A Look at the Degree Types for Principal Investigators Designated on NIH Applications and Awards: FYs 2014 to 2023

August 26, 2024

We occasionally look at the breakdown of our supported workforce by educational degree to gain further insights into topics like age at first award, funding inequalities, and demographic diversity. Here we focus on the number of applications and awards by degree type over the past ten fiscal years (FYs) to see how researchers with these varied professional backgrounds are included in our grant portfolio.

Trends Generally Continue in FY 2023 for Demographic-Specific Funding Rates for Type 1 Research Project Grant and R01-Equivalent Applications

July 29, 2024

Last year, we showed that there were slight improvements in the funding and success rates for Black/African American and Hispanic researchers in fiscal year (FY) 2022. The race-ethnicity gaps also narrowed over the past few years, though the overall number of Black/African American and Hispanic applicants remained low.

Age of Principal Investigators at the Time of First R01-Equivalent Remains Level with Recent Years in FY 2023

May 6, 2024

In 2021, we showed that the age at which a researcher is designated on an NIH award for the first time had increased since 1995 and plateaued in the 2010s, and that age differences were most correlated with the terminal degree of the investigator. Today we are sharing an update on these data for FYs 2021-2023, including information related to degree, gender, race, ethnicity, and disability status.

Updated Analyses Suggest Continued Decline in Research Project Grant Funding Inequalities for NIH-Supported Investigators, but Organizational Inequalities Remain: FY 1998 to FY 2023

April 19, 2024

We previously showed that the inequalities in the distribution of Research Project Grant funding to principal investigators increased, especially at the top end of funding, during the NIH budget doubling and the first few years after the 2013 budget sequestration. The degree of inequality appeared to fall, however, after NIH implemented the Next Generation Researchers Initiative. Here we present follow-up data that shows that the trends seen in recent years appear to be continuing in fiscal year 2023.