Support for Research Excellence First Independent Research (SuRE-First) Award (R16 - Clinical Trial Not Allowed)
Last verified by NonDilute: 2026-04-29. Official notice and agency instructions control.
If you're a full-time faculty member at a smaller institution with no prior independent NIH funding, this $125K award launches your research career and funds student training simultaneously.
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What this is
SuRE-First is designed to build research capacity at under-resourced colleges and universities by funding early-career faculty who have never received independent external research funding. The program covers basic, translational, clinical, behavioral, and social sciences within NIH's mission areas and explicitly requires that funded research strengthen undergraduate/graduate student training and institutional research culture. This is a pathway for faculty at smaller or under-resourced institutions to launch independent research careers with support up to $125,000.
Who can apply
Applicants must be full-time faculty at public, state-controlled, or private higher education institutions who have never received a prior independent, peer-reviewed external research grant. Solo researchers and small teams at under-resourced institutions are the target audience; established companies and well-funded research centers are ineligible.
Eligible applicant types
- Public and State controlled institutions of higher education
- Private institutions of higher education
Full description — from the agency
The SuRE program supports research capacity building at eligible higher education institutions through funding investigator-initiated biomedical research inbasic, social, clinical, behavioral, or translational science that falls in the mission areas of the NIH. The purpose of SuRE-First awards is to provide support for investigator-initiated research at resource-limited institutions by full-time faculty who have not had any prior independent, peer-reviewed, external research grants, to furnish students with high-quality undergraduate and/or graduate research experiences, and to enhance the institutional scientific research culture.
Topics: first independent research award · biomedical research funding · resource-limited institutions · early-career faculty grants · nih research capacity building
Public-source funding discovery only. This summary is generated from public agency data and may be incomplete or stale. NonDilute is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or acting on behalf of any government agency. Official notices and agency instructions control. NonDilute does not determine eligibility, provide grant-writing advice, or guarantee funding.