NIH Exploratory/Developmental Research Grant
Helps NIH Exploratory and Developmental Research Grant for novel ideas and preliminary studies.
The NIH Exploratory/Developmental Research Grant (R21) is the exploratory counterpart to the R01, built for novel ideas, high-risk directions, and early studies that do not yet have R01-level preliminary data. Two parent NOFOs are active, with clinical-trial required and not-allowed variants open through January 8, 2028.
It is a grant mechanism with three cycles per year and standard new-applicat…
Each grant below is a distinct funding opportunity with its own eligibility, scope, and deliverables.
Funds the early, conceptual stage of a new idea in cancer control — behaviour, screening, causes, or a technique nobody has tried yet.
Funds an early-stage, high-risk project that includes a clinical trial — and at some institutes only a mechanistic one counts.
Funds short, exploratory work on what genetic risk factors for brain disorders actually do inside cells and circuits.
Funds short, exploratory work on how schizophrenia emerges and changes after 35 — the age group nearly all the research has skipped.
Funds proof-of-concept work on how bariatric surgery changes cancer risk — and refuses applications that already have unpublished preliminary data.
Funds short, exploratory work on what causes agitation, apathy and psychosis in dementia — and what could be targeted to stop it.
Funds short, exploratory work on how isolation and loneliness raise suicide risk in later life, and what prevents it.
Funds pilot basic and translational work on HIV complications in the organs and processes the diabetes, digestive and kidney institute covers.
Funds smaller, higher-risk work on how GLP-1 and related drugs change cancer risk. No clinical trial in this version.
Funds the same reanalysis of already-collected cancer data on a smaller, exploratory footing, for teams that do not need a full research project award.
Funds high-risk addiction research that is sparse or absent from the institute's current portfolio — a revolutionary method, or a hypothesis with no precedent.
Funds a self-contained project on hearing, balance, smell, taste, voice, speech or language by a scientist starting an independent career.
Funds exploratory work on why proven health interventions do not get adopted — and on stopping the ones that should be dropped.
Funds the exploratory version of the same computational genomics work — new methods, early tools, or hardening software the field depends on.
Funds early-stage mechanistic work on the biological and genetic causes of cancer health disparities, on a shorter and smaller footing.
Funds the exploratory version of the same theory-and-methods work on complex trait variation, for ideas that need testing before a larger project is justified.
Funds the exploratory version of the same work on screening tests and treatments for serious newborn conditions.
Funds highly novel approaches to measuring brain activity, connectivity or genomics repeatedly across the lifespan, on an exploratory footing.
Funds developing or improving animal models and related materials — but only where they serve several institutes and several body systems.
Funds the exploratory version of the same translational work on mood and psychotic symptoms during the menopause transition.
Funds the exploratory version of next-generation brain stimulation device work for mental health, with the same floor on how much novelty counts.
Funds the exploratory version of invasive human neural recording and stimulation work on mental health questions.
Funds early feasibility work on a new biomedical tool, instrument or method that could improve research, care delivery or accessibility.
Funds secondary analysis of vision-health data that already exists, and new statistical methods for getting more out of it.
Funds exploratory studies of the ethical, legal and social consequences of human genetics, especially where a technology or a use of genomic data is new.
Funds early-stage work to find a method or agent that hits a human disease target considered undruggable.
Funds the exploratory R21 version of new analysis on existing social, behavioral, administrative and neuroimaging drug-use data.
Funds early-stage work on getting proven hearing, balance, taste, smell, voice and language treatments adopted in real clinics and daily life.
Funds secondary analysis of archived HIV/AIDS data and specimens from maternal, pediatric and adolescent populations, without collecting anything new.
Funds early, exploratory Down syndrome research — a novel idea or new use of an existing method, even where the answer is unproven.