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Grant Policy and Guidance

Fiscal Year 2025 Award Funding Policy

Competing Awards

Funding decisions for FY2025 will be based on several factors, including programmatic priorities aligned with the Institute's mission and 2022-2026 strategic plan and the application's scientific merit. Final award decisions are considered with a holistic approach that is based on the following criteria:

  • Scientific and technical merit as deemed by peer review
  • Recommendations made by the National Advisory Council for Nursing Research (NINR Advisory Council)
  • Alignment with NINR scientific priorities as outlined by our scientific framework, including research lenses
  • Programmatic portfolio balance and scientific gaps and needs related to NINR priority areas
  • Availability of funds
  • Advancement of broad participation to promote innovation and impact
    • This includes such considerations as new investigator status, institution (e.g., limited resource institutions, undergraduate-focused institutions), geographic and regional diversity, PI funding amount and/or number of grants, research team composition (e.g., disciplines, areas of expertise), and community partnerships.

NINR is firmly committed to supporting early-stage investigators (ESIs). Therefore, consistent with the NIH Next Generation Researcher's Initiative (NGRI), NINR considers applications from ESIs as an Institute priority. Specifically, NINR encourages the stable integration of ESIs into the scientific workforce and generally supports competing R01 awards for ESIs at 100% of the IRG and NINR Advisory Council recommended levels.

Research Project Grants (R01):

For new competing R01 applications selected for funding, NINR will generally support applications at 100% of the peer review recommended level of support. Final reductions may vary depending on the criteria listed above. 

Exploratory/Developmental Grants (R21):

For all new competing R21s applications selected for funding, NINR will generally support applications at 100% of the peer review recommended level of support. Programmatic adjustments may vary depending on the criteria listed above. 

STTR and SBIR (R41, R42, R43, and R44):

For all new competing STTR and SBIR applications selected for funding, NINR will generally support applications at 100% of the peer review recommended level of support. Programmatic adjustments may vary depending on the criteria listed above.

Career Development Awards (K01, K08, K23, K25, K99):

For all new competing career development applications selected for funding, NINR will generally support applications at 100% of the peer review recommended level of support. Programmatic adjustments may vary depending on the criteria listed above. 

Individual Fellowships (F30, F31, and F32):

For all new competing individual fellowship applications selected for funding, NINR will generally support applications at 100% of the peer review recommended level of support. Programmatic adjustments may vary depending on the criteria listed above.

Institutional Training (T32):

For all new competing institutional fellowship applications selected for funding, NINR will generally support applications at 100% of the peer review recommended level of support. Programmatic adjustments may vary depending on the criteria listed above.

Research Education Program (R25):

NINR will generally support applications at 100% of the peer review recommended level of support for all new competing Research Education Program applications selected for funding. Programmatic adjustments may vary depending on the criteria listed above.

Research Enhancement Award (R15):

NINR will generally support applications at 100% of the peer review recommended level of support for all new competing Research Enhancement applications selected for funding. Programmatic adjustments may vary depending on the criteria listed above.

 

Data Policy

Data and Safety Monitoring of Clinical Trials

This policy is incorporated as part of the terms and conditions for all awards involving clinical trials. Funding for clinical trial research activities is contingent upon compliance with this DSM policy.

Click to download: NINR Policy for Data and Safety Monitoring (DSM) of Clinical Trials -- updated 2019

For more information, see Clinical Trial Requirements for Grants and Contracts.

 

Transfer Policy

What is required for a proposed change of Principal Investigator?

The following is required when a grant recipient is proposing a replacement Principal Investigator (P.I.) on an active grant:

Letter signed by the current P.I. and the proposed P.I. and an authorized institutional business official documenting the following:

  1. Change in the P.I. from Dr. _______ to Dr. ________.
  2. Reason for the change.
  3. Proposed effective date of the change.
  4. Level of effort the proposed replacement P.I. will devote to the project.
  5. The proposed P.I.'s involvement, if any, in the project to date.
  6. Any budget changes that will result from the change in P.I.

Email must also include the proposed PI's Biosketch and the proposed PI's current research support (use format found in the  PHS 398 or  SF424 application kit).

The countersigned letter should be submitted to the appropriate Grants Management Specialist, with a copy to the NINR Program Director, at least two weeks prior to the proposed effective date.

What is required if a Principal Investigator transfers to another institution and wants to request transfer of a grant?

Follow the guidance in PA-14-078

How do I submit a prior approval request?

Requests requiring NINR prior approval (second no-cost extensions of the project, change of Principal Investigator; change(s) in key personnel; change of project scope, etc.) must

  1. be submitted via email from an authorized institutional business official (i.e., Office of Sponsored Programs)
  2. be signed by both the Principal Investigator/Fellow and the authorized institutional official (or forwarded via email from the PI to the business official), and
  3. reference the complete grant number (e.g., 1 R01 NR 01234-01).

Please note that NINR rarely approves a second no cost extension and does not encourage submission of these requests.

Requests must be sent via email to the Grants Management Specialist named on the Notice of Award.  To enhance the decision-making responsibility shared by Grants Management and Scientific Program Staff, please cc the Program Director. 

What is required for a second no-cost extension request?

For second no-cost extension requests, a letter, signed by the Principal Investigator and an authorized institutional official, must be received by the appropriate Grants Management Specialist, Grants Management Branch, no later than 30 days prior to the grants Project Period End Date. The correspondence must explain the need for an additional no-cost extension, document the activities to be completed, specify the amount of remaining grant funds, and include a detailed description of the proposed use of unexpended funds (either a detailed budget or narrative description). If the FCOI policy applies to the current award, an Annual Report must be submitted via the eRA Commons according to the regulations. The request for the second no-cost extension will be evaluated by the Division of Extramural Science Programs.   The prior approval request should be submitted via email from an authorized institutional business official. Please note that a second no-cost extension for soley the completion of manuscripts will not be approved. Furthermore, additional no-cost extensions beyond the second one will not be considered.