The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has released a funding opportunity announcement for the NIH Director’s Early Independence Award (DP5). This program “supports exceptional investigators who wish to pursue independent research directly after completion of their terminal doctoral/research degree or clinical residency, thereby forgoing the traditional post-doctoral training period and accelerating their entry into an independent research career.”
Funded through the NIH Common Fund, the Early Independence Award provides an opportunity for “exceptional junior scientists” to move directly from their PhD to an independent research position, skipping the traditional postdoctoral training period.
Applicants should already have a record of innovative and productive research and have demonstrated leadership and maturity unusual for someone at their career stage. Candidates must not have research independence at the time of application submission.
NIH expects to make approximately 10 awards, each of which may be for up to $250,000 in direct costs per year for up to five years.
Applications must be submitted by a potential host institution, each of which may submit up to two applications. To assist institutions and candidates in finding each other, NIH has established a web resource to facilitate the matching process.
Earlier this year, GSA members Jason Sheltzer (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) and Zhao Zhang (Carnegie Institution for Science) were among the 16 recipients of the Early Independence Awards for 2015.
Request for Applications: RFA-RM-15-006: NIH Director’s Early Independence Awards (DP5)
Letter of Intent Due Date: December 29, 2015 (not required)
Application Due Date: January 26, 2016, 5:00 pm local time