ARPA-H Abstract Development Workshop and Awards

Interested in ARPA-H funding? 

The Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research & Creative Activities (ORCA), the DGSOM Dean’s Office, and the CTSI are co-sponsoring a workshop about ARPA-H, including information about the agency, the ARPA-H solution summary (abstract) process, and UCLA support for solution summary development. The workshop will be held on Wednesday October 30th from 12-1pm via Zoom.

Researchers interested in applying for this support are strongly encouraged to attend this workshop. In selecting applicants for this support, priority will be given to applications where one or more of the project leads have attended.

Workshop Registration Form

Background

ARPA-H is currently accepting submissions to its Mission Office-specific Innovative Solution Openings (ISOs) to fund health-related technology research and development.  ARPA-H primarily follows a program model structure where Program Managers bring a well-defined problem to the agency. However, ARPA-H recognizes the need for a mechanism to receive novel ideas that may or may not fit into one of these well-defined programs. As such, the ISO model offers the ability to submit novel ideas that fit within ARPA-H interest areas and advance high-potential, high-impact biomedical and health research.

To respond to an ISO for one of the four Mission Offices, the initial step is to submit a required solution summary (6 pages maximum) by March 3rd, 2025. ARPA-H will provide all solution summaries with an encouragement or discouragement to submit a proposal to the ISO.

The four Mission Office-specific ISOs include:

• Health Science Futures - Accelerating advances across research areas and removing limitations that stymie progress towards solutions for broad ranges of disease and conditions. 
• Proactive Health - Creating capabilities to detect and characterize disease risk and promote treatments and behaviors to anticipate threats whether viral, bacterial, chemical, physical, or psychological. 
• Resilient Systems - Addressing systemic challenges across the healthcare and public health landscape by investing in cutting-edge technologies that address long-standing gaps in the quality, efficacy, and consistent availability of care. 
• Scalable Solutions - Addressing challenges including geography, distribution, manufacturing, data and information, and economies of scale to develop impactful, timely, and equitable solutions. 

UCLA solution summary development support

The workshop sponsors have made funding available for 3-5 teams to receive support from an expert grantwriting consultant to develop an ARPA-H solution summary in response to one of the four Mission Office-specific ISOs (see details below) .

Solution Summary Development Awards

Overview

3-5 teams will be selected to receive support from a grantwriting consultant to develop and refine a competitive ARPA-H solution summary. The award covers the costs for this support, which may include:

• Meeting with the grantwriting consultant to strategize and refine the concept for the solution summary.
• 1-2 rounds of editing of the solution summary, including written guidance and feedback focusing on how to enhance and strengthen the solution summary specifically for ARPA-H submission.

The support provided through this award does NOT include detailed review of the scientific content or assistance with the submission process and logistics.

Award Information

Awardees will be connected with the grant writing consultant to arrange a 1:1 meeting to initiate the process and set a timeline for submitting solution summary drafts for feedback. Please note, this mechanism is not intended to fund research projects.

Awardees will be provided with a timeline for the solution summary development process (including deadlines for setting up an initial meeting and submitting drafts for feedback). Receiving the full suite of assistance from the grant writing consultant is contingent upon scheduling meetings and submitting drafts in accordance with the timeline.

Awardees are expected to work with the relevant campus staff and offices to ensure that their solution summary is successfully submitted by the ARPA-H deadline. Awardees will be required to complete a post-activity report on the status of their submission to ARPA-H.

Additional support beyond the solution summary stage may be available. 

Eligibility

All UCLA-associated faculty in any series are eligible to apply as PI, including adjunct and professional research series. The application team may include faculty external to UCLA, community, and industry partners, and more, but the primary applicant must be a UCLA faculty member.

In reviewing applications, preference will be given to applicants who have attended the workshop.

Submission Requirements

Applications must be submitted by November 14th via the online submission form.

Application Submission Form

Applicants should be prepared to provide the following:

• Contact PI information
• UCLA / External partner information
• Proposed ARPA-H Focus Area
• Upload a brief proposal (2-3 pages) including the following:
  • Summary of the outcome(s) sought and/or the problem(s) to be solved and the general approach to be used. This section should also describe how the proposal addresses the interest areas in the relevant ISO (1-2 pages max).
  • Description of how the how the proposed effort represents an innovative and potentially revolutionary solution (1 page max).
    • As a reminder, ARPA-H is interested in proposals that use innovative approaches to enable revolutionary advances in science, technology, systems, or methodology.
    • ARPA-H does not fund proposals that represent an evolutionary or incremental advance in the state of the art or technology that has reached the clinical trial stage. Additionally, proposals directed towards policy changes, traditional education and training, or center coordination, formation, or development, and construction of physical infrastructure are outside the scope of the ARPA-H mission.

Deadlines and Selection

The application deadlines are posted below and future cycles will be posted on this page.

Award notifications will be issued within 4 weeks of each deadline.