This Common Form helps the individual to clearly disclose current and pending support for: 

• All active projects or projects with ongoing obligations.
• Any proposal that is being considered for funding by a potential funding organization.
• All current and pending in-kind contributions with an estimated dollar value of $5,000 or more and that require a commitment of the individual’s time. 

CPOS information allows NIH to assess the capacity or any conflicts of commitment that may impact an individual’s ability to carry out the research effort as proposed. The information also helps assess any potential scientific and budgetary overlap/duplication. The form is required for: 

• JIT submissions for all senior/key personnel identified on the application.
• New senior/key personnel in the RPPR.
• Reporting of changes in CPOS in the RPPR.
• Others as indicated in the Notice of Funding Opportunity, Application Guide Instructions, or RPPR Instructions. 

Please note: CPOS is not required at the time of application submission for NIH unless specified in the Notice of Funding Opportunity or for specific scenarios detailed in the Application Guide Instructions (e.g., mentors on Career Development applications). 

Applicants should also ensure their ORCID iD is linked to both their eRA Commons account and SciENcv account to ensure successful completion of the forms in SciENcv. 

Please review our FAQs on this topic to learn more.  

Additional Resources 

• Common Forms for Biographical Sketch and Current and Pending (Other) Support | Grants & Funding
• Instructions for Current and Pending (Other) Support Common Form 

Here are some examples of what this modernization effort means in practice: 

• An early career scientist exploring workforce-related programs can quickly and easily review general eligibility requirements, relevant NIH-wide policies, and Institute, Center, and Office (ICO)-specific considerations without navigating multiple independent websites.
• An administrator can compare distinctions among ICO financial management plans in a consistent format, reducing the risk of missing important nuances.
• A researcher can move seamlessly through ICO profiles and scientific areas of interest to help inform their research strategies when seeking support.  

Our goals center around: 

• Reducing the time, effort, and complexity the research community may face when seeking funding and managing awards, especially those new to the NIH system.
• Allowing researchers and administrators to see both general information and any relevant ICO specific considerations in one place.
• Enhancing transparency so researchers can more clearly understand NIH funding priorities and decisions.
• Increasing visibility into ICO grants and funding related information
• Allowing staff to more fully focus on programmatic priorities and engagement with the research community, rather than managing similar content across different sites. 

What We Have Done So Far 

Our Updates to Finding NIH Funding Opportunities and Information page highlights some of the changes already in place on the NIH Grants and Funding site. some examples include: 

• Incorporated information on research training, loan repayment, scientific data sharing, public access, and the NIH Extramural Nexus from their own stand-alone sites.
• Began reducing overlapping grants and funding information across many different NIH and ICO-specific websites.
• Launched the NIH Highlighted Topics resource to quickly learn about specific scientific areas that ICOs are interested in supporting. (Subscribe for weekly alerts delivered to your inbox.)
• Launched new NIH ICO Profile pages with structured and consistent fields for mission statements, general interest areas, listing of highlighted topics, funding opportunities, funding policies and financial management plans, and NIH Guide notices (see more here).
• Deployed the Explore NIH Grant Opportunities tool to quickly identify NIH funding opportunities posted on Grants.gov. (Find Search Tips for NIH Opportunities and see these Nexus articles from September 2025 and January 2026.) 

What to Expect Next 

We recognize there have been many changes already taken, and many that are to come. Here is what is in store going forward: 

• Continue working with ICO experts to identify and migrate appropriate funding-related information distributed across various websites into the NIH Grants and Funding site.
• Expand ICO Profile pages to include additional information by funding category and policy topic.
• Leverage the NIH Extramural Nexus newsletter and new NIH Innovates X and LinkedIn channels to communicate about certain grants and funding policies, programs, initiatives, and related information. (Subscribe here for Nexus email updates.)

As this effort continues, we aim to make it easier for the research community to efficiently access the information they need to apply for, manage, and steward NIH funding.  

We value your input along the way (via the survey available on each page or the Nexus inbox). Together, we are building a more transparent, accessible, and responsive digital experience reflecting the importance and scale of NIH-supported biomedical research in advancing public health. 

This resource: 

• Provides interactive charts showing the number and total funding of NIH extramural awards by month over recent fiscal years
• Includes grants and other transactions, while excluding Research and Development contracts and intramural funding
• Includes estimates for the current fiscal year, which are subject to change (see this NIH Extramural Nexus article)
• Enables users to track funding patterns across fiscal years, including when awards are most frequently issued
• Allows comparison between award counts and total funding 

Users can access these charts through NIH RePORTER or the “Monthly NIH Awards Overview” in the NIH Data Book. 

Key features include: 

• Select one or more fiscal years to display
• Hover over data points to view exact monthly values
• Use the legend to show or hide specific years 

View and export data in a table format for detailed analysis or the charts as images for presentations 

Figure 1 shows the monthly number of NIH extramural awards across recent fiscal years, allowing users to compare seasonal patterns and year-to-year trends in award activity.  

Figure 2 illustrates the total monthly funding associated with NIH extramural awards, highlighting funding levels and differences across fiscal years.

Together, these figures show how the number of awards and total funding vary by month across fiscal years, enabling comparison of funding patterns over time. A notable dip in October–November 2025 is visible relative to prior years, reflecting delays in award issuance due to a lapse in appropriations, followed by a recovery in subsequent months.

Please check back monthly as the data are updated. 

Resources:

• NIH Extramural Nexus: Fiscal Year 2025 By the Numbers: Extramural Grant Investments in Research
• NIH Extramural Nexus: Check Out These Public Federal Funding Databases to Learn More About Funding at NIH 

Why are we making this change? 

If you’ve submitted clinical trial applications for NIH, you’ve probably had the experience of being asked for similar information in multiple places and in varying formats. If you’ve reviewed these applications, you’ve likely spent a lot of time searching through lengthy, unstructured, text to find the essential details needed for review.  

This happens because critical information is spread across the Research Plan and the Public Health Service (PHS) Human Subjects and Clinical Trials Information Form. That structure can create duplication, make it harder to find important information, and increase the workload for both applicants and reviewers. 

We’ve been working on ways to address these challenges for some time. And with NIH’s renewed commitment to reducing administrative burden, it prompted us to bring internal experts together to ask a simple question:  

• Can we make clinical trial applications easier for investigators and reviewers without losing critical information? 
• The answer was yes – and it led to a proposed revised approach with a straightforward goal: reduce burden, improve clarity, and make it easier for reviewers to assess the science. 

What is changing? 

The biggest change is this: Instead of distributing key information across multiple forms, we are proposing a single Proposed Clinical Trial–Specific Application Form that brings everything together in one place. 

• The proposed form consolidates that information into a single, semi-structured format, organized around how clinical trials are designed, reviewed, and conducted. 
• It is structured enough to improve clarity and consistency, but flexible enough to accommodate different types of trials and to allow investigators to highlight what matters most.  

Why do we need your input? 

On paper, this approach has clear advantages. However, we know that changes like this can unfold differently in practice depending on the types of trials you are working on, your role, and your organization. We want to understand the real-world impact before finalizing the proposed form.  

Designing the form effectively would mean less time spent navigating forms and more time focusing on the science – and a clearer, more consistent review process. But success depends on hearing from you. 

These sessions will provide important updates and practical guidance for institutions and researchers who manage or access NIH controlled-access data.

Session Topics

• Updates from NOT-OD-25-159
• Alignment with NIST SP 800-171
• NIH Security Best Practices (NOT-OD-24-157)
• Identity Proofing requirements
• Live Q&A

Institutional officials, researchers, and IT/security staff involved in managing or accessing NIH controlled-access data are encouraged to attend.

Event Dates & Times

• April 13, 2026 | 1:00–2:00 PM (ET): Registration Link
• April 14, 2026 | 3:00–4:00 PM (ET): Registration Link

Registration details are available at the links above.

Accessibility & Accommodations

American Sign Language interpreting services are available upon request. Individuals who need interpreting services and/or other reasonable accommodations to participate in this event should contact the NIH Interpreting Office directly via email at nih@ainterpreting.com or Brian Braxton at brian.braxton@nih.gov.

Requests should be made at least five business days in advance to ensure interpreter availability.

Additional On Demand Training & Resources:

• Event Page - April 13: 2026 Extramural Community Days: Securing NIH Controlled-Access Data Webinar | Grants & Funding
• Event Page - April 14: 2026 Community Days: Securing NIH Controlled-Access Data Webinar | Grants & Funding
• Requirements for NIH Controlled-Access Data Repositories and Users | Grants & Funding

NIH expects that all NIH-funded investigators and staff who are involved in the conduct, oversight, or management of clinical trials be trained in GCP (NOT-OD-16-148). 

NIH will update the NIH GPS if there are significant updates to the GCP requirements.  

Related Resources 

• Good Clinical Practice Training | Grants & Funding
• Clinical Trial Requirements for Grants and Contracts | Grants & Funding
• NIH Clinical Trial Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) 

NIH views clinical research participants as vital partners in turning discovery into health.  Ensuring participant safety, rigorous research, and public trust are NIH’s highest priorities.  

The two new interconnected and complementary resources released today center around 

• Considerations in Planning for the Post-Trial Needs of Research Participants who Receive an Investigational Implantable Device (Section 1)
• Informed Consent for Research Using Investigational Implantable Devices (Section 2) 

Implant clinical trials have been increasingly used to study various medical conditions. But they also present unique ethical considerations and gaps in current clinical practices for participants that can extend beyond the duration of research studies. For instance, participants may face: 

• Ongoing care needs after the study
• Monitoring to reduce potential complications
• Contending with future software and hardware compatibility
• Potential device removal  

Your thoughts on these resources are welcome on any of the following: 

• How useful these resources are
• Their utility to support participants involved in implant clinical trials
• Improving their ability to effectively communicate the potential benefits, risks, and outcomes associated with enrolling in such trials
• Barriers to their voluntary adoption by researchers
• Clarifying existing concepts or others that are missing 
• Input on specific language in the proposed informed consent language 

NIH will consider the input received when finalizing the resources that support these trial participants after the implant study. Please keep in mind: 

• Use of these resources is voluntary
• Not intended to provide guidance on satisfying the regulatory requirements for the Protections of Human Subjects in the revised Common Rule or FDA's regulations governing the protection of human participants
• Not intended to specify requirements for Institutional Review Boards when reviewing trials involving investigational implantable devices 

The NIH-Wide Strategic Plan does not address all research that NIH supports into specific diseases and conditions, nor does it replace NIH Institute-, Center-, or Office-level strategic plans. Rather, it plays an important role in guiding the agency’s overarching research investments, policies, and operations. The RFI seeks input on areas that directly affect the extramural research community: 

Priority 1: Research Areas 

• Goal 1: Advance Foundational Knowledge of Human Health and Disease
• Goal 2: Prevent Disease and Promote Health Across the Lifespan
• Goal 3: Advance and Optimize Interventions, Treatments, and Cures 

Priority 2: Research Capacity 

• Goal 1: Develop and Sustain an Interdisciplinary Research Workforce
• Goal 2: Build, Improve, and Sustain Research Resources and Infrastructure 

Priority 3: Research Operations 

• Goal 1: Enhance Scientific Stewardship and Decision-Making
• Goal 2: Foster Transparency and Accountability to Improve Public Trust in Science 

NIH welcomes responses from individual researchers, research institutions, scientific organizations, and other stakeholders across the biomedical research ecosystem. This is an opportunity for all to help shape NIH’s strategic direction and ensure that the NIH-Wide Strategic Plan reflects and addresses the realities, challenges, and opportunities of conducting biomedical research over the next five years. 

Comments must be submitted electronically through the submission website. Responses must be received on May 26, 2026, by 11:59:59 p.m. (ET). 

Although there are fewer funding opportunities, this does not mean fewer funded applications. Instead, it gives investigators greater flexibility to propose their own research topics. We remain committed to supporting meritorious research even as the number of funding opportunities is reduced.  

Why are we doing this?  

Targeted funding opportunities remain an important tool for NIH to address specific scientific gaps or urgent public health needs. However, their narrow scope can sometimes limit flexibility for investigators to propose novel or unexpected ideas. 

Reducing the number of highly specialized announcements helps reinforce NIH’s longstanding emphasis on investigator-initiated research. Broad funding opportunities like parent announcements have supported a large share of NIH-funded research for many decades. They also allow researchers to propose innovative ideas aligned with NIH priorities while using standard application processes. 

Moving toward the use of broader funding opportunities rather than highly specialized announcements reduces fragmentation in the funding landscape and allows the most innovative ideas to flourish. Instead of tailoring ideas to fit narrowly defined announcements, researchers can propose their best science within flexible broad funding opportunities that accommodate a wider range of science and approaches. 

Streamlining the number of funding opportunities also reduces administrative complexity across NIH, allowing NIH program staff to focus more on scientific stewardship, consistency in guidance, and timely communication with applicants. 

Effects of having numerous funding opportunities  

For many years, NIH issued between 600 and 850 funding opportunities annually. There were more than 800 active funding opportunities at the start of 2025. At the end of 2025, there were fewer than 500 active.  

Numerous funding opportunities created a complex funding landscape for investigators to navigate. 

• Required researchers to spend significant time identifying the right fit and parsing subtle differences between similar opportunities
• Created uncertainty and occasionally misaligned applications despite strong scientific ideas
• Potentially disadvantaged less resourced organizations or early career researchers who may not have the flexibility to rapidly change directions and apply to specialized funding opportunities
• May have limited a researcher’s ability to propose their own ideas because of the specificity and complexity of some funding opportunities
• Occasionally resulted in very few—or no—applications for certain opportunities, leading to inefficient use of staff time and effort 

Here’s what this looks like for applicants:

NIH Institutes and Centers still retain the ability to issue targeted funding opportunities when there is strong programmatic need. These announcements are forecasted on Grants.gov as a way to help the research community prepare their ideas in advance of a funding opportunity being issued. That said, forecast listings are informational, and some may not result in a published opportunity.  

To support the communication of areas of scientific interest, investigators can also review the topics listed within the new Highlighted Topics portal. This centralized resource informs the research community about particular areas of science of interest to individual institutes, centers and offices at NIH, and encourages applicants to apply through broad funding opportunities.  

• More than 30 Highlighted Topics are currently posted
• Additional topics are posted regularly, so subscribe to receive weekly alerts
• Reach out to the scientific contacts to discuss your ideas further and determine which parent opportunity would be best to apply to 

Where are we headed? 

NIH will continue to fund the most meritorious research ideas, whether they originate from investigator-initiated proposals or targeted initiatives. We are looking forward to further supporting investigators in this new streamlined funding opportunity environment. We also will share more with you as we move forward, including how we are expanding the number of broad funding opportunities (such as for P01 program projects).  

Resources: 

• NIH Extramural Nexus: NIH Institute and Center Director Perspectives on Implementing the NIH Unified Funding Strategy
• NIH Extramural Nexus: New Tool to Explore NIH Grant Opportunities
• NIH Extramural Nexus: What Are the Differences Between Highlighted Topics and Funding Opportunities?  

Below are some items to consider: 

More helpful hints and reminders: 

• Follow the PF5 NOFO instructions carefully.
• Workaround instructions have been provided in the NOFO for any foreign organization with pending registrations.
• Include an International Project component for each foreign organization.
• Each International Project component must have a Letter of Support from the International organization’s authorized organizational representative that addresses requirements in the NOFO.
• Include a Dispute Resolution Plan in the Overall component.
• Review of the application occurs together as a whole consistent with existing procedures (see NOT-OD-25-104 )
• Contact relevant NIH staff if you are interested in learning more about how this funding opportunity may align with your research ideas.  

Resources: 

• Announcing New Application and Award Structure for NIH-Funded International Collaborations (Replacing Foreign Subawards)
• New NIH Foreign Subaward Structure Enhances Integrity, Accountability, Oversight, and National Security of NIH Funded Research  

This Common Form—together with the required NIH Biographical Sketch Supplement—helps an applicant to clearly document: 

• Professional preparation. 
• Scientific appointments.
• Key research products. 
• Suitability for role(s) in the project, in the form of a Personal Statement.
• Academic and professional achievements and honors.
• Contributions to science. 

The form and supplement are required for: 

• All senior/key personnel identified on the application.
• Others as indicated in the Notice of Funding Opportunity, Application Guide Instructions, or RPPR Instructions. 

NIH requires the use of SciENcv to complete the Biographical Sketch Common Form and NIH Biographical Sketch Supplement. Please note that while these two documents are two separate forms, they are completed together in a single user interface (UI) in SciENcv. Additionally, an applicant’s ORCID iD will need to be linked to both their eRA Commons account and SciENcv account to ensure successful completion of the forms in SciENcv.  

Please review our FAQs on this topic to learn more.  

NIH Biographical Sketch Supplement. Please note that while these two documents are

Additional Resources 

• Common Forms for Biographical Sketch and Current and Pending (Other) Support | Grants & Funding
• Instructions for Biographical Sketch Common Form
• Instructions for Biographical Sketch Supplement 

Through these programs, the NIH fosters innovation, collaboration, and the advancement of knowledge aimed at improving human health.  

 The next due date for Fellowship applications (F series) is April 8. We encourage applicants to visit the standard due dates page to stay on top of approaching deadlines.  

Some helpful reminders for applicants and their supporters:  

• Refer to the current instructions FORMS-I) when preparing an application
• Review the most recent fellowship application instructions in the NIH How to Apply – Application Guide
• Talk to NIH program staff  about any questions you may have  

Related Resources: 

• Focus on Fellowship Video Series 
• Revisions to the NIH Fellowship Application and Review Process
• Individual Fellowships
• Parent Announcements (For Unsolicited or Investigator-Initiated Applications)  

For due dates on or after May 25, 2026, NIH will no longer consider BESH to be clinical trials. However, BESH must continue to comply with all other applicable laws and regulations applicable to human subjects protections and the NIH Data Management and Sharing Policy.

Resources

• Clinical Trials/BESH/Observational Webpage

NIH’s overall investment in biomedical research grew in FY 2025. We awarded $35.3 billion in competing and noncompeting grants, a slight increase over previous years (Table 1). The remaining funds of the NIH’s total FY25 appropriation of $48.5 billion went to research and development (R&D) contracts, intramural research, administrative support, and other areas. Similar to prior analyses, additional explanations about the data are noted at the end. 

FY 2025 saw continued growth in applications submitted for research project grants (RPGs) (Table 2). Total NIH funding allocated to RPGs increased by 3% in FY 2025, compared to the prior year. NIH made fewer new awards in FY 2025, but with the average cost per award increasing. These changes were likely due in part to more awards being forward funded than previous years. Finally, the success rate declined for RPG applications because of the decrease in the number of awards and increase in applications. 

R01-equivalent grants comprise the majority of RPGs. This group showed similar trends as RPGs (Table 3). 

As outlined in the NIH Director’s commitment to “Gold Standard Science,” transparent data reporting is central to maintaining public confidence in biomedical research. The NIH is committed to continuing to provide these kinds of data so that the research community can plan and the public can understand where its investments are going.

Table 1 – All Extramural Research (competing and non-competing, excluding R&D contracts) during FYs 2023-2025

Table 2: RPGs During FYs 2023-2025 

Table 3: R01-equivalent Grants during FYs 2023-2025 

Notes on the data: 

• Monies for grants and Other Transaction awards are included while research and development (R&D) contracts are excluded.
• Previous year spending related to special appropriations for coronavirus are excluded, but may be found using RePORTER's advanced search capabilities.
• The NIH Data Book has other historical grants data for reference and is also being updated with more FY 2025 grants and application data on a rolling basis.

NIH-supported nonexempt research involving human subjects may not be initiated until final IRB approval has been obtained and the final IRB approval date has been provided  to NIH.  

Additional information regarding this requirement is available in the Guide Notice, NOT-OD-26-043. 

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. The Consolidation of NIH Grants and Funding Information also aligns with other ongoing efforts to evolve NIH’s wider public web presence. 

We encourage you to check the ICO profiles regularly for updates as the ICOs provide new information for the research community’s awareness and transparency into their funding processes.  

Visit the new profiles to learn about each ICO’s: 

• Mission statement
• Interest areas
• Highlighted Topics
• Funding opportunities 
• NIH Guide notices
• Funding Policies and Considerations
• Funding by category (e.g., for Administrative Supplements, Small Business, and more categories in the future) 

Expect new and updated information over time. For example, ICOs are currently establishing their fiscal year 2026 Funding Policies and Considerations. 

Related Resources: 

• November 2025 Nexus article “Implementing a Unified NIH Funding Strategy to Guide Consistent and Clearer Award Decisions” 
• February 2026 NIH Funding Blog “NIH Institute and Center Director Perspectives on Implementing the NIH Unified Funding Strategy” 

During this leniency period: 

• You may submit applications using the existing NIH Biosketch and Other Support format pages without penalty.
• Submission systems will generate warnings—not errors—when Common Forms aren’t used. 

This extension is designed to give you and your institution more time to adjust as SciENcv continues system updates and agencies refine supporting guidance. While you aren’t required to switch immediately, beginning the transition now to the Common Forms will help ensure you’re fully prepared once the leniency period ends. 

Additional Resources 

• Biographical Sketch Common Form | Grants & Funding
• Current and Pending (Other) Support (CPOS) Common Form | Grants & Funding
• Common Forms for Biographical Sketch and Current and Pending (Other) Support | Grants & Funding
• NOT-OD-26-018: NIH’s Implementation of Common Forms for Biographical Sketch and Current and Pending (Other) Support for Due Dates on or after January 25, 2026
• Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs): Common Forms for Biographical Sketch and Current and Pending (Other) Support 

NIH grant recipients, through their institution’s leadership, faculty, and Authorized Organizational Representatives (AORs), are essential for sustaining this commitment. If allegations of harassment or a hostile working environment arise that affect an NIH-supported project, your timely action to address the matter and your communication and transparency with NIH officials are critical to protect the safety and welfare of all those involved.

What: Reminders to grant recipients about reporting avenues and requirements to support safe and respectful work environments that are free from harassment, including sexual harassment, discrimination, or other forms of inappropriate conduct that can result in a hostile work environment.

How: AORs and institutions can integrate harassment prevention and response efforts into your grant management and oversight processes to ensure research continuity, transparency, and protection of all personnel involved.

Who: AORs at the recipient organization are responsible for overseeing all Senior/Key personnel identified on the Notice of Award. We expect recipients to:

• Maintain robust policies, systems, and procedures that promote a workplace free of harassment, bullying, retaliation, and hostile working conditions.
• Ensure NIH-funded research is conducted in accordance with NIH standards.
• Comply with all applicable federal laws and regulations protecting individuals working on NIH-supported projects.

When: Notifications must be made within 30 days after a Senior/Key personnel named in a Notice of Award is removed from their position or is otherwise disciplined when the action relates to concerns involving harassment, bullying, retaliation, or hostile work environment. This reporting requirement applies regardless of whether the matter is ongoing or fully resolved.

Where: Use our Web Form for AORs or Individuals or email GranteeHarassment@od.nih.gov. At a minimum, notifications should include: 

• Name of the AOR or summitting faculty leadership.
• Name of the individual of concern.
• Description of concerns.
• Actions taken by the institution (if known).
• Any anticipated impact on the NIH-funded award (if known).

Why: To enable NIH to take timely and appropriate action that safeguards research personnel, eliminates harassment and hostile work environments, and preserves the integrity and responsible stewardship of NIH-funded projects.

Resources 

• If You See Something Amiss, Say Something
• Inform NIH About Harassment or Discrimination Concerns 

When and how is each letter used?

Reference letters are used for Fellowships, mentored Career Development Awards, and other programs as requested.

Letters of support demonstrate: 

• Institutional commitment or resources
• Collaboration or role in the project
• Potential or current user of a resource or service proposed in the application

Who writes the letters?

Reference letters: 

• Referees should be individuals not directly involved in the application, but who are familiar with the applicant’s qualifications.
• For funding opportunities that require reference letters, the sponsor(s) or co-sponsor(s) do not count toward the required total.

Letters of support:

• Collaborators, consultants, consortium participants, and collaborators (e.g., Senior/Key Personnel and Other Significant Contributors) who contribute to the scientific development or execution of the project.

What should be included?

Reference letters:

• Describe qualities and potential of candidate.
• Letters can be addressed to “To Whom It May Concern” or “Dear Reviewer.”

Letters of support:

• Describe the type of support your collaborators will provide to the project.
• Summarize the agreements you have in place to support your project, e.g., expectations for co-authorship.

Who submits them?

Reference letters: 

• A referee submits the letters through eRA Commons (no login needed).
• The letters are maintained separate from the corresponding application.

Letters of support:

• Applicant organization submits the letters of support attached to the application’s Research Plan form, Program Training Plan form, or Career Development Award Supplemental form.

Who sees them?

Reference letters: Only reviewers and select NIH staff.

Letters of support: Anyone with access to view the application.

Where are the instructions?

Check the Reference Letters page, information on letters of support in the How to Apply – Application Guide, and any special instructions on letters found in Notices of Funding Opportunities (NOFOs) and NIH Guide notices. 

What about other kinds of letters?

To reduce your administrative burden, NIH no longer uses letters of intent (NOT-OD-26-019) or advance permission letters for conference grant applications (NOT-OD-26-040.)

Your NOFO or the How to Apply – Application Guide may instruct you to provide additional letters in your application. NIH may also request letters Just-In-Time before award. Learn more about Cover Letters, certification letters, and other examples at Letters of Support, Reference Letters, and Other Letters.

NIH will hold two webinars to gather input from the research community, stakeholders, and the public on the framework that will inform development of the plan: 

• March 16, 2026, 12:30 to 1:30 PM ET – Registration Link
• April 8, 2026, 2:30 to 3:30 PM ET – Registration Link

NIH leadership will:

• Introduce the process for developing the next NIH-Wide Strategic Plan
• Outline the high-level framework
• Answer attendees’ questions 

Please join us and help shape the future of biomedical research at NIH. We look forward to your input.

There are plenty of fish in the sea of NIH institutes, Centers, and Offices (ICOs), of which 24 make grant awards. To get a grant, your project must fit the mission of at least one NIH Institute, Center, or Office (ICO) that participates in your chosen funding opportunity. Each NIH ICO has its own scientific mission, priorities, and budget (see their ICO Profile pages to learn more).   

To help you catch the right fish, our Matchmaker tool in RePORTER can help you determine which ICO 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 (see our video demonstration of Matchmaker):  

• Simply enter your abstract or key terms into the search field. Include enough detail to generate the precise match possible.
• Choose one of the options: 
• Similar Projects:  
  • Allows you to explore NIH funded projects that closely match,  
  • See which ICs funded those projects
  • View which study sections reviewed the applications and examine the award details.
• Similar Program Officials:
  • Allows you to identify the NIH program officials whose grant portfolios align with your topic   
  • Explore the awards in those portfolios and the ICs
  • Access the email addresses so you can contact the program officials.
• Explore and refine your results by using the interactive charts and filters.   

When in doubt, reach out – NIH staff are here to help you navigate the grants process and find the right fit for your research.  

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).  

To help bring additional visibility to these priority areas, we will periodically spotlight Highlighted Topics here in the Nexus. And remember: don’t judge a book by its cover. Participating ICOs often describe how research within the scope of their mission connects to the broader topic area in unique and important ways. 

Today’s Spotlight: Cancer Research 

Current cancer-related Highlighted Topics include: 

• Research on Rare Cancers Across the Cancer Control Continuum
• Optimal Interprofessional Teaming and Care Coordination Strategies for Cancer Care Quality and Outcomes
• Advancing Autoimmune Disease Research: Integrating Genetic, Environmental, and Immunological Factors to Improve Diagnosis and Treatment
• Implementation Science to Optimize HIV Prevention and Treatment
• Accelerating Research in Celiac Disease 

If any of these (or other Highlighted Topics) align with your research interests, we strongly encourage you to reach out early to the appropriate scientific contacts. Program staff can help you determine how your research idea may fit, identify appropriate parent funding opportunities, and answer questions related to your application. 

Resources 

• What Are the Differences Between Highlighted Topics and Funding Opportunities?
• Subscribe for Weekly Highlighted Topics Email Alerts
• FAQs: Highlighted Topics 

Survey and Participants 

In June through September 2023, the NIH Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare (OLAW) conducted a survey of 285 IACUC administrators on workloads and administrative burden. The survey asked participants about the OLAW flexibilities and USDA updates released in response to Section 2034(d) of the 21st Century Cures Act mandate.

The surveyed administrators were from institutions that had a Domestic Assurance with OLAW, were registered with the USDA, or both. Some institutions were also accredited by the Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care (AAALAC) International. 

Results on OLAW Flexibilities

IACUC administrators at both OLAW assured and USDA registered institutions responded positively overall. Institutional animal care programs benefited directly from the OLAW flexibilities and USDA updates, while investigators benefited indirectly. 

IACUC administrators reported that they could redirect their time towards:

• Increasing support in the areas researchers rated as highest priority for change, as identified in the Federal Demonstration Partnership (FDP) 2018 Faculty Workload Survey to reduce unnecessary burden.
• Improving other aspects of their animal care programs that may have a direct impact on researchers.

Find graphs and additional specifics in the IACUC Administrator Survey Results section of the OLAW 21st Century Cures Act Evaluation webpage.

Next Steps

To continue reducing administrative burden, NIH plans the following next steps: 

• OLAW plans to re-survey IACUC administrative personnel and will continue to assess the effectiveness of additional OLAW’s efforts to reduce workload.
• OLAW will continue to meet semiannually with or federal partners to discuss ongoing and additional harmonization efforts among federal agencies.
• The Federal Demonstration Partnership (FDP) and OLAW will work together to explore ways that FDP can facilitate connections with investigators to help assess the longitudinal impact of these changes. 

Related Resources

• NIH OLAW
• 21st Century Cures Act – Animal Care and Use in Research | OLAW
• Archive.org snapshot of April 2022 Nexus article “Reducing Administrative Burden in Laboratory Animal Research: What Have We Done Recently and What's Coming”
• Archive.org snapshot of September 2019 Nexus article “Final Report on Reducing Administrative Burdens Associated with Research Involving Laboratory Animals”

• Amy Bany Adams, Ph.D., Acting Director, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)
• Courtney Aklin, Ph.D., Acting Director, National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR)
• Andrea Beckel-Mitchener, Ph.D., Acting Director, National Institute of Mental Health
• Erica Brown, Ph.D., Acting Director, National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS)
• Alison Cernich, Ph.D., Acting Director, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)
• Richard Hodes, M.D., Director, National Institute on Aging (NIA)
• Monica Webb Hooper, Ph.D., Acting Director, National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD)
• Anthony Letai, M.D., Ph.D., Director, National Cancer Institute
• David Shurtleff, Ph.D., Acting Director, National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH)
• Jeffery Taubenberger, M.D., Ph.D., Acting Director, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
• Bruce Tromberg, Ph.D., Director, National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB)
• Nora Volkow, M.D., Director, National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
• Jennifer Webster-Cyriaque, D.D.S., Ph.D., Acting Director, National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR) 

Last November, NIH announced it is implementing steps toward 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 established funding practices. 

The Bigger Picture  

The framework for the UFS became effective during this most recent round of Advisory Council meetings. Now, all ICs follow a standard set of core tenets to make funding decisions: scientific merit assessed during peer review, alignment with the NIH mission, program balance, career stage, geographic balance, and stewardship of available funds (Figure 1).  

Applications still continue to undergo two levels of peer review and are discussed internally by program staff to develop funding plans before being presented to us, as Directors, for a final decision. We continue to prioritize science that asks novel or under-explored questions crucial to advancing research and ultimately improving the nation’s health.  

Some ICs previously published paylines as part of their decision-making. Now, the UFS does not allow paylines. Though this may make it harder for applicants to gauge the likelihood of funding based on peer review scores alone, this strategy codifies the practice many ICs already used when making funding decisions.  

Going Forward 

Though each IC may implement the framework in their own way, we are all working from the same playbook: 

• Posting IC profiles and funding strategies in a central location on the NIH Grants and Funding site, eliminating the time and effort investigators previously expended searching across various websites for this information.
• Communicating changes to NIH and IC programmatic priorities, funding principles, and decision factors in a clear and timely manner to ensure understanding and trust in the process   
• Remaining committed to maintaining objective peer review which is central for NIH to uphold our values of transparency, impartiality, and fairness
• Informing applicants (as part of discussing with NIH program staff) when their proposals fall outside an IC’s mission
• Having IC Directors retain final funding decisions, exercising our authority in a clear, standardized framework grounded in scientific and technical merit, mission alignment, and program balance
• Internally documenting each decision for applications that will be funded, including its alignment with IC and agency priorities

We look forward to receiving your applications that reflect innovative research ideas with actionable and rigorous research plans.

Researchers should also keep in mind that NIH is simplifying and streamlining the application and funding process and focusing support toward more investigator-initiated research, as compared to seeking applications in response to solicited funding opportunities. As part of this separate effort:  

• Visit our new centralized source on the NIH Grants and Funding site for IC-specific funding plans
• Check out the NIH Highlighted Topics resource to learn about various specific scientific areas that we are interested in supporting. Subscribe for weekly alerts delivered to your inbox
• Consider applying through a Parent Announcement or other broad NIH funding opportunity that aligns with your research stage (see this article for tips)
• Connect with NIH program staff regularly about your research ideas as they can help find information you seek, including eligibility requirements, appropriate grant types, and potential alignment with IC goals or wider NIH priorities 

Read on below for some perspectives from our individual Institutes and Centers, in alphabetical order by IC.

The NIH Extramural LRP helps to recruit and retain highly qualified biomedical and behavioral researchers by repaying up to $100,000 in qualified educational loan repayment in exchange for a two-year research commitment. By reducing educational debt burden, the LRP allows early-career investigators to focus more fully on research careers that advance human health.

The next application cycle opens on September 1 and closes mid-November. To learn more about the Extramural LRP, watch the LRP overview video and visit the LRP website for eligibility details and application guidance. 

Start with these primary sources:

• NIH Grants & Funding website. 

• NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts notices are posted daily. 

• Subscribe for weekly emails with the latest notices. 

• Review recent Notices of Policy Changes. 

• NIH Grants Policy Statement (GPS) is updated annually to incorporate policy notices posted in the NIH Guide. 

Be sure to familiarize yourself with NIH Policy & Compliance topics that are relevant to your application. We update the policy pages regularly. To list a few examples, check the Application Submission Policies, guidance for Enhancing Reproducibility through Rigor and Transparency, requirements for Scientific Data Sharing, manage Financial Conflict of Interest, and how to avoid potential Foreign Interference. 

Depending on the science you propose, you may have additional requirements. Some major examples are Human Subjects Research, Clinical Trial Requirements,  Laboratory Animal Welfare, Stem Cell Information, and Select Agent Information. 

Your organization's sponsored programs office is also a good source of news and advice on NIH policies and requirements. 

On a related note, remember you can also subscribe to get emails on: 

• New Highlighted Topics 

• New NIH Grant Opportunities 

Learn more about how to Follow NIH Application Policies and Requirements. 

What’s changing?

• Beginning with applications submitted for due dates on or after May 25, 2026, BESH will no longer be considered as clinical trials by NIH.
• As a result, BESH studies will not be required to follow NIH clinical trial requirements, including registration and results reporting in ClinicalTrials.gov.
• BESH must continue to follow all other applicable laws and regulations applicable to human subjects protections and the NIH Data Management and Sharing Policy. 

NIH anticipates expiring all BESH-specific NOFOs with due dates on or after May 25, 2026. After that time, BESH research can be accepted through the Clinical Trials Not Allowed companions of these NOFOs.

NIH will issue a forthcoming Guide Notice with detailed guidance on any necessary instruction or system updates to reflect this revised classification.

Resources

• Clinical Trials/BESH/Observational Webpage

Editor's Note: After publication, we added the third bullet above for clarity.

We remain concerned about the challenges faced by ESIs pursuing careers in an increasingly competitive funding and hiring environment. The strength and stability of the biomedical research enterprise rely on a continuum of highly trained investigators who can generate new insights, develop innovative ideas, and advance the translation of scientific research into improved health for all. 

NIH Director Dr. Bhattacharya has also repeatedly stated the need for a sustained commitment to supporting early career researchers' growth and continuity (listen to this NIH Director's Desk podcast episode as an example). To this end, we continue making considerable efforts to enhance support for ESIs pursuing NIH support, such as: 

• Prioritizing ESI applications for funding
• Separating ESI applications from established investigators during review
• Implementing a simplified framework for peer review to create a fairer and more transparent evaluation process for emerging researchers.
• Integrating the needs of early career investigators directly into core funding tenets as part of the recently released NIH Unified Funding Strategy
• Prioritizing funding for the New Innovator and Katz Awards encouraging early career researchers to pursue innovative and possibly high-risk, high-reward research questions that will advance the NIH’s mission  

In this post, for simplicity we refer to investigators applying for and receiving awards. But, as a reminder, NIH makes awards to institutions (not individual researchers). 

Table 1 shows the number of principal investigators (PIs) applying for or receiving an R01-equivalent grant in FYs 2021 to 2025, disaggregated by career stage. NIH supported 1,423 and 1,144 ESIs in FYs 2024 and 2025, respectively. The decrease seen in FY 2025 may likely be due in part to NIH implementing a requirement to use 50% of its remaining competing Research Project Grant (RPG) funds (starting in June 2025) for full-year funded competing RPGs, which was expected to lead to fewer awards and support fewer researchers overall.   

Table 1. PIs on Type 1 R01-Equivalent Applications and Awards by Career Stage: FYs 2021-2025

* New, non-ESI are new to the NIH system but more than 10 years beyond their terminal degree or completion of clinical training. 

** At-Risk Investigators are those who have received a prior substantial NIH award but will have no funding the following fiscal year if they are not successful in securing a competing award this year. 

*** Established investigators have received a prior substantial NIH award and will have NIH funding the following fiscal year irrespective of the outcome of this year’s competitions. 

Table 2 shows the number of R01-equivalent applications submitted, discussed during review, and awarded by career stage in FYs 2021 to 2025. The Discussion Rate is a person-based metric that is the percent of applicants (people designated as PIs on an application) who had at least one application make it to the discussion stage of peer review. 

Table 2. Discussion and Funding Rates for PIs on Type 1 R01-Equivalent Applications and Awards in FYs 2021-2025 Disaggregated by Career Stage 

Table 3 shows the age of researchers at different career stages at the time of application and first award between FYs 2021-2025. The median age for ESIs in FYs 2024 and 2025 was 40, lower than the other career stages. 

Table 3. Type 1 R01-Equivalent Age by Career Stage of all Applicants and Awardees: FY 2021-2025 

**** Applicant counts are lower in Table 3 than Tables 1 and 2 as this reflects the number of researchers who self-reported age information (which is optional).  

NIH will continue to closely monitor challenges faced by early career investigators and implement programs and other initiatives targeting barriers to career progression. Information on these and other workforce related programs is available on the NIH Grants and Funding site.  

Editor's Note: Table 3 was edited on 2/26/26 to correct the 14,034 at-risk awards to 1,403. 

The new resource: 

• Outlines NIH’s current activities and future directions to support replication studies,
• Incentivizes reproducible research practices, and 
• Embeds these principles more fully across the biomedical research ecosystem. 

The site brings together information on relevant NIH policies, programs, and community engagement opportunities, and will be updated as new efforts are developed. 

Find helpful resources on how to address rigor and transparency in NIH grant applications and progress reports, including authentication plan examples, guidance on sample size calculation, training modules, and more on the Enhancing Reproducibility through Rigor and Transparency page.  

Simplifying administrative processes to reduce burden for the scientific community and the NIH is one of several ongoing NIH priorities for 2026. Toward this goal, the final HIV/AIDS-specific application receipt date will be May 7, 2026, corresponding to the August/October 2026 council round (or Cycle I). HIV/AIDS-related applications submitted after May 7, 2026 will follow the general standard application receipt dates (NOT-OD-26-029), corresponding to the January 2027 council round (or Cycle II).

Importantly, aligning application receipt dates does not change the number of opportunities per year (i.e., three) to submit proposals focused on HIV/AIDS research.

Aligning the receipt dates will simplify:

• The grant submission process for applicants by eliminating confusion over the appropriate submission dates;   
• NIH receipt and referral processes, improving efficiency and reducing administrative costs; and
• Notices of Funding Opportunities (NOFOs), as part of NIH’s wider efforts to simplify application processes overall.

NIH remains committed to ending the HIV epidemic in the United States within a decade, a stated priority for the NIH Director (also discussed in this NIH Director’s Desk conversation). NIH will continue to support meritorious research ideas that prevent, diagnose, treat, and eventually cure HIV/AIDS.

Why HIV/AIDS-specific application receipt dates were created

In 1988, NIH created an expedited review and award process for contract proposals and grant applications in HIV/AIDS research. The intent was to fast-track HIV/AIDS applications from referral to award due to the HIV/AIDS public health crisis. HIV/AIDS applications were submitted on special receipt dates to shorten the timeframe between grant submission and notice of intent to award. Consistent with most other applications, dates for HIV/AIDS applications were three times per year, four months apart. Applicants did not have any additional opportunities to apply.

What to expect moving forward

We have reconsidered the need for non-standard review dates for HIV/AIDS-related grants in the context of:

• NIH efforts to simplify the grant application processes.
• Growth in the number of applications received (from 32,000 in 1988 to 102,000 in 2025).
• Focus on reducing administrative burden for NIH staff and the research community.

Applications submitted for the May 7, 2026 due date will be considered for August/October 2026 council (or Cycle I).

Effective May 8, 2026, all HIV/AIDS-related research applications must be submitted using the standard due dates for non-HIV/AIDS applications, or when specified, the application due date indicated in the relevant NOFO. These applications will be considered for the January 2027 council (or Cycle II) and beyond.

How does the change affect me?

Applicants will no longer need to decipher whether the HIV/AIDS deadline applies to their application and risk delayed review. The non-standard due dates did not apply to all HIV/AIDS-related science. For example, less than 40% of applications submitted to the HIV/AIDS due dates in 2025 qualified. Applications that were incorrectly designated were delayed significantly, as they were not reviewed until the next round.

Applicants are advised to carefully review the entire calendar of application due dates, as receipt dates vary by activity code and submission type within a given cycle.

This change does not affect the number of grant review cycles each year that consider HIV/AIDS-related science. Applications will continue to be accepted three times per year, four months apart.

How does the change affect review by HIV/AIDS study sections?

Applications will be assigned to the study section with the most appropriate scientific expertise based on the content of the application. Assignment will no longer be limited to the six dedicated HIV/AIDS study sections when another study section represents a better scientific fit.

How does the change affect my chances of getting funded?

This alignment of application due dates does not affect funding decisions or the likelihood that an application will be funded.

Does this change represent a diminished commitment to HIV/AIDS research by the NIH?

No. The Trump administration has repeatedly stated its commitment to end the HIV epidemic in the United States by 2030. NIH leadership has reaffirmed its intention to support a comprehensive research portfolio in HIV and AIDS, including basic science, therapeutics, prevention, treatment, cure, and implementation science to ensure that all people benefit from gold standard evidence-based interventions.

How does this change increase efficiency?

To date, HIV/AIDS-related grants are processed manually, resulting in extensive administrative burden particularly given the increase in applications over the past 40 years. By eliminating the manual processes required for review and referral of HIV/AIDS applications, assignments will be conducted more efficiently.

Find details on all of the major changes and revisions since the last major release at Significant Changes. Here are a few highlights of updated or new instructions: 

• Foreign justification attachments.
• ORCID iD requirements.
• Biographical Sketch Common Form.   
• NIH Biographical Sketch Supplement.
• Current and Pending (Other) Support (CPOS) Common Form. 

Learn more about the topics above in our Extramural Nexus article on foreign justification, eRA ORCID iD, and the Forms Directory. 

Use the Application Guide along with the guidance in your chosen funding opportunity to submit grant applications.  

Before you apply, we encourage you to Get Advice from NIH Program Contacts to discuss whether your plans are a good fit for the program and funding opportunity. Learn more about the NIH Grants Process, including guidance and advice when you Plan to Apply and Write an Application. 

The Center for Scientific Review interviewed study section chairs about their impressions of peer review under SRF, then published four video excerpts:

• Implementing SRF With a Focus on Importance of Research – September 17, 2025
• Encouraging the Evaluation of Risk – September 17, 2025
• Impact of SRF on Review Meeting Discussions – September 9, 2025
• How SRF Changed Reviewers’ Approach – September 9, 2025

Learn more about Simplifying Review of Research Project Grant Applications and how it is meant to help scientific peer reviewers identify the strongest, highest-impact research for funding consideration by NIH.

On a review-related note, don’t miss our November 2025 Nexus article on “Emergency Modifications to NIH Peer Review” through the May 2026 Advisory Council round.

• Find NOFOs for Research Training and Career Development
• Find Research and Development (e.g., R01) NOFOs supported by the National Cancer Institute (NCI)
• Find NOFOs with HIV or AIDS in the title
• Find all NOFOs that allow clinical trials
• Find NOFOs with the exact phrase “Mental Health” in the title
• Find NOFOs with any of these exact phrases in the title: Early-Stage Investigator, New Investigator, or Early Career
• Find NOFOs with any of these terms in the title: Global, International, Foreign, or Countries
• Find NOFOs with any of these terms in the title or body: Neurology, Neurologic, Neurological, Neurotechnology, Neurotechnologies, Neural, Neuro, Nervous.
• Find NOFOs with any of these exact phrases in the title: Mental Health, Mental Disorder, or Mental Illness

After searching, you can click the Release Date table header to sort the latest additions to the top of the list. Find more Search Tips for NIH Opportunities, including how to get email notifications of new opportunities.

NIH’s new tool supports the ongoing Updates to Finding NIH Funding Opportunities and Information. Find more background information in our September 2025 Nexus post "New Tool to Explore NIH Grant Opportunities."

• December 24, 25, and 26, 2025 (Wednesday through Friday for Christmas)
• January 1, 2026 (Thursday for New Year's Day)

If a grant application due date falls on a federal holiday, the application deadline is automatically extended to the next business day.

Blog co-authored by Dr. Lyric Jorgenson, Associate Director for Science Policy, and Dr. Jon Lorsch, NIH Deputy Director for Extramural Research. Also posted to the NIH Under the Poliscope blog.

NIH underwent a lot of change in 2025 but our goal of funding the best research to improve the health of the American people has and will continue to be our north star. Throughout the year we advanced a policy agenda that was based on two interlocking principles. The first principle involved pro-actively anticipating policy needs that would drive biomedical research. The second was to ensure that we cut unnecessary red tape to the maximum extent possible so that researchers can focus more on conducting world-class science and less on administrative activities.

As 2025 ends, we are proud to share a snapshot on our progress in these areas and forecast what is ahead in 2026. It should be noted that all of the issues discussed below are underpinned by the principles set forth in NIH’s inaugural gold-standard science plan.

Top Five Policy Achievements for 2025

1. Making Burden Reduction a Core Strategy
   At NIH reducing unnecessary administrative burden is considered a core strategy rather than an afterthought. Policy modernization in 2025 was paired with meaningful simplification—ensuring that innovation does not translate into added complexity for investigators. Significant progress in 2025 included launching a new Highlighted Topics website that allows the Institutes and Centers to make the community aware of priority scientific areas without the need for issuing new Notices of Funding Opportunity.
   
   NIH also eliminated requirements that added burden without commensurate benefit, discontinuing requests for letters of intent prior to submitting grant applications and ending the requirement for letters requesting permission to apply for budgets ≥ $500,000 in direct costs.
    
2. Improving Health Outcomes Through Inclusive and Actionable Research
   Improving health outcomes remains at the core of NIH’s mission. In 2025, NIH launched a unified funding strategy to bring greater clarity, consistency, and focus across its funding ecosystem. This approach prioritizes the most meritorious science, addresses urgent health challenges, and supports a strong and sustainable biomedical research workforce.
   
   In parallel, NIH endorsed a bold vision for incorporating public voices into clinical research, reinforcing the principle that research should reflect and serve the communities it aims to benefit. Initiatives such as Partners in Research exemplify NIH’s commitment to meaningful engagement.
    
3. Driving Responsible Research Innovation
   A defining feature of NIH’s strategy this year was our embrace of the transformative potential of artificial intelligence (AI). NIH took concrete steps to harness the power of AI by ensuring that NIH-supported research, including data housed in controlled-access repositories, can be securely and ethically used for AI-enabled discovery.
   
   NIH also recognized that balance is needed between creating efficiencies and sparking ingenuity within the research community, starting at the initial application phase. As a result, we issued guidance on the appropriate usage of AI in the application system to ensure we maintain fairness and originality in the research application process. These actions strengthened the foundation for innovation while providing appropriate safeguards for data integrity and participant protection.
    
4. Fostering Integrity, Transparency, and Trust
   Scientific progress depends on trust. In 2025, NIH strengthened access to NIH data and publications, enhanced rigor and stewardship in clinical research, and reinforced academic freedom across the research ecosystem. Key efforts focused on making information readily available to scientists and the public through timely access to results, increased transparency in institutional activities, and honoring participant choices through biospecimen return initiatives.
    
5. Safeguarding Research in a Complex Global Environment
   In 2025, NIH established a set of fundamental principles to guide international research collaborations and released a series of actions to ensure responsible stewardship of U.S. taxpayer dollars. NIH implemented measures to protect participant data and clarify expectations for safeguarding sensitive data and biospecimens from foreign adversaries, providing greater certainty and consistency for the research community.
   
   We also announced a new application and award structure for applications that request funding for international component organizations. This new structure addresses a longstanding challenge related to transparency into NIH funding for international research, enhancing its accountability and oversight, as well as national security.

What’s Ahead in 2026?

Biomedical research is advancing at an unprecedented pace. To meet these challenges, NIH will continue advancing a policy agenda that focuses on accelerating discovery, strengthening integrity and transparency, and reducing unnecessary administrative complexity. In 2026, we will continue to harmonize existing policies to reduce and streamline participant research data policies. We will also continue to expand access to NIH-invented products. 2026 will also see new developments relating to the oversight of biological safety, meaningful engagement with research participants, initiatives on research replication and reproducibility, and much more.

As the year closes, we would be remiss not to acknowledge how important stakeholder feedback in the policy-making process is. NIH simply could not achieve its goals without the vibrant, thoughtful, and perceptive comments it receives on its policies. In 2026 we will aim to make the communication between NIH and the policy community even stronger on the activities described above and more. Together, we can ensure that 2026 moves the research enterprise forward in a safe, responsible, and productive way.

Wishing you all the best this holiday season. We look forward to working with you more in 2026!

Our goal is to ensure submitted applications go through review. We recognize there may be situations where a required attachment may have been unintentionally omitted. When NIH requests the missing materials instead of withdrawing the application, it can save applicants the unnecessary time and effort of resubmitting at a later date.

NIH will reach out to request submission of required sections, including the following situations:

• Leaving out required sections of applications (e.g. foreign component justifications and support letters from institutions).
• Incorrect files being uploaded.

NIH will not accept:

• Revised, corrected, or replacement materials, files, or attachments (e.g., requesting changes to a research strategy, budget, or biographical sketch).
• Unsolicited materials.
• Applicant requests to provide or replace materials.

When NIH identifies an application missing material after submission:

• NIH will contact the applicant’s Authorized Organization Representative (AOR).
• The AOR must provide the corrected information within a designated timeframe to ensure the application can be reviewed.
• Applicants should not contact NIH directly.

1. Establish policy requirements for which data should be controlled-access under NIH data sharing policies, and
2. Revise the NIH Genomic Data Sharing Policy to simplify and harmonize requirements.

The full proposal can be found in NOT-OD-26-023. Stakeholders are invited to provide feedback on the policy proposals as described in the request for information.

Comments must be submitted electronically through the Comment Form.  Responses will be accepted through March 4, 2026. 

Here are video links and highlights:

• Part 1 – Focus on Fellowships: “No matter what the due date is, it’s always important to apply a few days early – in case of technical problems.”
• Part 2 – Information for Candidates: “Candidates should consider applying, even if they don’t think of themselves as a competitive NIH fellowship candidate."
• Part 3 – Fellowship Application Peer Review: “Your scientific review officer, as well as your program official, are your research best friends.”
• Part 4 – Information for Sponsors: “The application process should be collaborative. The sponsor and candidate should work together to ensure that every section meets the candidate's training and long-term goals.”

Please note that applicants and their supporters should refer to the current instructions (in this instance, FORMS-I) when preparing their application. The most recent fellowship application instructions may be found in the NIH How to Apply – Application Guide.

Related Resources:

• Revisions to the NIH Fellowship Application and Review Process
• Individual Fellowships
• Parent Announcements (For Unsolicited or Investigator-Initiated Applications) 

Highlighted Topics are a communication tool to promote a particular area of science within the NIH mission and encourage investigator-initiated applications from the community. They provide quick, simple information that is specific to the research topic area.

In contrast to NOFOs, Highlighted Topics:

• Give the applicant more freedom and creativity in responding to a topic.
  • Are less prescriptive than a science-specific NOFO.
  • Do not direct the applicant to use a particular NOFO, a particular due date or budget, or set other eligibility or application criteria.
  • Provide topic inspiration. Applicants use an appropriate funding opportunity, such as one of the NIH Parent Funding Announcements or other broad NIH opportunities on Grants.gov.
• Are not funding opportunities. NIH may or may not have dedicated funding for applications in any given topic area.
• Do not impact referral or peer review of applications.
• Expire after 1 year. However, NIH may choose to update or renew a topic.

Highlighted topics and NOFOs are two ways to find a good fit at NIH for your research idea. Find more advice at Find Your Opportunity.

Resources

• Subscribe for Emails on Highlighted Topics
• Highlighted Topics FAQs
• August 2025 Extramural Nexus, “Introducing Highlighted Topics: A Centralized and Simple Resource to Learn About Research Areas of Interest to NIH”
• NIH Funding

If a grant application due date falls on a federal holiday, the application deadline is automatically extended to the next business day.

NIH plans to review all applications submitted for the January 2026 Councils (e.g., applications that were submitted to due dates in summer 2025) and maintain the quality of review (NOT-OD-26-012).

Over 370 peer review meetings were cancelled between October 1, 2025 and November 14, 2025. These meetings had enlisted more than 11,000 reviewers to review more than 24,000 applications. We are currently rescheduling these study sections, as peer review of applications is required before making awards. In doing so, we:

• Remain committed to accomplishing three full rounds of peer review this fiscal year. We strongly believe canceling a round of review would be harmful to applicants and the research enterprise.
• Will maintain high quality peer review. Though some changes are needed to review the nearly 100,000 expected applications this fiscal year, those changes will not substantially degrade the peer review processes.

In order to address the backlog of applications scheduled for peer review, emergency modifications to NIH review processes and policies will be made. Because the review of applications submitted for January 2026 Council deadlines will overlap with the review cycle for applications submitted for May 2026 Council, these modifications will remain in place through the May 2026 Advisory Council:

• Reduce the percentage of applications discussed in most meetings.
  • Committees will vote for which applications to discuss in three groups:
    • The top third (30 to 35 percent) will be discussed in the review meeting and considered for funding.
    • The middle third will be designated as “competitive but not discussed” and considered for funding.
    • The lowest third will be designated as “not competitive and not discussed.”
  • This change will allow nearly all review meetings to run within one day and make recruiting reviewers and rescheduling meetings easier.
• Simplify summary statements will continue to provide the necessary information regarding applications’ scientific merit to advisory Councils and IC program staff. Summary statements will have:
  • A sentence describing the degree of consensus in the committee vote.
  • Bullets describing the main score driving points.
  • Written critiques from the three assigned reviewers.
  • For discussed applications, the overall impact score.
• NIH will release summary statements later in the Council round, while continuing to release scores within three business days of the meeting

What this means for your application:

• Your application’s likelihood of funding is not affected. By designating the top and middle thirds of applications as competitive, it opens the possibility of funding in cases where applications in the middle third align with high program priorities. Institutes and Centers will consider for funding all applications that are discussed plus all designated as competitive.
• Reviewers’ full critiques will continue to be available and program staff will remain available to provide advice to applicants.

How You Can Help

Researchers in the extramural community are critical for rigorously evaluating grant applications submitted to NIH for funding and service is important to the broader scientific community. If you are invited to participate in an NIH review panel, please consider saying “yes.” There are also many benefits to serving in NIH peer review, including flexibility in submitting applications, intellectual stimulation, interaction with colleagues, and an opportunity to give back.

Resources:

• Become a Reviewer
• Information for Reviewers
• NIH Early Career Reviewer Program

Our funding decisions must balance many competing and dynamic factors when determining the most meritorious research ideas to support. These factors center around peer review, health priorities, scientific opportunities, the workforce, availability of funds, and the wider research portfolio. Thoroughly addressing this balance has implications for the pace of scientific advancements and responsiveness to the often-changing nature of biomedical scientific progress.  

With our prior approaches as a foundation, implementing this new framework is based on a set of core tenets for ICO funding policies to ensure NIH mission and health priorities are being achieved.

Core Tenets

All ICO funding policies should:

• Align with the NIH’s mission
• Prioritize scientific merit; ICOs should consider peer review information in its entirety
• Integrate a breadth of topics and approaches relevant to the ICO’s priorities
• Consider investigator career stage and promote sustainability of the biomedical research workforce
• Promote broad distribution and geographic balance of funding, considering the total amount and type of NIH funding already available to each investigator
• Align with the availability of ICO funds

More details on the core tenets are shared on NIH’s Funding Decisions webpage. Individual ICO webpages that previously reported similar information will be redirected to this central page.

A new section on the NIH Grants and Funding site is being created to enhance transparency into and accountability for ICO decision-making. Here, ICOs can share their funding policies and financial management plans centrally in a simple, consistent, and streamlined manner. 

Peer Review Remains Essential and Vital

Our decision making on applications will still weigh peer review scores and critiques.

Going forward, ICOs will be considering peer review information in its entirety. NIH ICOs will not rely on funding paylines in developing pay plans. Rather, ICOs will consider these scores in context of their and NIH’s priorities, strategic plans, and budgets. ICO Directors will continue to have the delegated authority to decide what is funded by their ICOs.

Moving Away from Paylines 

Around half of ICOs previously set paylines (akin to a cutoff) based on peer review scores or percentiles as part of their funding decision process. When doing so, ICOs would still need to deliberately consider the funds they have available, out-year commitments to existing multi-year awards, anticipated funding for new and established programs, and predicted trends in grant applications. Applications that fell within the payline would be funded, though not in all instances, and applications could still be funded if they fell outside the payline in special cases. 

The research community occasionally expressed confusion around the payline process and asked for additional clarity as it related to their applications. Now that ICOs will not rely on funding paylines when developing their pay plans, it should be clearer for applicants to know the award decision was not made only based on overall impact score, without necessarily considering the additional valuable information provided by peer review.

These steps will strengthen accountability for the research NIH continues to support, weighing the actual need, opportunity costs, and good stewardship of taxpayer investments.  It will also make NIH’s research portfolio more robust, moving us towards supporting a breadth of basic, applied, clinical, and translational research. 

If a grant application due date falls on a federal holiday, the application deadline is automatically extended to the next business day.

The SOM center will initially focus on organoid models of the liver, lung, heart, and intestine, with plans to expand into the brain, thymus, and other disease-specific models.

The Center is designed to support a wide range of users, including:

• Scientists and researchers across academic institutions, industry, and government.
• Regulatory agencies (e.g., FDA) looking for reliable, reproducible human-relevant models for safety assessments.
• Clinicians and precision medicine experts seeking patient-specific models.
• The broader scientific community, including intramural (within NIH) and extramural (outside NIH) researchers, industry partners, and educators.

Affordable access to protocols and organoids will be available for qualified researchers nationally. Contact somcenter@nih.gov for more information.

Read more details in today’s News Release and on the NIH SOM Center website.

Starting in October 2025, Grants.gov is the single official source for NIH notices of funding opportunities (NOFOs). NIH will no longer post NOFOs in the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts. The NIH Guide will continue as your primary source for policy and informational notices.

We encourage you to use Grants.gov Subscriptions to get email notifications of new opportunities and custom search results. Direct any questions about Grants.gov search or subscriptions to the Grants.gov Support Center.

Try the Search Tips for NIH Opportunities to learn more about the new Explore tool and Grants.gov searches.

Several new topics have been posted since then. New topics will continue to be added going forward. We encourage the research community to check back often and reach out to the designated scientific contacts with any questions.

Below are highlights of additional resources and modifications made since rolling out the resource:

• Frequently Asked Questions.
• Topic table filters to select participating NIH Institutes, Centers, or Offices (ICOs).
• Subscription feature so you can get weekly emails on topics that match your chosen criteria.
  • You can create multiple subscriptions for different ICOs or keywords specific to your research area.
  • If you prefer, you can get every new topic. Leave the keyword field blank and select all the ICOs.

We welcome any additional suggestions you may have for additional resources or modifications to the system to ensure it remains a helpful resource when seeking funding from NIH.

The current LRP application cycle opened on September 1 and will close on November 20, 2025.  You can read more about this cycle in the August 28 NIH Extramural Nexus article. 

Registration is required to attend the webinar.  Participants may also submit questions for the Q&A portion by emailing lrp.communications@mail.nih.gov no later than Tuesday, October 7.

This new award structure addresses a longstanding challenge related to transparency into NIH funding for international research, enhancing its integrity, accountability, oversight, and national security. We will continue to fund foreign components, as long as they are structured as independent subprojects. We will no longer support traditional foreign subawards.

We remain committed to supporting international scientific collaboration with foreign scientists, when conducted in a secure, justifiable, and responsible way. NIH takes very seriously proper stewardship of federal funds as well as any issues related to maintaining national security.

Our new international collaboration award structure continues to foster these goals, including aligning with the NIH Director Dr. Jayanta Bhattacharya’s fundamental principles guiding international collaborations. Amongst other points, he explains that “knowing exactly where every dollar is going and to whom is of paramount importance” so that our supported research continues to benefit the American public.

Recent History:

• May 2025: Effective with the next NIH award cycle, all NIH-funded research involving foreign subawards must be structured as subprojects directly linked to the prime award. See NOT-OD-25-104 and this NIH Extramural Nexus article.
• July 2025: Short-term solution implemented that allows recipients to remove a foreign subaward involving human subjects from an existing award and renegotiate it as an administrative supplement. See NOT-OD-25-130 and this NIH Extramural Nexus article.

Below are highlights on what this new structure means for the application and award processes:

• Applications:
  • Will use a new comprehensive multi-project funding opportunity (see Grants.gov forecast, funding opportunity expected to be issued by November 25, 2025).
  • Identify distinct principal investigators for the domestic applicant and at least one per international organization.
  • Foreign organizations must submit a letter of support saying they will fill the role of recipient organization for the disaggregated award.
• Peer Review:
  • Applications reviewed as a whole consistent with existing procedures.
  • Provides the project’s Overall Impact score (per this section of the NIH Grants Policy Statement).
  • Includes comments on the specific review criteria for each individual component.
• Awards:
  • Separates the International Project components from the domestic portion.
  • Each has distinct grant numbers available in RePORTER (PF5 or UF5 for domestic and RF2 or UL2 for foreign organizations.
• Oversight:
  • Follows the standard terms and conditions of award outlined in the NIH Grants Policy Statement.
• Reporting:
  • Coordination between partners to demonstrate progress towards meeting the project’s scientific aims.
  • Instructions aimed at streamlining and reducing the associated time, effort, and possible duplication with annual progress reporting.

We remain committed to supporting innovative research ideas within our mission, and recognize the need for continued international projects. From basic to clinical and translational studies, this step is not intended to limit any particular area of collaborative international activities or eligible organizations. Rather, it helps us ensure accountability for American taxpayer support in a thoughtful and proactive manner. Because the linked direct foreign award will have a separate award number and HHS Payment Management System subaccount for transparent financial reporting, we will have a clearer picture of the research being supported by all involved organizations. 

The prime applicant must be a domestic organization, which will help ensure the proposed projects advance the health of Americans. though foreign organizations cannot apply directly to this new funding structure, they may continue to apply using our traditional applications and instructions for other grant types if they meet the eligibility requirements. And, funding opportunities allowing foreign components may continue to accept applications with unfunded international collaborations or foreign components.

We appreciate the research community’s continued partnership throughout this process, which is pivotal for strengthening our combined oversight of foreign collaborations and research investments in support of the NIH mission. Please watch for additional information such as FAQs, trainings, and other resources.

Descriptions for the new grant types are on the NIH Activity Codes webpage:

• PF5: Collaborative International Research Project (awarded directly to domestic organization)
• UF5: Cooperative Agreement Equivalent
• RF2: Linked International Research Project (awarded directly to the foreign organization)
• UL2: Cooperative Agreement Equivalent

NIH’s fiscal year ends on September 30, 2025, so now is the time for signing officials to verify the accuracy of their grant assignments to departments or components within institutions of higher education using the Grant Re-assign capability in eRA Commons. Since the data in these files are “frozen” annually to ensure the reporting files produce consistent and meaningful results, any corrections must be made by 8:00 PM EDT on Monday, October 6, 2025, to be reflected in NIH annual reports.

NIH Guide Notice NOT-OD-25-151 includes additional information on what authorized organization representatives or signing officials should know on how to verify information, make corrections, and more.

Resource: Steps for SO to Re-assign an Award in the eRA Commons online help.  

NIH is now accepting requests in the CoC System for Research Not Funded by NIH and Institutional Official verifications. NIH anticipates an increased number of CoC requests, which may lead to longer processing times. Thank you for your patience.

For more details, see the full NIH Guide notice (NOT-OD-25-142).

Our Highlighted Topics resource represents scientific areas where NIH encourages applications from the community. These topics target areas within the NIH mission, including areas that may not be readily associated with the particular funding Institute or Center or may even be a new or emerging area that is not well known. Please understand that these are simply topical area descriptions, not funding opportunities.  

The Bigger Picture  

This consolidated resource is integrated into a wider ongoing strategy across NIH to simplify and streamline the application and funding process. these efforts continue our long-standing direction to reduce the time, effort, complexity, and possible confusion researchers may experience when seeking funding, and also reduce duplication across federal systems. As part of this wider strategy, we will focus on investigator-initiated research through parent announcements while reducing the amount of unique and highly specific funding opportunities. 

New targeted funding opportunities will only be posted in Grants.gov, a federal-wide portal for discretionary funding opportunities, starting on October 1, 2025 (NOT-OD-25-143). The NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts will continue to be used for policy and informational notices, but will not include funding opportunities. Because we recognize the NIH Guide's value to the research community, we are envisioning how to utilize the Guide together with the new Highlighted Topics resource to continue helping researchers navigate the application process and gain insight into our research interests.  

What You Will Experience with the Highlighted Topics   

You can find this new Highlighted Topics resource through our Find a Fit for Your Research page, which helps the research community better understand the NIH structure when seeking funding. The topics are presented in a simple, tabular format to easily explore. Now, researchers can start here to learn about timely areas of science NIH is interested in, instead of needing to visit various NIH institute, center, office, or program-specific webpages to find this information.  

Users can search for topics and filter by particular Institutes, Centers, or Offices. Additional topics will be added to this initial list on a regular basis, so check back often.  

Clicking on a particular topic (e.g., Research on Drowning Prevention) will reveal additional insights into the area of science, descriptions from participating NIH Institutes, Centers, and Offices, when the topic will expire, and scientific contacts to ask questions.

What to Do If Interested in a Particular Topic? 

If a particular topic is of interest, researchers must develop an investigator-initiated application through one of our Parent Announcements or other broad NIH funding opportunities available on Grants.gov. Once submitted, the application will undergo our rigorous and thorough peer review process to assess its scientific and technical merit.  

In some cases, an NIH Institute or Center may also dedicate funding to particular Topics within their mission. In those situations, the amount of funding actually awarded in the topic area will depend on the availability of funds, the number of meritorious applications, and competing priorities. Institutes and Centers, at their discretion, may also prioritize funding applications that respond to particular topic areas.   

We welcome you to explore the available Highlighted Topics today. Check back regularly as new topics are added in the coming months and beyond. We also plan related resources and digital enhancements to ensure it remains a useful tool for the research community. You can also provide input at the email below. 

The Extramural LRP was established to recruit and retain highly qualified biomedical and behavioral researchers in the research workforce.  The LRP offers up to $100,000 in qualified educational debt repayment in exchange for a two-year commitment to conduct research.

Eligibility:  Applicants must be qualified health professionals engaged in NIH-mission relevant research for a minimum of 20 hours per week at a nonprofit or government institution. Mission-relevant research areas include:

• Clinical Research
• Pediatric Research
• Health Disparities Research
• Research in Emerging Areas Critical to Human Health (REACH)
• Clinical Research for Individuals from Disadvantaged Backgrounds
• Contraception and Infertility Research

The LRP provides unique opportunities and substantial benefits to early-stage researchers.  If your application was not funded in a previous cycle, we strongly encourage you to apply again.    

Application Tips:

• Confirm that your NIH Commons password is current
• Review the LRP Application Guide
• Check out the LRP tutorial videos
• Connect with an LRP Ambassador
• Consult with an LRP Program Officer about your research
• Notify your Institutional Business Official (IBO) if you plan to apply for a renewal award

LRP Website Update

Beginning this cycle, the LRP website and its resources will move to the NIH Grants and Funding website.  Select pages will be updated to improve navigation and searchability.  To help ease the transition, redirect links from the current LRP website will remain active for the next year.

The policy remains substantially unchanged. As before:

• Women and members of racial and/or ethnic minority groups must be included in all clinical research studies unless there is a compelling rationale for their exclusion.
• NIH-defined phase 3 trials require valid analyses.
• Applicable phase 3 clinical trials must report results of valid analyses at ClinicalTrials.gov.

The revisions focus on terminology updates to align with HHS Sex-Based Definitions and Executive Order 14168. Inclusion plans and data reporting must consider and report on sex, race and/or ethnicity, and age.

Of note, the policy also mentions the federal race and ethnicity categories in the OMB Statistical Policy Directive No. 15 revision announced March 28, 2024. As discussed in the December 2024 Extramural Nexus article, award recipients should continue to report inclusion data to NIH using the 1997 categories until further notice.

No changes have been made to NIH’s scientific data sharing policies, nor have there been updates to NIH-supported data repositories. However, some pages have been updated to improve findability. Going forward, scientific data sharing FAQs, educational resources, news, events, and policy updates will be available on the Grants & Funding site.

Please update any sharing.nih.gov bookmarks you may have to the new pages! Redirected links are in place for the next year to help you find what you need in the meantime.  

Other Information:

• Grants site pages on the 2024 NIH Public Access Policy

Stakeholders are invited to provide feedback on the policy options described in the RFI. Comments must be submitted electronically to https://osp.od.nih.gov/comment-form-maximizing-research-funds-by-limiting-allowable-publishing-costs.  Responses will be accepted through September 15, 2025. 

Resources

• NIH Director's statement statement  
• Under the Poliscope blog

While AI may be a helpful tool in preparing applications, the rapid submission of large numbers of research applications from a single PI may undermine the fairness and originality of the research application process and unfairly strain NIH’s application review processes.  

As use of AI tools becomes more commonplace, it is important to remember that applicants may use AI in limited aspects to reduce administrative burden while preparing applications. However, applicants should be mindful of the concerns around research misconduct or lack of originality when using such tools. Remember, NIH peer reviewers are prohibited from using AI for their critiques.   

To address these issues, the new policy is effective for the September 25, 2025, receipt date and beyond: 

• Applications that are either substantially developed by AI or containing sections substantially developed by AI are not considered the original ideas of applicants and will not be considered by NIH. 
• NIH will also only accept up to six new, renewal, resubmission, or revision applications from an individual PD/PI (Program Director/Principal Investigator) or Multiple Principal Investigator for all council rounds in a calendar year.  For more details on applicability, investigator roles, and impacted application types, please see these new FAQs.  

Based on historical data, we expect this policy will impact a relatively small number of investigators. For example, in 2024 only 1.3% of applicants submitted more than 6 applications. 

We appreciate the research community’s continued interest in ensuring applications submitted to NIH remain representative of their original thought and creativity. This policy will allow NIH to continue to advance biomedical research and appropriately steward taxpayer dollars.  

For more information, please see the full guide notice and visit the BESH resources webpage, and the Special Considerations for BESH webpage. 

We remain committed to supporting properly conducted and overseen international collaborations that are necessary for our country to remain competitive and have the potential for significantly advancing the health sciences domestically. Such collaborations present special opportunities to further research programs through the use of unusual talents, resources, populations, or environmental conditions not readily available in the United States, or that augment our existing resources.

To continue ensuring these foreign collaborations benefit the public health of Americans, we announced on May 1, 2025 that the structure of these collaborations will change to enhance the integrity, accountability, oversight, and national security of NIH-funded research. As a reminder, effective with the next NIH award cycle, all NIH-funded research involving foreign subawards must be structured as subprojects directly linked to the prime award. Applications submitted after the issuance of NOT-OD-25-104 that propose foreign subawards will not be accepted. Learn more in this NIH Extramural Nexus article.

We are committed to ensuring minimal disruption over the course of the next few months. This includes identifying potential strategies to minimize impacts on existing studies and collaborations, such as renegotiating awards with a foreign subaward. And because the health, safety, and privacy of participants involved in NIH-supported clinical trials is crucial, recipients may request funds for safe and orderly shutdowns at foreign sites that involve human participants. The funding NIH Institute or Center may also allow for a wind down period accounting for the time needed for the recipient to notify the Institutional Review Board, develop a plan to promptly notify participants, and ensure there is appropriate therapy and follow-up for participants.

Through the new alternative approach recently announced, NIH and the recipient can renegotiate the award structure to financially remove the foreign subawards from the primary award, turning them into an administrative supplement (Type 3) award with separate financial reporting. This approach is meant for clinical trials or other clinical research in certain situations, such as where there may be potential risks to human safety or moving the project to a domestic site is impractical.

This short-term approach is in addition to previously outlined options and further provides enhanced tracking of obligations to foreign entities. NIH continues to develop the new structure for funded foreign collaborations that will apply to upcoming applications and any planned renewals (expected by September 30, 2025).

Additional related Frequently Asked Questions are available here.

Applicants may continue to propose research exclusively involving human participants (like clinical trials), particular laboratory animals, real-world data, in vitro methods, mathematical models, artificial intelligence, in silico approaches, other alternative approaches, or a combination of models. Peer reviewers will assess, through our fair and impartial review process, the merit of each approach proposed, its relevance to human disease, and if it is best suited to answering the research question that advances biomedical research and discovery. Our overarching goal is to accelerate progress, encourage innovation, and ultimately improve the quality and validation of new approach methodologies. 

We are also prioritizing human-based technologies and models, where scientifically valid and justified. Likewise, funding opportunities will indicate a special emphasis on human-based approaches.  

These steps should encourage investigators to choose the best models for their research without constraints. To reiterate, NIH will continue to support grants that use laboratory animal models if scientifically appropriate, justifiable, and with appropriate animal welfare oversight. Moreover, if laboratory animals are proposed, scientists must still continue to clearly explain why they are necessary for their research, that the minimal number needed to ensure rigorous and reproducible studies will be used, and why the study cannot be done using another model or approach (see more here). 

While traditional animal models continue to be important to advancing scientific knowledge, NIH recognizes that prioritizing new and emerging human-based technologies can offer unique strengths to expand the toolbox for researchers to answer previously difficult or unanswerable biomedical research questions. It also moves us toward our continued long-term goal of reducing, refining, and replacing the use of laboratory animals in NIH-supported research.  

Resources 

• NIH Director’s Statement 
• NIH Director’s Desk Podcast: The Future of Animal Models in Research 
• Extramural Nexus article 

• PA-25-426: NRSA Individual Fellowship for Students at Institutions with NIH-Funded Institutional Predoctoral Dual-Degree Training Programs (Parent F30) 
• PA-25-425: NRSA Individual Fellowship for Students at Institutions Without NIH-Funded Institutional Predoctoral Dual-Degree Training Programs (Parent F30) 
• PA-25-422: NRSA Individual Predoctoral Fellowship (Parent F31) 
• PA-25-423: NRSA Individual Postdoctoral Fellowship (Parent F32) 
• PA-25-424: NRSA Individual Senior Fellowship (Parent F33) 

NIH fellowships are open to early career scientists, including at the predoctoral and postdoctoral level, and are designed to provide mentored research training to enable skills’ development and experiences needed to transition into careers in the biomedical research workforce. 

Please note that applicants (and their supporters) should refer to the current instructions (in this instance, FORMS-I) when preparing their application.  The most recent fellowship application instructions may be found on the NIH Application Guide. For more information on NIH fellowships, check out our new Focus on Fellowships video series. 

More on NIH fellowships: 

• Focus on Fellowships (video series) 
• Revisions to the NIH Fellowship Application and Review Process 
• Individual Fellowships 
• Parent Announcements (For Unsolicited or Investigator-Initiated Applications) 

Importantly, NIH will no longer issue NOFOs exclusively supporting animal models or limit/specify the types of models that must be used. The intent of this effort is to ensure investigators consider the models most appropriate for understanding human states of health and disease and are not constrained by the NOFO. NIH Institutes, Centers and Program may issue NOFOs that exclude proposals for animal use entirely.

This new emphasis on human-based research will accelerate medical advances, save animals and help NIH achieve its crucial mission of improving human health.

We will be discontinuing real-time email notifications due to ongoing technical issues. We apologize for the inconvenience. You can still stay updated by subscribing to the email digest that is sent approximately every month. The Extramural Nexus news page will always have the latest information available, so check back often.  

You can also keep up with us on X, LinkedIn, and YouTube for even more resources!  

Find the right program for you and learn more in the following notices:

• Clinical Research (LRP-CR)
• Pediatric Research (LRP-PR)
• Health Disparities Research (LRP-HDR)
• Research in Emerging Areas Critical to Human Health (LRP-REACH)
• Clinical Researchers from Disadvantaged Backgrounds (LRP-CRDB)
• Contraception & Infertility Research (LRP-CIR)

Among other things, the new pages provide an overview of the 2024 Public Access Policy, guidance for submitting publications to PubMed, new FAQs, and NIH contact information.

More on the NIH Public Access Policy:

• NIH Director's statement on the 2024 Public Access Policy
• April 2025 Blog from the NIH Office of Science Policy
• Public Access – NIH Office of Science Policy
• 2024 Public Access Policy - NIH Grants & Funding site

Highlights of the plan include:

• Increased support for the NIH Data Management and Sharing Policy, with new tools and processes on the way
• New suggested methods for collecting informed consent when combining data from multiple sources
• Enhanced support for community-developed software tools with better visualization capabilities
• Progress towards a federated data ecosystem where researchers can more easily connect disparate datasets across platforms
• Increased data science training opportunities

Discover how NIH is transforming healthcare through data science in Dr. Gregurick's (Associate Director of Data Science) latest blog. Echoing what she said, “This strategic plan builds on significant progress made since the first Data Science Strategic Plan, with a renewed focus on partnership, capacity-building, and responsible innovation. As the research landscape evolves with unprecedented speed, NIH is working to ensure these powerful data tools and technologies benefit all Americans through more comprehensive scientific discoveries.”

Prior to implementation of the simplified review framework, CSR extensively trained NIH staff on the updated criteria. Additionally, CSR held a webinar for all study section chairs in recognition of their important role in guiding the discussion during review meetings. In advance of review meetings, CSR scientific review officers (SROs) meet with all their reviewers to ensure consistent implementation of the updated evaluation and scoring of applications. SROs also read reviewer critiques and provide feedback prior to the meeting.

Reviewer resources are publicly available so that the applicant community can better understand how reviewers are evaluating their grant applications.

• NIH RePORTER (RePORT Expenditures and Results) allows users to search for funded projects, investigators, publications, and patents. RePORTER also includes information on research projects funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Food and Drug Administration, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Health Resources and Services Administration, Administration for Children and Families, and U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
• Awards by Location and Organization provides year-by-year NIH funding data, filterable by organization, state, congressional district, and more. You might come across “frozen” data – this post explains the difference. 
• RCDC (Research, Condition, and Disease Categorization) shows the support level for various categories from grants, research and development contracts, and other funding mechanisms used by NIH, as well as disease burden data published by the CDC National Center for Health Statistics. Recent enhancements and new resources like the RCDC Categories At a Glance table have made it even easier to find funding information for various NIH research areas. RCDC categories are also available to search in RePORTER. 
• NIH Data Book gives a wealth of summary statistics on extramural grants, including the organizations and researchers that NIH supports as well as application success rates. See this NIH Open Mike blog for more. 

This NIH All About Grants podcast episode also shares ideas on how you may use RePORT throughout the grants process.  

Though these tools provide a wealth of information about NIH biomedical research funding, RePORT does not provide information on sub-awards or non-R&D contracts. Moreover, only limited data are available in the RePORTER database for other federal funders. In these situations, we encourage users to explore the following resources: 

• USAspending is the “official open data source of federal spending information, including information about federal awards such as contracts, grants, and loans.” Interactive tools are available to explore elements of the federal budget, such as federal loan, grant, and contract data. Importantly, it provides information on subaward data that you will not find on RePORT.
• The Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) database provides detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance made by 12 funding agencies within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (including NIH). The grants data are at the transaction level.
• The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) / Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Awards database reports small business funding made by for 13 federal agencies.
• The Federal Procurement Data System (FPDS) provides visibility into unclassified information on all federal contract actions using appropriated funds over $10,000, which can also be filtered for NIH.
• World RePORT is an interactive, open-access database that allows users to map global research investments from various funders like NIH, the United Kingdom Medical Research Council, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, European Commission, Canadian Institutes of Health Research, and Wellcome Trust. It fosters and facilitates funding analysis and visualization of global biomedical research networks, linking investigators and institutions collaborating on research projects. 

Except for RePORT and World RePORT, NIH is not involved with managing the other funding databases. If you have questions, please contact them directly. 

On the Research Training and Career Development page, you’ll still be able to find NIH funding opportunities by career stage or program type, alongside application and policy resources.  

Please update any researchtraining.nih.gov bookmarks you may have to the new pages! Redirected links are in place for the next year to help you find what you need in the meantime.  

Ready to explore? Here are some key pages to peruse as you start your research career: 

• Individual Fellowships
• Individual Career Development
• Institutional Training
• Institutional Career Development and Other Training 

There were 215 public categories when RCDC information began being reported for FY 2008. In FY 2024, there are a total of 327 categories. The following new categories were added in FY 2024:

• Disability Research
• Palliative Care
• Primary Immunodeficiencies
• Psychosis
• Skin Cancer
• Women’s Health Research (now automated; see more below)
• Zika Virus

There were also seven existing categories that were renamed, including:

• Dental, Oral, and Craniofacial Disease (was Dental/Oral and Craniofacial Disease)
• Orthopoxviruses (was Small Pox)
• Pediatric - AIDS (was Pediatric AIDS)
• Vaccine Related - AIDS (was Vaccine Related (AIDS))
• Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) (was ALS)
• Colorectal Cancer (was Colo-Rectal Cancer)
• Pneumonia and Influenza (was Pneumonia & Influenza)

We also launched an additional resource that provides descriptions to clearly explain what areas of research are or are not included in the particular category. This resource builds on other features discussed earlier this year meant to help more quickly and easily find official NIH funding reports.

More on Automating the Women’s Health Research Category

NIH has moved from manual coding to automated coding for the RCDC Women’s Health Research category with this fiscal year reporting cycle. Automating this category further improves its accuracy and consistency in reporting and better distinguishes research focused on improving the health of women across the lifespan. NIH remains committed to advancing women’s health through robust, transparent, and accountable scientific investment. 

While most RCDC categories use an automated process to identify relevant applications, some have used a manual process until analyses can be completed to address their unique reporting requirements. An accompanying footnote on the RCDC categorical spending table identifies categories that are still manually coded. Because the manual process is less standardized, NIH shifted from manual to automated coding over time. Shifting to automated categories:

• Offers increased rigor, accuracy, and transparency by applying the same classification methodology across all projects
• Eliminates inconsistencies inherent with individual interpretation of coding standards.
• Allows for more consistent categorization across multiple NIH Institutes and Centers, and FYs.

The manual Women’s Health category encompassed:

• Funding for research aimed at improving women’s health
• Studies on conditions that predominantly or differently affect women but may not specifically focus on women’s health outcomes, as well as clinical trials with female participation – each of which led to imprecise reporting and overcounting of some projects
• Research related to pregnancy and breastfeeding

After conducting a thorough and thoughtful analysis with subject matter experts across NIH, the updated Women's Health Research category includes:

• Research on health issues affecting women across the lifespan (e.g. female-specific conditions and conditions that may present differently or disproportionately in women)
• Pregnancy and breastfeeding research, now with a greater focus on maternal health

The automated system ensures a more precise reflection of women’s health research efforts, supporting effective use of taxpayer dollars. That said, users may notice changes in the data for the Women’s Health Research category under the automated process. But importantly, only the reporting methodology has changed, and actual funding numbers remain the same. NIH remains committed to supporting women’s health research, and the change will ultimately enhance NIH’s ability to track progress of the NIH-Wide Strategic Plan for Research on the Health of Women. The shift simply provides a clearer and more accurate representation of NIH’s sustained investment in this critical area. 

Because the manual and automated figures are not comparable, the historical funding numbers for the previous manual Women’s Health category will no longer be collected or reported on the RCDC categorical spending page. These historical funding numbers are available upon request by contacting rcdc@mail.nih.gov.

For more, see the Early Stage Investigators FAQ page.

• Investigators that meet all other NIH eligibility requirements for mentored career awards and for whom this exception will enable completion of career development goals and progression towards research independence.
• Investigators previously awarded competing or non-competing continuation career development awards that prematurely ended on or after January 1, 2025. 

Other GPS requirements remain unchanged. Investigators should include in applications a justification addressing the need for additional mentored research training and career development. See NOT-OD-25-115 for more details. 

For more information on NIH’s career development awards, visit the Grants & Funding site’s new area for Research Training and Career Development. On our updated career development programs page, you can find: 

• a listing of career development awards by career stage,
• expanded FAQs,
• helpful podcasts and videos, and
• applicable NIH policy notices. 

When you use the NIH RePORT tool Awards by Location and Organization, resulting data may be listed as either “current” or “frozen” depending on the time of year. This is because NIH updates current data for the ongoing fiscal year until September 30. Current data may change as new projects are funded or as funding levels and other information is updated for existing projects.  

Shortly after September 30, NIH will freeze data from the previous fiscal year and conduct a thorough review meant to ensure the data’s accuracy and quality. NIH will not update data for the recent fiscal year until final frozen data are available, generally a few months after the end of the fiscal year or around the start of the new calendar year.  

Users can continue to access data from the previous fiscal year before frozen data are published. However, they may notice slight variations between data obtained after the end of the fiscal year and the published frozen data released a few months later, due to refinements made during the freezing process. 

Awards by Location and Organization is useful for finding information on the NIH awards made to institutions in a specific area. In addition to location (awards made to institutions in a particular state or congressional district, for example), you can also search by Institute/Center, organization type, or funding mechanism. You can also download a summary of domestic award data for the most recent fiscal year. 

Additional resources: 

• NIH RePORT
• RePORT Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) 

Background

ADSI seeks to bring together diverse data resources to explore possible contributors to the causes of autism. ADSI will also work to identify how existing treatments/interventions are used and better understand their outcomes to inform the design of future clinical studies. All use of data in in the initiative will be compliant with privacy and confidentiality requirements and applicable federal and state laws and regulations.

Strategic aims:

• Support the integration of existing data resources with rigorous privacy protections for analysis by autism researchers.
• Identify gaps in available data and conduct specific data generation activities to fill those gaps.
• Support analysis of the new data resources to explore the contribution of a variety of health and other factors to the causes of autism.
• Support independent replication and validation of the initiative’s findings.

This year the initiative expects to issue up to $50 million in awards in September, pending receipt of scientifically meritorious ideas from the research community. Applications are due June 27, 2025.

NIH has since identified some Notices of Funding Opportunity (NOFOs) that were not expired or reissued as indicated in the implementation plan shared in early 2024. To avoid confusion and reduce reviewer burden at review meetings, NIH has expired those NOFOs (see NOT-OD-25-113).   

Applications already submitted under the expired NOFOs will be reviewed in summer 2025 review meetings under the simplified review framework (see NOT-OD-25-116). Applicants who were planning to apply to the expired NOFOs for future review cycles should instead consider applying through a suitable parent announcement. 

If you ever come across misconduct, whether it be harassment, fraud, grant scams, research misconduct, peer review violations, or foreign interference, please report it. 

You can find the appropriate contacts for various types of concerns on our Report a Concern page. 

(Or just click on the red Report a Concern button  located on various pages of the NIH Grants and Funding website). 

If you’re looking for other contacts at NIH, check out the Grants and Funding site Help page. 

The Guide notice, “Protecting Human Genomic Data when Developing Generative Artificial Intelligence Tools and Applications,” includes 1) a reminder that the GDS Policy does not allow users to share controlled-access data or their data derivatives with unauthorized users, including public generative AI tools, and 2) prohibits sharing of generative AI models and their parameters trained on human genomic data obtained from NIH controlled-access repositories. NIH intends to release future guidance outlining the responsible use and sharing of generative AI models based on controlled-access data.   

Other Resources: 

• Artificial Intelligence - Office of Science Policy 
• Using Genomic Data Responsibly Under the NIH Genomic Data Sharing Policy | Data Sharing 
• NOT-OD-14-124: NIH Genomic Data Sharing Policy 

No action is required from investigators to receive this extension; thus, no ESI extension request submission is necessary. Updated ESI end dates will appear in eRA Commons profiles by June 8, 2025. Investigators may confirm their status via the Education section in the eRA Commons Personal Profile. 

To determine if you are eligible for the extension, please see the details and examples within the full guide notice.  

When developing inclusion plans, applicants should follow the appropriate form instructions found on the How to Apply – Application Guide page.

For more information about NIH inclusion policies, check out the Inclusion Policies for Human Subjects page.

Full details in the guide notice and FAQs.

Guide Notice NOT-OD-25-104 prospectively updates NIH policies and practices for utilizing foreign subawards. This step helps us enhance the tracking of foreign subawards, consistency across reporting systems, and protect national security of the biomedical research enterprise. Reports from the U.S. Government Accountability Office, concerns raised by Congress, and internal system inconsistencies further highlight the need for this policy change.

Effective May 1, 2025, NIH will:

• Not issue awards to domestic or foreign entities (new, renewal or non-competing continuation), that include a subaward to a foreign entity.
• No longer accept prior approval requests to add a new foreign component or subaward to an ongoing project.
• Renegotiate new, renewal or non-competing awards to remove subawards to foreign entities, and allow the funds to be rebudgeted for use by the prime recipient when the work can be performed domestically
• Work with the recipient to negotiate a bilateral termination if a project is no longer viable without the foreign subaward, taking into consideration any need to support participant safety and/or animal welfare.

This is a temporary pause for foreign subawards, while NIH finalizes the implementation of the new award structure (expected no later than September 30, 2025). The clearer structures and safeguards seek to enhance transparency, trackability, and protect national security in the areas of both monetary and non-monetary foreign collaborations.

What this means going forward?

We remain committed to supporting international scientific collaboration with foreign scientists, when conducted in a secure, justifiable, and responsible way. We will continue to fund foreign components, as long as they are structured as independent subprojects rather than subawards. Applicants may reapply for future awards with subproject structures as well.

We encourage recipients and their researchers prepare. Options could include moving research to the U.S. if possible, pause on-going research and reapply under the new subproject structure, or begin winding down the project. Keep in mind that continuing these awards under the current subaward model is not an option.

And for research involving human participants or laboratory animals that may be affected, we will provide funds for safe and orderly shutdowns at foreign sites to maintain participant safety and privacy or animal welfare.

We appreciate the research community’s continued partnership throughout this process, which is pivotal for strengthening our combined oversight of foreign collaborations and research investments.

Resources:

• NIH Director’s statement
• Subawards: NIH Grants and Funding website
• Information for Foreign Grants: NIH Grants and Funding website

You can read the NIH Director's statement and this blog from the NIH Office of Science Policy for more information on the 2024 Public Access Policy and this change. 

Additional Resources  

• NOT-OD-25-047: 2024 NIH Public Access Policy (December 2024)
• Introducing the New NIH Public Access Policy - Office of Science Policy (December 2024)
• Public Access - Office of Science Policy
• Supplemental Guidance: Publications Costs 
• Supplemental Guidance: Government License Use and Rights 

NIH supports properly conducted and principled international collaborations that are integral for our country to remain competitive. For NIH to fully assess all foreign activities and collaborations prior to award:

• The SF-424 R&R Other Project Information Form requires applicants to indicate whether the project involves activities outside of the United States or partnerships with international collaborators.
• Applicants who check “Yes” to this question must include a “Foreign Justification” attachment in Field 12, Other Attachments.

More information is available in the Guide Notice for reference.

We plan on refreshing and rereleasing our older, popular content and migrating historical blog posts over the next few months. Stay tuned and, if you haven’t already, subscribe to receive a digest and/or real-time updates. Be sure to update your bookmarks and check back regularly!

We are featuring only the most current information at this time. To access past posts, please explore the archive.

Do you have suggestions for future posts? Contact us. 

Page Highlights

• NIH Grants and Funding Information Status. Keep up to date on how NIH grants and funding information is evolving as we align with new agency priorities (e.g., status of communications, funding opportunities, application guidance, and more).
• Upcoming Changes. Get the latest status on in-progress initiatives like our adoption of Biographical Sketch and Current and Pending (Other) Support.
• Recent Changes. Learn about key initiatives implemented in 2024 that culminated in numerous changes to grant application content and review for due dates on or after January 25, 2025 and any adjustments made to those initiatives.

Bookmark the link, share it widely, and visit regularly for updated information.

We are often asked how the new framework will affect the preparation of applications. The simplified review 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.

As always, applicants should be responsive to the Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) that they are applying to, especially Sections IV. Application and Submission Information and V.  Application Review Information.

Other Information

• Applicant Guidance for Simplifying the Review Framework
• How to Apply – Application Guide
• Recent Changes Implemented for Due Dates on or after January 25, 2025
• NIH All About Grants Podcast: Simplified Review Framework

RCDC launched in 2008 as a tool within NIH’s Research Portfolio Online Reporting Tools (RePORT) suite. It provides estimates of annual support level for more than 300 research, condition, and disease categories based on grants, contracts, and other funding mechanisms used across the NIH, as well as disease burden data published by the CDC National Center for Health Statistics. More on the RCDC process is available on this post from 2018.

The new visual and contextual changes aim to improved usability and understanding of the RCDC categorization process. In particular, the categorical spending page was reorganized so data are more prominent and easier to navigate.

Navigation improvements simplify finding information on FAQs, the Categorization Process, and the biomedical thesaurus. The information in the data tables are more visible due to collapsed textual information  and frozen table headers (Figure 1).

When selecting a particular category, the line graph on the top left of the page will  automatically adjust to reflect funding amounts over time for that topic area (Figure 2, left image). Selecting support data for a given fiscal year will also reveal information about specific projects (Figure 2, right image).

Results can be narrowed further if interested in a particular NIH Institute or Center (Figure 3). To sort in this way, a user would need to click on the dollar amount for a given disease/research area and a given fiscal year in the main table.

Application identification numbers can now be exported for funded awards for any fiscal year in any given category. Previously RCDC only reported the project number for an award. Because application IDs are unique to an individual fiscal year, it is easier to now connect results from RCDC with those obtained in other RePORT tools.

Just remember, the simplified review framework is a new way of reviewing the same research strategy and is not expected to change how applicants prepare applications. See our applicant guide for more information on navigating the transition to the simplified review framework. 

Other Information 

• Simplifying Review of Research Project Grant Applications
• Simplified Review Framework FAQs
• NIH All About Grants Podcast – Simplified Review Framework 

https://youtu.be/iUGBBRnN4KQ

Here are the highlights:  

• Structure of a Funding Opportunity
• Instruction Hierarchy
• Eligibility Information
• Submission Reminders
• Application Review Information
• Key Takeaways

Open the Admin (Account Management) module and click the Delegations menu option to work with delegations. Delegation capabilities vary based on your role and the authority being delegated. Scientific roles, such as a principal investigator (PI) can do direct delegations of their authorities (progress report, Status, Personal Profile, xTrain) to another PI or assistant.  

Signing officials (SOs) and business officials have an additional ability to delegate privileges on behalf of another user. This might be done if a PI is unexpectedly unavailable and someone else needs to work on their progress report.  SOs can also delegate institutional authority, which is the authority to act on behalf of an institution or organization. For instance, usually only SOs can submit reports for an award, but institutional authority granted by an SO to a PI enables the PI to submit these reports.  

Any user can delegate Personal Profile authority, so that others can update their Personal Profile.  

See instructions and a complete list of who can delegate which authorities in the Delegations online help topic. Also learn more about delegations on the Manage Delegation webpage.  

• All communications between awarding agencies and you are sent to contact methods that you enter into your Personal Profile.
• Reports, such as the Research Performance Progress Report (RPPR), cannot be submitted if award recipients have incomplete Personal Profiles.
• Trainees cannot be appointed without complete Personal Profiles.
• Early Stage Investigator (ESI) status is calculated from Personal Profile data entered by principal investigators in the Education section.
• Personal Profile data is used to help agency review staff identify reviewers’ conflict of interest with applications they are reviewing; and is the place reviewers enter information to get their review meeting honorariums.

Personal Profile is the central repository of information about all Commons registered users. It lets you own and maintain the accuracy for your own personal information. This profile information is integrated throughout eRA systems. It is used to determine reviewer conflicts, link publications, populate application data, track trainee effort, and to ensure that Early Stage Investigator status is accurately calculated. In addition, you have the option to provide demographic information to help NIH better understand its research workforce. Read more about how to manage your Personal Profile.

Linking your ORCID iD (Open Researcher and Contributor ID) to your eRA Commons account enables automatic importation of publications into biosketches, reducing burden and saving you time. You can use Personal Profile to connect your eRA Commons account to your ORCID iD (Open Researcher and Contributor ID), which is a unique 16-digit identifier that enables connections between researchers and their research and scholarship. A linked ORCID iD is required for all senior/ key personnel listed on  an application for a  due date on or after May 25, 2025. See the video titled Link Your ORCID iD to Your eRA Commons Account.

So, if you have not recently updated your Personal Profile, please do so soon. It will benefit both the awarding agency and you.

Also see:

• Manage Personal Profile webpage
• Personal Profile Module online help
• Update on Linking ORCID To Implement Persistent Identifier Requirements While Reducing Burden and Improving Transparency blog post
• NIH All About Grants Podcast: Growing ORCIDs podcast episode

You’ll find listings of key resources, tips, and other important information for your role: 

• Researchers
  • Including the new Resources for Researchers with Disabilities page
• Research Administrators
• Reviewers
• Small Business
• Foreign Grants
• Media and the Public 

ESI 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.  

The NIH Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare recently refreshed and expanded a Frequently Asked Question centered around a recipient institution’s responsibilities when collaborating with another entity on animal research. The recipient must fulfill the animal welfare obligations of an award and include these obligations in agreements with collaborating institutions. The updated FAQ also clarifies responsibilities for IACUCs, necessary parts of a written agreement, and the purpose of Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs). Additional helpful resources are also provided.