NIH’s Path to a Simpler Funding Opportunity Landscape

Blog authored by Dr. Jon Lorsch, NIH Deputy Director for Extramural Research

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.  

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: New Tool to Explore NIH Grant Opportunities
• NIH Extramural Nexus: What Are the Differences Between Highlighted Topics and Funding Opportunities?