NIH Director's Early Independence Award

Due to administrative changes to funding opportunity processing and delays in approvals, the FY2026 Early Independence Award Funding Opportunity will not go forward. Importantly, the Early Independence Award initiative is still active, current award recipients are continuing their work, and new funding opportunities are anticipated for FY2027.

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Program Snapshot

Part of the High-Risk, High-Reward Research program, the award supports promising, newly graduated scientists with the intellect, scientific creativity, drive, and maturity bypass the traditional postdoctoral training period to launch independent research careers.

Single PI only
Recipient of terminal research degree or completed postgraduate clinical training within previous 16 months or expectation to do so within following 12 months of application submission date
Must be in non-independent research position at time of application submission
Limit of 2 applications per institution
Preliminary data not required
Requires 9.6 months of research effort each year for first 2 years
Requires 3-5 Letters of Reference
$250,000 direct costs per year for up to 5 years

See the Award Overview for more information.