NHGRI Funding Policies and Considerations

NHGRI Interim Funding Strategy for Fiscal Year 2026

Funding Strategy

NHGRI allocates its resources across a range of programs and funding mechanisms to support as many high-quality projects as possible. This approach preserves flexibility to address emerging scientific opportunities, advance priority research areas, and ensure alignment with the NIH Unified Funding Strategy.

Adjustments to Requested Budget Levels

To maximize the number of awards that can be made, requested budgets for certain grant mechanisms may be adjusted in part due to:

• A substantial increase in the level of budget requests
• A large and expanding commitment base for existing awards
• Limited growth in the NHGRI budget relative to these demands

Consistent with NIH-wide policies, no inflationary increases will be allowed for future years. 

Competing Applications

R01 projects submitted under the Parent Announcements will generally be funded for four years. Exceptions for longer periods of time may be made for early-stage investigators, or for studies requiring longer term participant accrual and follow-up.  Projects may be funded for shorter periods of time if they are in rapidly evolving areas of science, are particularly high-risk projects, or when review or Council recommend a shorter duration. Applicants submitting to non-Parent Announcements should follow instructions in the “Award Project Period” section of the specific Notice of Funding Opportunities (NOFO).

Because NHGRI’s research mission is dynamic, we strongly encourage prospective applicants and grantees to discuss their proposed research ideas with the appropriate staff before preparing an application, to ensure that any submitted application is responsive to NHGRI’s mission.

Non-Competing Applications

Non-competing continuation awards made in FY 2026 will generally be issued at the commitment level indicated on the Notice of Award issued in FY 2025. 

Resource Grants

Competing and non-competing resource grants (R24, U24, U41) are evaluated periodically because they constitute a significant investment of NHGRI funds and may be subject to additional budget reductions.

In the interests of awarding as many grants as possible, adjustments to the requested budget may be necessary for some grant mechanisms. 

Commitment to Early-Stage Investigators

As described in the NIH’s Next Generation Researchers Initiative (NGRI) efforts and NIH’s policy on early-stage investigators, the NHGRI is committed to providing substantial and sustained support for early-stage investigators (ESIs), new investigators in the early stages of their careers.