I
IACUC: See Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee.
IC: Institute/Center. The NIH organizational component responsible for a particular grant program or set of activities.
Indirect Costs: See Facilities and Administrative Costs (F&A).
Informed Consent: Permission given by a person before surgery or other medical procedure(s). The patient, or a parent or guardian, must understand the potential risks and benefits of the procedure and legally agree to accept those risks.
Initial Peer Review: First level of peer review by non-NIH scientific experts, called peer reviewers, who assess the scientific merit of grant applications and contract proposals.
Initial Review Group (IRG): A group primarily composed of non-Federal scientific experts that conducts the initial scientific and technical merit review of grant and cooperative agreement applications, contract proposals, and/or applications for the Loan Repayment Program. [See also Scientific Review Group.]
Initiative: A request for applications (RFA), request for proposals (RFP), or program announcement (PA) stating an Institute’s interest in receiving research applications in a given area because of a programmatic need or scientific opportunity. RFAs and RFPs generally have monies set aside to fund the applications responding to them; program announcements generally do not.
Institute/Center (IC): Institutes and Centers are components of NIH. (This includes the National Library of Medicine.) ICs can make extramural awards.
Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC): Established at institutions in accordance with PHS Policy on Humane Care and Use of Laboratory Animals, IACUCs have broad responsibilities to oversee and evaluate an institution’s animal programs, procedures, and facilities. IACUC review and approval is required for all PHS-supported activities involving live vertebrate animals prior to funding.
Institutional Business Officer: Person working in a research organization's business office who has signature or other authority. That person is the same as Grants.gov's Authorized Organizational Representative (AOR) and the Commons' Signing Official (SO).
Institutional Review Board (IRB): A committee of physicians, statisticians, researchers, community advocates, and others that ensures that a clinical trial is ethical and that the rights of study participants are protected. All clinical trials in the United States must be approved by an IRB before they begin. Every institution that conducts or supports biomedical or behavioral research involving human subjects must, by Federal regulation, have an IRB that initially approves and periodically reviews the research so as to protect the rights of human subjects.
Integrated Review Group: Group of study sections organized around an area of science that perform initial peer review in the NIH Center for Scientific Review.
Intramural Research: Research conducted by, or in support of, NIH employees.
Investigational New Drug (IND): Status given by the FDA to a new drug or biological product to be used in a clinical investigation.
Investigator-Initiated Research: Research funded as a result of an investigator, on his or her own, submitting an application (also known as unsolicited research). Unsolicited applications are reviewed by chartered CSR review committees.
IRB: See Institutional Review Board.
IRG: See Initial/Integrated Review Group.
