Office of Extramural Research (OER) Web Site
Parent Announcements (For Unsolicited or Investigator-Initiated Applications)

NIH and other agencies serviced by eRA Commons want your investigator-initiated applications. Electronic grant applications must be submitted in response to a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA)*. We have developed Parent announcements for use by applicants who wish to submit what were formerly termed investigator-initiated or ‘unsolicited’ applications. Apply using the electronic application package for your chosen mechanism, listed in the table below. Read More About Parent Announcements. Not all Institutes and Centers participate in all FOAs. Please read announcements carefully to determine participation.

The following Parent Announcements are available (sorted by Activity Code):

Research (R) Announcements

Activity
Code(s)		 Title Announcement
Number		 Issuing
Organization		 Release
Date		 Opening Date
(SF424 Only) Opening Date is the earliest date an electronic application may be submitted to Grants.gov - Applies only to SF424 electronic applications. Click on Question Mark for more information. 		Expiration
Date
R01 Research Project Grant (Parent R01) PA-07-070 NIH 11/20/2006 01/05/2007 01/08/2010
R03 NIH Small Research Grant Program (Parent R03) PA-09-163 NIH 04/16/2009 05/16/2009 05/08/2012
R13, U13 NIH Support for Conferences and Scientific Meetings (Parent R13/U13) PA-08-149 NIH 04/16/2008 04/21/2008 05/08/2011
R15 Academic Research Enhancement Award (Parent R15) PA-06-042 NIH 10/26/2005 01/17/2006 01/08/2010
R21 NIH Exploratory/Developmental Research Grant Program (Parent R21) PA-09-164 NIH 04/16/2009 05/16/2009 05/08/2012
R41,R42 PHS 2009-02 Omnibus Solicitation of the NIH for Small Business Technology Transfer Grant Applications (Parent STTR [R41/R42]) PA-09-081 NIH 01/22/2009 03/05/2009 01/08/2010
R43,R44 PHS 2009-02 Omnibus Solicitation of the NIH, CDC, FDA and ACF for Small Business Innovation Research Grant Applications (Parent SBIR [R43/R44]) PA-09-080 NIH 01/22/2009 03/05/2009 01/08/2010

Career Development (K) Announcements

Activity
Code(s)		 Title Announcement
Number		 Issuing
Organization		 Release
Date		 Opening Date
(SF424 Only) Opening Date is the earliest date an electronic application may be submitted to Grants.gov - Applies only to SF424 electronic applications. Click on Question Mark for more information. 		Expiration
Date
K01 Mentored Research Scientist Development Award (K01) PA-09-040 NIH 12/12/2008 01/12/2009 01/08/2012
K08 Mentored Clinical Scientist Research Career Development Award (K08) PA-09-042 NIH 12/12/2008 01/12/2009 01/08/2012
K23 Mentored Patient-Oriented Research Career Development Award (K23) PA-09-043 NIH 12/12/2008 01/12/2009 01/08/2012
K24 Midcareer Investigator Award in Patient-Oriented Research (K24) PA-09-037 NIH 12/12/2008 01/12/2009 01/08/2012
K25 Mentored Quantitative Research Development Award (K25) PA-09-039 NIH 12/12/2008 01/12/2009 01/08/2012
K99/R00 NIH Pathway to Independence Award (K99/R00) PA-09-036 NIH 12/12/2008 01/12/2009 01/08/2012

Fellowship (F) Announcements

Activity
Code(s)		 Title Announcement
Number		 Issuing
Organization		 Release
Date		 Opening Date
(SF424 Only) Opening Date is the earliest date an electronic application may be submitted to Grants.gov - Applies only to SF424 electronic applications. Click on Question Mark for more information. 		Expiration
Date
F31 Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Awards for Individual Predoctoral Fellowships (F31) to Promote Diversity in Health-Related Research PA-09-209 NIH 06/12/2009 07/13/2009 09/08/2012
F32 Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Awards (NRSA) for Individual Postdoctoral Fellows (F32) PA-09-210 NIH 06/12/2009 07/08/2009 09/08/2012
F33 Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Awards (NRSA) for Individual Senior Fellows (F33) PA-09-211 NIH 06/12/2009 07/08/2009 09/08/2012

Additional Tips for Identifying Opportunities

  • Applicants may also want to search CRISP (Computer Retrieval of Information on Scientific Projects) to find out if projects in their area have been funded by NIH and what NIH Institutes and Centers have shown an interest in their area in the past. This may help narrow their search for a suitable opportunity. CRISP is a biomedical database system containing information on research projects and programs supported by the Department of Health and Human Services.

  • Don’t be afraid to contact staff at NIH Institutes/Centers (PDF - 4.5 MB) to discuss your application.

Helpful Links

More about Parent Announcements

An important procedural change with electronic submission of grant applications is that all applications must be submitted in response to a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA)*. NIH and other HHS Agencies have developed omnibus Parent announcements for use by applicants who wish to submit what were formerly termed “unsolicited” applications. Responding to such an omnibus or umbrella Parent FOA ensures that the correct application package is used and enables NIH to receive the application from Grants.gov. This process in no way diminishes the interest of NIH Institutes and Centers in investigator-initiated, unsolicited research grant applications. Parent announcements are NIH-wide, but some NIH institutes may limit their participation, so check the announcement's statement of interest. For institute-specific opportunities in your area of science, search the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts.

While Parent announcements mark a big change in the way R01s have traditionally been received at NIH and other HHS agencies, Parent announcements are not new to NIH.  NIH has required a Parent announcement for small research grants (R03) and exploratory/developmental grants (R21) for many years. Parent announcements are now also used for conference grants (R13), AREA grants (R15), SBIR grants (R43, R44), STTR grants (R41, R42), Career Development awards (K01, K08, K23, K24, K25 and K99/R00) and Individual Fellowships (F31, F32 and F33), and will be issued for and Institutional Research Training Grants (T32 and T35) in the future. Most NIH Institutes and Centers (ICs) participate in these Parent announcements. Parent announcements are not generally available for other highly specialized grant mechanisms (e.g. resource programs, construction grants, or education projects) and thus individual ICs will be issuing specific FOAs.

* Note: FOA is Grants.gov’s terminology for what NIH refers to as Program Announcement (PA), Request for Application (RFA), Program Announcement with special receipt, referral and/or review consideration (PAR) and Program Announcement with a set aside (PAS).