News & Events
NIH funds grants, cooperative agreements, and contracts that support the advancement of fundamental knowledge about the nature and behavior of living systems to meet the NIH mission of extending healthy life and reducing the burdens of illness and disability. While NIH awards many grants specifically for research, we also provide grant opportunities that support research-related activities, including: construction, training, career development, conferences, resource grants and more.
We encourage:
- Projects of High Scientific Caliber
NIH looks for grant proposals of high scientific caliber that are relevant to public health needs and are within NIH Institute and Center (IC) priorities. ICs highlight their research priorities on their Web sites. Applicants may want to contact the appropriate Institute or Center to discuss the relevancy and/or focus of the proposed research before submitting an application. NIH also has a number of broad NIH-wide initiatives that may be of interest.
- Investigator-Initiated Research
NIH strongly encourages investigator-initiated research across the spectrum of our mission. We issue hundreds of funding opportunity announcements (FOAs) in the form of Program Announcements (PAs) and requests for applications (RFAs) to stimulate research in particular areas of science. Some PAs, called “Parent Announcements,” span the breadth of the NIH mission in order to ensure we have a way to capture “unsolicited” applications that do not fall within the scope of targeted announcements. The majority of NIH applications are submitted in response to parent announcements.
- Unique Research Projects
Projects must be unique. By law, NIH cannot support a project already funded or pay for research that has already been done. Although you may not send the same application to more than one Public Health Service (PHS) agency at the same time, you can apply to an organization outside the PHS with the same application. If the project gets funded by another organization, however, it cannot be funded by NIH as well.
Each type of NIH grant program has its own set of eligibility requirements. Applicants can find eligibility information in section III of each funding opportunity announcement (FOA). While the principal investigator (PI) conceives and writes the application, NIH recognizes the applicant institution as the grantee for most grant types.
Individual Eligibility
NIH supports scientists at various stages in their careers, from pre-doctoral students on research training grants to investigators with extensive experience who run large research centers. NIH is committed to supporting new investigators. Reviewers give new investigators special consideration, and NIH has programs targeted specifically for this population.
Generally, PIs and other personnel supported by NIH research grants are not required to be
Institutional Eligibility
In general, domestic or foreign, public or private, non-profit or for-profit organizations are eligible to receive NIH grants. NIH may limit eligibility for certain types of programs, such as limitations on the participation of foreign entities or programs for which only small businesses are eligible applicants.
NIH announces availability of funds for grant programs by issuing funding opportunity announcements (FOAs) in the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts and on Grants.gov. Parent announcements, program announcements (PAs), and requests for applications (RFAs) are all types of FOA.
Type | Receipt Date | Money Set Aside | Peer Review | Specificity of Topic | Advantage to Applicant |
Parent Announcement | Standard receipt dates, usually open for three years | None | In Center for Scientific Review (CSR) or in an IC, by one of many review committees | Non-specific, investigator-initiated. Not all ICs participate in all parent FOAs. | May submit any topic within the breadth of the NIH mission. Competition tied mainly to an IC's overall payline |
IC- specific Program Announcements (PA) | Standard receipt dates, usually open for three years | No set asides (unless PAS); high-priority applications may be funded beyond the payline | In CSR or in an IC, by one of many review committees (unless PAR) | Often broadly defined or a reminder of a scientific need; investigator-initiated | Competition tied mainly to the IC's overall payline |
Request for Applications (RFA) | Single | Specifies funds and targets number of awards | Usually in and IC, but sometimes in CSR. Same review committee for all applications. Usually reviewed by a Scientific Review Group, called a Special Emphasis Panel, that is convened on a one-time basis | Well-defined scientific area | Competition depends on number of applicants and dollars set aside |