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Exploratory/Developmental Research Grant (R21)

National Institutes of Health

TraditionalFederal grant

Short, higher-risk projects: feasibility work, new measures, early-stage intervention development. No preliminary data required, which is what makes it the usual first NIH grant for a social work researcher.

Indicative award
up to $275k (total award)Combined direct costs across the two years, with no single-year ceiling inside that total.
Timing
Several times a yearSeveral times a year · Feb, Jun, OctNo specific published date recorded. This funder publishes a cycle rather than a date, and this database does not invent one.Standard NIH due dates three times a year — but not every institute participates.
Who can apply
Early-career faculty, Any faculty rank
Eligibility
Institution applies. Confirm the target institute accepts R21s under the parent announcement; several do not, and that is not obvious from the announcement itself.
SSWR clusters
Special Interest Groups
Topics
feasibility · pilot · measure development · intervention development
Apply at
https://grants.nih.gov/funding/activity-codes/R21
This entry
Curated by the working group. Written 2026-08-07. Funder link last confirmed to resolve on 2026-09-25.

Amounts and dates on this page are indicative and are maintained by people rather than scraped. Funders change ceilings, windows and eligibility without notice; confirm all details at the source above before applying.

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