National Institutes of Health logo
NIH Research Enhancement Awards (R15)

NIH Academic Research Enhancement Award (AREA)

Funds U.S. undergraduate-focused colleges and universities running small-scale biomedical research through NIH's AREA (R15) grant.

PausedNational Institutes of HealthUnited StatesDeep-tech · core fit
Apply on funder portal
About

The Academic Research Enhancement Award, known as AREA or the R15 grant, is a National Institutes of Health (NIH) research grant. It sits under NIH's Research Enhancement Awards program, which has two versions: AREA for undergraduate-focused schools and REAP for health professional and graduate schools. This grant is the AREA version.

NIH's general R15 page does not publish a dollar cap for AREA …

What this grant funds

Biomedical research. This general R15 page does not list specific research topics — the exact focus depends on the NIH institute and the specific funding announcement it falls under.

Key facts
CycleiHow often this grant runs — e.g. annually, on a rolling basis, or a one-off call.Multiple per year
Next deadlineiThe next date applications are due. Rolling means you can apply any time.—
Decision timeiTypical time from the deadline to the funder's decision.—
Project durationiHow long the funded work is expected to run.36 months
Award typeiThe form of funding — grant, equity, loan, tax credit, etc.Grant
Match fundingiThe share of project costs you must cover yourself. 0% = fully funded.—
Funding pooliThe total budget available across all awards in this round.—
Funding analytics

Sign up free to see the funding breakdown

Create free accountSign in
Industries

Sign up free to see the industries in scope

Create free accountSign in
Eligibility criteria

Sign up free to see the full eligibility

Create free accountSign in
Timeline

Sign up free to see the timeline

Create free accountSign in
Where founders trip up

Sign up free to see where teams trip up

Create free accountSign in
Last verified: 2 Aug 2026Source: grants.nih.gov