DoW Spinal Cord Injury, Investigator-Initiated Research Award

The FY26 Spinal Cord Injury Research Program (SCIRP) Investigator-Initiated Research Award (IIRA) by the Defense Health Agency (DHA) offers approximately $4.96M for spinal cord injury (SCI) research, aiming to fund about six awards. It supports studies from basic to translational science, excluding those focused solely on intervention target identification or clinical trials. The program emphasizes four priority areas: Acute Injury Intervention, Secondary Health Effects, Psychosocial Well-Being, and Rehabilitation and Regeneration, each with near-term and long-term goals. A distinctive Early-Career Partnership Option allows two Principal Investigators (PIs), with a higher cost cap of $0.96M compared to $0.8M for a single PI, over a maximum 3-year performance period. Eligible applicants include U.S. Department of War (DOW) organizations, both foreign and domestic, for-profit and non-profit entities. The application process is two-step: a pre-application via eBRAP due August 3, 2026, followed by an invited full application due November 12, 2026, submitted through Grants.gov or eBRAP. Applications are reviewed for scientific merit and programmatic relevance, with a strong emphasis on military health applicability and community-informed research.