Harnessing Data Science for Health Discovery and Innovation in Africa (DS-I Africa): Ethical, Legal, and Social Implications Research (U01 Clinical Trial Not Allowed) | RFA RM 20 017

Opportunity Information: Apply for RFA RM 20 017

This grant opportunity, titled "Harnessing Data Science for Health Discovery and Innovation in Africa (DS-I Africa): Ethical, Legal, and Social Implications Research" (RFA-RM-20-017), is a National Institutes of Health (NIH) cooperative agreement (U01) focused on the ethical, legal, and social implications (ELSI) that arise when data science is applied to health research in African settings. The overall DS-I Africa program is meant to accelerate new health discoveries and drive innovation in healthcare, public health, and health research across the continent by using data science approaches. Within that larger effort, this specific funding call concentrates on making sure that the rapid growth of data-driven health research is matched by equally strong, context-appropriate work on ethics, governance, equity, and community impact, rather than treating these as side issues addressed after the fact.

A central emphasis of the announcement is that ELSI questions should be explored from an African perspective and should feed into policy conversations happening on the continent. In practice, that means projects are expected to examine how local norms, laws, institutional capacities, historical experiences, and community expectations shape what is considered fair, trustworthy, and socially acceptable in data-intensive health research. Topics that typically fall under this umbrella include questions around informed consent in large-scale data collection, privacy and confidentiality protections in environments with varying legal and technical safeguards, appropriate governance models for data access and sharing, cross-border data transfers, benefit sharing and reciprocity with participating communities, power imbalances in international collaborations, intellectual property considerations, and the risk that data science tools could reinforce inequities or biases if they are trained on incomplete or unrepresentative data.

Another defining feature is integration: NIH signals that ELSI research funded through this call is expected to be fully embedded within the broader DS-I Africa consortia supported by related funding announcements. Rather than operating in isolation, ELSI awardees are intended to function as active partners alongside the data science and health research teams, helping to anticipate, identify, and respond to ethical challenges as they emerge over the life of the larger projects. The announcement also highlights a "dynamic" approach to ELSI, acknowledging that as research hubs uncover new opportunities and develop new methods, fresh ethical and governance questions will surface that require ongoing attention, iteration, and coordination rather than one-time review.

The cooperative agreement mechanism (U01) also matters because it implies substantial involvement from NIH beyond what is typical in a standard research grant. Cooperative agreements are designed for programs where the funder expects to collaborate with awardees on coordination, shared infrastructure, harmonization across sites, and alignment with program-wide goals. Here, that collaboration is explicitly tied to working closely with DS-I Africa coordinating centers and DS-I Africa research hubs, which suggests an ecosystem model where ELSI projects contribute not only to academic knowledge but also to practical guidance, shared practices, and policy-relevant outputs that can be used across multiple DS-I Africa activities.

Eligibility and award structure are clearly oriented toward strengthening African institutional leadership. Awards under this FOA must be made directly to African institutions, reinforcing the goal that African organizations lead the research agenda and governance conversations. At the same time, the opportunity allows partnerships with organizations outside Africa, which supports international collaboration while still keeping primary institutional authority and accountability on the continent. The eligible applicant category listed is public and state-controlled institutions of higher education, and the activity category is health (CFDA 93.310). The FOA is marked "Clinical Trial Not Allowed," indicating that the funded work should not include clinical trial activities; instead, it should focus on ELSI research, analysis, and related empirical or conceptual work tied to data science for health.

Key administrative details included in the source information are the original closing date of December 1, 2020, and the creation date of July 24, 2020. While the provided excerpt does not specify an award ceiling or the number of expected awards, the intent is clearly to build a coordinated set of ELSI efforts that can influence both the internal functioning of DS-I Africa consortia and broader national or regional policy discussions about responsible, equitable, and trustworthy health data science in Africa.

• The National Institutes of Health in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Harnessing Data Science for Health Discovery and Innovation in Africa (DS-I Africa): Ethical, Legal, and Social Implications Research (U01 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.310.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2020-07-24.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2020-12-01. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Eligible applicants include: Public and State controlled institutions of higher education.

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