias, and stronger usefulness across real-world research settings. In practice, this FOA is aimed at the persistent problem that diet and activity are hard to measure well, and measurement error can weaken or distort findings in nutrition, obesity, cancer, cardiovascular, diabetes, and broader public health research.

The announcement encourages exploratory and innovative projects that fit the NIH R21 mechanism, which is commonly used for early-stage, high-impact ideas that may still be in proof-of-concept or pilot phases. The work supported can include developing novel assessment approaches (for example, new tools or protocols that improve recall, reduce burden, or capture behaviors as they occur), and strengthening methods for evaluating and comparing instruments (such as improved validation strategies, better reference measures, or more rigorous reliability testing). A strong emphasis is placed on making assessment tools work well in culturally diverse populations and across different age groups, explicitly including children and older adults, where standard instruments often perform poorly or require adaptation.

A major theme in the FOA is the use of technology, either through new technologies or smarter applications of existing ones. This can involve mobile and wearable devices, sensor-based monitoring, app-based food logging, image-assisted dietary assessment, passive data capture, or other digital approaches that can improve precision or reduce reliance on memory and self-report. Alongside technology development, the FOA also highlights statistical methods and modeling aimed at improving assessment quality, including techniques to quantify, adjust for, or correct measurement errors and biases. Projects may focus on calibration methods, error modeling, integrating multiple imperfect measures, or analytic strategies that improve the interpretability of diet and activity data in epidemiologic and behavioral research.

Another area specifically encouraged is research that treats diet and physical activity as multidimensional behaviors rather than single variables. The FOA invites methods that examine patterns (for example, dietary patterns, activity profiles, timing, intensity distributions, or co-occurring behavior clusters) and approaches that integrate diet and physical activity measurement together. It also supports work that brings in environmental context, meaning tools or analytic frameworks that connect behaviors to where and when they happen and what surrounds them, such as neighborhood features, built environment, food environments, social settings, or daily routines. The underlying idea is that richer contextual measurement can improve both scientific understanding and the usefulness of findings for population health.

Eligibility is broad and includes many types of U.S. organizations and governmental units, such as state, county, city/township, and special district governments; independent school districts; public housing authorities; and federally recognized Native American tribal governments. Higher education institutions are eligible across public, state-controlled, and private categories. The FOA also allows participation by nonprofit organizations with or without 501(c)(3) status, as well as for-profit organizations (other than small businesses) and small businesses. In addition, the announcement explicitly calls out a wide range of other eligible applicants, including Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions, Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander 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, U.S. territories or possessions, and even non-U.S. (foreign) entities.

From an administrative standpoint, the opportunity is listed under CFDA numbers 93.273, 93.307, 93.361, 93.393, 93.399, and 93.847, reflecting alignment with multiple NIH program areas that rely on strong behavioral measurement. The award ceiling shown in the source data is $200,000, and the FOA was originally posted on 2018-07-17 with an original closing date of 2021-09-07. Overall, this opportunity is best understood as an NIH push to strengthen the foundation of diet and physical activity research by making the underlying measurement tools more accurate, equitable across populations, technologically current, and analytically robust, so that downstream studies have stronger, more trustworthy data to work with.

• The National Institutes of Health in the education, food and nutrition, health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Diet and Physical Activity Assessment Methodology (R21 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.273, 93.307, 93.361, 93.393, 93.399, 93.847.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2018-07-17.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2021-09-07. (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 $200,000.00 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 18 857

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