NIH Director's Transformative Research Award

NIH Director's Transformative Research Award

Supports flexible multidisciplinary teams pursuing cross-field science with paradigm-shifting goals.

The NIH Director's Transformative Research Award (TRA) is part of the NIH Common Fund's High-Risk, High-Reward (HRHR) Research Program. Established in 2009, it is the only one of the four HRHR awards that accepts both individual principal investigators and multi-PI teams, making it the mechanism of choice for cross-disciplinary collaborations targeting a paradigm-level shift in biomedical or behavioral science. The research must have potential to overturn fundamental scientific paradigms, create new fields, or solve major long-standing problems. No preliminary data is required.

Unlike the Pioneer or New Innovator awards, the Transformative Research Award carries a flexible budget for up to five years — no fixed annual dollar cap is published by the funder, with award amounts scaled to project needs. The FY2026 Congressional Budget Request allocates $31.166 million to TRA, down from $48.4 million in FY2025. Open to all career stages, from early investigators to senior faculty. Effort commitment is commensurate with project needs; no minimum percentage is specified. Eligible institutions are U.S. universities and research organizations.

Funding opportunity announcements follow the same annual spring-release, fall-deadline cycle as the other HRHR awards. The combination of team eligibility and flexible budgets distinguishes TRA from its sister programs and makes it the right fit for high-impact cross-disciplinary proposals — particularly projects involving novel technology platforms, integrative approaches, or convergence of fields. Review panels assess the potential for transformative impact and the appropriateness of the team composition rather than incremental scientific merit.