The Pilot Project Core of the Center for Technology and Behavioral Health (CTBH) aims to support novel pilot projects that offer considerable promise to have a large impact on the field, as part of the Center?s activities to support the development and evaluation of cutting-edge applications of technology to the treatment of substance use disorders and related issues. In the initial 3.5 year funding period, the Pilot Core awarded 14 pilots (on a competitive basis based on blinded peer-review modeled after the NIH review process). Funded innovative pilot projects focus on topics ranging from novel mobile health methodologies and analytics, to passive sensing via wearable sensors and novel technology-based interventions. In the renewal phase of CTBH, the Pilot Core plans to support an average of 3-4 pilot projects per year to fund the development of a ?pipeline? of new areas of research that could then progress to more rigorous empirical testing via external funding mechanisms after the pilot phase. In this process, approximately half of the pilot funding opportunities will be investigator-initiated (unlike our process to date, which has slotted virtually all pilot funds to Investigator-initiated pilots). About 25% of pilots will be supported in response to specific Request for Applications released by the CTBH Director?s Office on timely and understudied issues that offer great promise to advance the field. We expect that including such RFAs in the renewal period will enhance the relevance and impact of pilot work and facilitate a more integrated set of activities within the Pilot Core. And, the final 25% of pilot funds will be slotted to support collaborations between technologist/analyst affiliates from the Emerging Technologies and Data Analytics Core with behavioral scientists at CTBH. Pilot funds will be made available on a competitive basis to support pilot projects by Investigators affiliated with CTBH, and particularly new investigators, investigators in other research disciplines with expertise that may be applied to substance abuse research (e.g., technologists) and investigators who propose cutting-edge, novel and potentially transformative research ideas. Thus, CTBH Investigators are eligible for pilot funding, as are post-doctoral fellows/trainees under the mentorship of CTBH researchers (including those supported via our new T32 Training grant from NIDA), Core Directors and Deputy Directors, as well as trainees under the mentorship of members of CTBH?s advisory boards. The Director?s Office will advise recipients of pilot project funds on optimal next steps in seeking extramural funding to support a line of research that builds on pilot study results.
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