November 25, 2009
News Articles
Opportunities and Resources
Advice Corner
New Funding Opportunities
News Articles
Budget and Funding: What to Expect
Though we are setting extremely conservative interim paylines, we expect the actual R01 payline for FY 2010 to be considerably higher.
While we usually wait for our appropriation and paylines in the fall, this year's wait will be longer.
Why We'll Wait for Paylines
We do not expect to have enough application and scoring data to project FY 2010 paylines for grants other than R01s until late spring. Here are the reasons.
- Before we know how much money we will have for competing grants, we need to wait for Congress to pass our FY 2010 appropriation.
- It's possible we may receive more R01 applications this year from unfunded ARRA Challenge Grant applications. If they significantly expand our application pool, it would not affect the number of grants we award but would affect the percentage we fund.
- The new scoring system creates additional uncertainty for projecting FY 2010 paylines.
For now, we are setting interim paylines that are extremely conservative. So far we have interim paylines only for R01s, at the 6 percentile, except new investigators at the 10 percentile.
Keep in mind that we expect the actual R01 payline for FY 2010 to be considerably higher. For general information about the process, read Paylines and Budget Pages Change Throughout the Year.
Timing for Our Budget
A second continuing resolution went into effect last month, lasting through December 18.
While in a holding pattern, NIH has started releasing details of its financial management plan. First up: funding for noncompeting grants.
Awards will typically be at up to 90 percent of the level indicated on the most recent Notice of Award. NIH may restore some or all of these monies once we have a budget. Find the official word in the November 5, 2009, Guide notice. We also added this information to our Financial Management Plan.
As soon as we receive more pieces of the funding puzzle, we'll update NIAID Paylines and Financial Management Plan on Paylines and Funding. Check these pages regularly or Subscribe to Email Alerts (select the NIAID Paylines and Budget interest category).
No Public Access for Non-Latin Scripts
In an exception to normal practice, people who wrote their papers in non-Latin characters (for example, Japanese) do not need to follow any of the requirements of NIH's public access policy.
For more information, read the October 30, 2009, Guide notice, and go to our Public Access of Publications SOP for details about the process everyone else must follow.
Up to the Challenge (Grant)
NIAID awarded 23 exceptional grants out of the 840 NIH total.
If you're wondering who received a Challenge Grant, the wait is over. NIH made its selections using the plan we described in our July 29, 2009, article "Making Funding Decisions for Challenge Grants."
NIAID awarded 23 Challenge Grants out of the 840 NIH total. Our number is a small piece of the pie because many other institutes used their ARRA funds to pick up additional Challenge Grants. Instead, NIAID chose to fund investigator-initiated R01s up to the 25 percentile.
See the list of funded Challenge Grants for NIAID Investigators. Congratulations to these investigators who submitted applications for truly exceptional, innovative projects.
Opportunities and Resources
Just In: New Application Forms and Instructions
NIH has started posting the new forms and instructions for the shorter application format for both paper and electronic applications.
Please note that the new R01 and other parent announcements are not online yet. Watch for updates at Parent Announcements for Investigator-Initiated Applications.
But you can read the new Application Guide at SF 424 (R&R) Application and Electronic Submission Information. The instructions should keep you busy—183 pages for part one alone!
Most people will use the new forms for applications due after January 24, 2010, including when resubmitting. For electronic applications, find resources at SF 424 Application and Electronic Submission Information; for paper applications, use the June 2009 PHS 398.
Know when to use the new FOAs and new PHS 398 or ADOBE-FORMS-B.
- For due dates after January 24, 2010 (with exceptions noted in the next bullet).
- For due dates after February 6, 2010, if you are applying under continuous submission with an AIDS R01, R21, or R34 application.
If your application is due on or before the dates shown above, use the archived FOA and ADOBE-FORMS-A.
To read the latest announcement, see the November 23, 2009, Guide notice.
Advice Corner
How Much Detail for Your Shorter Application?
Add enough detail to convince reviewers that you understand what the work entails and have the resources and expertise to conduct the research.
In our November 12, 2009, article "The Art of Application" we said that impact trumps experimental details for the shorter applications.
Here are some tips to help you focus your application strategically so you can convey its impact in less detail and space.
- Focus on your strategy. Spend less time writing the application and more on your strategy.
- Rather than detailing all your experiments, describe your strategy in the application.
- Think of various, interesting pathways you could pursue depending on your results.
- Give details for initial experiments, then show branching depending on the outcome of the research: if this works you will do x, if it doesn't you will do y.
- Use graphics to convey complex information in a small space.
- Detail experiments that let you shine.
- If your first experiments are pedestrian or contracted out, focus on those that show your unique expertise or are especially interesting.
- Highlight what you can do that's different and that you do well. Excelling here also helps the investigator review criterion.
- Limit your aims. A strong application probably has no more than one Specific Aim for each year of requested support.
- Know when detail is needed.
- Give preliminary data to show you are on the right track.
- Give more detail for unique or new methods.
- Know when you can skip details. In general, describe methods in less detail than you would in a publication.
- Reference any published methods.
- Add enough detail to convince reviewers that you understand what the work entails and have the resources and expertise to conduct the research.
- If you're a more experienced investigator, cite relevant work so reviewers will know of your expertise.
- If you're a new investigator, show you can handle an experimental method. Point out if you've used it before. If you have, cite and skip the description.
- If you lack the expertise to accomplish any of the work, refer to others who do. Make sure they tailor their biosketch to highlight experience that supports their role on your application.
For more detailed advice, go to our updated Strategy to Pick a Project and Choose the Grant in the Strategy for NIH Funding.
Reusing Your ARRA Application
Under various circumstances, you can use the same application to respond to another FOA, as long as you submit it as a new application.
Let's say you applied for one of the Recovery Act request for applications but your application was not funded. Can you submit that application again?
Yes you can, but you must go about it correctly.
You may use the same application to respond to another funding opportunity announcement, as long as you submit it as a new application. Follow all procedures for a new application; for example, do not include an introduction or refer to the previous review.
Be sure to follow the instructions in the FOA, use the current forms, and heed any policies that went into effect since you last applied—find them on our Top Policy Changes.
NIH allows you to reuse the same application under various circumstances. Read more in Which types of unfunded applications may I reuse, and how do I proceed?
Reader Questions
Feel free to send us a question at deaweb@niaid.nih.gov. After responding to you, we may include your question in the newsletter, incorporate it into the NIAID Research Funding site, or both.
"If as an early-stage investigator I submitted an R01 for the October 5 deadline, will I receive the summary statement in time to revise the application and have it considered for the February 5 deadline?"—Michele Barrett, The Arthritis Research Institute of America
Yes, you should receive your summary statement early enough to be able to resubmit the R01 application for the next review cycle, February 5.
You'll need to prepare your resubmission in the new application format with shorter page limits. Use the Adobe-B forms and the soon-to-be-published R01 parent announcement—go to Parent Announcements for Investigator-Initiated Applications.
"Who comes up with the NIH's judging and scoring changes—are they internal NIH staff, university professors, large and small business researchers, the public?"—Gerald Entine, Radiation Monitoring Devices, Inc.
NIH brings in people from the research community for major process changes, such as those to peer review and scoring. For example, for the enhancing peer review effort, it conducted a one-year planning and evaluation process that you can read about on Enhancing Peer Review at NIH and 2007-2008 NIH Peer Review Self-Study Final Draft.
The external Advisory Committee was co-chaired by Dr. Keith Yamamoto of the University of California, San Francisco, and NIH's Dr. Lawrence Tabak, director of NIDCR.
Working groups solicited formal input from key stakeholders, including at open meetings in different parts of the country to get feedback. As a result of these meetings, the group's final plans changed dramatically. NIH followed a similar process for previous major changes it has undertaken.
For more minor changes, such as small modifications to the review criteria, NIH may involve only internal stakeholders, usually through committees such as its Peer Review Advisory Committee.
Read more at How does NIH decide new policy? and find more committees at How does NIH coordinate policy changes among the institutes?
New Funding Opportunities
See these and older announcements at NIAID Funding Opportunities List.
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