Are you preparing a grant application for the NIH Maximizing Opportunities for Scientific and Academic Independent Careers (MOSAIC) K99/R00 or UE5 programs? If so, please join our webinar to learn about the programs and application components and to ask questions:

Wednesday, September 14, 1:00-3:00 p.m. ET
Zoom Meeting link
Meeting ID: 160 690 9580
Passcode: 228794

In this Feedback Loop post, we revisit our previous analysis of application, review, funding, and demographic trends for the Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award (MIRA) program over Fiscal Years (FYs) 2019 to 2021. We look at trends for applicants by race/ethnicity and by gender. Due to privacy requirements and small numbers, applicants from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups in biomedical research (Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, American Indian or Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander) are combined into a larger group that can be reported. Because of the small applicant numbers, we’re unable to show intersectional analyses of race/ethnicity and gender or analyses of applicants with disabilities. 

Table 1 shows the number of new awards made and associated award rates by fiscal year for Established Investigators (EIs) and Early Stage Investigators (ESIs).

Are you preparing a grant application for the Institutional Research and Academic Career Development Awards (IRACDA) program? If so, please join our webinar to learn about the program, changes to the funding announcement, and application components. You’ll also have the opportunity to ask questions:

Wednesday, August 17, 2:30-4:00 p.m. ET
Zoom Meeting link
Meeting ID: 160 376 1132
Passcode: 700665

Join us for a three-part webinar series designed for faculty and sponsored programs/research development personnel at institutions building research and research training capacity. During the webinars, we’ll share our suggestions for navigating the process of seeking NIH funding. You’ll also learn considerations for determining research idea and grant writing readiness, selecting opportunities to apply for, and effectively writing your grant application and seeking appropriate feedback. 

Are you preparing a grant application for the Bridges to the Baccalaureate (B2B) or the Bridges to the Doctorate (B2D) institutional training program? If so, please join our webinar to learn about the programs and application components. You’ll also have the opportunity to ask questions:

We’ve issued a funding opportunity announcement (FOA) (PAR 22-180) to provide sustained support for biomedical research through our Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award (MIRA) program. This FOA allows applications from eligible NIGMS-funded investigators and from New Investigators proposing research within the scientific mission of NIGMS. The FOA also allows renewal applications from all eligible MIRA grantees (established and ex-Early Stage Investigators). Program directors (PDs)/principal investigators (PIs) who are currently Early Stage Investigators (ESIs) should apply through the ESI MIRA FOA and not to this announcement.

In line with a key mission area of NIGMS—ensuring the vitality and continued productivity of the biomedical research enterprise—we support the Research on Interventions that Promote the Careers of Individuals in the Biomedical Research Enterprise funding opportunity (R01) (PAR-21-269). The program encourages studies on interventions for enhancing research-oriented individuals’ interest, motivation, persistence, and preparedness for careers in the biomedical research workforce.

Program proposals must test an intervention’s effectiveness to increase success in the biomedical research workforce by using robust experimental designs, such as randomized control trial approaches, case controls, or matched pair design. Potential intervention focus areas include, but are not limited to, networking and mentoring, institutional climate, persistence and success of individuals/groups underrepresented in the research enterprise, harassment, and structural racism and discrimination. 

Continuing our regular posts detailing funding trends for NIGMS programs, here we provide a closer look at the NIGMS Academic Research Enhancement Awards (AREA) R15 program. AREA grants support small-scale research projects involving primarily undergraduate students at institutions that received no more than $6 million in funding from NIH in 4 of the past 7 years. Awards can be up to $300,000 in direct costs for the entire project period of up to 3 years. Unlike most of our other Research Project Grant (RPG) awards, which have noncompeting renewals on an annual basis, R15 funds are obligated in the first year and last the duration of the project period. Grantees can renew these awards in a competitive proposal process.

NIH offers two different R15 awards: AREA and the Research Enhancement Award Program (REAP). The key distinction between them is that AREA grants are available to undergraduate-focused institutions, while REAP grants are available to health professional and graduate schools. See the FAQs about the programs for a list of common questions. NIGMS participates in only the AREA program.

We’re pleased to announce the first in a webinar series for the broader community on issues in biomedical research training, workforce development, and diversity. Its combination of lectures, panel discussions, and workshop activities will focus on a variety of important topics for the training community, such as program evaluation, mentoring, promotion of safe and inclusive environments, and curricular development. Our hope is that these webinars will enhance program directors’ and administrators’ ongoing management of training, career, or workforce development programs.

UPDATE: The application window for these positions has now closed.

We’re recruiting scientists for positions in our Division for Research Capacity Building (DRCB) and Division of Genetics and Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology (GMCDB). The successful applicants will be responsible for scientific and administrative management of a portfolio of research grants and/or research training and career development awards, and will stimulate, plan, advise, direct, and evaluate program activities related to their field of expertise.