Fiscal Year (FY) 2018 Department of Defense Multidisciplinary Research Program of the University Research Initiative | N00014 17 S F006

Opportunity Information: Apply for N00014 17 S F006

The Fiscal Year (FY) 2018 Department of Defense Multidisciplinary Research Program of the University Research Initiative (MURI) is a discretionary DoD grant competition designed to push forward basic research in science and engineering that could eventually matter to national defense needs. The program is specifically built around multidisciplinary work, meaning it is meant for research efforts where researchers from more than one traditional discipline are truly interacting and integrating their approaches to speed up progress in areas the DoD cares about. In practical terms, the emphasis is not on single-investigator or single-discipline projects, but on coordinated teams that can combine different fields to produce breakthroughs that would be harder to reach within one discipline alone.

Eligibility is tightly limited. Only U.S. institutions of higher education can submit proposals as the applicant organization, including DoD institutions that meet the definition of a degree-granting university with programs in science and/or engineering. Certain university-connected entities can participate as long as they are genuinely part of a U.S. university and are not classified as a Federally Funded Research and Development Center (FFRDC), a University Affiliated Research Center (UARC), or another University Affiliated Laboratory (UAL). This detail matters because it draws a clear line between university-led basic research and research organizations that are treated as distinct federally affiliated entities under DoD rules.

Organizations that are not eligible to apply, such as industry partners, DoD laboratories, FFRDCs, and foreign entities, are allowed to collaborate scientifically on the proposed research, but they cannot receive MURI funds either directly or through a subaward from the university. If a collaboration genuinely depends on financial support for an ineligible organization, the opportunity allows a workaround: the ineligible partner can prepare a separate supplemental proposal describing the needed support. That supplemental proposal must be attached to the main university MURI proposal and will be reviewed using the same MURI evaluation criteria by the responsible Research Topic Chief. Even if it is approved, it cannot be paid with MURI dollars; instead, it may be supported using non-MURI or non-Government funds, which keeps the primary MURI funding stream reserved for eligible university recipients.

From an administrative standpoint, this opportunity is offered as a grant under a research and development funding activity category (Science and Technology and other R and D) and is associated with CFDA number 12.800. The agency listed is the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, reflecting one of the DoD research offices involved in administering or managing the competition. The funding opportunity number is N00014-17-S-F006, and the original closing date provided is November 1, 2017. The award ceiling is listed at $1,500,000, with an expectation of around 10 awards, indicating a competitive program intended to support a limited number of relatively high-value, team-based university research efforts.

Overall, the FY 2018 MURI opportunity is best understood as a high-selectivity DoD basic research program for university-led, cross-disciplinary teams working on topics aligned with defense-relevant scientific interests, with strict rules about who can submit proposals and who can receive the actual MURI funds, while still leaving room for structured collaboration with non-eligible partners when necessary.

• The Air Force Office of Scientific Research in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Fiscal Year (FY) 2018 Department of Defense Multidisciplinary Research Program of the University Research Initiative" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 12.800.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2017-03-20.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2017-11-01. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $1,500,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 10 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education, Others.

Apply for N00014 17 S F006

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