Noticing More Notices of Special Interest?

You might have noticed an increased use of Guide Notices called Notices of Special Interest (NOSI), rather than full program announcements, to alert the community of specific research topics of interest. This is not a new concept, as some NIH institutes have been using this approach for many years – we are just formalizing it and expanding its use across all institutes.

Notices of Special Interest highlight areas of scientific interest and point to existing funding opportunity announcements (often parent announcements) for submission of the applications. NIH currently has a large number of non-parent program announcements with standard submission and review requirements that only vary from one another in the scientific topics highlighted. These PAs will be phased out over time and will be replaced with NOSIs. This change in no way diminishes our interest in these scientific topics. It simply streamlines how we announce our interests.

The process for submitting an application remains the same. To respond to a NOSI, simply complete the application form package associated with the funding opportunity announcement designated in the notice. Make sure you follow all application guidance in the NOSI. If application guide, FOA, and notice instructions conflict, then the FOA instructions win over the application guide and the notice instructions win over the FOA.

We will continue to post full funding opportunity announcements for requests for applications, program announcements with special receipt/referral/review considerations (PARs), program announcements with set-aside funds (PASs), and parent announcements. 

For more on Notices of Special Interest, see the full Guide Notice and the related FAQs.