Questions and Answers Table of Contents
What types of grants do NIH and NIAID support?
NIH supports many award types, and NIAID supports a subset of them, including research project grants, training and fellowship awards, and career development grants. See the Grants portals for details on different types.
How do I know what grant type to apply for?
Talk to your program officer and experienced investigators in your institution. Go to Contact Staff for Help in the NIH Grant Cycle: Application to Renewal for program officer contact information.
Most investigators seeking a research grant try for an R01. Read Which Award Type Suits You Best? in the NIH Grant Cycle: Application to Renewal for advice.
If you are looking for a training or career
development award, see our Support by Career Stage -- Ph.D. Track or Support by Career Stage -- M.D. Track to determine which
award is right for you. For general information on training and career
grants, go to Training
and Career portal.
What forms do I use to apply for different award types?
Most NIH grant types require electronic application through Grants.gov using the grant application package for your opportunity. Others still use paper forms. See the NIH Guide notice for your funding opportunity to confirm how to apply.
See Which form do I use to apply for an NIH research grant? in Quick Facts on Research Grant Applications.
Does NIAID accept applications with multiple PIs?
Yes, NIH allows multiple PIs for most research project grant applications, such as the R01, Exploratory/Developmental Research Grants, Phase I (R21), and Small Research Grants (R03). For initiatives, check the NIH Guide announcement to confirm.
Before you proceed, read Take Heed -- You Might Want to Avoid a Multiple PI Application in the NIH Grant Cycle: Application to Renewal, and go to NIH's Multiple Principal Investigators Web site.
For a new investigator, is it better to start with a small grant, such as an R21 or an R03, rather than an R01?
You should request the amount appropriate to your research and career level. Talk to your institution and a program officer for advice. Do not choose the award type yourself.
For more information and links to program officer contact information, go to Which Award Type Suits You Best? in the NIH Grant Cycle: Application to Renewal. You may also want to read our New Investigator Guide to NIH Funding.
Should I apply for a small grant under a broad NIH PA or an IC-specific one?
See Is it better to apply under one of the broad NIH PAs or an Institute-specific one? in our Small and Exploratory/Developmental Research Grants questions and answers.
How do I know if I can resubmit an application that responded to a PA?
To figure out whether you can resubmit an application that responded to a program announcement, go to the NIH Funding Opportunities Relevant to NIAID and look for your PA on the list. If it's not there, it's no longer open.
If it is, you can find the expiration date by clicking on the title to access the Guide notice. You can resubmit until that time unless NIAID decides to extend the PA.
To learn more about resubmitting, go to How to Revise and Resubmit in the NIH Grant Cycle: Application to Renewal.
Does NIAID use R21 grants only for biodefense or emerging infectious diseases?
No. NIAID uses R21s for various initiatives. Use the filter on the NIH Funding Opportunities Relevant to NIAID to find NIAID-relevant R21 funding opportunity announcements.
Where can I find out more about multiproject awards?
Read Instructions for Preparing a Multiproject Grant Application.
Are fellowships a kind of grant?
Yes. Fellowships and career development awards are grants. Learn more at Fellowships (F) and Career Development Awards (K) on the Training and Career portal.
Are supplements a kind of grant?
No. Supplements add money to existing grants. Learn more at Research Supplements.
What are training grants?
Training grants provide support for institutions to pay stipends and benefits to candidates they select for pre- and postdoctoral research training. PIs on training grants are senior-level investigators. Go to Training Grants (T) for more information.
Where can I find out about NIAID's investigator-initiated clinical trials awards?
For information on R34 planning grants and U01 implementation cooperative agreements, go to Investigator-Initiated Clinical Trials Resources. The site has information on NIAID's required process for investigator-initiated clinical trials, including SOPs, instructions, Guide notices, and questions and answers.
Are cooperative agreements a kind of grant?
Yes. Learn more about cooperative agreements in our Other Grant Types portal.
When does NIAID award a cooperative agreement?
NIAID awards a cooperative agreement when it expects substantial involvement of NIAID program officers. See the Cooperative Agreements (U) SOP and the Conversion of Grants to Cooperative Agreements SOP. Learn more about cooperative agreements in our Other Grant Types portal.
Are small business awards always grants?
At NIAID, they are.
How does NIH define investigator-initiated research?
When an investigator submits an application to NIH on a topic of his or her choice, NIH calls it investigator-initiated research. It differs from targeted research in which investigators respond to an institute's call for applications in research topics specified in requests for applications or requests for proposals.
However, NIH considers applications responding to program announcements to be investigator-initiated research. This can be confusing because RFAs, RFPs, and program announcements are all types of initiatives issued by institutes. Learn more at Compare FOAs in the NIH Grant Cycle: Application to Renewal.
What's the difference between a mechanism and activity code and how are these terms used?
Though these terms are sometimes used interchangeably to describe a grant type, our Glossary gives the correct definitions for mechanism and activity code.
Where can I find information about other award types?
Here are sites for some other award types:
See more in our Other Grant Types portal.
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. |
