Types of Grant Programs

R01

NIH Research Project Grant Program (R01)

• Used to support a discrete, specified, circumscribed research project.
• NIH's most commonly used grant program.
• No specific dollar limit unless specified in funding opportunity.
• Advance permission required for $500K or more (direct costs) in any year.
• Generally awarded for 3-5 years.
• Utilized by all ICs.
• See parent announcements: PA-20-183 (Clinical Trial Required), PA-20-184 (Basic Experimental Studies with Humans Required), and PA-20-185 (Clinical Trial Not Allowed).

R03

NIH Small Grant Program (R03):

• Provides limited funding for a short period of time to support a variety of types of projects, including pilot or feasibility studies, collection of preliminary data, secondary analysis of existing data, small, self-contained research projects, development of new research technology, etc.
• Generally, limited to two years of funding.
• Direct costs generally up to $50,000 per year.
• Not renewable.
• Utilized by more than half of the NIH ICs.
• See parent announcements: PA-20-200.

R13

NIH Support for Conferences and Scientific Meetings (R13 and U13)

• Support for high quality conferences/scientific meetings that are relevant to NIH's scientific mission and to the public health.
• Requires advance permission from the funding IC.
• Foreign institutions are not eligible to apply.
• Award amounts vary and limits are set by individual ICs.
• Support for up to 5 years may be possible.
• See parent announcements: PA-21-151.

R15

NIH Academic Research Enhancement Award (AREA)

• Support small research projects in the biomedical and behavioral sciences conducted by undergraduate and/or graduate students and faculty in institutions of higher education that have not been major recipients of NIH research grant funds.
• Eligibility limited (see R15).
• Direct cost limited to $300,000 over entire project period.
• Project period limited to up to 3 years.
• All NIH ICs utilize except FIC and NCATS.

R21

NIH Exploratory/Developmental Research Grant Award (R21)

• Encourages new, exploratory and developmental research projects by providing support for the early stages of project development. Sometimes used for pilot and feasibility studies.
• Limited to up to two years of funding.
• Combined budget for direct costs for the two year project period usually may not exceed $275,000.
• No preliminary data is generally required.
• Most ICs utilize.
• See parent announcements: PA-20-194 (Clinical Trial Required), PA-20-195 (Clinical Trial Not Allowed), and PA-20-196 (Basic Experimental Studies with Humans Required).

R34

NIH Clinical Trial Planning Grant (R34) Program

• Designed to permit early peer review of the rationale for the proposed clinical trial and support development of essential elements of a clinical trial.
• Usually project period of one year, sometimes up to 3.
• Usually, allows for a budget of up to $100,000 direct costs, sometimes up to $450,000.
• Used only by select ICs.

R41/R42

Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR)

• Intended to stimulate scientific and technological innovation through cooperative research/research and development (R/R&D) carried out between small business concerns (SBCs) and research institutions (RIs).
• Fosters technology transfer between SBCs and RIs.
• Assists the small business and research communities in commercializing innovative technologies.
• Three-phase structure:
  • I - Feasibility study to establish scientific/technical merit of the proposed R/R&D efforts (generally 6 months to 2 years; normally may not exceed $295,924).
  • II - Full R/R&D efforts initiated in Phase I (generally 1 to 3 years; normally may not exceed $1,972,828).
  • III- Commercialization stage (cannot use STTR funds).
• Eligibility limited to U.S. small business concerns.
• Project Director/Principal investigator (PD/PI) may be employed with the SBC or the participating non-profit research institution as long as he/she has a formal appointment with or commitment to the applicant SBC.
• Multiple PD/PIs allowed.
• Participating ICs and Research Topics.
• See parent announcements: PA-22-178 (Clinical Trial Not Allowed) and PA-22-179 (Clinical Trial Required).

R43/R44

Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR)

• Intended to stimulate technological innovation in the private sector by supporting research or research and development (R/R&D) for for-profit institutions for ideas that have potential for commercialization.
• Assists the small business research community in commercializing innovative technologies.
• Three-phase structure:
  • I - Feasibility study to establish scientific/technical merit of the proposed R/R&D efforts (generally 6 months to 2 years; normally may not exceed $295,924).
  • II - Full research or R&D efforts initiated in Phase I (generally 1 to 3 years; normally may not exceed $1,972,828).
  • III- Commercialization stage (cannot use SBIR funds).
• Eligibility limited to U.S. small business concerns.
• The primary employment of the Project Director/Principal investigator (PD/PI) must be with the small business concern.
• Multiple PD/PIs allowed.
• Participating ICs and Research Topics.
• See parent announcements: PA-22-176 (Clinical Trial Not Allowed) and PA-22-177 (Clinical Trial Required).

R56

NIH High Priority, Short-Term Project Award (R56)

• Will fund, for one or two years, high-priority new or competing renewal R01 applications with priority scores or percentiles that fall just outside the funding limits of participating NIH Institutes and Centers (IC). Investigators may not apply for R56 grants.

U01

Research Project Cooperative Agreement

• Supports discrete, specified, circ.umscribed projects to be performed by investigator(s) in an area representing their specific interests and competencies
• Used when substantial programmatic involvement is anticipated between the awarding Institute and Center.
• One of many types of cooperative agreements.
• No specific dollar limit unless specified in funding opportunity.

K99/R00

• NIH Pathway to Independence (PI) Award (K99/R00).
  Provides up to five years of support consisting of two phases.
  • I - will provide 1-2 years of mentored support for highly promising, postdoctoral research scientists.
  • II - up to 3 years of independent support contingent on securing an independent research position.
• Award recipients will be expected to compete successfully for independent R01 support from the NIH during the career transition award period.
• Eligible Principal Investigators include outstanding postdoctoral candidates who have terminal clinical or research doctorates who have no more than 4 years of postdoctoral research training.
• Foreign institutions are not eligible to apply.
• PI does not have to be a U.S. citizen.
• See parent announcements: PA-20-187 (Independent Clinical Trial Required), PA-20-188 (Independent Clinical Trial Not Allowed), and PA-20-189 ( Independent Basic Experimental Studies with Humans Required).