NIH is devoting significant resources to COVID-19, including funding opportunities through Notices of Special Interest (NOSI) in which BRAIN grantees may be interested
As we navigate these uncertain times, NIH is devoting significant resources to COVID-19; in addition to regularly appropriated funds, NIH has now received funding for COVID-19-related research activities. To expedite getting these funds to the research community, NIH is using Urgent and Emergency competing revisions and administrative supplements to existing grant awards. Whereas Emergency Competitive Revision NOFOs can only be used by NIH Institutes and Centers (ICs), such as NIBIB, that have received special emergency funding, Urgent Competitive Revision NOFOs can be used by any NIH ICs that are addressing a specific public health crisis that was previously unforeseen.
This approach grants additional funding to researchers with ongoing research programs who have the infrastructure in place (e.g., organisms, methods, or tools) to quickly shift research focus to the novel coronavirus. These Urgent and Emergency competitive revision Notices of Funding Opportunities (NOFOs) allow NIH to fund applications quickly, often in under three months and sometimes faster. The expedited process occurs because evaluation for scientific and technical merit is done by an internal review panel convened by staff of the NIH awarding institute or center rather than by traditional peer review process.
For these COVID-19-related funding opportunities, NIH is utilizing Notices of Special Interest (NOSIs) to point to existing notices of funding opportunities (NOFOs) that are administered by the various NIH institutes and centers. NOSIs describe aims in a specific scientific area and point to NOFOs through which investigators can apply for support. A few notes on NOSIs:
- Applicants should follow instructions in the NOSI, even if the instructions in the NOFO mentioned in the NOSI differ.
- Applicants should address additional review criteria mentioned in the NOSI as well as in the NOFO.
- Applicants should include the NOSI number in the Agency Routing Identifier field (Box 4b) of the SF424 (R&R) Form. This information is very important for NIH tracking of spending of emergency award funding. Applications without this information in Box 4b may not be considered for this type of funding.
- Due dates vary and some may have rolling deadlines. Applicants should try to submit the application as soon as it is ready to be considered for funding.
To view all COVID-19 funding opportunities, please visit the page on Information for NIH Applicants and Recipients of NIH Funding, which will be updated regularly. A few NOSIs that may be of interest to BRAIN grantees include:
- NOSI highlighting the urgent need for research on COVID-19’s biological effects on the nervous system that falls within NINDS’s scientific mission.
- NOSI encouraging the submission of applications to support genomic research, particularly genomic studies utilizing generalized approaches to take advantage of human research or model systems.
- NOSI highlighting the urgent need for accelerating the development, translation, and commercialization of technologies to address COVID-19.
To learn more, please view a blog post from Dr. Mike Lauer, Deputy Director of Extramural Research.