Month: March 2026

NIH is seeking public input on a framework for the NIH-Wide Strategic Plan for fiscal years 2027–2031 through a newly issued request for information (RFI) . This RFI provides an opportunity for the extramural research community to help inform NIH’s highest-level priorities and goals for the next five years. 

NIH is streamlining the landscape for Notices of Funding Opportunities (NOFOs, or funding opportunities) and the application process. We are placing greater emphasis on investigator-initiated science rather than asking researchers to align their work with highly specific funding opportunities.  

If you are preparing a Collaborative International Research Project (PF5) application, understanding what belongs in each required and optional component can help ensure your submission is complete, responsive, and clearly structured for review. 

The Biographical Sketch Common Form must be used for all NIH grant application, Just-in-Time, Research Performance Progress Report (RPPR), and Prior Approval submissions  to NIH with due dates on or after January 25, 2026.

Have you explored our Fellowship opportunities? We wanted to remind you that NIH fellowships are open to early career scientists, including at the predoctoral and postdoctoral level.

NIH has developed a Frequently Asked Question (FAQ) for investigators planning applications with Basic Experimental Studies with Humans (BESH) on or after May 25, 2026 to clarify that the information in the latest Guide Notice only applies to basic science studies/BESH. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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