Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences Broad Agency Announcement for Basic Scientific Research (2018)

Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) W911NF-18-S-0001 for the Foundational Science  Research Unit of the U.S. Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social  Sciences (ARI) solicits new proposals for its fiscal year 2018 program of basic  research in behavioral science. The U.S. Army Research Institute for the  Behavioral and Social Sciences is the Army lead agency for the conduct of  research, development, and analyses for the improvement of Army readiness and  performance via research advances and applications of the behavioral and social  sciences that address personnel, organization, training, and leader development  issues.  The basic research program supports research projects that are designed  to expand fundamental knowledge and discover general principles in behavioral and  social sciences.

 A key consideration in the decision to support a research proposal is that its  findings are likely to stimulate new, basic behavioral research which, in turn,  will lead to improved performance of Army personnel and their units.  Proposals  may address both traditional behavioral issues as well as psychophysiological (to  include neuroscience) and network science approaches to social phenomena, memory,  cognition, and personality. ARI will not support proposals through this BAA that  are primarily applied research projects (e.g., human factors studies or training  program evaluations) or purely focused on physiology, psychopathology, or  behavioral health. 

Interested offerors are encouraged to submit white papers prior to submitting  proposals. 

The full research announcement and application instructions for both white papers and proposals may be viewed at grants.gov under opportunity number W911NF-18-S-0001.

White paper submissions due by April 4, 2018.

Full proposal submissions due by June 15, 2018.

Research topic areas of interest include the domains listed below (see the BAA p. 8, available here, for more information):

  1. Personnel Testing and performance
  2. Leader Development
  3. Organizational Effectiveness
  4. Learning in Formal and Informal Environments
  5. Culture