Sorry if this is a duplicate - I think that only Herbert Sauro received
my reply to his statement about the NIH not funding foreign grants, and
I wanted this information widely circulated:
Here's the official word about the award of NIH grants to foreign
institutions, and the R21 grants described in the program announcement
in particular. Here is the appropriate section of the full
announcement:
"ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS
Applications may be submitted by foreign, domestic, for-profit and
non-profit organizations, both public and private, such as
universities, colleges, hospitals, laboratories, units of state and
local governments, and eligible agencies of the Federal government.
Racial/ethnic minority individuals, women, and persons with
disabilities are encouraged to apply as principal investigators."
Note that the NIH gives grants to institutions, not individuals. If an
application from a foreign source scores well enough to be considered
for funding, the NIGMS Advisory Council will review it for
appropriateness to the institute's objectives; the program official must
also justify funding based on the unique opportunity posed by the
proposed research (relative to what may already be supported in the
States). The NIH's intention to fund must also clear State Department
review. The awards do not include indirect costs, which may be a factor
in why we see so few foreign applications. Currently, NIGMS supports
12 R01 grants from foreign institutions, out of a total of approximately
3700 research project grants of all mechanisms.
No "godfathers" are required, and the work is done in the country from
which the application is submitted.
J. J. Anderson
Program Director, NIGMS
