v2026.1CASRAI Dictionary 1,610 entries across 24 domains · CC-BY 4.01,610 entries · CC-BY 4.0

Dictionary termTrack EStablev2026.2

Non-competitive grant

A funding award made without a comparative peer-reviewed competition, either through direct invitation, formula allocation, or as a routine continuation of an existing multi-year award.

ByCASRAI Editorial Board

· Last updated 21 May 2026

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Examples

Worked examples

Is an instance
The year-2 segment of a 5-year R01 grant is released as a non-competitive continuation.
Is an instance
UK QR (Quality Related) block funding allocated to universities by REF formula is non-competitive.

Counter-examples

Looks similar, but isn't

Not an instance
An open call for proposals with peer review is competitive.
Not an instance
A new application that competes against others for funding is competitive.

Editorial commentary

Non-competitive grants include continuation segments of multi-year awards (where the year-2 and year-3 funding is released subject to progress, not re-competed), formula-based block grants to institutions (e.g., UK QR funding under REF), and directed awards to designated entities. Non-competitive does not mean unaccountable: progress reporting and rebudgeting controls still apply. Public-sector commissioning often uses non-competitive directed grants for unique national capability.

References

US NIH Grants Policy Statement on continuation awards; Research England QR funding methodology.

Also known as

Continuation funding (non-competitive) · Formula grant · Directed grant

Machine-readable encodings

Use in your systems

JATS XML <role> element

xml

<role vocab="credit"
      vocab-identifier="https://casrai.org/dictionary/"
      vocab-term="Non-competitive grant"
      vocab-term-identifier="https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/non-competitive-grant" />

Schema.org DefinedTerm (JSON-LD)

json

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "DefinedTerm",
  "@id": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/non-competitive-grant",
  "name": "Non-competitive grant",
  "identifier": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/non-competitive-grant",
  "description": "A funding award made without a comparative peer-reviewed competition, either through direct invitation, formula allocation, or as a routine continuation of an existing multi-year award.",
  "inDefinedTermSet": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/domain/funding-finance#set",
  "url": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/non-competitive-grant",
  "sameAs": [
    "Continuation funding (non-competitive)",
    "Formula grant",
    "Directed grant"
  ],
  "license": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "publisher": {
    "@id": "https://casrai.org/#organization"
  },
  "dateModified": "2026-05-21T02:22:58",
  "inLanguage": "en"
}

Referenced across the research world

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