An NIH R13 is a Conference Grant — a grant awarded to an eligible domestic organization, not an individual, to help fund a scientific meeting, symposium, or workshop. Its cooperative-agreement counterpart, the U13, funds the same kind of meeting but with substantial NIH staff involvement in planning. Together the two mechanisms are usually what people mean by “NIH conference grant” or “NIH meeting grant.”
The single biggest thing to know if you are applying in 2026: NIH removed the long-standing advance-permission requirement for R13/U13 applications, effective February 10, 2026 (NOT-OD-26-040). Applicants no longer have to request written permission from the funding Institute, Center, or Office (ICO) or document that permission in the Cover Letter attachment before submitting. Below covers what changed, why it still matters to check with the ICO informally, and the full application checklist.
NIH R13 conference grant at a glance
| Item | What applies |
|---|---|
| Activity codes | R13 (Conference Grant) and U13 (Conference — Cooperative Agreement) |
| Funding instrument | R13 = grant; U13 = cooperative agreement (NIH has substantial programmatic involvement) |
| Who can apply | Domestic institutions and organizations, including established scientific/professional societies. Individuals cannot apply. Foreign institutions are not eligible; an international conference can only be supported through the U.S. representative organization of an established international society. |
| Advance ICO permission required? | No, as of February 10, 2026 (previously yes). See “What changed” below. |
| Indirect costs (F&A) | Not allowed on R13/U13 budgets |
| Standard parent funding opportunity | PA-25-080, “NIH Support for Conferences and Scientific Meetings (Parent R13 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)” |
| Typical support period | Most ICs will fund up to 5 years for a recurring annual/biennial conference series proposed by a permanent sponsoring organization |
| Application due dates | Unchanged by the 2026 policy update — follow the specific funding opportunity’s standard or IC-specific due dates |
Last verified against primary NIH sources: August 16, 2026.
What changed: the advance-permission requirement, before and after
For years, NIH’s R13/U13 application instructions required applicants to obtain written permission from the funding ICO before submission and to document that permission as part of the Cover Letter attachment on the SF424 (R&R) form. Failing to secure and document that permission — or misunderstanding which office’s sign-off counted — was one of the most common ways an otherwise strong conference grant application got flagged or delayed.
That requirement is gone. Per NOT-OD-26-040, issued February 10, 2026 as part of NIH’s effort to reduce administrative burden on applicants, NIH “will no longer require applicants to request written permission from the ICO and/or document receipt of permission as part of the Cover Letter attachment on the SF424 (R&R) Form.” The change took effect immediately on release and applies to both the R13 and U13 activity codes. NIH noted that conforming updates to NIH Grants Policy Statement Section 14.1 and to the Parent R13 funding opportunity were forthcoming at the time of the notice.
Two things did not change:
- Funding is still ICO-discretionary and often scarce. The notice itself points applicants to the NIH Director’s Statement of Priorities and reminds them that conference support depends on the interest and priorities of the specific Institute, Center, or Office. NIH’s own current guidance still “encourages” — without requiring — reaching out to the ICO ahead of submission to gauge interest, since for many ICs conference funding is extremely limited.
- The award has to be able to precede the conference. NIH will generally not issue a conference grant award unless the award date can come before the conference start date. Funding a conference retroactively, after it has already happened, is reserved for exigent circumstances (a government shutdown, natural disaster, or similar emergency) and only when the ICO can document that the post-conference activity is consistent with the approved application.
Practical implication for a research administration office: drop the “obtain and attach ICO permission letter” step from your R13/U13 checklist and SOP template, but keep an informal pre-submission outreach step, since it is still the only real signal of whether a given ICO has appetite (and budget) for a particular conference in a given cycle. You can use the PHS Assignment Request Form to communicate assignment preferences to the Division of Receipt and Referral if you want a specific IC or study section to review the application.
R13 vs. U13: grant or cooperative agreement?
Both codes fund the same kind of activity — NIH defines a “conference” broadly as a symposium, seminar, workshop, or other organized, formal meeting (in person or virtual) held to exchange technical information or explore a defined subject, whether or not a published report results. The difference is the funding instrument and how much NIH staff are involved in running the show:
| R13 | U13 | |
|---|---|---|
| Funding instrument | Grant | Cooperative agreement |
| NIH programmatic involvement | Standard grant-level oversight | Substantial — NIH staff are meaningfully involved in planning and execution, not just funding |
| Eligibility, budget rules, application requirements | Same as U13 | Same as R13 |
See CASRAI’s Grant vs. Contract vs. Cooperative Agreement comparison and the Cooperative Agreement dictionary term for how a cooperative agreement differs from a standard grant more generally.
Who can apply
- Eligibility is limited to domestic institutions and organizations, including established scientific or professional societies.
- Foreign institutions are not eligible to apply directly.
- An international conference can still be supported, but only through the U.S. representative organization of an established international scientific or professional society.
- An individual cannot receive an R13 or U13 award — funding always flows to an organization, even when one person is the driving force behind the meeting.
Always check the Eligibility section of the specific funding opportunity, since individual ICOs can add opportunity-specific requirements on top of these baseline rules.
Application steps
Beyond the standard SF424 (R&R) Application Guide instructions, R13/U13 applications carry several special submission requirements:
1. Budget
Submit a detailed, categorical budget using the Research & Related Budget form. Facilities and Administrative (F&A/indirect) costs are not allowed on conference grants. Confirm any IC-specific budget caps or project-duration limits directly with the awarding IC before finalizing figures.
2. Conference Plan (replaces the Research Strategy section)
This is the substantive narrative and should:
- Describe the objectives, specific program, and logistical arrangements for the meeting.
- Identify related conferences held on the same subject in the past three years and explain how the proposed conference is similar to or different from them.
- Describe strategies for identifying and publicizing childcare/family-care resources at the conference site.
- Describe how the conference will be publicized to all interested participants.
3. Safety Plan (Just-in-Time)
Per NIH’s Just-in-Time process, applications recommended for funding must submit a Plan to Promote Safe Environments as JIT material (NOT-OD-22-074). At minimum it must include: a commitment to provide a safe environment; a statement of behavioral expectations (with explicit emphasis on sexual, racial, ethnic, and other harassment); confidential reporting instructions for attendees; how organizers will assess allegations and what the consequences are; information on contacting the HHS Office for Civil Rights and how a complaint can be filed there independent of any internal process; and how attendees can notify NIH directly of harassment or discrimination concerns at NIH-supported conferences. Along with the plan itself, applicants must also describe the communication strategy for sharing it with attendees and the documentation process for allegations and resulting actions.
4. International collaborators
If any member of the conference’s organizing committee — anyone who helps decide who speaks or participates — is from a foreign country, NIH treats that as an international collaboration, regardless of whether that person is listed as senior/key personnel or whether a publication is planned from the conference. Applications with international collaborators must follow the instructions in NOT-OD-25-098.
5. Period of support and multi-year requests
Most ICs will accept applications for up to five years of support for a series of annual or biennial conferences proposed by a permanently sponsoring organization. Multi-year requests must detail, for each future year: the meeting topic(s), tentative date(s) and location(s), anticipated participants, and contingency plans (for example, how the plan changes depending on the outcome of the first year’s conference or developments in the field).
6. Appendix materials
Appendix material is only allowed if the specific funding opportunity announcement explicitly requests it.
Finding the right funding opportunity
Most applicants use the standing Parent R13 announcement (PA-25-080) — a broad, investigator-initiated funding opportunity that isn’t tied to a specific scientific topic and simply provides the standard forms and instructions. Not every NIH institute or center participates in every parent announcement, so check the participating-organizations list in the specific opportunity, and consult each IC’s own conference-funding profile for programmatic priorities and contacts before you invest time in a full Conference Plan.
Frequently asked questions
Does NIH still require advance permission for R13 grants?
No. As of February 10, 2026 (NOT-OD-26-040), NIH no longer requires applicants to request written permission from the funding ICO or document that permission in the application’s Cover Letter attachment. Reaching out informally before submission is still encouraged, since conference funding is discretionary and often limited, but it is not a submission requirement.
What’s the difference between an NIH R13 grant and a U13?
Both fund conferences, symposia, and workshops. R13 is a grant; U13 is a cooperative agreement, meaning NIH staff have substantial programmatic involvement in planning and running the meeting rather than just funding it.
Can an individual researcher apply for an NIH conference grant?
No. R13 and U13 awards go to eligible domestic organizations — including scientific and professional societies — not to individuals, even when a single investigator is organizing the meeting.
Are indirect (F&A) costs allowed on an R13 budget?
No. Facilities and Administrative costs are not allowed on R13/U13 conference grant or cooperative agreement budgets.
Is an NIH conference grant the same as individual conference travel funding?
No. R13/U13 is an institutional mechanism that funds the meeting itself — logistics, speaker support, program costs. It’s a different thing from a conference travel grant, which funds an individual researcher’s travel and registration to attend someone else’s conference.
Does the award date have to come before the conference?
In general, yes. NIH will typically not make a conference grant award unless the award date can precede the conference start date. Funding after the fact is reserved for exigent circumstances (government shutdown, natural disaster, or similar) and only when the ICO can confirm the post-conference activity matches the approved application.
Related CASRAI resources
- NIH Activity Codes — how R13 fits into NIH’s broader three-character activity-code system
- NIH Prior Approval — the general post-award prior-approval framework (distinct from the pre-submission permission this page discusses)
- NIH Grants Policy Statement (NIH GPS) — Section 14.1 covers conference/meeting support generally
- NIH Just-in-Time (JIT) Submission Process — where the Safety Plan gets submitted if your application is recommended for funding
- Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO): How to Read One
- NIH Standard Due Dates
- Grant vs. Contract vs. Cooperative Agreement
- Grants Management & Research Funding — the full grants-management cluster hub
