The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Office of Justice Programs (OJP), National Institute of Justice (NIJ) is seeking applications for 2024 Research and Development in Forensic Science for Criminal Justice Purposes.
Donor Name: National Institute of Justice (NIJ)
State: All States
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 04/11/2024
Size of the Grant: More than $1 million
Grant Duration: 5 Years
Details:
OJP is committed to advancing work that promotes civil rights and equity, increases access to justice, supports crime victims and individuals impacted by the justice system, strengthens community safety and protects the public from crime and evolving threats, and builds trust between law enforcement and the community.
With this solicitation, NIJ seeks applications for funding basic or applied research and development in forensic science for criminal justice purposes. NIJ’s Forensic Science Strategic Research Plan and Forensic Science Research and Development Technology Working Group (TWG) identify current research priorities and technology challenges encountered in operational forensic science laboratories. Research-based knowledge and newly developed tools that work towards addressing these priorities and resolving these challenges facilitate the criminal justice community to enforce the law, promote public safety, prevent and reduce crime, and ensure fair and impartial administration of justice. This program furthers DOJ’s mission to uphold the rule of law, to keep our country safe, and to protect civil rights.
Priority Areas
NIJ is interested in funding innovative research that aligns with administration R&D priorities.7 Proposals that advance the following administrative priorities may be given special consideration in award decisions. If submitting a research proposal that contributes to one of the following national priorities, the applicant should state this on the title page of the proposal.
- Advancing national security and technological competitiveness: NIJ supports technologies that power the industries of the future, to include industries that support the forensic sciences that may: (1) increase the body of knowledge to guide and inform forensic science policy and practice; or (2) lead to the production of useful material(s), device(s), system(s), or method(s) that have the potential for forensic application.
- National Artificial Intelligence Initiative: “The mission of the National AI Initiative is to ensure continued U.S. leadership in AI research and development, lead the world in the development and use of trustworthy AI in the public and private sectors, and prepare the present and future U.S. workforce for the integration of AI systems across all sectors of the economy and society.” NIJ is interested in funding proposals that employ AI in order to advance forensic science.
- National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI): The NNI is a U.S. government research and development initiative to understand and control matter at the nanoscale, intended to revolutionize technology and industry to benefit society. “The vision of the NNI is a future in which the ability to understand and control matter at the nanoscale leads to a revolution in technology and industry that benefits society.” NIJ is interested in funding proposals that employ nanotechnology to advance forensic science.
- Cultivating an equitable STEM education, engagement, and workforce ecosystem: NIJ supports the improvement of technical training of future forensic scientists through science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) training through hands-on laboratory and research experience. NIJ encourages applicants to include the employment of students in their research proposals. Furthermore, NIJ supports building capacity at institutions that serve high proportions of underrepresented or underserved groups. Applications submitted under this priority consideration area should include in their management plans how students will be recruited; what laboratory/research activities they will perform; what training/education they will receive through the research; how the project promotes diversity, inclusion, equity, and accessibility in STEM; and how their post-graduation/project activities will be tracked and reported to NIJ.
- Promoting open science and community-engaged R&D: NIJ supports more inclusive engagement in science. Inclusive engagement includes making research and development accessible, reproducible, transparent, and non-discriminatory using open science principles. Open science practices allow NIJ to mitigate biases, increase accountability in research, disclose null findings, and ensure the preservation, availability, and transparency of data collected through its grant funded research projects. NIJ encourages applicants to adopt open science practices through comprehensive data archiving, the use of opensource software, publishing research findings in openly accessible journals and increased collaboration with the forensic science enterprise.
Funding Information
- Anticipated Total Amount To Be Awarded Under This Solicitation: $13,500,000.
- Period of Performance Duration (Months): up to 60 months.
Eligibility Criteria
- City or township governments
- Nonprofits that do not have a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education
- County governments
- For profit organizations other than small businesses
- Special district governments
- Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized)
- State governments
- Private institutions of higher education
- Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education
- Individuals
- Small businesses
- Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments)
- Public and State controlled institutions of higher education
- For the purposes of this notice of funding opportunity, “state” means any state of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
For more information, visit Grants.gov.
