NIJ FY18 Research and Development in Forensic Science for Criminal Justice Purposes

**This opportunity may be a good fit for a Public Defender program that is working to or interested in increasing knowledge and building best practices in forensic sciences. This might also be linked to work around conviction integrity and wrongful conviction.**

With this solicitation, NIJ seeks proposals for basic or applied research and development projects. An NIJ forensic science research and development grant supports a discrete, specified, circumscribed project that will: (1) increase the body of knowledge to guide and inform forensic science policy and practice, or (2) lead to the production of useful material(s), device(s), system(s), or method(s) that have the potential for forensic application. The intent of this program is to direct the findings of basic scientific research; research and development in broader scientific fields applicable to forensic science; and ongoing forensic science research toward the development of highly-discriminating, accurate, reliable, cost-effective, and rapid methods for the identification, analysis, and interpretation of physical evidence for criminal justice purposes. Projects should address the challenges and needs of the forensic science community. The operational needs discussed at NIJ’s FY 2016 Forensic Science TWG meeting may be found on NIJ.gov. Additional research needs of the forensic science community can be found at the Organization of Scientific Area Committees website. While the goals and deliverables of proposed projects do not necessarily need to result in immediate solutions to the posted challenges or needs, they should speak to them and produce knowledge that adds to work towards eventual resolutions.