Department of Psychology
Proposal Development


Updated: July 7, 2006

How-to Guide for NIH R03 Grants

This page provides step by step instructions for how to apply to the National Institutes of Health R03 program (via Grants.gov). Please contact the Liberal Arts Grants and Contracts Office for more specific guidance (contacts below).

General Information for NEW or RESUBMITTED Proposals:

A Printable Checklist is provided so that you know what is needed in an R03 application. Please print this checklist and use it to assist you in selecting what you need from the links on this page.

The annotated (by Alicia Knoedler) NIH Grants.gov instructions are available in PDF here: SF424_RR_Guide_General.pdf

Proposal Forms and Sections:

Because NIH R03 proposals are now submitted through Grants.gov, everything is completed within a Grants.gov application file.

The general goal for using all Grants.gov forms is to open documents that appear in the boxes on the left hand side (lower half of the image), complete them, and then move them over to the boxes on the right hand side.


The remainder of this guide walks you through all the documents listed within the R03 set of forms.

Documents to Complete

Mandatory Documents – You must complete something or everything on each of these forms

Document Name Description PDF Example

SF424 (R&R)

general cover pages, 2 pages of content to fill in

RR_SF424_Pg1.pdf

RR_SF424_Pg2.pdf

PHS 398 Research Plan the place to upload your files for the research plan, human subjects, and the like, 1 page PHS398_ResearchPlan.pdf
PHS 398 Cover Page Supplement additional information; self-explanatory, 2 pages

CoverPageSupplement_1.pdf

CoverPageSupplement_2.pdf

PHS 398 Checklist 2 pages of minimal information required of investigators

PHS398_Checklist_1.pdf

PHS398_Checklist_2.pdf

Research & Related Other Project Information self-explanatory, but most importantly, this is the page onto which to upload files like the summary, literature cited, etc. RR_OtherProjectInfo.pdf
Research & Related Senior/Key Person address info on key personnel; page into which biosketches are uploaded RR_Key_Person.pdf
Research & Related Project/Performance Site Locations 1 page for locations at which research will take place PerformanceSite_1.pdf

Optional Documents – You may use some of these forms and not others

Document Name Description PDF Example
PHS 398 Cover Letter File strongly recommended; required if proposal will be late PHS398_CoverLetter.pdf
R&R Subaward Budget Attachment Form only required if the proposal has a subcontract Not available
Research & Related Budget detailed budget; not allowed for R03s Not applicable
PHS 398 Modular Budget modular budget; required for R03s; 2 pages

PHS398_ModularBudget_1.pdf

PHS398_ModularBudget_2.pdf

All the forms together with annotations: Grants_gov_R03_example.pdf

The links below come from NIH's website (only use these if the templates and samples do not work):

Warnings:

Contacts:

If you can't find what you are looking for here, please contact the following individuals in the Liberal Arts Grants and Contracts Office for assistance:

Main Phone Number: 865-8030

Trish Alexander - 863-6475 or talexander@psu.edu

Jen Hillebrand - 863-6477 or jth18@psu.edu

Chris Bundy - 863-6476 or clb4@psu.edu

Chris Woods - 865-8030 or cwoods@la.psu.edu


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