The NIH Director's Early Independence Award, established in 2010, is part of the High-Risk, High-Reward Research program managed by the Common Fund. The award provides an opportunity for exceptional junior scientists to skip the traditional postdoc and start an independent research career at a supportive institution directly following the completion of their graduate degree or clinical training.

The NIH Director's Early Independence Award is different in several ways. It is designed to support a small group of unusually creative junior scientists wishing to skip the traditional postdoc and accelerate their entry into independent research careers. Applicants are required to have a commitment for an independent research position from a host institution. The process for evaluating applicants is distinct from the traditional NIH peer review process and emphasizes the qualities of the investigator, the environment provided by the host institution, and does not require preliminary data in the proposal.

A comparison of all four NIH Director's awards is available online.

The NIH expects to make approximately ten awards, depending on the merit of the applications and the availability of funds.

The NIH strongly encourages women and members of groups that are underrepresented in the research workforce to apply.

Not at all. The Early Independence Award program makes only a few awards each year. The breadth of NIH’s interest is not fully represented in current or previous awards. Just because your particular area is not yet represented doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t apply.

NIH recognizes that outstanding researchers are at a great variety of institutions. NIH seeks to support the best possible research across the nation and so strongly encourages applications from the full spectrum of eligible institutions. What is necessary for the Pioneer Award program is a track record of the individual thinking outside the box and an idea that is unusually innovative and impactful, and which would represent a change in research direction.

No, the NIH Director's Early Independence Award will count as your first substantial NIH grant, so you would no longer be considered an "Early Stage Investigator" or "New Investigator."

Yes, barring any unforeseen circumstances, we anticipate releasing a funding opportunity for the next fiscal year. To receive funding announcements and other High-Risk, High-Reward Research program news, register for our LISTSERV or watch for the announcement on the website.

NIH staff cannot provide comments on specific ideas or plans for individual research grant applications. The external review will evaluate the merit of your application. However, questions about the scope and intent of the NIH Director's Early Independence Award should be directed to Dr. Becky Miller in the Office of the Director at EarlyIndependence@od.nih.gov.

Funding Year	2021
Letter of Intent Due Date	August 4, 2020
Earliest Submission Date	August 4, 2020
Application Due Date	September 4, 2020
Scientific Merit Review	March 2021
Council of Councils Review	May 2021
Award Notifications	July 2021
Earliest Project Start Date	September 2021

An independent evaluation is currently underway. When it is complete, it will be posted on our website.

Institutions may establish any selection process that best meets the needs of the candidate and the institution while ensuring eligibility is met as indicated in the funding opportunity announcement.

For the purpose of this award, the Principal Investigator (candidate) will control the budget for the award along with the space and resources necessary to conduct the funded research project. In addition, the position will confer eligibility to apply for grants and other types of research support. The application must include a written commitment to an independent research position that will be activated no later than the start date of the award. These positions should not involve significant teaching or administrative requirements imposed by the host institution.

Institutions may only submit two applications for each funding opportunity. An institution is defined as an organization that has a unique DUNS number. For example, if a university-affiliated school of medicine, school of dentistry, and hospital all have one DUNS number, that institution may submit up to two applications in total. However, if each entity of that institution (school of medicine, dentistry, and hospital) has a separate and unique DUNS number, each entity can submit up to two applications per unique DUNS number for a total of six applications.

The institution should provide independent research space, support staff, and access to necessary resources, supplies and equipment. The institution may provide full or partial salary support. The institution is also expected to integrate the awardee into the faculty environment of the host department or other unit of the institution. Mentorship (equivalent to that provided to assistant professors) should be provided.

Yes, independent laboratory space should be included if appropriate for the type of research to be conducted. During the review process, significant attention is paid to the amount of resources provided by the institution as an indication of the institution's level of commitment to the applicant. Overall, applications are reviewed based on the research proposal, the applicant, and the institutional commitment to the applicant.

• Receipt date for terminal research degree or completion of clinical residency must occur between June 1, 2019 and September 30, 2021
• Must receive a PhD, MD, DO, DC, DDS, DVM, OD, DPM, ScD, EngD, DrPH, DNSc, ND (Doctor of Naturopathy), PharmD, DSW, PsyD, or equivalent doctoral degree from an accredited domestic or foreign institution (it is the responsibility of the sponsoring institution to determine if a foreign doctoral degree is equivalent) by time of appointment to the grantee institution
• Must be in a non-independent research position at the time of application submission
• Must commit at least 9.6 person-months each year during the first 2 years to the award project, followed by 9.6 person-months each year towards independent research in general
• Must not have served as a post-doctoral fellow for more than 12 months following a previous doctoral degree

Awardees are expected to commit a large fraction of time/effort to activities supported by the award. At least 9.6 person-months (80% effort) is required for the first 2 years. In the final 3 years, effort may be reduced toward the award project, but the total effort towards independent research must still be at least 9.6 person-months (80% effort) each year.

No, there are no U.S. citizenship or residency requirements. Foreign scientists are eligible to apply if they apply from a U.S.-based institution.

No, you may only apply from institutions within the United States or its territories. For the types of eligible domestic institutions, please see the funding opportunity announcement.

Non-independent research positions have all the following characteristics:

• Current research agenda is set through concurrence with mentors
• Research is funded primarily through support to other investigators (mentored fellowships such as NIH F31/32 Fellowships or NSF Graduate Research Fellowships do not preclude eligibility)
• No space is directly assigned by the institution for the conduct of research
• Applications for an NIH R01 grant are not allowed without a special institutional waiver or exemption according to institutional policy

Only if the faculty position is a non-independent research position as described in the funding opportunity announcement, and the candidate meets all other eligibility requirements.

Candidates must be non-independent at time the application is submitted but may become functionally independent prior to time of award and still retain eligibility.

Postdoctoral fellows are eligible only if they have not served as a postdoctoral fellow for more than twelve months following a previous (non-terminal) doctoral degree.

No, multiple Program Directors/Principle Investigators (PDs/PIs) are not allowed. There can only be one candidate listed as the PD/PI on the application.

Yes, you may include collaborators and/or consultants on your project. However, they may not be listed as Senior/Key Personnel nor may their Biographical Sketches be included. They may provide Letters of Support. You may discuss their roles and experience in the Research Strategy essay.

Yes, collaborators, contractors, and consultants are welcome and encouraged to submit letters of support. However, they may not be listed as Senior/Key Personnel nor may their Biographical Sketches be included. You may discuss their roles and experience in the Research Strategy essay.

No, collaborators, contractors, and consultants may not submit Biographical Sketches. Only the PI is allowed to submit a Biographical Sketch and be listed as Senior/Key Personnel. Inclusion of Biographical Sketches from individuals other than the PI makes the application non-responsive to the funding opportunity, and the application may be withdrawn for non-compliance. Attaching collaborators, contractors, and consultants' Biographical Sketches to their Letters of Support is not allowed.

Yes, see special application instructions under Section IV.7. "Applications Involving the NIH Intramural Research Program” in the funding opportunity. Each NIH Institute or Center with an Intramural Research Program may submit up to two applications.

The NIH encourages applications from scientists from all disciplines, including the biological, behavioral, clinical, social, physical, chemical, computational, engineering, and mathematical sciences, who provide evidence of interest in exploring topics of relevance to the NIH mission.

The Principle Investigator of an award must be employed by a U.S. institution, and the performance site must be at that institution. However, there may be circumstances, such as studies involving a foreign population or a collaborative research project, in which the Principle Investigator must conduct part of the research outside the United States. This research is allowable. However, the length of any single foreign research stay should not exceed the time allowable under NIH Grants Policy for a Principle Investigator to be away from his/her laboratory without appointing a temporary Principle Investigator (i.e., three months). Due to the special nature of the NIH Director's Early Independence Award, appointment of a temporary Principle Investigator is not allowable.

The Principle Investigator must be employed by a U.S. institution and the performance site must be at that institution. However, there may be circumstances, such as epidemiologic studies in other countries, in which the Principle Investigator must conduct part of the research outside the United States. This research is allowable. However, the length of any single foreign research stay should not exceed the time allowable under NIH Grants Policy for a Principle Investigator to be away from his/her laboratory without appointing a temporary Principle Investigator (i.e., three months). Due to the special nature of the NIH Director's Early Independence Award, appointment of a temporary Principle Investigator is not allowable.

Since applications are submitted by an institution on behalf of an investigator, the application must be submitted by the institution where you will hold an independent position and conduct the proposed research. In most cases, applications will be submitted in advance of the actual appointment date. You should consult the sponsored research office at your host institution to discuss this.

Prospective candidates may reach out and ask an institution to consider hosting them as an NIH Director's Early Independence awardee. Alternatively, institution officials may actively recruit individuals that they would like to host. Remember, only two applications are allowed per institution, so check to see if the institution has an internal selection process. The NIH does not facilitate matches between prospective candidates and institutions.

Yes, you may apply as often as you wish as long as you meet the eligibility requirements and a host institution is willing to submit the application on your behalf. However, all applications will be considered "new" applications. In the application, you must not mention any previous submission or review.

Yes, the award may be transferred to another eligible institution according to the same policies and procedures as for traditional research grants. Please note, however, that awards may not be transferred to foreign institutions.

Applications may be submitted to Grants.gov beginning August 4, 2020, and must be successfully received by Grants.gov no later than 5:00 p.m. local time of the investigator's institution/organization on September 4, 2020.

Late applications will not be accepted. Applicants are encouraged to apply early to allow adequate time to make any corrections to errors found in the application during the submission process by the due date.

A letter of intent is requested but not required, is non-binding, and does not enter into the review of a subsequent application. The information it contains allows NIH staff to estimate the potential review workload and plan the review.

It is important that you immediately check with your sponsored research office to determine whether your institution is registered with Grants.gov. Please note that the registration process could take up to six weeks. The institution’s Authorized Organizational Representative (AOR) is responsible for completing the registration process. If your institution is not already registered, it must first register with the System for Award Management (SAM) and then with Grants.gov. Both the institution and the investigator must also complete a one-time registration in the NIH eRA Commons in order to submit applications to NIH. Institutional officials are responsible for registering investigators in the eRA Commons. You should work with your AOR (also known as Signing Official in the eRA Commons) to determine your institution’s process for registration.

For help with the Grants.gov registration process, contact Grants.gov customer support at 1-800-518-4726 (Toll Free) or at support@grants.gov.

For help with the technical aspects of submitting to Grants.gov, check the resources available at Grants.gov. If you need assistance, contract Grants.gov customer support at 1-800-518-4726 (Toll Free) or at support@grants.gov.

For questions regarding the eRA Commons registration process, contact the eRA Service Desk at 1-866-504-9552 (Toll Free) or 301-402-7469 from Monday–Friday, 7:00 A.M. to 8:00 P.M. (Eastern Time).

An “applicant institution official” must be an individual with the authority to represent the institution and guarantee that the institution will be able to provide the resources stated in the application if the NIH Director's Early Independence Award is awarded. In many institutions, this person might be the department chair, but in others it might be the vice-chair or dean.

All instructions outlined in the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide should be followed for the NIH Director's Early Independence Award DP5 mechanism (including Abstract and Narrative sections) unless the funding opportunity gives alternate instructions or amendments. Directions in the funding opportunity supersede any instructions given in the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide.

All documents must be in PDF format and cannot exceed page limits (if documents exceed page limits, the application will be considered non-responsive and will not be evaluated). Specific formatting instructions for each document are in the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide.

Yes, the Specific Aims page is a document separate from the Research Strategy document and is attached to the application separately.

Yes, the Specific Aims page is different from the typical R01 and should serve as a concise overview of the application. It must contain three sections with the following headings: "Research Objectives," "Institutional Support," and "Early Independence Rationale." See the funding opportunity for more information.

Yes, you should include what you consider to be critical citations in the essay. The citations may be in any format. A bibliography should be included in the R&R Other Project Information Form.

Yes, you may include figures and illustrations in the essay as long as they fit within the 12-page limit.

No, applications must be self-contained within the specified page limitations. Internet website addresses (URLs) may not be used to provide information necessary to the review. However, applicants can list published articles that include movies or links to movies as citations in the essay. We cannot guarantee that reviewers will refer to citations, so any information critical to the evaluation of the research proposal should be included in the essay.

Only materials allowed by NIH post submission policy are allowed.

No, a data management plan is not required unless there are expenditures of $500,000 per year, and this grant is limited to $250,000 per year. Please note, individuals are required to comply with the instructions for the Resource Sharing Plans (Data Sharing Plan, Sharing Model Organisms, and Genome Wide Association Studies (GWAS) as provided in the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide.

Resubmission applications (A1) are not allowed. You may submit substantially the same idea or a refinement of the idea as a new application in response to a subsequent NIH Director’s Early Independence Award funding opportunity. In such an application, no reference must be made of any previous submission or review. Or you may be able to incorporate some elements of your proposal into a conventional R01 or R21 application.

All documents and instructions in the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide must be followed along with additional instructions listed in the funding opportunity, which supersede SF424 (R&R) Application Guide instructions. Note: All documents must be in PDF format and must comply with prescribed page limits. No additional documents should be uploaded to the application, and applications containing additional materials may not be reviewed.

You may request up to $250,000 per year in direct costs for up to 5 years. Applicable indirect (Facilities and Administrative (F&A)) costs will be determined at the time of award and will be in addition to the direct costs.

Funds may be requested for personnel (including co-investigators, collaborators, and consultants), supplies, equipment, and other allowable costs up to $250,000 per year. Follow all instructions in the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide for completing a modular budget.

Submit a modular budget following the instructions in the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide.

You may request a project period of fewer than five years if your proposed project can be completed in less time. You should provide an explanation for the requested project period within the 12-page essay.

Applicants may request up to $250,000 in direct costs per year for up to 5 years. You may request less than $250,000 per year but cannot request more than the allotted amount.

Yes, in addition to the direct costs, applicable facilities and administrative costs (indirect costs) are allowed and will be determined at the time of award based on the institution’s negotiated rate. Indirect costs do not count towards the $250,000 limit.

Use the Facilities and Administrative costs (F&A) rate negotiated by your institution and apply this to the modified total direct cost base. Contact your sponsored program office or equivalent at your institution for further information.

Yes, indirect costs from subawards or consortiums are included in the "Total Direct Costs" of the award on the PHS 398 Modular Budget form. However, only direct costs count toward the budget maximum of $250,000 in direct costs per year. For more information, see the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide.

Yes, collaborators and consultants may be funded on the award either directly or by a subcontract. Collaborators do no need to meet eligibility criteria for the NIH Director's Early Independence Award. Collaborators and consultants may not be listed as Senior/Key Personnel nor may their Biographical Sketches be included. They may provide Letters of Support.

Yes, all applicants must arrange to have three (and no more than five) letters of reference submitted on their behalf.

Letters of reference are typically from scientists or other people who can speak to the PI’s qualifications and track record for pursuing pioneering research. Letters of support are typically from outside individuals or organizations whose cooperation, assistance, or guidance is needed for the applicant to successfully complete the project. The letter of support affirms the person or entity’s commitment of promised assistance to the project.

Yes, you may include letters of support in the "Letters of Support" field of the PHS 398 Research Plan under "Other Research Plan Sections."

It may be most useful to reviewers if letters are from scientists who can address your ability to formulate a compelling scientific vision, your record of overcoming daunting conceptual and experimental hurdles, and your capacity to successfully challenge scientific dogma. It may not be best to choose referees based primarily on their official position, such as your departmental chair or institutional dean.

You should not request letters from more than five referees as only five letters will be accepted.

No. Each letter must be from a single, unique referee.

Letters of reference are submitted to the NIH eRA Commons. Letters must be submitted by the application due date no later than 5:00 p.m. (local time of the referee). See the letters of reference help page for more information.

Yes, applicants will receive an e-mail confirmation for each letter. The confirmation will contain the name of the referee and the date and time the letter was submitted. Applicants are responsible for contacting their referees to ensure the letters are submitted prior to the deadline. Applications with fewer than three letters may be considered non-responsive and may not be reviewed.

Applicants may track the status of reference letters submitted by referees by logging into his/her eRA Commons account.

Applications will be reviewed in two phases by a multidisciplinary scientific review group of outside experts. In the first phase, applications will be evaluated for scientific and technical merit by Mail Reviewers. In the second phase, an editorial-style panel will consider the applications and comments of the Mail Reviewers to select those applications that they deem to be the most meritorious and discuss and score this subset of applications. The Council of Councils will conduct the final level of review. The Director of the Division of Program Coordination, Planning, and Strategic Initiatives in the Office of the Director, NIH, will select awardees based on the outcomes of the scientific peer review, the recommendations of the Council level review, programmatic considerations, availability of funds, and in consultations with NIH Institute and Center Directors.

The review emphasizes the investigator's qualities and readiness for independence, institutional support and commitment to developing research independence in the investigator, and the innovativeness and potential impact of the project.

All standard review criteria will be weighed in determining the final impact score. Particular emphasis will be given to the strengths and potential of the investigator, as well as the suitability and commitment of the institution.

No, you should not name specific reviewers for your application. The NIH Center for Scientific Review will identify appropriate experts to assess the scientific and technical merits of your proposal in the specially convened Scientific Review Group. While you should not suggest specific reviewers, you could suggest the scientific areas most appropriate for reviewing your proposal. This information, if you chose to provide it, may be included in your cover letter.

Yes. Summary statements for applications not selected for discussion will contain brief comments from the Mail Reviewers and will not contain an overall impact score. Applications selected for discussion will contain brief comments from assigned panelists, a resume and summary of discussion, and an overall impact score.

Awardees will be notified in the summer. New awardees are expected to attend the High-Risk, High-Reward Research Symposium held the following summer.

No, there is no appeal process.

Although there are no stipulations on the research agenda, you will be required to submit a two- to five-page annual report of your activities during the year and are expected to participate in the annual High-Risk, High-Reward Research Symposium in Bethesda, MD. You will also receive a site visit from the Program Officer late in your first year to assess your transition to independence and to ensure you are receiving adequate support. In addition, to help the NIH evaluate this program, you may be contacted periodically for at least five years and asked to report on your latest research efforts.

Awards will be administered by the Office of the Director with Dr. Becky Miller serving as the Program Officer. However, an affiliated Program Officer from the NIH Institute/Center best matching the proposal topic will also be appointed.

As described in the Notice of Award that is posted in your NIH eRA Commons account, a progress report is due annually. The progress report for a multi-year funded award, such as the NIH Director’s New Innovator Award, differs from that of other NIH grant awards. Information on the content of the multi-year funded progress report and instructions on how to submit the report is found on eRA Commons. It is important that you follow these specific instructions when preparing your progress report.

Yes, be sure to identify yourself as an NIH Director’s Early Independence Award recipient in journal articles, oral or poster presentations, news releases, interviews with reporters, and other communications related to your research funded by this program. Although citing NIH support is always important, it is even more so in the case of the NIH Director's Early Independence Award. In journal articles, please cite the grant number as well as the name of the program. An example of how this might be worded is, "This work was funded by the National Institutes of Health through the NIH Director’s Early Independence Award, DP5-OD######."

Yes, please notify us at EarlyIndependence@od.nih.gov of any significant publications or media coverage so we can highlight you and your research on our website and to NIH and Congressional leadership.

Yes, as required by Federal legislation, the NIH Public Access Policy requires NIH funded scientists to submit final peer-reviewed journal manuscripts that arise from NIH funds to PubMed Central. Please visit the NIH Public Access site for additional information about the process of submitting your accepted publications.

Yes, as an awardee you are expected to attend the annual High-Risk, High-Reward Research Symposium held in Bethesda, MD in the summer.

No, these awards are intended to support the transition of junior scientists into independent research positions and are not renewable.

Yes, you may request a no-cost extension.

Yes, the award may be transferred to another eligible institution according to the same policies and procedures used for traditional research grants. Awards may not be transferred to foreign institutions.

This FOA, entitled “NIH Director’s Emergency Early Independence Awards (DP5 Clinical Trial Optional),” has been issued to help the nation address the COVID-19 public health emergency. It seeks to support unusually innovative research that could have a major impact on SARS-CoV-2 prevention, preparation, or response. Any relevant area of coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 research is welcome, including behavioral/social science research, research on health disparities, novel therapeutics, and other related topics. As with all High-Risk, High-Reward Research program applications, innovation may be technological or conceptual.

The COVID-19 funding opportunity announcement differs from the non-Emergency FOA primarily in the focus of the FOA. The Emergency FOA has an explicit focus on SARS-CoV-2 prevention, preparation, or response. The non-Emergency FOA does not have a particular focus, as long as the research is relevant to the broad mission of NIH. Other than the focus, two FOAs are very similar in the application and review process.

Awards made through the Emergency FOA will be supported by funds made available by the CARES Act.

The application process is very similar to that of the non-Emergency FOA (RFA-RM-20-014), except that the applications here must be relevant to the SARS-CoV2-19 prevention, preparation, or response. See the FOA for instructions.

The review process will use the same overall review process as the for the non-Emergency applications. A significant difference is the focus on whether the applications are likely to have major impact on SARS-CoV-2 prevention, preparation, or response. For non-Emergency applications, any research area relevant the broad mission of NIH is welcome.

The Director of the Division of Program Coordination, Planning, and Strategic Initiatives in the Office of the Director, NIH, will make the final funding decisions based the results of initial peer review, the recommendations of the Council level of review, programmatic considerations, availability of funds, and consultations with IC Directors. An unusual feature is that awards made through this FOA and through the NIH Director’s Emergency Transformative Research Awards (RFA-RM-20-020) will both be supported by the same set aside of funds made available through the CARES Act.

Yes. As such, the awardees will be expected to attend the annual High-Risk, High-Reward Research Symposium, which typically occurs each summer.