RFA: Request for Proposals Announcement

• Funder is soliciting applications in the area described
• Money committed to fund a certain number of proposals
• One submission date, usually about 6 weeks after RFA is announced

PA: Program Announcement

• Funder has interest in area
• No specific funds set aside
• Announcement is active for 3 years
• Several submission dates

http://grants1.nih.gov/grants/funding/funding_program.htm

R01: NIH Research Project Grant Program
http://grants1.nih.gov/grants/funding/r01.htm
The Research Project Grant (R01) is the original and historically oldest grant mechanism used by NIH. The R01 provides support for health-related research and development based on the mission of the NIH. R01s can be investigator initiated or can be in response to a program announcement or request for application. The NIH awards R01 grants to organizations of all types (universities, colleges, small businesses, for-profit, foreign and domestic, faith-based, etc.) and the R01 mechanism allows an investigator to define the scientific focus or objective of the research based on a particular area of interest and competence. Although the Principal Investigator writes the grant application and is responsible for conducting the research, the applicant is the research organization.

R03: NIH Small Grant Program
http://grants1.nih.gov/grants/funding/r03.htm
The R03 award will support small research projects that can be carried out in a short period of time with limited resources. The common characteristic of the small grant is the provision of limited funding for a short period of time and should originate from a specific Institutional Center. Only the following Institutional Centers participate in the R03: NEI, NIA, NIAAA, NIAID, NIBIB, NICHD, NIDA, NIDCR, NIEHS, NIMH, NINDS, NINR, NLM. Examples of the types of projects are supported with the R03 include the following:

• Pilot or feasibility studies
• Secondary analysis of existing data
• Small, self-contained research projects
• Development of research methodology
• Development of new research technology

R13 and U13: NIH Support for Conferences and Scientific Meetings
http://grants1.nih.gov/grants/funding/r13/index.htm

R21: NIH Exploratory/Developmental Research Grant Award
http://grants1.nih.gov/grants/funding/r21.htm
The R21 mechanism is intended to encourage new, exploratory and developmental research projects by providing support for the early stages of their development. For example, such projects could assess the feasibility of a novel area of investigation or a new experimental system that has the potential to enhance health-related research. These studies may involve considerable risk but may lead to a breakthrough in a particular area, or to the development of novel techniques, agents, methodologies, models or applications that could have major impact on a field of biomedical, behavioral, or clinical research.

R56: High Priority Short-Term Project Award
http://grants1.nih.gov/grants/funding/r56.htm
The High Priority, Short-Term Project Award, R56 grant 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). It will provide limited, interim research support based on the merit of the pending application. This support is designed to enable the Principal Investigator to gather additional data for revision of the current application. R56 funding will end after one or two years or when the applicant succeeds in obtaining a traditional research project grant. Note: Investigators do not apply for an R56 grant. Applications for conversion to an R56 will be selected by IC staff from reviewed R01 grants near the payline margins. Diversity Supplements: Research Supplements to Promote Diversity in Health-Related Research http://grants1.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-05-015.html


http://grants1.nih.gov/training/careerdevelopmentawards.htm

K01: Mentored Research Scientist Development Award
http://grants1.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-00-019.html

The Mentored Research Scientist Development Award (K01) provides support for an intensive, supervised career development experience in one of the biomedical, behavioral, or clinical sciences leading to research independence. Candidates for this award normally must have a research or health-professional doctorate and postdoctoral research experience at the time of application. In addition, the candidate must be able to demonstrate the need for a three, four, or five-year period of additional supervised research as well as the capacity and/or the potential for highly productive independent research. The proposed career development experience must be in a research area new to the applicant and/or one in which an additional supervised research experience will substantially add to the research capabilities of the applicant.

K02: Independent Scientist Award
http://grants1.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-00-020.html
The Independent Scientist Award (K02) provides up to five years of salary support for newly independent scientists who can demonstrate the need for a period of intensive research focus as a means of enhancing their research careers. This award is intended to foster the development of outstanding scientists and enable them to expand their potential to make significant contributions to their field of research.

K05: Senior Scientist Award
http://grants1.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-00-021.html
The Senior Scientist Award (K05) provides stability of support to outstanding scientists who have demonstrated a sustained, high level of productivity and whose expertise, research accomplishments, and contributions to the field have been and will continue to be critical to the mission of the particular NIH center or institute.

K07: Academic Career Award
http://grants1.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-00-070.html
The Academic Career Award (K07) is used by the NIH Institutes and Centers to support individuals interested in introducing or improving curricula in a particular scientific field as a means of enhancing the educational or research capacity at the grantee institution.

K08: Mentored Clinical Scientist Development Award
http://grants1.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-00-003.html
The purpose of the Mentored Clinical Scientist Development Award (K08) is to support the development of outstanding clinician research scientists. This mechanism provides specialized study for individuals with a health professional doctoral degree committed to a career in laboratory or field- based research.


T32: Institutional Research Training Grants
http://grants1.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-02-109.html
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) will award National Research Service Award (NRSA) Institutional Training Grants (T32) to eligible institutions to develop or enhance research training opportunities for individuals, selected by the institution, who are training for careers in specified areas of biomedical, behavioral, and clinical research. The purpose of the NRSA program is to help ensure that a diverse and highly trained workforce is available to assume leadership roles related to the Nation's biomedical and behavioral research agenda. Accordingly, the NRSA program supports predoctoral, postdoctoral, and short-term research training experiences.

T35: Short-Term Institutional Research Training Grants
http://grants1.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/not98-027.html
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) will award National Research Service Awards (NRSA) Short-Term Institutional Research Training Grants (T35) to eligible institutions to develop or enhance research training opportunities for individuals interested in careers in biomedical and behavioral research. Many of the NIH Institutes and Centers (see inquiries) use this grant mechanism exclusively to support intensive, short-term research training experiences for students in health professional schools during the summer.

F31: Individual Predoctoral Individual Fellowship Award
http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-04-032.html
Also for Minority Students
http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-00-069.html
And for Students with Disabilities
http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-00-068.html
This program will provide predoctoral training support for doctoral candidates who have successfully completed their comprehensive examinations or the equivalent by the time of award and will be performing dissertation research and training. The applicant should provide evidence of potential for a productive research career based upon the quality of previous research training and academic record. The applicant must propose a dissertation research project and training program which falls into a research area within the scientific mission of the NIAAA, NIBIB, NIDCD, NIDA, NIMH, or NINDS. The research training experience must enhance the applicant's conceptualization of research problems and research skills, under the guidance and supervision of a committed mentor who is an active and established investigator in the area of the applicant's proposed research. The research training program should be carried out in a research environment that includes appropriate human and technical resources and is demonstrably committed to the research training of the applicant in the program he/she proposes in the application.

F32: Individual Postdoctoral Fellowship Award
http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-03-067.html
The proposed postdoctoral training must be within the broad scope of biomedical, behavioral, or clinical research and must offer an opportunity to enhance the fellow's understanding of the health-related sciences and extend his/her potential for a productive research career. Fellowship awardees are required to pursue their research training on a full-time basis, devoting at least 40 hours per week to the training program. Research clinicians must devote full-time to their proposed research training and must restrict clinical duties within their full-time research training experience to activities that are directly related to the research training experience. A Kirschstein-NRSA fellowship (F32) may not be used to support studies leading to the M.D., D.O., D.D.S., D.V.M., or other similar health-professional degrees. Neither may these awards be used to support the clinical years of residency training.

F33: Senior Fellowship Award
http://grants1.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-00-131.html
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) awards NRSA senior fellowships (F33) to experienced scientists who wish to make major changes in the direction of their research careers or who wish to broaden their scientific background by acquiring new research capabilities. These awards will enable individuals with at least seven years of research experience beyond the doctorate, and who have progressed to the stage of independent investigator, to take time from regular professional responsibilities for the purpose of receiving training to increase their scientific capabilities.

NIH Extramural Loan Repayment Programs
http://www.lrp.nih.gov/about/extramural/intro.htm
Loan Repayment for: Pediatric Research, Clinical Research, Health Disparities Research, Clinical Researchers from Disadvantaged Backgrounds, Contraception and Infertility Research



New investigators
R03 small research grants, $50,000/year or less
K01 Career Awards: need to have identified a mentor and a five-year research agenda

Independent investigators
R01 regular research project grants (most common mechanism)
R21 new, exploratory, developmental research
K02 independent scientist awards

Doctoral Students and Recent Postdocs (Ruth L. Kirschstein Awards)
F30 Individual Predoctoral National Research Service Awards
F31 Individual Predoctoral National Research Service Awards for Minority Students and Students with Disabilities
F32 Individual Postdoctoral National Research Service Award Loan Repayment Programs

PA vs. RFA
RFAs better chance to get funded, but only one opportunity and very quick turnaround (only about 6 weeks from date of announcement).
PAs issued for three years, have opportunity to resubmit several times, but less chance of success

Consult with the Associate Dean for Research for more specific advice.