To promote integration across biological subdisciplines, the Directorate for Biological Sciences (BIO) has released a revised solicitation (NSF 20-601) under the Biology Integration Institutes (BII) program.

The program, launched this year, supports collaborative teams investigating questions that span multiple disciplines within and beyond biology. BII is interested in research that informs our understanding of biological processes and mechanisms across and within organizational scales – from molecules to global scales.

Each Institute must identify a Research Theme, centered around a compelling and broad biological question poised for breakthroughs by collaboration across biological subdisciplines. The Theme must be larger in scope than research projects typically submitted to core programs in the BIO Directorate. While the proposed project does not have to span all biological subdisciplines (that would be a lot), it should span more than one subdiscipline and be compelling across the subdisciplines spanned. These efforts are funded with an initial commitment of 5 years and the possibility of a 5-year continuation.

Proposals are due by January 13, 2021. Revisions include the elimination of the “Design” track and the elimination of the Letter of Intent (just apply!).

Visit here to learn more about what was recently funded and if you have specific questions, please reach out to one of the Program Officers listed on the program page.