The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is one of 26 federal grant making agencies in the U.S. NIH is part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) and consists of 27 different institutes and centers.
NIH’s mission is to seek fundamental knowledge about the nature and behavior of living systems and the application of that knowledge to enhance health, lengthen life, and reduce illness and disability. NIH is the largest public funder of biomedical research in the world.
The following links and resources provide information about developing and submitting proposals to the NIH.
With an annual budget in excess of $40 billion, NIH is one of the larger federal sponsors. You can see a list of the institutes and centers at NIH to get familiar with their areas of emphasis. Each has a specific research agenda, often focusing on particular diseases or body systems.
If you are new to sponsored programs or to submitting proposals to NIH, the Office of Extramural Research (OER) is a great place to start. The OER website offers:
- A comprehensive overview of the grants process
- Information on NIH funding opportunities
- Descriptions of grant policy and compliance requirements (including human subjects), and
- News about upcoming events as well as virtual learning (podcasts, webinars, the Extramural Nexis and NIH’s own YouTube channel).
You can find information on current or past grants using the NIH RePORTER system by searching Principal Investigator (PI) name(s), fiscal year, project numbers, etc., and see details such as the abstract, funding amounts, publications, patents, and outcomes for NIH funded awards.
- Like most federal sponsors, NIH utilizes web-based systems to conduct proposal and award business digitally. PIs can use the ASSIST system to prepare proposals and the eRA-Commons system to administer awards.
Finally, the National Council of University Research Administrators (NCURA) hosted a webinar in 2019 that provided a comprehensive overview of fundamentals about NIH and the grant proposal development process. A recording of the webinar is available for viewing.
Upon submission and, if awarded on an annual basis, the Principal Investigator must complete and provide RSP a copy of the NIH Compliance Certification (PDF, 183KB).