Atom | Funding Opportunity for NIH Director's Pioneer Award Program (DP1 Clinical Trial Optional)

Due Dates: September 9, 2025 (anticipated)

Funding Amounts: Award size and duration to be specified in the forthcoming NOFO; historically, Pioneer Awards have provided multi-year, multi-million dollar support.

Summary: Supports exceptionally creative scientists proposing bold, high-impact research projects with transformative potential; preliminary data not required.

Key Information: This is a forecasted opportunity; applications are not yet being accepted.

Description

The NIH Director's Pioneer Award, part of the High-Risk, High-Reward Research program, is designed to support individual scientists of exceptional creativity who propose innovative and potentially transformative research projects. The program specifically seeks bold ideas that could have a major impact on broad, important areas relevant to the NIH mission. Unlike many other NIH grants, the Pioneer Award de-emphasizes preliminary data and detailed experimental plans, focusing instead on the innovativeness and potential impact of the proposed research and the qualities of the investigator.

The proposed research must reflect substantially different ideas from those currently being pursued by the investigator or elsewhere. The award is open to projects that are high-risk and high-impact, and it is not limited to any specific area of science within the NIH mission. Clinical trials are optional under this opportunity.

This is a notice of intent to publish a future Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO); applications are not being solicited at this time. The notice is provided to allow potential applicants sufficient time to develop meaningful and responsive projects.

Due Dates

Anticipated application due date: September 9, 2025
The official NOFO with confirmed deadlines will be published at a later date.

Funding Amount

Award size and duration will be specified in the forthcoming NOFO.
Historically, NIH Director's Pioneer Awards have provided substantial support, often multi-year and multi-million dollar funding.

Eligibility

Eligible applicants typically include:

State governments
County governments
Independent school districts
Public and State controlled institutions of higher education
Federally recognized Native American tribal governments
Public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities
Native American tribal organizations (other than federally recognized tribal governments)
Nonprofits with 501(c)(3) status (other than institutions of higher education)
Private institutions of higher education
For-profit organizations (other than small businesses)
Small businesses
Other organizations as specified in the forthcoming NOFO

Individual investigators of exceptional creativity are encouraged to apply, provided their proposed research is substantially different from their current work.

Application Process

Applications are not yet being accepted; this is a forecasted opportunity.
The official Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) will be published with detailed application instructions, eligibility criteria, and funding specifics.
Interested investigators are encouraged to begin developing innovative, high-impact project ideas in anticipation of the NOFO release.

Additional Information

Preliminary data and detailed experimental plans are not required for this award.
The focus is on the innovativeness and transformative potential of the research and the creativity of the investigator.
Projects must be distinct from the investigator’s current research program.

External Links

Contact Information

Contact Type	Details
General NIH Contact	NIH Contact Page
Phone	301-496-4000