What makes an application stand out? EL: While I cannot point to any particular aspect, it is important to consider the review process from the reviewers’ perspectives. It is important that applicants be familiar with the review criteria and the broad guidance that we ask reviewers to consider. CSR frames the review by asking reviewers to consider at least two big questions: “Should it be done?” and “Can it be done?”
“Should it be done” concerns the significance and importance of the proposed research and needs to be highlighted in a way that is clear and convincing to the reviewers. “Can it be done” refers to the proposed scientific methods, the expertise of the team relevant to the proposed studies, and sufficiency of institutional resources to accomplish the work. Applicants should present the proposal with sufficient clarity and details to demonstrate the ability to perform proposed research and the rigor of the strategy.
The applications that do well clearly argue the significance of the proposed work to the field and beyond and have a highly rigorous research plan.
What resources would you recommend for learning how to navigate NIH funding? EL: The number one resource to utilize is … the NIH itself! I mentioned earlier that the SRO is the point of contact before the review meeting. For clinical and translational imaging applications, I would encourage applicants to reach out to me to discuss whether their application may be a strong fit for the CTIS study section.
There is also a great screening tool, the CSR Assisted Referral Tool, which was developed by the NIH Center for Scientific Review (CSR) to recommend potentially appropriate study sections, based on the scientific content of a user’s grant application. The assisted referral tool uses natural language processing and large-scale machine learning technology to make recommendations. It uses indexed representations of both the application text that the user enters as well as all the grant application data used to train the models.
The secret of my funding success
Grant writing pearls for the new investigator Fall, 2015
• Aspects of any given grant are celebrated by some reviewers and less appreciated by others. Under no circumstances give the grant reviewers a reason to throw your grant out on technical review. Adhere to word/page limits, margin requirements, figure limits, deadlines, etc.
—Clifford R. Weiss, MD, Dr. Ernest J. Ring Academic Development grant
• Make scientific research an essential part of your career: Pay attention to major contemporary health issues that need significant improvement; follow trends in the development of new ideas and innovative techniques; believe that, as an IR, you can make unique contributions to clinical translation.
—Xiaoming Yang, MD, PhD, FSIR, Pilot Research Grant
• Don’t give up if your application does not get funded. Keep trying! —Weibin Shi, MD, Pilot Research grant
Read more at
irq.sirweb.org/research/the-secret-of-my-funding-success
In addition, I would encourage applicants to browse the NIH RePORTER. This is an incredible source of information, including funded project abstracts, study section assignments and the “matchmaker” for identifying program officials. As mentioned earlier, the program officers are the point of contact for applicants at any step during this process and specifically after the review meeting.
Lastly, I’m excited to share with you a recently released and very comprehensive infographic, developed by CSR, which includes resources and programs for NIH applicants.
What is the best way for applicants to reach out for further questions and guidance? EL: We strongly recommend that applicants contact the NIH prior to submitting an application. This can be done in several ways:
• Identify the NIH institute/center that supports research in your area, then check the institute/center’s website to determine whether your idea matches any of the IC’s high-priority research areas and obtain specific information related to the institute’s funding opportunities and specific research priorities. Note that some institutes/ centers publish cleared concepts well before the funding opportunities are published. However, not all concepts
become funding opportunities, and this is one reason NIH encourages you to contact a program official as early as possible in the process of applying for grant funding.
• Contact a program official at the appropriate institute or center by phone or e-mail to clarify any questions you may have, such as whether your proposed research project falls within the scope of an existing funding opportunity. The program official is the NIH official responsible for the programmatic, scientific and/or technical aspects of a grant. NIH grants management staff can provide advice on business and administrative issues. Investigators are encouraged to identify a program officer and reach out to them when at the stage of crafting specific aims to make sure it fits funding priorities of the institute they are targeting. If resubmitting, it’s also wise to talk to the program officer for guidance in addressing the summary statement.
Finally, if you have a question and can’t figure out who to speak with, feel free to contact CSR at communications@
csr.nih.gov and we’ll get you to the right place. We understand that NIH is huge and complex and that, sometimes, you just need to reach a person. CSR will get you to that person.
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