Official funding announcement — preliminary draft
Funder: Teresa M Parker-Reeser Grants Officer
Opportunity number: HT942526VRPIIRA
Official listed status: posted
Closing information: 2026-11-12 (official deadline clock time and time zone must be checked in NOFO)
Award disclosure: Applicant-level ceiling not stated in the retrieved federal synopsis; verify in full NOFO.
Applicant categories in federal synopsis: Unrestricted (i.e., open to any type of entity above), subject to any clarification in text field entitled "Additional Information on Eligibility"
Federal synopsis
Summary: The fiscal year 2026 (FY26) Vision Research Program (VRP) Investigator-Initiated Research Award (IIRA) supports basic through early translational research that will yield highly impactful discoveries or major advancements in the research and/or patient care of eye injury and/or visual dysfunction related to military exposure. The IIRA may be used to support preclinical studies and/or clinical research. Research must align with at least one of the FY26 VRP Focus Areas. The IIRA cannot be used to support clinical trials. Distinctive Features: · The IIRA offers two Funding Levels to support research at different stages and the exploration/development of ideas of different maturity levels. · Funding Level 2 includes a Partnering Principal Investigator (PI) Option (PPIO) for two PIs, an Initiating PI and a Partnering PI. · Scored peer review criteria include Research Idea/Rationale, Research Strategy and Feasibility, Impact, and Personnel. · Programmatic review criteria include adherence to the intent of the IIRA, contribution to the VRP portfolio, relative impact, and relevance to military health. · The VRP may share FY26 IIRA applications and reviews with the National Eye Institute (NEI) for independent funding consideration. https://cdmrp.health.mil/pubs/press/2026/vrppreann
Draft intake record. Eligibility, program terms, current amendments and applicant ceiling must be independently verified before publishing.