NIH Director’s New Innovator Award: Sponsor Deadline

NIH Director’s New Innovator AwardFAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: August 13, 2021Sponsor Deadline: August 20, 2021Award Amount: New this year, awards will be in two multi-year segments of three years and two years. The three-year segment will have an award budget up to $900,000 in direct costs. The two-year segment will have an award budget up to $600,000.

The NIH Director’s New Innovator Award Program supports early stage investigators of exceptional creativity who propose highly innovative research projects with the potential to produce a major impact on broad, important areas relevant to the mission of NIH. The NIH Director's New Innovator Award is designed specifically to support unusually creative investigators with highly innovative research ideas at an early stage of their career when they may lack the preliminary data required for a conventional R01 grant application. The emphasis is on innovation and creativity; preliminary data are not required but may be included. The review process emphasizes the individual’s creativity, the innovativeness of the research approaches, and the potential of the project, if successful, to have a significant impact on an important biomedical or behavioral research problem. Applicants must meet the definition of an Early Stage Investigator (ESI) at the time of submission application. An ESI is a new investigator (defined as a PD/PI who has not competed successfully for a significant NIH independent research award) who is within 10 years of completing his/her terminal research degree or end of post-graduate clinical training. Awardees are required to commit at least three person-months (25%) of their research effort each year to activities supported by the New Innovator Award.