NIH Policy Shift Reduces Number of Science Grants While Increasing Individual Award Amounts
By
karakoram
5mo ago· 10 min readenInsight
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Golden Brown
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Summary
The article reveals a significant but quiet policy shift at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) where the agency has been making fewer but larger lump-sum payments for multi-year research grants instead of its traditional annual funding approach. This change has dramatically increased the average competitive grant payment from $472,000 to over $830,000, but paradoxically means less overall funding for science and medicine. The policy results in more competition for fewer grants, reduced research time, and potentially fewer scientific breakthroughs as the U.S. government makes fewer bets on long-term scientific research across all areas of science and medicine.
Key quotes
· 3 pulledAs a result of this quiet policy shift, the average payment for competitive grants swelled from $472,000 in the first half of the fiscal year to over $830,000 in the last two months.
While this might sound like a boon for researchers, it's actually a fundamental shift in how grants are funded — one that means more competition for funding, and less money and less time to do the research.
A quiet policy change means the government is making fewer bets on long-term science.
A quiet policy change means the government is making fewer bets on long-term science.
