NIH Extramural Research & Funding News

We have posted an Implementation of New Initiatives and Policies page on the public NIH Grants & Funding Website to pull together the latest information on recent and upcoming changes that impact applications and grants administration.

NIH has been hard at work over the last two years developing guidance and training to help prepare the community for the implementation of the simplified review framework that went into effect on January 25, 2025 and applies to applications for most research project grants. The framework is a new way of reviewing the same research strategies you’ve always developed, which means neither the components nor the structure of your application are expected to change. 

NIH recently launched several enhancements to allow the public to more easily and quickly find funding information for various NIH research areas. The new look and feel of the NIH Research, Condition, and Disease Categorization (RCDC) Categorical Spending webpage adds to NIH’s long-standing efforts to enhance transparency and accountability into NIH funding decisions and the research areas NIH supports.

Do you want to learn more about how applications will be reviewed under the simplified review framework for most research project grants? Whether you’re a peer reviewer awaiting training or a researcher preparing an application, we invite you to review our reviewer guidance page for the simplified review framework.

The first step to NIH funding is closely reading your funding opportunity, which contains important information about eligibility, application submission, and review. Let’s take a guided tour of the structure of a typical NIH Notice of Funding Opportunity, or NOFO. 

Are you a signing official or principal investigator planning to be away from the office?  Do not let award management tasks pile up in your absence. Simply use the delegation feature in eRA Commons to allow others to act on your behalf. To accommodate scheduled absences and the need for assistance with award management tasks, delegation of specific duties and privileges are baked into the design of eRA Commons. 

NIH (including help desks) will be closed on Monday, February 17, 2025 for the federal holiday.

We invite you to join us for two webinars that spotlight our NIH Research Enhancement Award (R15) and Fellowship programs.

The Personal Profile module in eRA Commons is where you — as a principal investigator, award recipient, trainee, reviewer or other Commons user — tell NIH and other awarding agencies about yourself. Awarding agencies need to know about you to grant awards, process those awards and more. Here are a few reasons that it is extremely important to keep your Personal Profile updated.  

NIH has issued agency-specific information regarding its implementation of the U.S. Government Policy for Oversight of Dual Use Research of Concern and Pathogens with Enhanced Pandemic Potential (DURC/PEPP Policy). The policy, which goes into effect May 6, 2025, is a unified federal oversight framework for conducting and managing certain types of federally funded life sciences research on biological agents and toxins.

Early Stage Investigator eligibility is calculated in the eRA Commons system, using information provided by the investigator in their eRA Commons Personal Profile. Learn more about how eligibility is determined on the ESI status page.  

If you’re not sure where to start looking for the grants process information you need, start with our Information For pages, designed with each role in mind! 

NIH (including help desks) will be closed on Wednesday, January 20, 2025 for the federal holidays.

The short answer: collaborations can offer significant benefits for scientific discovery.  However, there are a number of components to be considered and documentation that may be required prior to establishing a collaboration when research involves animal activity.