Concept: NIH Blueprint for Neuroscience: Establishing a Research Network To Guide Foundational Research on Human Consciousness

Project Concept Review

Council Approval: April 17, 2026        

Program Director: Erin Burke Quinlan, Ph.D. (on behalf of NIH Blueprint)

Background

Consciousness is central to numerous serious biomedical conditions, including coma, delirium, dementia, traumatic brain injury, stroke, sleep disorders, metabolic disorders, and seizures—conditions central to the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) biomedical mission. Yet the neural mechanisms that support conscious states remain insufficiently understood, limiting clinicians' ability to diagnose and treat patients effectively. Advancing foundational science on human consciousness will strengthen clinical decision making and improve outcomes for patients with costly and hard-to-treat neurologic and systemic illnesses by:

• Detecting consciousness in minimally responsive patients to guide prognosis, treatment, and ethical decisions (e.g., organ harvesting)
• Improving understanding of consciousness in Alzheimer's disease, related dementias, and delirium
• Investigating altered states in mental disorders to inform treatments
• Identifying sentience and state transitions under anesthesia and during recovery
• Advancing knowledge of sleep states and improving treatments for insomnia and other sleep disorders
• Exploring nonsensory visual perception (e.g., hallucinations, aphantasia) to deepen insight into mental health
• Evaluating therapeutic effects of consciousness-modulating interventions, such as meditation, hypnosis, and neurostimulation

To assess the state of consciousness research and identify knowledge gaps and opportunities to rigorously advance the science of consciousness, the NIH Blueprint and Brain Research Through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative, in partnership with the National Science Foundation, convened a 3-day workshop in 2023 titled, “Next Frontiers in Consciousness Research.” The workshop illustrated the somewhat fragmented state of current approaches, siloed in part due to different operational definitions and preferred experimental paradigms. An overarching theme that emerged from the workshop was the need to bridge these differences through convergence on shared principles in a “theory-neutral, empirically grounded manner” (He, 2023). 

Purpose of Proposed Initiative

To address these gaps and accelerate rigorous, reproducible research, this initiative will establish the NIH Blueprint for Neuroscience Research Network To Guide Foundational Research on Human Consciousness, leveraging an NIH-wide collaboration of 14 Institutes, Centers, and Offices dedicated to reducing the burden of nervous system disorders.

This research network will strengthen and integrate consciousness-related neuroscience, rather than support discrete, hypothesis-driven projects. The network will develop and provide needed research resources to advance understanding of the neural mechanisms of human consciousness. The network will develop coordination frameworks, standards, and infrastructure, uniting expertise from neuroscience, neurology, psychiatry, psychology, anesthesiology, sleep and meditation research, computational science, artificial intelligence, bioethics, and philosophy. To strengthen U.S. leadership and cultivate a highly trained workforce, the network will also provide interdisciplinary cross-training opportunities—such as workshops and visiting scholar programs—not feasible in siloed environments.

This initiative will create resources that enable rigorous biomedical research on the neural mechanisms of conscious states in humans, aligning with NIH's strategic priorities to improve population health and well-being.

Objectives

The research planning and consensus-building activities supported by this concept may include, but are not limited to:

• Harmonize operational definitions and standards across consciousness research
• Identify research settings, model systems, and experimental designs with the greatest potential
• Evaluate indicators and measures of consciousness for diverse scientific approaches
• Determine which measures of consciousness best reflect preserved or perturbed neurobiological function
• Address essential ethical considerations

For More Information

• RFA-AT-27-002-NIH Blueprint for Neuroscience: Establishing a Research Network to Guide Foundational Research on Human Consciousness