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Pioneer Award | New Innovator Award | Transformative Research Award | Early Independence Award | |
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Target Group | Individuals of exceptional creativity proposing pioneering approaches | Individual early stage investigators of exceptional creativity proposing research with uncommonly high impact potential | Individuals or teams proposing transformative research that may require very large budgets | Outstanding junior scientists wishing to "skip the postdoc" and immediately begin independent research |
Eligibility | Open to all career stages |
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Open to all career stages |
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Preliminary Data | Not required; may be included | Not required; may be included | Not required; may be included | Not required; may be included |
Research Strategy | 5-page limit; respond to questions about the challenge, potential impact, suitability for the award, investigator's innovativeness, and how the research qualifies as new research direction | 10-page limit; respond to questions about significance and potential impact, innovativeness of approach, how risks and challenges will be addressed, suitability for the award, and investigator qualifications | 12-page limit; respond to questions about the challenge, innovativeness of approach, potential impact, and appropriateness for the award | 12-page limit; respond to questions about the challenge, innovativeness of approach, investigator's qualifications, and plans for development; in addition, host institution must provide details of commitment |
Reference Letters | 3 letters required | None accepted | None accepted | 3-5 letters required |
Effort | Major portion (at least 51%) of research effort must be devoted to activities supported by the award for first 3 years, followed by 33% effort in year 4, and 25% effort in year 5 | Minimum of 25% research effort must be devoted to activities supported by the award | Effort should be commensurate with project needs and follow general guidelines for other NIH projects of similar size, complexity, and duration | 9.6-person months (80% effort) must be devoted to award project for first 2 years, followed by 9.6-person months towards independent research in general |
Budget |
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Awards up to $250,000 per year for 5 years, plus standard F&A (indirect) costs |
Multiple PIs | Only one PD/PI may be designated on the application | Only one PD/PI may be designated on the application | More than one PD/PI allowed | Only one PD/PI may be designated on the application |
Review Format | Multi-phased, "editorial board," interview of finalists | Multi-phased, "editorial board" | Multi-phased, "editorial board," anonymized review being piloted | Multi-phased, "editorial board" |
Website | commonfund.nih.gov /pioneer |
commonfund.nih.gov /newinnovator |
commonfund.nih.gov /TRA |
commonfund.nih.gov /earlyindependence |
Contact Email | PioneerAwards@ mail.nih.gov |
NewInnovatorAwards@ mail.nih.gov |
Transformative_Awards@ mail.nih.gov |
EarlyIndependence@ od.nih.gov |
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