Funding & Awards

• Research, development and evaluation (CFDA 16.560). NIJ funds physical and social science research, development and evaluation projects about criminal justice through competitive solicitations. The focus of the solicitations varies from year to year based on research priorities and available funding.
• Research fellowships. NIJ strengthens and broadens the pool of researchers looking at criminal justice issues through fostering various fellowship programs which provide opportunities to the researcher community. Learn more about NIJ’s fellowship programs.
• Travel Scholarships. NIJ funds two programs that provide funding for successful applicants to travel to select conferences and events. Learn more about NIJ's travel scholarship programs.

Unsolicited Proposals. Although you may submit unsolicited proposals, you are discouraged from doing so unless you have discussed the concept with NIJ staff and been asked to submit a proposal that does not fit into a specific solicitation. Unsolicited proposals may receive either an external peer review or an internal review. If the proposal fits into an already established solicitation category, it will be returned with a recommendation to resubmit it under that solicitation.

• Forthcoming funding opportunities — typically in the late fall, we begin posting a list of forthcoming solicitations to allow potential applicants to learn our areas of interest in the coming solicitation season.
• Current funding opportunities — list of solicitations under which we are accepting applications; typically, most solicitations are released December through May (subject to appropriations availability). 
• Expired funding opportunities — a complete list of solicitations from past years, dating back to fiscal year 2005. Each solicitation title links to a detail page that shows the total number and cumulative amount of the resulting awards and a list of those awards with links to detailed information on each.

Visit NIJ’s page on guidance for applicants and awardees for more information on how to manage an award from application to closeout. Learn about:

• What to do before you apply
• Building your proposal 
  • See sample applications
• Submitting your application
• Application review and award notification processes
• Requirements if your proposal is funded

Because most solicitations are competitive, we cannot have individual conversations concerning the solicitation with prospective applicants. Any questions concerning open solicitation should be submitted to the OJP Response Center by phone 1-800-851-3420 (TTY at 301-240-6310 for hearing impaired only) or by email at [email protected].

NIJ awards grants and cooperative agreements for various research, development, and evaluation projects;  and fellowship programs. You may view, search, and filter a list of previously funded projects to better understand what types of projects NIJ funds.

Each listed award includes a link to a detail screen on which you will see details about the award, a description, and a list of products (e.g., publications, reports, peer-reviewed articles) generated by the awardee. 

View the awards list.

NIJ, as part of the Federal Government, is committed to monitoring the operation of its review and award processes to identify and address any inequities based on gender, race, ethnicity, or disability of its proposed project directors, principal investigators, co-project directors, and co-principal investigators. To gather information needed for this important task, applicants may submit the requested information for each identified project director, principal investigator, co-project director, and co-principal investigator. Submission of the requested information is voluntary and is not a precondition of an award. 

How and when to submit -

1. Once you have received your application number, download the form Research & Related Personal Data. To view the file, you may need to upgrade your version of Acrobat Reader. Also, some browser viewers cannot display this type of PDF form. You may need to set your browser to download the form instead of viewing it within the browser.  
2. Read the Instructions.
3. Submit the form via an email attachment to [email protected]. Be sure to include your application number within the body of the email.