Inside Higher Ed: Gap in NIH Funding for Black and White Researchers

Reported today in Inside Higher Ed: White applicants for grants from the National Institutes of Health were significantly likelier than black researchers to win funding, according to a Science magazine study published Thursday that sought (and struggled) to explain the reasons for the gap. The study found that about 16 percent of black applicants were [...]

Chronicle: Budget Straits Mean Grant-Success Rate Will Hit All-Time Low, NIH Warns

Reported yesterday in the Chronicle of Higher Education: Budget cuts forced by Congress will probably mean that university medical researchers seeking federal funds will have their lowest success rate in history, National Institutes of Health officials told lawmakers on Wednesday. Only about one in six grant applications to the NIH are expected to be approved, [...]

NINR Stats/2010

Recent federal budget cuts and proposed future cuts will have a cascading effect on what has already been a challenging season for nurse researchers. According to NINR’s stats for last year, few grant applications were approved. Word on the street is that all NIH funding mechanisms have pulled back for fear that three-year or five-year [...]

NIH Basic Behavioral and Social Science Opportunity Network

The NIH Basic Behavioral and Social Science Opportunity Network (OppNet) is seeking input from the scientific community, health professionals, patient advocates, and the general public about current and emerging priorities in basic behavioral and social sciences research (b-BSSR).  A formal request for information (RFI) has just been published in the NIH Guide: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-10-055.html . We encourage [...]

Chronicle: NIH Offers Less Money, New Priorities, More Oversight

Reported today in The Chronicle of Higher Education: Six months into his job as NIH director, Francis S. Collins is close to announcing new ethics rules for universities and their scientists, to ensure that medical research isn’t corrupted by corporate financing. That may not be the only shake-up. In an interview last week with The [...]

Chronicle: Compromise Budget Bill Would Increase Pell Grant and Funds for NIH and NSF

Reported today in the online Chronicle of Higher Education: Legislators in Congress have agreed on a compromise spending bill for the 2010 fiscal year that would increase appropriations for Pell Grants, minority-serving institutions, and programs for disadvantaged and first-generation college students. . . . The National Institutes of Health would get $31-billion under the bill, [...]

Inside Higher Ed: Ground Breaking Science Unfunded

According to the article “Risky Business” by Jack Stripling in Inside Higher Ed: Some of history’s major scientific and technological breakthroughs started as research projects with little promise of bearing fruit, but funding for “high risk, high reward” research has always been difficult to secure. In an economic downturn, finding money for these projects is [...]

CNN: $5 Billion in New Fed ARRA Grants

According to a news item today on the CNN Web site: WASHINGTON (CNN) — President Obama, in an effort to stimulate the economy and support critical research, will announce $5 billion in grants when he visits the National Institutes of Health on Wednesday, according to an administration official. President Obama and Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius [...]

Interpreting New NIH Review Scores

Grant applicants my be confused about the meaning of the National Institutes of Health grant review scoring system. The NIH Office of Extramural Research now offers Help Interpreting the New Review Scores.

Chronicle: New NIH Grant Rule: 2 Strikes and You’re Out

Reported today in The Chronicle of Higher Education: The National Institutes of Health announced today that it would allow researchers only two chances instead of three when they submit proposals for research grants. In the past, if a proposal failed during its first trip through the peer-review process, the scientist could amend and resubmit it [...]