NIH Research Education Program - Research Experiences (Parent R25 - Clinical Trial Not Allowed)

The National Institutes of Health Research Education Program - Research Experiences, funding opportunity PA-27-036, is a federal R25 Education Projects grant program administered by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services through NIH and numerous participating NIH Institutes, Centers, and Offices. The program supports research education activities in NIH mission areas and is intended to complement or enhance the training of the biomedical, behavioral, and clinical research workforce, recruit individuals with relevant specialty or disciplinary backgrounds to research careers, and foster greater understanding of biomedical, behavioral, and clinical research and its implications. This opportunity has a primary focus on Research Experiences. Proposed programs must align with the mission and current programmatic priorities of a participating NIH Institute, Center, or Office. Supported programs should provide mentored research experiences within a comprehensive educational program designed to stimulate participants' interest, skills, and knowledge. Complementary activities appropriate to participants' educational stages are expected, including activities such as scientific writing, presentation skills, and instruction that enhances rigor and reproducibility. Programs may serve high school students and science teachers, undergraduate and postbaccalaureate participants, graduate and health professional students, postdoctoral scholars, clinical residents and fellows, and early career or established investigators. Programs may range from short term experiences, such as eight to twelve week summer programs, to full academic or calendar years or multi-year part-time research experiences. Research education experiences must be distinct from federally supported training or education programs and may not replace or circumvent NRSA programs. Application budgets are not formally limited and must reflect the actual needs of the proposed project, although budgets are typically expected to be no more than 500000 dollars in direct costs. The maximum project period is five years. Allowable expenses may include reasonable and justified personnel costs, participant costs, registration fees or tuition required for program experiences, participant travel, short-term housing where applicable, consultant costs, equipment, supplies, key-person travel, and other specifically required program expenses. Participant costs must be itemized. Foreign travel must be exceptionally well justified. Costs generally may not support full-time participants for forty hours per week for a continuous twelve-month period unless those participants are ineligible for NRSA programs. Indirect costs are reimbursed at eight percent of modified total direct costs, subject to the exclusions specified in the notice. Cost sharing is not required. Eligible applicants include public and private institutions of higher education, nonprofit organizations with or without 501(c)(3) status, small businesses, other for-profit organizations, state governments, county governments, city or township governments, special district governments, federally recognized and other tribal governments, eligible federal agencies, U.S. territories or possessions, independent school districts, public and Indian housing authorities, Native American tribal organizations, faith-based or community-based organizations, and regional organizations. Foreign organizations, non-U.S. components of U.S. organizations, and foreign components are not eligible. Applicant organizations must maintain required registrations, including SAM, a Unique Entity Identifier, eRA Commons, and Grants.gov. All PDs and PIs must have eRA Commons accounts and ORCID registrations. Applicant organizations may submit more than one application when each application is scientifically distinct. Applications must be submitted electronically using NIH ASSIST, an institutional system-to-system solution through Grants.gov, or Grants.gov Workspace, with subsequent tracking through eRA Commons. Applicants must follow the Research Instructions in the NIH How to Apply - Application Guide and the program-specific requirements in the notice. The Research Strategy must contain a Research Education Program Plan addressing the Proposed Research Education Program, Program Director or Principal Investigator, Program Faculty, Program Participants, Institutional Environment and Commitment, instruction in methods to enhance reproducibility, responsible conduct of research, an Evaluation Plan, and a Dissemination Plan. A letter of institutional commitment is required. Applicants must describe participant eligibility and selection, program goals, activities, faculty matching, monitoring and evaluation, institutional resources, potential problems and alternative strategies, and program alignment with the priorities of a participating NIH Institute or Center. A Data Management and Sharing Plan is not applicable to this opportunity. Applications are evaluated through NIH peer review for scientific and technical merit. Scored criteria include Significance, Investigators, Innovation, Approach, and Environment. Reviewers also consider applicable human subjects protections, inclusion policies, vertebrate animals, biohazards, instruction in methods for enhancing reproducibility, responsible conduct of research, resource sharing, and whether the proposed budget and period of support are justified. Funding decisions additionally consider scientific and technical merit, availability of funds, and relevance to program priorities. Prospective applicants are strongly encouraged, and are instructed by the notice to consult the appropriate participating NIH scientific or research contacts to ensure responsiveness to Institute, Center, or Office requirements. The opportunity opens August 25, 2026. Standard application deadlines listed in the notice are September 25, 2026, January 25, 2027, May 25, 2027, September 25, 2027, January 25, 2028, May 25, 2028, September 25, 2028, January 25, 2029, and May 25, 2029. Applications are due by 5:00 PM local time of the applicant organization, with applicable NIH rules extending deadlines that fall on weekends or federal holidays. The first listed cycle anticipates scientific merit review in March 2027, Advisory Council review in May 2027, and an earliest start date in July 2027. Subsequent cycles follow the review and award schedule stated in the notice. The opportunity expires May 26, 2029. Because requirements and contacts differ among participating NIH organizations, applicants should use the Research Education Funding Considerations and Contacts information and the applicable Institute, Center, or Office program inbox for scientific and grants management questions.

Align program with NIH institute priorities; clearly define participant outcomes; include strong evaluation metrics; ensure program distinct from existing federally funded training programs