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Grant Analysis

Purpose & Target

The NIDDK Education Program Grants (R25) aim to support educational activities that either complement or enhance the training of a workforce to meet the nation's biomedical, behavioral, and clinical research needs. The primary focus is on developing Courses for Skills Development and providing Research Experiences within NIDDK's specific mission areas. - Target Recipient Types: A broad range of U.S.-based organizations including Higher Education Institutions, Nonprofits, For-Profit Organizations (including Small Businesses), Local and Tribal Governments, Federal Agencies, Independent School Districts, Public Housing Authorities, Faith-based and Community-based Organizations, and Regional Organizations. - Size: No specific size restrictions; open to organizations of all employee counts. - Designation: SECTOR-SPECIFIC - Geographic Scope: United States (U.S. organizations only; foreign entities are not eligible). - Key Filtering Criteria: Must be a U.S.-based organization focused on research education within the mission areas of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), specifically excluding clinical trial proposals and K-12 targeted education. - Grant Frequency: Recurring opportunity with annual application deadlines through January 2026.

Financial Structure

Maximum budget per application is $100,000 direct costs per year.
Project period is limited to a maximum of five years, implying a total direct cost maximum of $500,000 over five years.
Eligible Costs:
- Personnel costs: Salary and fringe benefits for individuals designing, directing, and implementing the program, commensurate with institutional policy and congressional caps.
- Participant costs: Compensation for participation in specifically required activities, if justified and itemized; may include per diem (with strong justification) and partial tuition/education-related expenses.
- Other program-related expenses: Consultant costs, equipment, supplies, travel for key persons, and other justified expenses that do not duplicate items generally available at the applicant institution.
Ineligible Costs:
- Mentoring/participant interaction costs if considered a regular part of an individual's academic duties.
- Costs to support full-time participants (40 hours/week for a continuous 12-month period).
- Salary or stipend supplementation from the R25 grant for individuals already supported by NIH training and career development mechanisms (K, T, or F awards) as participants.
- Foreign travel expenses must be exceptionally well justified.
Matching Fund Requirements: Cost sharing is not required for this funding opportunity.
Indirect Costs: Reimbursed at 8% of modified total direct costs (excluding tuition and fees, expenditures for equipment, and consortium costs exceeding $25,000).
Payment Schedule: Not explicitly detailed, but NIH grants typically follow standard disbursement mechanisms (e.g., reimbursement).
Financial Reporting: Recipients must adhere to federal reporting requirements, including final Federal Financial Reports for closeout.
Audit Requirements: Not explicitly detailed but subject to NIH Grants Policy Statement provisions.
Financial Guarantees: No specific financial guarantees are mentioned as required.

Eligibility Requirements

Organizational Type & Legal Status

Eligible: Public/State Controlled and Private Higher Education Institutions, Nonprofits (with/without 501(c)(3) IRS Status), Small Businesses, Other For-Profit Organizations, State/County/City/Township/Special District Governments, Federally Recognized/Other Indian/Native American Tribal Governments, US Territory/Possession, Eligible Federal Agencies, Independent School Districts, Public Housing Authorities/Indian Housing Authorities, Native American Tribal Organizations, Faith-based or Community-based Organizations, Regional Organizations.
Ineligible: Non-domestic (non-U.S.) Entities (Foreign Organizations), non-domestic components of U.S. Organizations.
Definition of 'Small Business' is not specified in the document.

Institutional Commitment & Capacity

Sponsoring institution must assure support for the proposed program, including adequate staff, facilities, and educational resources.
Institutions with existing Federal training programs (e.g., NRSA institutional training grants) are eligible, provided proposed educational experiences are distinct and do not replace existing federal support.

Principal Investigator (PD/PI) Requirements

Must be an established investigator in the scientific area of the application.
Must be capable of providing both administrative and scientific leadership.
Expected to monitor, assess, and report on the program.
All PD(s)/PI(s) must have an eRA Commons account.

Program Faculty/Mentors Requirements

Must have research expertise and experience relevant to the proposed program.
Must demonstrate a history of, or the potential for, their intended roles.
Must be committed to continued involvement throughout the mentee's participation.
Should ideally be researchers or educators actively engaged in NIDDK scientific areas; involvement of clinicians is strongly encouraged.

Participant Requirements

Primarily for U.S. citizens and permanent residents (unless exceptionally relevant justification is provided).
Must not target elementary and secondary education (K-12) participants.
Targeted career levels: undergraduate students, graduate/medical/dental/nursing/other health professional students, postdoctorates, medical residents, faculty.
Can include students from scientific disciplines such as engineering, informatics, computer science, and computational sciences.

Technical & Administrative Requirements

Must complete and maintain active registrations in the System for Award Management (SAM), obtain a Unique Entity Identifier (UEI), register with eRA Commons, and Grants.gov prior to submission.
Applications must be submitted electronically.
Proposed projects must not include clinical trials.

Exclusion Criteria

Applications proposing courses designed to enhance clinical knowledge and training are not responsive.
Applications with course content or research experiences that are not within the mission interests of the NIDDK are not responsive.
Applications with substantial overlap with other applications currently under review or pending appeal are not accepted.
Costs to support full-time participants (40 hours/week for a continuous, 12-month period) are not allowable.

Application Process

Application Submission

Application Due Dates (Latest): January 30, 2026, by 5:00 PM local time of the applicant organization. Earlier deadlines apply for 2024 and 2025.
Open Date (Earliest Submission Date): December 30, 2023.
Expiration Date: January 31, 2026 (for the funding opportunity).
Submission Method: Electronic submission only, via NIH ASSIST, an institutional system-to-system (S2S) solution, or Grants.gov Workspace.
Applicants are strongly encouraged to submit early to allow time for error corrections.
If a submission date falls on a weekend or Federal holiday, the deadline is automatically extended to the next business day.
Applicants must view their application in eRA Commons before the due date to ensure accurate and successful submission.

Required Documentation & Materials

Follow instructions in the Research (R) Instructions in the How to Apply - Application Guide and program-specific instructions outlined in this NOFO.
Standard forms: SF424(R&R) (Cover, Project/Performance Site Locations, Other Project Information, Senior/Key Person Profile Expanded, R&R Budget), PHS 398 Cover Page Supplement, PHS 398 Research Plan, PHS Human Subjects and Clinical Trials Information (if applicable), PHS Assignment Request Form.
Research Education Program Plan: Must be uploaded within the Research Strategy section of the PHS 398 Research Plan and include:
- Detailed description of the Proposed Research Education Program (emphasizing distinctness from other federal support).
- Information on the Program Director/Principal Investigator (engagement, leadership).
- Details on Program Faculty (expertise, commitment).
- Description of Program Participants (intended audience, eligibility, recruitment strategies).
- Institutional Environment and Commitment (additional aspects beyond facilities and resources).
- Plan for Instruction in the Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR plan).
- Evaluation Plan (baseline metrics, success measures, prior evaluation results for renewals).
- Dissemination Plan (for sharing findings, curricula, and materials).
Other Attachments:
- Facilities & Other Resources description (educational environment, related support).
- Optional Advisory Committee plan (composition, roles, meeting frequency, evaluation method; file as 'Advisory_Committee.pdf').
Letters of Support: A required institutional commitment letter must be attached.
Resource Sharing Plan: If support for software development/maintenance/enhancement is requested, a software dissemination plan is required.
Appendix: Only limited materials allowed as described in the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide.

Registration Requirements (Prior to Submission)

Applicant organizations must register and maintain active registrations in the System for Award Management (SAM), obtain a Unique Entity Identifier (UEI), register with eRA Commons, and Grants.gov.
PD(s)/PI(s) must also have an eRA Commons account.
Registrations can take 6 weeks or more; applicants should begin the process as soon as possible, as failure to register is not a valid reason for late submission.

Review & Award Cycle

Scientific Merit Review: Occurs annually in July (e.g., July 2026 for Jan 2026 applications).
Advisory Council Review: Occurs annually in October (e.g., October 2026).
Earliest Start Date: Annually in December (e.g., December 2026).
PD/PIs will access their Summary Statement (written critique) via eRA Commons after peer review.

Post-Award Requirements

NIH may request 'just-in-time' information if the application is considered for funding.
A formal Notice of Award (NoA) will be provided to successful applicants.
Recipients must comply with all funding restrictions and terms/conditions outlined in the NIH Grants Policy Statement.
Institutional Review Board (IRB) or Independent Ethics Committee (IEC) approval is required for protocols involving human subjects.
Compliance with the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act (FFATA) for reporting first-tier subawards over the threshold.
Reporting of civil, criminal, and administrative proceedings in SAM (via FAPIIS) as required.
Submission of a final RPPR (Research Performance Progress Report) and the expenditure data portion of the Federal Financial Report for closeout.

Evaluation Criteria

Overall Impact

Reviewers will assess the likelihood for the project to strongly advance research education by fulfilling the goal of this research education program (complementing and/or enhancing the training of a workforce to meet biomedical, behavioral, and clinical research needs).

Scored Review Criteria

Significance: Evaluation of the importance and relevance of the proposed research education program.

Additional Review Criteria (not separately scored, but contribute to overall impact)

Protections for Human Subjects: For research involving human subjects, reviewers assess the justification for involvement, proposed protections against risks, potential benefits, importance of knowledge gained, and data/safety monitoring (if applicable). For exempt research, justification for exemption, characteristics of subjects, and sources of materials are evaluated.
Inclusion of Women, Minorities, and Individuals Across the Lifespan: Consideration of plans for equitable inclusion.
Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) Training: Evaluation of the RCR training plan based on five required components:
- Format: Must include face-to-face lectures, coursework, and/or real-time discussion groups (online-only instruction is not acceptable).
- Subject Matter: Breadth of topics covered (e.g., conflict of interest, authorship, data management, human subjects/animal use, laboratory safety, research misconduct, research ethics).
- Faculty Participation: Role of the program faculty in instruction.
- Duration of Instruction: Number of contact hours in relation to program duration.
- Frequency of Instruction: Must occur during each career stage and at least once every four years.
- RCR plans will be rated as 'acceptable' or 'unacceptable'.
Resource Sharing Plans: Reviewers comment on the reasonableness of proposed resource sharing plans (e.g., model organisms) or the rationale for not sharing. If software development is supported, the proposed software dissemination plan is reviewed.
Budget and Period of Support: Assessment of whether the budget and requested project period are fully justified and reasonable in relation to the proposed program.

Funding Decision Factors (after peer review)

Scientific and technical merit of the proposed project (as determined by peer review).
Availability of funds.
Relevance of the proposed project to NIDDK program priorities.

Compliance & Special Requirements

Regulatory Compliance

Adherence to the NIH Grants Policy Statement and relevant Federal Regulations (42 CFR Part 52, 45 CFR Part 75, and 2 CFR Part 200).
Compliance with Federal Awardee Performance and Integrity Information System (FAPIIS) requirements (Section 872 of the Duncan Hunter National Defense Authorization Act).
Compliance with nondiscrimination laws and submission of an Assurance of Compliance (HHS-690).
Human Subjects Research: If applicable, compliance with 45 CFR Part 46 and requirements for IRB/IEC approval. Note: Clinical trials are not allowed for this specific grant opportunity, but human subjects research is.
Data Management and Sharing Plan is not applicable for this NOFO.

Ethical Standards

Mandatory instruction in Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) following NIH policy, covering format (must include face-to-face/real-time discussion), subject matter breadth, faculty participation, instruction duration, and frequency.

Intellectual Property

For applications requesting support for software development, maintenance, or enhancement, a software dissemination plan is required.
The plan should ensure software source code is freely available to biomedical researchers and educators in the non-profit sector.
Terms should permit commercialization of enhanced or customized versions of the software.
The software should be transferable for continued development by others if original investigators are unable or unwilling.

Risk Management

Reviewers will comment on the reasonableness of proposed Resource Sharing Plans or rationales for not sharing resources.
For human subjects research, evaluation includes the adequacy of protection against risks and data and safety monitoring.

Special Considerations

Clinical Trial: Proposals for clinical trials are not allowed under this funding opportunity.
Core Focus: This grant is specifically for educational activities (Courses for Skills Development, Research Experiences) within the precise mission areas of NIDDK. It is not intended to provide direct clinical knowledge training or to serve as a substitute for Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) institutional training programs.
Distinctness: Proposed educational experiences must be distinct from those already receiving federal support at the applicant institution.
Evaluation: NIH will periodically evaluate R25 programs based on measures like participant demographics, educational levels, new knowledge/skills acquired, curriculum effectiveness, dissemination, and participants' subsequent educational/career progress. PD/PIs and participants may be contacted post-award for updates.
Multiple Applications: Applicant organizations may submit multiple applications, provided each is scientifically distinct.
Foreign Entities: Foreign organizations and non-domestic components of U.S. organizations are not eligible to apply.

Grant Details