Application & Review Procedures
Prior to Applying
- Choose a funding mechanism and a particular funding opportunity, solicited or unsolicited.
- Become familiar with NIH application policies.
- Review application due dates, which are usually three times per year. Funding decisions take at least nine months.
Application & Review Process for Unsolicited Applications
- Applicant creates a Grants.gov account and an ERA Commons account.
- Applicant follows instructions to have institution submit a grant application.
- Applications are received by the Center for Scientific Review (CSR), which assigns each application to a study section (with a corresponding Scientific Review Administrator) and an Institute or Center (to a particular Program Director).
- For potential funding, statistical methodology applications will be assigned to a branch within the Surveillance Research Program, other biostatistical groups at NCI, or other institutes.
- For review, statistical methodology applications are usually reviewed in one of the study sections.
- The study section reviews the application for scientific merit and releases a summary statement of its critiques.
- After a preliminary review, about half of the applications reviewed by a study section are discussed and given an overall impact score.
- Discussed applications undergo a second round of review at an Institute-specific advisory council, where funding recommendations are made.
Archived Presentations on Funding Opportunities
Peer Review Process for NIH Grant Applications
CSR produced a couple of excellent videos. The first informative video presents a mock study section review of a grant application. The second video gives insight by seasoned reviewers into what makes a good application.
Perspectives of Biostatisticians
A session about NIH grants was held at the 2010 Joint Statistical meetings in Vancouver. BMRD study section chair Dr. Jeremy Taylor (University of Michigan) gave a presentation (PDF - 533 KB) describing what BMRD looks for in an application. NCI Program Director Dr. Michelle Dunn describes the NIH funding process in these slides (PDF - 877 KB).
