NIH Director’s Early Independence Awards (DP5 Clinical Trial Optional)

Funding Agency:
National Institutes of Health

The NIH Director's Early Independence Award supports rigorous and promising junior investigators who wish to pursue independent research soon after completion of their terminal doctoral degree or post-graduate clinical training, thereby forgoing the traditional post-doctoral training period and accelerating their entry into an independent research career. For the program to support the best possible researchers and research, applications are sought which reflect the full diversity of the research workforce. Individuals from diverse backgrounds, including those from underrepresented groups and from the full spectrum of eligible institutions in all geographic locations, are strongly encouraged to apply to this Funding Opportunity Announcement. In addition, applications in all topics relevant to the broad mission of NIH are welcome, including, but not limited to, topics in the behavioral, social, biomedical, applied, and formal sciences and topics that may involve basic, translational, or clinical research. The NIH Director's Early Independence Award is a component of the High-Risk, High-Reward Research program of the NIH Common Fund.

Only two applications per institution (normally identified by having a Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) number or NIH IPF number) are allowed.

Deadlines:

  • Duke Internal: April 28, 2023

  • Letter of Intent Due Date(s): August 4, 2023

  • Application Due Date(s): September 6, 2023

  • AIDS Application Due Date(s): September 6, 2023

RFA-RM-23-007 Expiration Date  September 07, 2023

Agency Website

Eligibility Requirements

Applications with multiple PDs/PIs will not be accepted. Only single PD/PI applications are allowed. Only the PD/PI may be listed as a Senior/Key Person and provide a Biographical Sketch.

U.S. citizenship is not required for PDs/PIs. For applications submitted on behalf of non-U.S. citizens with temporary U.S. visas, visa status must allow the PD/PI to conduct the proposed research at the applicant institution for the entire project period. The applicant institution is responsible for determining if and documenting that the PD's/PI's visa will allow the PD/PI to remain in the U.S. for the duration of the award.

Time window for eligibility: Given the focus on early research independence, the receipt date of the terminal doctoral degree or end of post-graduate clinical training of the PD/PI must be between June 1, 2022, and September 30, 2024. The degree receipt date is that which appears on the official transcript for the degree. The end of post-graduate clinical training includes residency and fellowship periods. The PD/PI must not have served as a post-doctoral fellow for more than 12 months following a previous, non-terminal doctoral degree (i.e., a post-doctoral fellowship served before June 1, 2022).

At the time of award, either 1) the Early Independence investigator must have received a PhD, MD, DO, DC, DDS, DVM, OD, DPM, ScD, EngD, DrPH, DNSc, ND (Doctor of Naturopathy), PharmD, DSW, PsyD, or equivalent doctoral degree from an accredited domestic or foreign institution (it is the responsibility of the sponsoring institution to determine if a foreign doctoral degree is equivalent), or 2) an authorized official of the degree-granting or training institution must certify that all degree requirements have been met and that the receipt date of the degree (as will appear on the transcript) will be before September 30, 2024.  An authorized official of the host institution must certify that the PD/PI will be able to conduct independent research at the institution at the time of the project start date.

Level of effort: In the first and second years of the project period, awardees must commit at least 9.6 person-months of effort to the Early Independence Award project each year (which is 80% effort per year). In years 3-5 of the project period, awardees may reduce their effort on the Early Independence Award project, but they must still conduct at least 9.6 person-months of general independent research each year (which is 80% effort per year). General independent research includes the effort spent on the Early Independence Award project and any other independent research projects the awardee is working on.

Research independence at time of application: Individuals are eligible only if they, at the time of application submission, do not have research independence. Lack of research independence is defined functionally rather than by position title. Eligible individuals must have all the following characteristics:

  • The PD/PI's current research agenda is set through concurrence with mentors.
  • The PD/PI's research is funded primarily through support to other investigators (mentored fellowships such as NIH F31 or F32 Fellowships or NSF Graduate Research Fellowships do not preclude eligibility).
  • The PD/PI does not have any space assigned directly by the institution for the conduct of their research.
  • The PD/PI, according to institutional policy, cannot apply for an NIH R01 grant without a special waiver or exemption from the institution.

Though PDs/PIs must not be functionally independent at the time of application submission, they may become functionally independent prior to time of award and still retain eligibility for the award.

Prospective PDs/PIs should contact appropriate institutional leaders to seek an appointment to an independent research position. Alternatively, institutions may actively recruit eligible junior scientists to apply for support through this program. In either case, the institution is expected to provide substantial support for the junior scientist, as detailed below. To foster independence, PDs/PIs may benefit from being hosted by an institution at which they have not previously studied or trained.

PDs/PIs may apply for a research career development (K) award and DP5 at the same time, but NIH policy prohibits scientific and commitment overlap. A PD/PI may not hold a DP5 and career development (K) award concurrently. If the PD/PI receives a career development (K) award, the career development (K) award must be relinquished to receive the DP5.

Amount

$1,250,000

Amount Description

Awards will be for up to $250,000 in direct costs per year, plus applicable Facilities and Administrative (F&A) costs.

The project period is limited to five years.

Funding Type

Grant

Eligibility

Medical Fellow/Resident
Post Doctoral Fellows

Category

Medical
Medical - Basic Science
Medical - Clinical Science
Medical - Translational

Internal Nomination

Owing to the sponsor's restriction on the number of applications that may be submitted from Duke, anyone wishing to pursue nomination should submit the following materials as one PDF:

Statement of PI Eligibility from the department chair:

  • Verifying terminal doctoral degree or end of post-graduate clinical training happened between June 1, 2022, and September 30, 2024. 
  • Affirming that the PI will be able to begin independent research by the project start date (estimate when that might be).

Specific Aims (1 page) with the following 3 sections:

  • Research Objectives: State your research topic and overall approach. Why is this area of research significant? If you have an overarching hypothesis, what is it? What impact will your research have if successful? What are the major conceptual or technical innovations you are introducing into this research area?
  • Institutional Support: How will the institutional support, including the assurance of research independence, facilitate the accomplishment of your research objectives?
  • Early Independence Rationale: How will your scientific and technical background, research accomplishments, leadership/mentorship attributes, and scientific vision be leveraged to accomplish the research objectives?

 

Please submit internal materials through My Research Proposal. (Code: ILN)  https://www.grantinterface.com/sl/TjMmsH

Instructions for creating an account (if needed) and submitting your materials: https://ctsi.duke.edu/about-myresearchproposal

Internal Deadline

April 28, 2023

External Deadline

September 6, 2023