Faculty Facilitator

Topic

Grants

relates to sponsored projects - pre- or post-award

NIH Narrative

The NIH allows you 3 sentences to summarize your proposal in the form of a narrative statement. This structure forces you to succinctly and directly address the NIH's review criteria, specifying whether your research proposal innovatively addresses a problem of importance (Factor 1) in an achievable (Factor 3)

Navigating NIH Post-Executive Order

This post was written on January 24, 2025. What happened? Since taking office, President Trump has issued a number of Executive Orders, including this one which has lead to the cancelation of NIH study sections and a communications freeze that includes the release of new NOAs. News articles (there are

How and when to contact your NIH program officer

“Talk to your program officer” is an oft-repeated recommendation to scientists engaging with the NIH grants progress, however when and how to engage this person can be confusing. The NIH has an excellent guide to staff available, which I’ll explain along with some additional context. Program Officer or Scientific

NIH Study Sections

Study Sections, also known as Scientific Review Groups or SRGs, are panels of experts that review and score NIH grant applications to recommend funding. Each study section focuses on a specific area of science or methodology. Study sections are composed of scientists with expertise in relevant fields, including basic and

NIH Project Summary/Abstract

The Project Summary/Abstract (called abstract from here forward) gives you 30 lines of text to provide an overview of your proposal. The NIH helpfully provides a clear set of requirements for what to include in the SF424 R&R guide. The abstract should touch on all the major

ORCID: Get One

Starting in May 2025, all senior and key personnel on an NIH grant must have an ORCID linked to their eRA Commons profile. Many publishing groups including Springer Nature, Science Journals, PLoS, and EMBO Press also require ORCIDs when submitting a manuscript. If you don’t already have one, setting

Change What You Can

Academics are the nexus of a university. They interact with other academics at all levels, administration, parents, donors, funding agencies, and corporate partners. These interactions can be helpful and productive, or they can be a source of frustration. While the ability to work with (or around) these groups is a

Types of Research Funding

Academic research is funded through a variety of sources each of which have distinct pros and cons. It's important to understand these, as the funding type determines what it can be spent on and when, and what risks are associated with using it. Many basic biomedical researchers assume

2025 NIH Simplified Review Framework

With the goals of both reducing review burden and broadening the number of individuals and institutions working with the NIH, the NIH is moving to a simplified review framework for all grants submitted on or after January 25, 2025. As of this writing, the outcome of review currently includes 5

Grant Tip - Clearly State Your Expected Results

The Research Strategy of an NIH R01 grant contains descriptions of experiments to be performed in order to achieve the goal of the proposed research. While most people do an excellent job stating the goal of an experiment and describing methodology, many forget to clearly define what they expect to