NIA Research Grant Mechanisms

NIA's extramural programs support a variety of research project grant mechanisms appropriate for individuals with different levels of experience and who conduct different types of research. For most mechanisms, principal investigators must be conducting research at the postdoctoral level or above. Specific grant mechanisms are available for researchers beginning their career; other mechanisms are available for midcareer and senior researchers. Please click here for Current Funding Opportunities at NIA.

NIA supports the following research grant mechanisms including Program Project Grants, Center Grants, and Cooperative Agreements to support multidisciplinary teams of researchers:

Other mechanisms support a multidisciplinary team of researchers and may involve cooperation among three or more investigators addressing a common theme. Such mechanisms are: (1) Program Project Grants, (2) Center Grants, and (3) Cooperative Agreements. Applicants should discuss plans with the appropriate NIA program staff prior to submitting a research proposal. The individual content areas of research on aging (e.g., Alzheimer's disease, osteoporosis, demography etc.) that are supported by the Institute are described in NIA's Research Programs site.

Administrative Supplements:

Administrative Supplements are defined as requests for (or the award of) additional funds during a current project period to provide for an increase in costs due to unforeseen circumstances. All additional costs must be within the scope of the peer reviewed and approved project. Administrative supplements do not require peer review.

NIA stresses that funding for Administrative Supplements is very limited and strongly encourages investigators to contact their Program Officer prior to submitting the Administrative Supplement to check on appropriateness of the supplement and availability of funds.

Policy Considerations for Administrative Supplements:

Note: An expansion of scope (while may be considered ‘within scope’) is NOT appropriate for an Administrative Supplement and is subject to peer review.

Eligibility & Submission:

  • For supplements to parent awards that include multiple Program Directors (PDs)/Principal Investigators (PIs), the supplement may be requested by any or all the PDs/PIs (in accordance with the existing leadership plan) and submitted by the recipient institution of the parent award.
  • Supplemental funding in a no-cost extension (NCE) is not permitted.
  • Must be submitted to an Active grant and may not extend beyond the project period of the award.

Budgets & Unallowable costs:

  • Application budgets are generally limited to no more than the amount of the current parent award and must reflect the actual needs of the proposed project.
  • Supplements may not provide support above the established dollar limits (activity code caps) for the parent award (e.g., R15, R03, R21) unless specified in the NOFO or Notice.
  • Supplements are not appropriate when there is a large (>50%) unobligated balance (UOB)
  • Supplements may not be used to supplement predoctoral and postdoctoral stipends/salaries. This is the case for NRSA and non-NRSA awards.
  • Supplements may not be used to add, delete, or change the PDs/PIs listed on the parent award.

Administrative Supplements can be submitted electronically to active awards for most of the parent award activity codes.

For research awards (e.g., R01, P01, U01, U19, R03, R15, R21, R33, R34, R37) the NIA continues to accept Administrative Supplement applications to cover the need for additional funds during a current project period to provide for an increase in costs due to unforeseen circumstances. Administrative Supplements to Center awards (P30, P50) are also available for similar purposes. Only under exceptional circumstances are Administrative Supplements available for other kinds of award (e.g., training, fellowships, career development, scientific-meetings, and education- and resource-related activities).

Potential Indicators of Change/expansion in Scope (NOT Allowable):

  • Application of a new technology, e.g., changing assays from those approved to a different type of assay.
  • Changes in Human Subjects, Animals
  • Shift of the research emphasis from one disease area to another

Potential Examples of Approved Admin Supplements:

  • Need to replace broken equipment necessary for research
  • Need for new technology if old, proposed technology is obsolete or no longer available
  • Close out of study

NIA Case Studies:

Case 1: Expand the ongoing R01 research by integrating advanced Positron Emission Tomography (PET) in vivo and ex vivo studies during aging and Alzheimer's Diease (AD).

Reason NOT appropriate: this is a change / expansion of scope. It should be subject to peer review. Not an unanticipated increase in costs.

Case 2: The supplement will exploit the availability of comprehensive screening tools (including Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR), conditional mutations in essential genes, and genetic deletion and overexpression collections) to identify genes and pathways.

Reason NOT appropriate: Using a new technology in this case is a change / expansion of scope. It should be subject to peer review. Not an unanticipated increase in costs.

Case 3: The Supplement requests additional funds to take advantage of new technological developments in machine learning (ML) approaches for behavioral phenotyping.

Reason NOT appropriate: Using a new technology in this case is a change / expansion of scope. It should be subject to peer review. Not an unanticipated increase in costs.

Case 4: The administrative supplement application proposes to use the same experimental approach as the parent grant to extend investigation from the 4 major proteins to 5. To do so, they will collect one fraction more than initially planned in the parent R01.

Reason NOT appropriate: They are stating that this goes beyond the original R01. The issue isn’t an increase in costs, but rather a new scientific idea. Should be subject to peer review.

Case 5: The supplement takes advantage of an opportunity not predicted at the start of the R01 that fits within the scope of the parent grant as it will extend the impact of an aim.

Reason NOT appropriate: A new method or data source, represents an expansion of scope. Should be subject to peer review. Not an unanticipated increase in costs.

Alternatives to Admin Supplements:

  • Use existing funds (cost neutral); discuss with Program Officer (PO)
  • If applicable: recommend applying for a Competitive Revision
  • Wait and do as part of a renewal application
  • Apply idea to a new grant (likely; R21 or R03)

For general information about any of NIA's extramural research programs, please email the Division of Extramural Activities.

For additional information, see the following:

Grants-Funding