Questions and Answers Table of Contents
In which branch of government is NIH?
As part of the Department
of Health and Human Services, NIH is in the executive branch of the
U.S. federal government, which reports to the President.
How do the roles of the institutes and the
NIH Office of the Director differ?
The NIH Office of the Director sets cross-cutting policy but does not fund
research, except for
the Roadmap.
NIH institutes
and centers (IC) sponsor biomedical and behavioral research at universities
and other organizations around the world. Funded through grants and contracts,
this is called extramural research.
About 10 percent of the NIH budget pays for in-house, or intramural, research
conducted by IC employees. Also see Extramural
and Intramural Research questions
and answers.
What are the main functions of the ICs?
As semiautonomous organizations with distinct missions, the ICs determine
which areas of science to emphasize through research initiatives -- requests
for proposals, requests
for applications, and program
announcements.
They also define funding approaches and some policies.
For example, the ICs decide which applications to fund and determine
how to allocate funds among different activities, e.g., investigator-initiated grants, intramural research,
and training
awards.
For more information, go to NIH Research Planning and our
question and answer documents:
How does NIH set research priorities?
To assess scientific opportunities and priorities, ICs get input from
a range of sources, including focus groups, conferences, and informal discussions
with outside scientists. New laws passed by Congress can also create new
research priorities.
Each institute has advisory bodies, such as the AIDS
Research Advisory Committee, and a main advisory Council.
NIAID's Council is called the National
Advisory Allergy and Infectious Diseases Council; for more information
see Advisory Council questions and answers
and our main Council page.
NIAID also convenes many ad hoc advisory groups, such as the Blue Ribbon Panel that led to the NIH Strategic Plan and Research Agenda for Medical Countermeasures against Radiological and Nuclear Threats. Read more
about priority-setting in Setting
Research Priorities at NIH and NIAID Planning and Priorities.
At the NIH level, the Office of Portfolio Analysis and Strategic Initiatives helps identify areas of emerging scientific opportunities and challenges, manages the process for prioritizing trans-NIH initiatives, and gives priority projects “incubator space” for five to ten years.
How do ICs stimulate research in emerging
areas?
At NIAID, scientific priorities are reflected in new research initiatives the
Institute issues to solicit grant applications or contract proposals.
With input from the scientific community, NIAID program
officers develop concepts for
future initiatives and present them to our advisory Council for discussion and approval.
NIAID also emphasizes high-priority areas by funding programmatically important
applications outside the payline.
See NIAID Funding Decisions and High-Priority
Topics: Concepts and Initiatives questions
and answers.
How does NIAID ensure that the highest
priorities are funded?
NIAID pays most grants according to merit, not programmatic priority. However,
for high-priority areas, NIAID funds some applications outside the payline
through selective
pay and High-Priority,
Short-Term Project Awards (R56). Learn more by following the links below.
Funding grants according to merit:
Setting aside funds for high-priority areas:
Funding applications outside the payline:
How does NIH decide new policy?
Many policy changes stem from new regulations within the Department
of Health and Human Services or new laws from Congress. NIH can also
revise policy in response to feedback from the extramural research community
or its staff.
To coordinate changes with the institutes, NIH relies on its Office
of Extramural Research and many cross-cutting, inter-institute committees. Also
see How does NIH coordinate policy changes
among the institutes?
How do NIH and NIAID publish policy changes
and funding opportunities?
NIH publishes policy changes and initiatives weekly
in the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts.
NIAID announces key policy changes in
the NIAID Funding News newsletter,
and we list one year of policy news in our Top Policy Changes. Subscribe to Email Alerts to receive email notification of the newsletter and other important policy updates. For an easy way to find NIAID's funding opportunities,
go to the NIH Funding Opportunities Relevant to NIAID.
Find
more information on the Guide in our Creating NIH Guide Notices SOP.
Does NIH have special offices that coordinate
policy and research for special areas?
Yes. The NIH Office of the Director has
offices that coordinate some of the cross-cutting research supported by
the ICs, including:
NIH also has offices for policy only, including:
Another policy office important to NIH, the Office
for Human Research Protections, is
housed in the Department of Health and Human
Services. For more information, go to NIH Office
of Extramural Research.
How does NIH coordinate policy changes
among the institutes?
NIH's inter-institute committees that make policy recommendations for their
areas include:
Many of these bodies make recommendations to the chairperson of the Extramural
Program Management Committee, which comprises the heads of organizations
similar to NIAID's Division
of Extramural Activities.
In addition, the NIH Steering Committee advises the NIH director on streamlining non-scientific, cross-agency functions such as facilities and human resources.
What is CSR and how does it relate to the institutes?
The NIH Center
for Scientific Review conducts initial
peer review of investigator-initiated grant
applications for all award
types except those reviewed within institutes: program
projects (P), cooperative
agreements (U), training
(T) and career
development (K) grants, contracts
(N), and responses to requests
for applications and requests
for proposals.
It also receives all grant applications and assigns each to an institute
for review, if IC-reviewed, as well as for administration after award.
Read more in the Applying for a Grant section of our All
About Grants tutorials starting with NIH Grant Cycle: Application to Renewal and in Request for Primary IC Assignment SOP.
What is the NIH Roadmap?
The Roadmap is an NIH funding initiative that addresses major
opportunities and gaps in biomedical research that no single institute
could tackle
alone. All
ICs participate
in it. Go to the Roadmap site.
What if my question wasn't answered here, or I'd like to suggest a question?
Email deaweb@niaid.nih.gov with the title of this page or its URL and your question or comment. We answer questions by email and post them here. Thanks for helping us clarify and expand our knowledge base. |