Science Policy Hub

Federal Grant Funding Updates

Funding Information from NIH: 

• NIH on April 21 released an update to the 2024 NIH Grants Policy Statement of a "new Civil Rights term and condition that modifies the current terms and conditions for all NIH grants, cooperative agreements, and other transaction (OT) awards." HHS similarly on April 16 issued a new grants policy statement, effective immediately and suspending the previous version released in October 2024 (PDF).
• No new funding opportunities have been announced since January 22, 2025 on the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts.
• A new page, NIH Grants and Funding Information Status, describes changes to "NIH grants and funding policies and processes...as NIH aligns with new agency priorities." Among the updates as of April 8, 2025:
  • NIH is accepting applications for active funding opportunities. Some funding opportunities have been closed and others have been updated to align with agency priorities. Applicants must carefully reread funding opportunities for any changes prior to submission and adjust their applications accordingly.
  • NIH institutes and centers are issuing awards for competing, non-competing continuation, and administrative supplements using previously approved negotiated indirect cost rates, except for awards under which F&A costs are reimbursed at a fixed rate.
  • The ability to generate the Trainee Diversity Report is no longer available to recipients, in addition to many other application requirements around diversity which have been modified.
• The NIH has updated the webpage Implementation of New Initiatives and Policies. Among the changes as of April 8, 2025:
  • Adoption of the Common Form for Biographical Sketch and a new Biographical Sketch Supplement originally scheduled for May 25, 2025, is postponed.
  • Significant changes to the updated NIH application form (FORMS-I) have been outlined.
  • For institutional training grants, Recruitment Plans to Enhance Diversity are no longer required and those included in applications under review will not be evaluated or considered in funding decisions.
  • FORMS-I Training data tables 6a, 6b, and 7 have been revised to remove calculations for % underrepresented minorities.
• The NIH has resumed posting policy notices in the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts (see the "Other Notices" tab) and among updates has announced the recission of the final NIH scientific integrity policy and implementation updates regarding institutional biosafety committees.

NIH Study Sections and Advisory Councils: 

• On March 20, the federal register listed the first re-scheduled NIH advisory council meeting since late January. Advisory council meetings scheduled since that time are detailed below. Distinct from study sections, the re-scheduling of such advisory councils marks an important procedural step that allows new grants to be awarded.
• From January through March, the NIH paused communications and cancelled scheduled study sections. Since March 4, approximately 330 study sections managed by the NIH Center for Scientific Review (CSR) have been scheduled to convene throughout the spring. Since March 17, approximately 270 IC-managed study sections have also been announced through the Federal Register.
• These postings follow an announcement by the NIH that all first-level study sections will be managed by the CSR in the future, although the implementation date of this change has not been announced.
• The NIH Office of the Director has announced a convening of the NIH Council of Councils (CoC) on April 21. Note that this is the first CoC held during this administration, as the Feb. 6-7 meeting was cancelled. The CoC advises the NIH Director on matters related to the policies and activities of the Division of Program Coordination, Planning, and Strategic Initiatives.

Complete List of Advisory Committee Meetings across NIH ICs: As of 4/8/2025

NIH Institutes

• National Cancer Institute (NCI): June 10
• National Eye Institute (NEI): April 21, June 13
• National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI): April 23, June 11
• National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI): April 25
• National Institute on Aging (NIA): April 22, May 14
• National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA): April 17, May 13
• National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID): April 24
• National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS): April 21, June 3
• National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB): June 4
• National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD): June 9, June 10
• National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD): May 8, May 9
• National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR): April 18, May 28
• National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK): April 24
• National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA): May 13
• National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS): April 22, June 5
• National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS): May 22
• National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH): June 17
• National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD): May 5
• National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS): April 10, May 14
• National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR): April 23, May 20
• National Library of Medicine: X
• Joint: National Advisory Council on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Cancer Advisory Board, and National Advisory Council on Drug Abuse, May 14

NIH Centers

• NIH Clinical Center (CC): X
• Center for Information Technology (CIT): X
• Center for Scientific Review (CSR): X
• Fogarty International Center (FIC): X
• National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS): April 17
• National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH): April 8

NIH Grant Cancellations:

• Grant Terminations and Funding: Terminated grants from HHS are being documented in a list from HHS, last updated April 11, as well as in an open-source effort from researchers utilizing the data from HHS and other sources. Some previously paused National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) programs and funding mechanisms to recruit recent college graduates and postdocs (IRTA/CTRA) have reopened for applications. 
• The cancelled grants include those focused on LGBTQ+ individuals, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) research, and vaccine hesitancy, areas targeted by the Administration's Executive Orders.

Scientific Leadership and Federal Workforce:

• HHS Secretary: Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. (confirmed 2/13/25)
• NIH Director: Jay Bhattacharya, MD, PhD (confirmed 3/25/25)
• FDA Commissioner: Martin Makary, MD, MPH (confirmed 3/25/25)
• CDC Director: Susan Monarez, PhD (currently Acting CDC Director, nominated by President Trump on 3/24/25)
• OSTP Director: Michael Kratsios (confirmed 3/25/25)
• CMS Administrator: Mehmet Oz, MD (confirmed 4/3/25)
• The NIH leadership page has announced several new appointments, including Jon R. Lorsch, PhD, long-time director of NIGMS, as the Acting Deputy Director for Extramural Research, and Matthew J. Memoli, MD, MS, as Principal Deputy Director.

Funding-Related Litigation

• HHS Grant Cancellations: On April 2, the American Public Health Association, with organizations and individuals, filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts against the Trump administration challenging the abrupt cancellation of HHS research grants and the unpublishing of existing funding opportunities. On April 4, sixteen state attorneys general files a similar lawsuit in the same court. Since February, NIH has terminated thousands of research grants involving the LGBTQ+ community, vaccine hesitancy, gender identity, and diversity, equity, and inclusion. The AAMC on April 17 filed an amicus brief (PDF) in this case to underscore the real-world consequences of unlawful terminations of National Institutes of Health (NIH) research grants without warning or meaningful explanation.
• Public Health Grant Funding: On April 4, a federal judge in the U.S. District Court of Rhode Island issued a temporary restraining order halting the Trump administration's $11.4 billion immediate cut in public health research and infrastructure funding including testing, vaccination, and global projects. The lawsuit filed by 23 state attorneys general was filed on April 1 and the resulting TRO only impacts funding made to those states.
• NIH Facilities and Administration (F&A) rates: The Trump administration on April 8 filed a notice of appeal to the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit to challenge the permanent injunction in a set of cases seeking to halt the administration's planned cuts to federal reimbursements of F&A costs. To learn more, please see the AAMC's F&A resources page.
• DOE Facilities and Administration (F&A) Rates: A lawsuit was filed on April 14 against the Department of Energy (DOE) in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts from a coalition of universities and higher education organizations in response to DOE's announcement that it would implement a 15% indirect cost rate for all future grants to institutions of higher education (IHEs). US District Judge Allison Burroughs issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) on April 16, preventing the agency from moving forward with a standard indirect cost rate.
• Funding Freeze: The 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on March 26 upheld a District Court's ruling preventing the White House Office of Management and Budget from implementing its February 27 funding freeze. On April 4, a federal judge ruled that the administration had violated this court order by halting the disbursement of millions of dollars of FEMA grants.
• DEI Executive Orders: On March 14, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit granted the federal government's request to stay, pending appeal, a nationwide preliminary injunction issued by the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland regarding enforcement of Executive Orders prohibiting DEI activities, including the termination of grants and contracts. As of April 9, the March 14 stay remains in effect.

Policy Issues the AAMC is Monitoring 

• Institutions with active international research programs will likely be impacted by a final rule from the Department of Justice (DOJ) limiting access to Americans' "bulk sensitive personal data" and government-related data by "countries of concern." As a result of the proposed rule's inclusion of genomic and other -omics data under a risk framework intended to address other data types such as geolocation and financial data, the rule will likely impact foundational research and other scientific collaborations, even with exceptions for data shared in open repositories and as a requirement of a federal grant or contract. DOJ on April 11 issued a compliance guide, FAQs, and an implementation and enforcement policy for the final rule. The AAMC previously responded to both an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) and Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on this issue.
• The AAMC continues to closely monitor federal efforts to standardize research security requirements led by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and the National Science Foundation (refer to the research security resource page for more information). The association anticipates additional opportunities for public comment in 2025 and is actively soliciting feedback from institutions on their research security programs.

Forthcoming Implementation Deadlines 

• The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is implementing multiple changes that will impact the preparation and peer review of most grant applications submitted to the agency due on or after Jan. 25, 2025.
• The US Government Policy for Oversight of Dual Use Research of Concern and Pathogens with Enhanced Pandemic Potential will go into effect on May 6, 2025. Institutions should think about how to identify relevant projects at the institution and engage their IRB and IBC prior to the implementation date. Refer to the implementation guidance and recently released FAQ for more information. NIH has also released an implementation notice outlining changes for researchers and institutions.
• The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a final rule revising the regulations governing Public Health Service Policies on Research Misconduct, which must be implemented through new institutional policies and procedures by Jan. 1, 2026. For more information, visit the HHS Office of Research Integrity.

Recent Developments

• The HHS Office for Human Research Protections has announced the publication of a final rule amending HHS regulations for the protection of human subjects at 45 CFR part 46 ("The Common Rule.") This final rule, which is effective upon publication, includes no substantive amendments, though institutions may choose to update their materials accordingly.