Renewable Award: Competing Renewal

Renewable award

A grant mechanism whose terms allow the recipient to submit a new, fully peer-reviewed competing application -- a competing renewal -- for a further period of support once the current project period ends, competing on equal footing with new applications. NIH designates this a Type 2 application; it is distinct from the routine, non-competing continuation awards issued within an already-approved project period.

ByCASRAI Editorial Board

· Last updated 5 Sept 2026

Renewal is a mechanism eligibility, not a routine release

This is the point most often confused with continuation award. A continuation award (NIH Type 5) is the routine, non-peer-reviewed release of the next budget period’s funding within an award’s already-approved project period. A competing renewal (NIH Type 2) is a request for support beyond the current project period — it must be developed and reviewed exactly as if it were a first-time application, and it competes directly against genuinely new (Type 1) applications for the same pool of funding. Renewability describes whether that Type 2 path exists at all for a given mechanism; continuation happens automatically (subject to satisfactory progress) within a project period regardless of whether the mechanism is renewable.

Not every mechanism supports renewal

Renewal availability is mechanism-specific. NIH’s R01 supports a Type 2 competing renewal. The R21 Exploratory/Developmental Research Grant explicitly does not: once an R21 project period ends, there is no renewal path, and further work requires a new Type 1 application under whatever mechanism fits the next stage of the science.

What a competing renewal application must do

A competing renewal cannot simply summarize prior progress and request more time — it must present a full research plan, undergo full scientific peer review, and be judged on scientific merit against the current pool of applicants, including entirely new investigators.

Non-US example

Wellcome Investigator Awards illustrate the same principle outside NIH: a successful award holder can apply to renew for a second term (commonly referred to as a further quinquennium), but that application is separately assessed on its own merits rather than issued automatically.

Use in your systems

JATS XML <role> element

xml

<role vocab="credit"
      vocab-identifier="https://casrai.org/dictionary/"
      vocab-term="Renewable award"
      vocab-term-identifier="https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/renewable-award" />

Schema.org DefinedTerm (JSON-LD)

json

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "DefinedTerm",
  "@id": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/renewable-award",
  "name": "Renewable award",
  "identifier": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/renewable-award",
  "description": "A grant mechanism whose terms allow the recipient to submit a new, fully peer-reviewed competing application -- a competing renewal -- for a further period of support once the current project period ends, competing on equal footing with new applications. NIH designates this a Type 2 application; it is distinct from the routine, non-competing continuation awards issued within an already-approved project period.",
  "inDefinedTermSet": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/domain/funding-finance#set",
  "url": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/renewable-award",
  "alternateName": [
    "Competing renewal",
    "Renewable grant"
  ],
  "license": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "publisher": {
    "@id": "https://casrai.org/#organization"
  },
  "author": {
    "@id": "https://casrai.org/#editorial-team"
  },
  "datePublished": "2026-05-21T02:22:58",
  "dateModified": "2026-09-05T17:32:25",
  "inLanguage": "en-GB",
  "isAccessibleForFree": true
}