Questions and Answers Table of Contents
Where do I find information about managing my grant?
Go to Part 11a. Managing Your Grant in the NIH
Grant Cycle, and see our Standard Operating Procedures. You may also want to review our Checklist for Part 11a. Managing Your Grant and Managing a Grant questions and answers.
How do grants compare with contracts?
A grant is an assistance mechanism that allows a PI considerable
flexibility in determining the direction of research. A contract is a legal commitment to provide a product or service to the government.
PIs on a grant have leeway in taking their research in new directions. They conduct research in good faith, with no expectation
of positive
or negative results.
In contrast, PIs on a contract have to deliver the government's order. For more information, go to About NIAID Contracts and our Contract Awards questions and answers.
Who is the grantee for an NIH grant?
Usually, it's an institution, even though a PI applies
for the award. Read more in Part 1. Qualifying for a Grant in the NIH
Grant Cycle.
How long does it take to get an NIH grant?
It can take 5 to 18 months after the receipt date. See Start to Finish: How
Long Will It Take? in the NIH
Grant Cycle.
Do I need to be a U.S. citizen to receive an NIH grant?
Some NIH award types have citizenship requirements, but most research grants do not. See Part 1. Qualifying for a Grant in the NIH Grant Cycle: Application to Renewal for more information.
When it comes to applying for NIH grants and scholarships, who qualifies as an underrepresented person?
NIH considers the following groups as underrepresented in biomedical research:
- People with disabilities.
- People from disadvantaged backgrounds, which include:
- Those whose annual family income is below established low-income thresholds, as described at Poverty Guidelines, Research, and Measurement.
- Those from a rural, inner-city, or other environment that has inhibited them from getting the knowledge, skills, and abilities needed for a research career.
- Racial and ethnic groups such as blacks or African Americans, Hispanics or Latinos, American Indians or Alaskan Natives, and Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders.
Even if you don't fit one of the categories, you may still qualify for some special programs if you can show that you are underrepresented at your institution.
For more information, go to Special Populations questions and answers, and for further guidance, contact Milton Hernandez, director of NIAID's Office of Special Populations and Research Training, at 301-496-3775 or mhernandez@niaid.nih.gov.
Where can I find titles and abstracts of all NIH-funded applications?
See Where can I find titles and abstracts of all NIH-funded applications? in our Writing a Great Grant Application questions and answers.
Do some awards have additional award terms?
Yes. Several grants and awards have separate terms
and conditions of award. To find out if your award contains additional
terms, see Overview
of Terms and Conditions of the NIH Grants Policy Statement.
What is the
minimum level of effort required on a grant?
NIH does not have minimum effort requirements
for PIs of regular research
project grants.
However, it does have requirements for Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR), career
development, training, and fellowship grants.
For an explanation of how to calculate person months, go to Person Months Calculation Example. For more information about STTR or small business awards, see our Narrated Advice
Presentations for SBIR and STTR and the SBIR and STTR Comparison Chart.
Does a bar mean NIAID cannot award a grant?
Yes. NIAID cannot fund an application that has a bar to award, reflected as a code on the summary statement. For more information, go to What
if I see a code on my summary statement? on the After
Peer Review questions and answers page.
Can I start getting funds before my approved start date?
Yes, you can start spending within 90 days of the project start date, but your institution has to cover those costs until NIAID releases your funds.
Get your institutional
business official to approve, because your institution is responsible for your expenses if anything prevents NIAID from issuing the award.
See How
does early funding differ from using institutional monies to start
early? in
the Early
Grant Awards questions and answers.
If the study section does not like one of my specific
aims, what happens?
NIAID funds only specific
aims approved by the study
section. If you believe an unapproved aim is vital to your
project, contact your program
officer for an appeal.
NIAID's main advisory Council has to approve any restoration of specific aims and related funds.
If the study section or NIAID reduces my budget,
what are my options?
If you don't believe you can accomplish your project with the final level of support, address your concerns with your grants management specialist and program officer. See the Grants Negotiation SOP for details on your options.
Who has the rights to data developed under a grant?
Grantees own the rights to their data and may copyright publications,
data, or other copyrightable works without NIH approval. For more information,
read Can I copyright publications describing work developed during my grant? in our Copyright and Publication questions
and answers.
Can I lengthen my award?
As an NIH grantee, you can extend your grant's project
period one time for up to 12 months without additional funds by
simply
Inform your grants
management specialist of your plans before the last day of your grant's project period.
The process differs somewhat
depending on whether you are registered with the eRA
Commons. For details, see the No-Cost Extension SOP.
Am I required to cite NIH in publications?
Yes. For more information, see Should
I cite NIH when I publish? in
the Copyright
and Publication questions and answers.
NIAID occasionally "resets a grant
start date." What does that mean?
Go to What
does "resetting a grant start date" mean? in our Resetting
Grant Start Dates questions and answers.
For
competing nonmodular applications, what is the inflationary
increase for grant out years?
The inflationary factor for grant
out years changes annually depending on NIH's
funding policy for competing
applications.
We post the information on NIAID's Financial
Management Plan each fiscal year, but sometimes it takes a while for NIH to set its policy. See Paylines and Budget Page Changes Throughout the Year.
For more information on budget adjustments, see Will
my annual budget change over the course of my award? in the NIAID
Funding Decisions questions
and answers.
Can an independent contractor be the
PI on a grant application?
A contractor can be the PI for an application even if he or she is not
an employee of the grantee institution. However, the institution must
have a formal written agreement with the PI that specifies an official
relationship between them, even though it does not involve a salary.
If the PI is not an employee of the applicant organization, NIH will
assess whether the arrangement will enable the organization to fulfill
its grant-related responsibilities.
Whom do I call for questions about taxes?
NIAID staff do not answer questions about taxes. Please contact the IRS.
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. |
