Academic Research Enhancement Award (AREA) for Undergraduate-Focused Institutions (R15 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)
National Institutes of Health (NIH) · NIH Institute/Center · PAR-25-134
Source: Grants.gov · View original posting ↗
- AwardWhat a single award can be worth — the funder's published per-award amount or floor–ceiling range.
- Up to $375K
- DeadlineFinal application due date.
- Jan 7, 2028
- Letter of intentDue date for the letter of intent (a short pre-application some funders require or request before the full proposal).
- —
- MechanismNIH activity code — the grant type (R01 research project, R21 exploratory, K series career development, F series fellowship, …).
- R15
- DurationMaximum project period for a single award.
- —
- Expected awardsHow many awards the funder anticipates making under this opportunity.
- —
- Funding cycleHow often the program accepts applications (annual, multiple cycles per year, rolling, or one-time).
- Standard NIH dates
- Open dateWhen applications open (or opened).
- Dec 2, 2024
- Total fundingThe overall pool the funder expects to commit across ALL awards under this opportunity — not what one project receives.
- —
- Clinical trialWhether proposed projects must, may, or must not include a clinical trial.
- Not allowed
Funding context
Based on FY2024 NIH (all institutes) R15 applications (240 of 916 applications awarded).
Institute-specific data wasn’t available — showing the NIH-wide rate for this mechanism.
Payline: NIH discontinued percentile paylines for 2026 under its Unified Funding Strategy ↗ — scores are now weighed in context rather than against a fixed cutoff.
NIH-wide R15 (AREA), all institutes.
Aggregate historical data by institute, mechanism, and fiscal year — context for planning, not a prediction for this opportunity. Source ↗
Description
The purpose of this Academic Research Enhancement Award (AREA) for Undergraduate-Focused Institutionsis to support small scale research grants at institutions that do not receive substantial funding from the NIH, with an emphasis on providing biomedical research experiences primarily for undergraduate students, and enhancing the research environment at applicant institutions. Eligible institutions must award baccalaureate science degrees and have received no more than $6 million dollars per year of NIH support (in both direct and F and A/indirect costs) in 4 of the last 7 fiscal years. For institutions composed of multiple schools and colleges, the $6 million funding limit is based on the amount of NIH funding received by all the non-health professional schools and colleges within the institution as a whole. See Part II. Section 3.1 Eligible Organizations for more information.
Data notes: administering NIH institute could not be identified from the opportunity number.