2026 NIA Mentorship Prize Competition
Pays $100,000 to each of up to six faculty mentors recognized for outstanding aging-research mentorship.
Nominations open for about two months, after which NIA-funded investigators who receive at least two mentee nominations and meet the eligibility criteria are formally invited by email to submit a Phase 2 application. A federal panel with NIA programmatic expertise scores each eligible submission on four weighted criteria: commitment to trainee development (30%), facilitation of mentee outcomes and…
Recognizes tenure-track faculty at NIA-funded institutions who mentor trainees in aging research, awarding up to three prizes in an early-career mentor category and up to three in a midcareer/established category. It is not a startup or product grant — it is an academic mentorship recognition prize.
Sign up free to see the funding breakdown
Sign up free to see the industries in scope
Sign up free to see the full eligibility
Sign up free to see how to apply
Sign up free to see what you submit
Sign up free to see how they score you
Sign up free to see the timeline
Sign up free to see where teams trip up
Guides for this application
All guides →NIH Biosketch Guide: Format, SciENcv Steps, and Examples
Learn what an NIH biosketch is, how the format works, what to prepare for SciENcv, and how startup teams should avoid common biosketch mistakes.
Write proposalHow to Write a Specific Aims Page
Learn how to write a specific aims page for NIH, SBIR-adjacent, and translational R&D grants, with structure, reviewer logic, examples, and common mistakes.
Write proposalHow to Write a Grant Proposal Reviewers Can Score
Learn how to write a grant proposal around reviewer criteria, evidence, work packages, budget logic, and commercialization for deeptech and R&D funding.
DocumentsGrant Work Plan Template: Work Packages, Gantt, Milestones, and Risks
Use this grant work plan template to structure work packages, tasks, owners, deliverables, Gantt timing, dependencies, and risk registers.
More from NIA
All grants from this funder →NIA R01: Drug Repositioning and Combination Therapy for Alzheimer's Disease
NIA · United States
Funds researchers combining computational and experimental approaches to test repositioned drugs for Alzheimer's disease treatment through NIH R01 grants.
NIA Alzheimer's Drug-Development Program
🇺🇸NIA · United States
Funds collaborative research alliances that accelerate Alzheimer's drug development in the United States.
NIA SBIR Phase I
🇺🇸NIA · United States
Supports small businesses developing aging and memory technologies at the feasibility stage.
NIA SBIR Phase II
🇺🇸NIA · United States
Funds small businesses advancing aging biology and Alzheimer's disease technologies through full development execution.
NIA Start-Up Challenge
🇺🇸NIA · United States
Funds US entrepreneurs and small businesses developing healthy-aging technologies through NIA's Start-Up Challenge cash prizes and accelerator.
NIA STTR Phase I
🇺🇸NIA · United States
Supports small businesses partnering with universities on aging innovation at feasibility stage.
Similar grants
Browse the directory →NOURISH: Autoimmunity Digital Health Challenge
🇺🇸OADR-ORWH · United States
Awards up to $650,000 across three phases for digital tools tracking autoimmune nutrition.
Oligonucleotide Toxicity (OligoTox) Open Data Challenge
🇺🇸NCATS · United States
Pays cash prizes for public datasets that help predict oligonucleotide drug toxicity in human cells.
Complement-ARIE Challenge
🇺🇸NIH Common Fund · United States
Pays up to $50,000 each to 20 teams building human-based alternatives to animal testing.
LymeX Visible Voices Prize
🇺🇸HHS · United States
Pays up to $50,000 per prize from a $250,000 pool for Lyme disease education resources.
TRDNT Challenge Phase II: Prototype Development and Use Case Demonstration
🇺🇸NIH · United States
Pays up to $120,000 per Interim Milestone winner and up to $320,000 per Final Submission winner to US-based researchers, startups and institutions that build a working prototype technology able to target endogenous RNA in human disease.
MIT $100K Launch Contest
🇺🇸MIT · United States
Supports MIT-affiliated teams building full business plans through a final competition and broader venture exposure.