Year: 2026

To promote transparency, each year we provide information about the NIH’s investments of taxpayer funds in extramural biomedical research and related activities. Today, we are sharing funding data for fiscal years (FYs) 2023 to 2025.

NIH would like to remind the extramural research community that NIH requires recipients to submit a certification to NIH that all nonexempt research involving human subjects has been reviewed and approved by an appropriate Institutional Review Board (IRB).

Explore our new NIH Institute, Center, and Office (ICO) Profiles, a central resource to simplify how applicants and researchers learn about NIH grant and funding information, instead of needing to visit multiple different ICO websites. 

NIH has extended the leniency period for using the new Biographical Sketch and Current and Pending (Other) Support (CPOS) Common Forms through May 2026.

We remain committed to ensuring safe, respectful, and harassment-free research environments wherever NIH-supported research is conducted. NIH grant recipients, through their institution’s leadership, faculty, and Authorized Organizational Representatives (AORs), are essential for sustaining this commitment.

Get an overview of reference letters and letters of support: when to use them, who writes them, and what key information you should include for reviewers and NIH staff.

NIH seeks community feedback through two webinars on the next agency-wide strategic plan. This plan will guide our work over the next five years to fulfill our mission for the American people. Input from the research community, stakeholders, and the public is essential to ensure transparency in what we do and advance the principles of gold standard science that we all apply to our daily work. 

Our Matchmaker tool in RePORTER can help you determine which institute or center may be interested in your idea, which NIH program official you may want to contact, and which study section you might suggest for application review. 

Have you explored the NIH Highlighted Topics recently? If not, now is a great time to take a look and learn more about this centralized list of selected research priority areas within the NIH Institutes, Centers, and Offices (ICOs).  

These Survey Results help inform NIH’s ongoing efforts to reduce time and effort spent by Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) administrators and principal investigators (PIs) while maintaining the integrity and credibility of research findings and protection of research animals.

Last November, NIH announced it is implementing steps towards a unified strategy that will help guide clearer and consistent funding decisions across all Institutes and Centers (ICs). The August NIH Director’s statement laid the foundation, and today we are sharing our thoughts on this NIH Unified Funding Strategy (UFS) from a holistic NIH viewpoint first, and then how this approach aligns with our individual Institute or Center (IC) established funding practices. 

Planning to apply for an Extramural Loan Repayment Programs (LRP) Award? NIH has relaunched the LRP Award Calculator, a quick and easy tool that provides an estimate of your potential LRP award amount.  Simply enter your total qualifying educational loan debt and your annual income to see what you may be eligible to receive. 

Follow these tips to keep tabs on the latest NIH policies, processes, and resources to help as you develop your application or manage your award.  

NIH announced that Basic Experimental Studies with Humans (BESH) will no longer be considered clinical trials by the NIH. 

We are reporting on the number of early stage investigators (ESIs) supported on R01-equivalent awards in fiscal years (FYs) 2024 and 2025. ESIs are those who are within 10 years of their terminal degree or completion of clinical training and who have not yet been awarded a substantial NIH grant (R01-equivalent or more). 

NIH has launched a new resource focused on strengthening replication and reproducibility across NIH-funded research. The Strengthening Replication and Reproducibility of NIH-funded Research webpage serves as a centralized hub highlighting NIH’s ongoing efforts to promote rigorous, transparent, and reliable science. 

Simplifying administrative processes to reduce burden for the scientific community and the NIH is one of several ongoing NIH priorities for 2026. Towards this goal, HIV/AIDS-related applications submitted after May 7, 2026 will follow the general standard application receipt dates. Aligning the receipt dates will simplify the grant submission process for applicants, NIH receipt and referral processes, and   Notices of Funding Opportunities. 

NIH updated the How to Apply – Application Guide in December 2025 to reflect recent policy and procedure updates. Find details on all of the major changes and revisions since the last major release at Significant Changes. 

NIH (including help desks) will be closed on Monday, February 16, 2026 for the federal holiday (Washington's Birthday). If a grant application due date falls on a federal holiday, the application deadline is automatically extended to the next business day.

NIH implemented its Simplified Review Framework (SRF) for the peer review of the majority of competing research project grant (RPG) applications in summer 2025. How is it going?

You have two options to find Notices of Funding Opportunities: search on Grants.gov or use NIH’s new Explore NIH Opportunities tool. The NIH tool includes additional options for NIH-specific filters, sorting, and advanced search.