NIBIB Small Grant Program

NIBIB Small Grant Program

Funds interdisciplinary technology projects for early biomedical engineering ideas at smaller budget scale.

⚠ This may reflect a past cycle — verify the current call on the funder's site.

The NIBIB Small Grant Program (R03) supports investigator-initiated research at the interdisciplinary interface between the biomedical and the mathematical, physical, or engineering sciences. NIBIB uses the NIH parent R03 mechanism — most recently catalogued under PA-20-200 (NIH Small Research Grant Program, R03 Clinical Trial Not Allowed) — to fund early-stage technology development projects with clinical translation potential. Because NIH periodically reissues parent announcements, applicants must verify the current active parent R03 NOFO on Grants.gov before submitting.

R03 awards provide up to $50,000 in direct costs per year for a maximum of two years, capping total direct costs at $100,000. Indirect costs (F&A) are charged in addition to this cap. Eligible organizations include US universities and nonprofit research institutions; for-profit entities and individual investigators are not eligible. Standard NIH R03 receipt dates fall on February 16, June 16, and October 16 each year, giving applicants three submission cycles annually. Applications should demonstrate substantial technological effort, either as standalone technology development or in direct service of a defined medical application.

NIBIB explicitly encourages applicants to contact program staff before submission to receive feedback on the relevance of proposed work to NIBIB's mission. The designated program contact is Tatjana Atanasijevic, Ph.D., Division of Applied Science and Technology (Tatjana.Atanasijevic@nih.gov). Reviewers assess the scientific rigor of the proposed technology approach, the clarity of the path toward clinical translation, and the qualifications of the investigator team. Because the award is small and duration is fixed at two years, proposals that define a focused, achievable proof-of-concept aim score better than broadly scoped programs.