2026 Predoctoral Fellowship for Autistic Scientists

RFA-LM-26-004 is the National Library of Medicine's institutional training grant competition for predoctoral and postdoctoral programs in biomedical informatics, data science, and artificial intelligence and machine learning. NLM plans roughly 25 awards from a USD 12,000,000 pool, with awards between USD 500,000 and USD 775,000 and applications due 25 September 2026. The RFA covers both brand-new training programs and renewals of existing NLM-funded programs, which materially changes the competitive picture: incumbents with track records of trainee placement are competing in the same pool as new entrants, and new programs need to show institutional depth that renewals can simply document. NLM asks for cutting-edge, forward-looking training experiences that prepare trainees to attack complex health problems with computational methods, and explicitly values interdisciplinary designs that pull together computer science, statistics, clinical and biological perspectives rather than housing training inside a single department. This is one of the largest sustained federal pipelines for AI-in-health workforce development, and because it is a T-series institutional mechanism it is administered by the institution rather than an individual investigator. Estimated award date is 30 January 2027 with projects starting 1 July 2027.

The AFRI Education and Workforce Development (AFRI-EWD) program funds projects that develop the next generation of agricultural professionals across K-14 education through postdoctoral fellowships, including training in agricultural data science, digital and precision agriculture, and AI-enabled food and agricultural systems. The FY 2026 program makes approximately $39.7 million available, with individual awards from $10,000 to $650,000 depending on project type (professional development, research and extension experiences for undergraduates, predoctoral and postdoctoral fellowships, and institutional capacity building). The opportunity was posted January 20, 2026 and closes December 31, 2026. Matching funds are required for some project types, and eligibility varies by project type.

Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative is sponsored by Department of Health And Human Services. To provide extramural research support for the Brain Research Through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies® (BRAIN) Initiative’s aim of revolutionizing our understanding of the brain and its function in unprecedented detail. The NIH BRAIN Initiative’s focus is foundational development of new technologies and tools to map, monitor, and modulate brain circuits in model systems and humans – toward the ultimate goal of treating and curing human brain disorders. BRAIN Initiative research adheres to open, and ethical science. BRAIN-supported research areas include comprehensive cataloguing, mapping, accessing and characterization of brain cell types ; probing neural circuits that interact and produce behavior, cognition, and emotion; developing and employing new  technologies to monitor function and connectivity of synapses, circuits, and whole brains; partnering with human research participants, including  utilizing neurotechnologies in first-in-human clinical studies, to study the human brain in the context of brain injury and brain disorders; and establishing data-sharing platforms and computational models that help decode brain processes and functions. Within these scientific focus areas, the Initiative supports research project grants, cooperative agreements, workforce development awards and Small Business Innovation Research awards. Research supported by the Initiative has a strong commitment to broad dissemination of newly developed technologies, and to considering neuroethical issues related to studying the human brain and the neuroscience advances that follow from this research. New frontiers for BRAIN research will adhere to, and build on, what has been learned to date and adapt to the rapidly changing scientific landscape and neuroscience ecosystem. This listing is currently active. Program number: 93.BZ1. Last updated on 2026-01-28.