Funding News Edition: August 04, 2021 See more articles in this edition
When NIH issues a change, correction, or update to a funding opportunity announcement (FOA) in the NIH Guide, the original FOA’s text may not change since NIH corrects some fields in the original FOA but not others. Thus, if you overlook the “Related Notices” section of a FOA, you may not see changes you are meant to observe. In turn, you may miss eligibility criteria or due date information that is vital to your application’s responsiveness and competitiveness.
Therefore, it’s important to check the “Related Notices” section periodically for the following types of notices:
- Key updates to funding opportunities that can affect your application. This is especially important when you’re preparing a resubmission, as your intended due date may have been changed or cancelled.
- For policy notices, the “Related Notices” section helps you find older versions of the policy as well as any announcements related to the policy topic. You can also find new information if NIH has since issued further clarifications or changes in the policy area you are referencing.
As an example, we recently published the FOA Immune Development in Early Life (IDEaL) (U01, Clinical Trial Not Allowed). In its “Related Notices” section you will find Notice of Change in Key Dates for RFA-AI-20-077, “Immune Development in Early Life (IDEaL) (U01, Clinical Trial Not Allowed)”, which pushed back the application due date for the FOA.
Don’t Forget “Related Notices” for NOSIs
Notices of special interest (NOSIs) do not have a “Related Notices” section. NOSIs do have a “Related Announcements,” section which lists the FOAs through which applicants may apply. Any modifications to a NOSI or its related FOAs will be indexed in the “Related Notices” section of the corresponding FOAs.
For resources to help you stay up to date on policy changes, refer to Stay Informed About Policy Changes & News on our website.
We also list key policy notices on our Special Announcement page.