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1Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute2Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems3Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesNIH reported a record 1,648 early-stage investigators (ESIs) receiving R01-equivalent extramural awards in fiscal year 2026—25% above its 10-year average. But that does not establish that NIH made fewer awards overall in FY2026: final full-year counts were not yet available as of October 8, 2026. The latest complete-year data show that total awards and competing research-project awards fell in FY2025, even as funding dollars rose.
What NIH’s 2026 early-career announcement means
On October 8, 2026, NIH said it supported 1,648 ESIs through R01-equivalent extramural research awards in FY2026, its highest recorded number for this measure. That was 25% above the agency’s 10-year average of 1,323. The figure refers specifically to ESI recipients of R01-equivalent awards; it is not a count of all early-career researchers supported by NIH or of every type of NIH grant. NIH’s announcement
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NIH also announced Generation Discovery, a separate effort to recruit 100 early-career principal investigators into its Intramural Research Program over three years. These recruits would work within NIH’s own research program; they are not part of the extramural R01-equivalent award count.
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The answer depends on the fiscal year and the award measure. FY2025 is the latest complete fiscal year with the reported final totals in the available data. Those figures show fewer awards than FY2024. FY2026 comparisons available by October 8 were partial-year snapshots, not final annual totals.
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| Measure | FY2025 result | Change from FY2024 |
|---|---|---|
| All NIH extramural awards | 55,394 awards | Down 6.2% |
| Competing Research Project Grant (RPG) awards | 8,161 awards | Down 20.5% |
| RPG success rate | 13.0% | Down from 18.5% |
| All NIH extramural award dollars | $35.30 billion | Up 0.4% |
“Competing” RPG awards include new and renewal awards; they are not the same as all NIH awards. NIH’s March 2026 FY2025 summary reported that total RPG funding, including competing and noncompeting awards, grew 3.0%, while the average RPG award size rose 8.9% to $675,426. Thus, a decline in award counts did not mean that total funding dollars also declined.
What is known about the FY2026 award pace?
AAMC’s September 9, 2026 snapshot counted NIH grants funded through August 31. By that date, NIH had funded 1,924 fewer grants than by the same point in FY2025 and 9,714 fewer than by that point in FY2024. This is a year-to-date comparison, not a final FY2026 count. AAMC’s FY2026 tracking page
As of October 8, NIH’s public dashboard labeled FY2026 figures as estimates pending release of budget actuals. NIH RePORT said frozen FY2026 data were planned for release by December 31, 2026. The available evidence therefore supports saying that the partial-year pace was behind the prior two years at the August 31 checkpoint, but it does not establish a definitive full-year decline in all awards or competing awards. NIH RePORT
Why can award counts fall while funding rises?
Grant counts, dollars, and average award size measure different things. NIH reported a 0.4% increase in total extramural dollars in FY2025 alongside a 6.2% decrease in total extramural awards. For RPGs, the count of competing awards fell 20.5%, while total RPG funding rose 3.0% and average RPG size increased 8.9%. Larger average awards and different funding schedules can result in more dollars being committed even when fewer awards are made.
NIH’s FY2026 notice reported $47.5 billion in program-level funding, 1% above FY2025. That topline does not translate directly into a particular number of awards: allocation choices, award sizes, and the timing of multiyear commitments all affect counts. NIH said noncompeting continuation awards generally would be issued at the commitment level in their Notices of Award, subject to funding availability and other conditions. NIH’s FY2026 fiscal policy notice
What happened to early-stage investigators in FY2025?
The record FY2026 number follows a sharp fall in NIH’s reported ESI R01-equivalent figures the previous year. NIH’s career-stage data show 1,423 ESI awardees and a 26.1% funding rate in FY2024, compared with 1,144 awardees and an 18.9% rate in FY2025.
| Career-stage category | FY2025 funding rate |
|---|---|
| Early-stage investigators | 18.9% |
| New non-ESI investigators | 10.0% |
| At-risk investigators | 16.9% |
| Established investigators | 19.6% |
These are NIH career-stage categories and people-based principal-investigator counts, not counts of all applications. NIH said a policy introduced in June 2025 may have contributed to the ESI decline: it directed 50% of remaining competing RPG funds to full-year funded competing awards, which NIH expected could mean fewer awards and fewer researchers supported. NIH presented this as a possible factor, not a definitive explanation for the decline. NIH’s ESI analysis
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In a September 28, 2026 notice, NIH said the government was operating under a continuing resolution through December 11, 2026, at FY2026 enacted funding levels. NIH institutes and centers could, at their discretion, issue noncompeting research awards below the latest Notice of Award commitment. NIH said upward adjustments would be considered after FY2027 appropriations. NIH’s continuing-resolution notice
Separately, NIH’s FY2027 budget overview proposes fully funding competing RPG outyear commitments at initial obligation. That is a proposal and policy rationale, not an enacted FY2026 funding rule. NIH Office of Budget’s FY2027 overview
Are NIH K awards changing?
NIH’s August 2026 notice outlined planned changes to career development (K) awards: consolidating individual K funding opportunity notices, removing the data-management-and-sharing-plan requirement for K applications, and clarifying the use of K funds in clinical-trial research.
- K-award funds may not be used to conduct a clinical trial, feasibility study, or ancillary study.
- A K awardee may participate in a trial led by a mentor.
- A K awardee who wants to lead a trial as principal investigator must obtain separate funding.
NIH said the changes would apply to due dates on or after October 12, 2027, and that affected current activity-code opportunities were to expire by July 13, 2027. Applicants should check the current funding opportunity notice for applicable requirements. NIH’s K-award update
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