Research Insights

Federal funding agencies have expressed an intention to fund research that helps diagnose, cure, vaccinate against, deal with or understand COVID-19 and all its effects on society as a whole. Funding was provided to federal agencies under the CARES Act. While some in the research community may have anticipated the creation of numerous CARES Act funding opportunities, those targeted funding opportunities have been relatively small and are shown below.

Instead, due to the extensive reach of the pandemic and its effects on all aspects of life, agencies have encouraged applications dealing with COVID-19 under existing funding opportunities. We encourage faculty to talk directly with their program officers, who will be most up to date regarding areas of focus and COVID-related opportunities.

Please see the Research Matters Live video below, “Looking Ahead: COVID-19 Funding Opportunities Present & Future,” which provides additional details on how program officer involvement can aid in successful submission and awarding processes.

COVID-19 allocated funding

• National Institutes of Health (NIH) ($945 million) –
  • $103.4 million for the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute to prevent, prepare for, and respond to coronavirus, domestically or internationally
  • $706 million for the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to prevent, prepare for and respond to coronavirus, domestically or internationally. Provided that not less than $156 million of the amounts provided under this heading in this Act shall be provided for the study of, construction of, demolition of, renovation of and acquisition of equipment for vaccine and infectious diseases research facilities of or used by NIH, including the acquisition of real property.
  • $60 million for the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering to prevent, prepare for and respond to coronavirus, domestically or internationally.
  • $10 million for the National Library of Medicine to prevent, prepare for and respond to coronavirus, domestically or internationally.
  • $36 million for the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences to prevent, prepare for and respond to coronavirus, domestically or internationally.
  • $30 million for the Office of the Director Common Fund, to prepare for and respond to coronavirus, domestically or internationally.
  • NIH COVID-19 Portfolio Tool: a comprehensive listing of COVID‑19 publications and preprints with a user-friendly portfolio analysis interface for querying the full text and supplemental data
• National Science Foundation (NSF) ($75 million) –
  • $75 million for RAPID Response Grants to prevent, prepare for and respond to coronavirus, domestically or internationally.
  • Please note:
    • SEC. 12002.
      • (a) Funds appropriated in this title for the National Science Foundation may be made available to restore amounts, either directly or through reimbursement, for obligations incurred by the National Science Foundation for research grants and other necessary expenses to prevent, prepare for, and respond to coronavirus, domestically or internationally, prior to the date of enactment of this Act.
      • (b) Grants or cooperative agreements made by the National Science Foundation under this title, to carry out research grants and other necessary expenses to prevent, prepare for and respond to coronavirus, domestically or internationally, shall include amounts to reimburse costs for these purposes incurred between Jan. 20, 2020, and the date of issuance of such grants or agreements.
• National Institute of Food & Agriculture – Rapid response to novel coronavirus (SARS-COV-2) impacts across food & agriculture systems
  • Through the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI), NIFA will invest up to $9 million for research in the following areas:
    • health and security of livestock
    • food and food processing
    • well-being of farm workforce, food service providers, and rural Americans
    • economic security
• Department of Defense, Defense Health Program – $415 million made available for research, development, test and evaluation to prevent, prepare for and respond to coronavirus.
• Department of Energy, Office of Science – $99.5 million to prevent, prepare for and respond to coronavirus, domestically or internationally, for necessary expenses related to providing support and access to scientific user facilities in the Office of Science and National Nuclear Security Administration, including equipment, enabling technologies and personnel associated with the operations of those scientific user facilities.
• National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) – $75 million for “Grants and Administration” to prevent, prepare for and respond to coronavirus, domestically or internationally, to be distributed in grants. Forty (40) percent of such funds shall be distributed to state humanities councils, and 60 percent of such funds shall be for direct grants. Funds may also be used by the recipients of such grants for purposes of the general operations of such recipients, and cost share is waived.
• National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) – $60 million for ‘‘Safety, Security and Mission Services” to prevent, prepare for and respond to coronavirus, domestically or internationally.
• National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST): Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership and National Network for Manufacturing Innovation –
  • $50 million for the Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership to assist manufacturers to prevent, prepare for and respond to coronavirus
  • $10 million for the National Network for Manufacturing Innovation (also known as ‘‘Manufacturing USA’’) to prevent, prepare for and respond to coronavirus, including to support development and manufacturing of medical countermeasures and biomedical equipment and supplies.
  • No cost share shall be required for these provisions.
• National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) – $20 million to prevent, prepare for and respond to coronavirus, domestically or internationally, by supporting continuity of operations, including National Weather Service life- and property-related operations.
• USDA Forest Service – $3 million for forest and rangeland research, which includes USDA Forest Service research as well as funds for fire science research. The funding will prevent, prepare for and respond to coronavirus, domestically or internationally, including for the reestablishment of abandoned or failed experiments associated with employee restrictions due to the coronavirus outbreak.
• Environmental Protection Agency, Science and Technology – $2.25 million for “Science and Technology” to prevent, prepare for, and respond to coronavirus, domestically or internationally. Provided, That of the amount provided under this heading in this Act, $750,000 shall be for necessary expenses for cleaning and disinfecting equipment or facilities of, or for use by, the Environmental Protection Agency, and $1,500,000 shall be for research on methods to reduce the risks from environmental transmission of coronavirus via contaminated surfaces or materials.