Advancing Research on Empirically-Supported Interventions for Older Adults Living with Serious Mental Illness (SMI) (R01 Clinical Trial Optional)
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) · NIH Institute/Center · RFA-MH-27-180
Source: Grants.gov · View original posting ↗
- AwardWhat a single award can be worth — the funder's published per-award amount or floor–ceiling range.
- $3M total
- DeadlineFinal application due date.
- Oct 15, 2026
- Letter of intentDue date for the letter of intent (a short pre-application some funders require or request before the full proposal).
- —
- MechanismNIH activity code — the grant type (R01 research project, R21 exploratory, K series career development, F series fellowship, …).
- R01
- DurationMaximum project period for a single award.
- —
- Expected awardsHow many awards the funder anticipates making under this opportunity.
- 6
- Funding cycleHow often the program accepts applications (annual, multiple cycles per year, rolling, or one-time).
- One-time
- Open dateWhen applications open (or opened).
- May 28, 2026
- Total fundingThe overall pool the funder expects to commit across ALL awards under this opportunity — not what one project receives.
- $3M total
- Clinical trialWhether proposed projects must, may, or must not include a clinical trial.
- Optional / allowed
Funding context
Based on FY2025 NIMH R01 applications (194 of 1,956 applications awarded).
Payline: NIH discontinued percentile paylines for 2026 under its Unified Funding Strategy ↗ — scores are now weighed in context rather than against a fixed cutoff.
NIMH R01, FY2025 — atypical NIH funding year (multi-year upfront funding / rescinded paylines); NIH reports FY2025 success rates as not comparable to prior years.
Aggregate historical data by institute, mechanism, and fiscal year — context for planning, not a prediction for this opportunity. Source ↗
Research areas
Auto-classified from the title and description (keyword-based) — may be imperfect.
Description
The purpose of this notice of funding opportunity (NOFO) is to foster research that will inform and support the optimization, delivery, sustainability, and effectiveness of empirically-supported practices for addressing the mental health needs of older adults with serious mental illness (SMI). To this end, NIMH seeks applications that propose work that is focused on practice-relevant questions and conducted within and/or across settings where older adults with SMI are likely to be identified as needing care (e.g., primary care and geriatric specialty clinics, assisted living and long-term care facilities, and community centers). Applications may propose research related to adapting, optimizing, and implementing efficacious treatment and services interventions and strategies to improve clinical and functional outcomes among aging populations; examining mutable factors that impact fair and impartial mental health care access, utilization, quality, and outcomes and may serve as targets for intervention development for older adults with SMI; and developing and testing innovative treatment and service interventions that address barriers to accessing quality mental health care. Projects may also focus on systems-level factors and approaches for addressing SMI and improving access to evidence-based interventions in later life, such as evaluation of health system policies and practices, interventions that facilitate care transitions and continuity across settings, and strategies to improve care linkages and coordination across systems.