FAQ Listing

Yes. View lists of awards.

NIJ considers those aspects of project design given special consideration to be reflections of best scientific practice and or critical to implementation of the findings resulting from a research project. NIJ will take those aspects of an applicant’s project design into consideration when weighting the totality of the independent peer review panel’s assessment of an application for award.

The official applicant is the sponsoring academic institution. Students must contact and seek the assistance of the university’s Office of Sponsored Programs, or equivalent office. Working with the student and their dissertation committee chair (or intended dissertation committee chair), a representative from the university OSP must complete and submit the full application package online at Grants.gov and JustGrants by the deadline date. Refer to the notice of funding opportunity for a full list of required documents.

Because coordination with their university OSP is necessary, students are encouraged to make contact EARLY to express their intent to submit an application.

Yes, but a separate application must be submitted for each student.

The committee chair (or faculty advisor, department chair, departmental director of graduate studies, or individual with similar responsibilities, as applicable) is expected to write a statement of support to be included with the application package. 

This statement may NOT be submitted independently by the committee chair, but must be included with the entire application package submitted by the university OSP administrator.

Failure to include the statement of support at the time of application will disqualify an application.

The student must work with a representative from the university’s Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP), or equivalent office, to assemble an application package.
The student is expected to author the program narrative and personal statement, as well as other necessary proposal elements, as specified in the notice of funding opportunity. These documents should be provided to the OSP administrator early enough to ensure that the application can be submitted before the deadline.

The university must provide verification of current enrollment in a qualifying doctoral program. As the official applicant, the university must upload all required documents and submit the application package in Grants.gov and JustGrants. See the current notice of funding opportunity for the list of required documents. Each file should be descriptively named according to what it contains (e.g., proposal narrative, statement of support, transcripts).

The proposed start date should be the estimated date on which the student could reasonably begin work on the dissertation research project, pending demonstration to NIJ of the formation of a dissertation committee and acceptance of the proposed dissertation topic. The proposed fellowship start date should be no earlier than January 1 of the year following application submission.

The practical availability of funds may be delayed pending the fulfillment of administrative award conditions. NIJ cautions the doctoral student and academic institution not to depend on any GRF funds until these requirements have been met.

Yes. Under such circumstances, in addition to all other requirements, the institution must submit an official letter stating that it expects that the student will be enrolled full-time in the doctoral degree program beginning the academic term in which fellowship activity is proposed to begin. Be aware that under these circumstances, if an award is made, NIJ will place a condition on the award withholding funds until full-time enrollment is demonstrated for the academic term in which fellowship activity is proposed to begin.

IRB approval for human subjects research is not required at the time of application. However, if you are awarded a fellowship, access to funds will be withheld until the final approved IRB package, along with a Human Subjects Protection (HSP) form and Privacy Certificate consistent with the IRB package, are received and approved by NIJ. See the guidance at Human Subjects and Privacy Protection and Confidentiality and Privacy Protections. If you already have IRB approval, you should submit these documents with the application to avoid delays in access to funds.

For those who do not yet have IRB approval, the human subjects certification form can be completed using box 6 option 3 to indicate IRB review is forthcoming.

 The privacy certificate can also be completed and include a statement that IRB review is forthcoming.

 If awarded, no work may begin until the IRB determination and privacy certificate are submitted, reviewed and approved by NIJ.