Research Grants

Research is a critical element to advance every aspect of society. Grants for research help stimulate building and applying knowledge for the economy and community good.

Federal research grants are available for applied and basic science. The key to winning a government research grant is to apply to opportunities where you and your project is eligible for funding.

Research is one of the few areas where individuals can receive a federal grant. The lead researcher or principal investigator is awarded funding based on their expertise, education, history of conducting research, and the reputation of the institutions or companies where they work.

Universities, research institutes, major hospitals, and other institutions usually provide administrative support for the application for research grants. A large portion of all research funding comes from government research grants.

Finding a Grant Research Opportunity

For a complete listing of every federal grant opportunity, consult the Catalog for Federal Domestic Assistance, CDFA.com. The site has a search function to locate Requests for Proposals (RFPs) by program area, keyword, and federal agency. Understanding which federal agency offers research grants will speed the process. However, the CDFA is a only a comprehensive catalog, not a site to download announcements and apply for grants.

Researchers can do searches on Grants.gov, which posts grant opportunities from 26 federal agencies, including the federal research grant announcements.

Research grant opportunities can be found at the National Institutes of Health, which is the largest biomedical research funder in the world. NIH’s focus is on health and medicine and funds broadly in those areas.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) awards grants to basic research and funds a substantial portion of basic research in U.S. universities.

Writing a Research Grant

Grant writing is analogous to academic writing. Therefore, researchers are often the most successful grant writers because they understand how to write about research and its applications to peer audiences. Most research grant applications are conducted by peer review. Therefore, a researcher writes to an audience of expert peers, who may be less familiar with the investigator’s line of research.

Federal agencies each have online guidance on how to write grants, including those for research. The NIH’s Office of Extramural Research has a comprehensive and well written guidance on submitting an application. The tutorial on the correct assembly of the SF424 R&R (Research and Related) is clear, however, always refer to the specific RFP for additional instructions.

The National Science Foundation uses their own online system, FastLane, not Grants.gov. However, Congressional legislation has been submitted that may require a single portal for all government grant applications.