NSF BIO: Biological Sciences Directorate Guide

NSF BIO is the Directorate for Biological Sciences at the U.S. National Science Foundation. Its official page describes a directorate that “supports research and education that advances the understanding of all forms of life and their components at all scales.” For a research office, the practical questions are where a biology proposal fits, which rules apply to it and which compliance items need institutional attention. This guide answers those questions using NSF’s own BIO pages, as described on the official pages on 2026-10-29. Programs change, so confirm current details at nsf.gov/bio before you commit to a plan.

What it is and who runs it

BIO is one of NSF’s research directorates and is overseen by program directors. For background on the agency itself, see the CASRAI entry for the National Science Foundation (NSF). The BIO About page says the directorate “enables discoveries for understanding life” and groups what it supports into three categories:

Core Biological Sciences Research.
Workforce Development: education and training at multiple career stages.
Initiatives and Infrastructure: partnerships, centers, institutes and facilities.

How BIO is organised: three thematic areas

The current BIO pages organise the directorate into three thematic areas rather than the older division names that appear in many university guides and legacy documents.

Thematic area	What the About page says it covers	Contact listed on the BIO Core page
Foundations of Life (FL)	Fundamental research on natural and synthetic living systems, from biomolecules to organisms	[email protected]
Living Systems (LS)	How organisms and their interactions evolve and shape natural and managed systems	[email protected]
Bioinnovation and Infrastructure (BI)	Discovery-based research on functional genomics and new technological approaches	[email protected]

The BIO landing page names two sections within Living Systems: Evolutionary Patterns & Processes (EPP) and Organismal Interactions & Ecology (OIE). If you are reading older guidance that refers to a division structure, treat it as historical and check the official BIO page for the current arrangement before you route a proposal.

Eligibility (summary, with the official source)

Eligibility is not set on the BIO landing page. It is set by each solicitation and by NSF’s Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide. The BIO Core program page, as described on the official page on 2026-10-29, does not state eligibility rules itself and instead points proposers to the solicitation (NSF 26-517) and the guide. Use these official sources:

Core Research in Biological Sciences (BIO Core), solicitation NSF 26-517.
Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG).
Preparing Your Proposal and NSF guidance for early-career researchers.

For how NSF’s requirements compare with another major agency, see NSF vs DOE grant requirements.

What it funds or requires

The BIO Core program page describes support for foundational and interdisciplinary research that advances understanding of biology. It gives an estimate of 250 to 300 awards and states no dollar amounts or fixed durations on the page, so do not plan a budget ceiling from it; the solicitation (NSF 26-517) is the place for those details.

BIO’s guidance pages also cover conference proposals, supplemental funding requests and plans for safe, harassment-free fieldwork. Those are the places to look if your project involves a meeting, an add-on to an existing award or field sites.

Application or compliance steps

BIO Core lists “Full proposal accepted anytime” as its submission window, so there is no single deadline to build a calendar around. Work through the following in order.

Choose the thematic area. Match the project to Foundations of Life, Living Systems or Bioinnovation and Infrastructure using the descriptions above, and use the matching contact address for questions about fit.
Read the solicitation and the PAPPG. Eligibility, limits on submissions and required elements are defined there, not on the BIO landing page.
Prepare the Data Management and Sharing Plan. BIO publishes its own DMSP guidance, summarised below.
Check fieldwork plans where the project includes field sites, using BIO’s guidance on safe, harassment-free fieldwork.
Plan the reporting. The DMSP carries obligations into annual and final reports.

What BIO’s DMSP guidance says

For a general definition, see the CASRAI entry on the data management plan (DMP). BIO’s guidance, as described on 2026-10-29, includes these points:

BIO uses “data” to mean research outputs, assets and resources generated by any NSF BIO-funded project. Individual funding opportunities may add requirements.
Publications and supporting data should be publicly and freely available at publication.
Plans should use recognized, community-accepted repositories that meet national or international standards, and assign persistent identifiers such as DOIs or URLs where possible. Self-publishing on personal or lab websites instead of a public repository may be considered inadequate.
Plans should align with the FAIR principles and may include the CARE principles for Indigenous data governance.
Sensitive data, such as personal health or human genomic data, may have access restrictions, and the DMSP form requires a justification for any limitation.
The DMSP is submitted through a form on Research.gov, not as a standalone document. You describe up to four data types or research products and, for each, address limitations or exceptions, standards and metadata, provenance, public archiving, timeline for public access, data availability and accountability.
Costs of carrying out the plan, including personnel time and expenses for management, preservation, access and sharing, are allowable. Put them in the appropriate budget categories and justify them in the budget narrative.

Typical timeline phases

BIO publishes no calendar for BIO Core because proposals are accepted anytime, so the phases below describe sequence, not dates.

Before submission: read the solicitation and PAPPG, settle the thematic area, draft the DMSP form and its budget lines, and complete any fieldwork plan.
Submission: full proposal submitted through NSF’s systems at any time while the solicitation is open.
During the award: deliver the outputs the DMSP promised and keep a record of who is responsible for sharing each one.
Annual and final reporting: list publicly released outputs under “Other Products,” add them to the NSF Public Access Repository (PAR) before submitting the report, and describe standards, metadata, provenance, repositories, identifiers, sharing timelines and the responsible person for each data type. PAR stores metadata and links but is not a sole archival mechanism.
Later proposals: PIs and co-PIs must report evidence of outputs from prior DMSPs in “Results from Prior NSF Support,” covering availability, accessibility, preservation and sharing, and list outputs with persistent identifiers in “References Cited.”

Common mistakes

Routing by legacy division names. Older materials use a division structure that the current BIO pages do not describe. Use the three thematic areas.
Assuming eligibility from the landing page. The BIO Core page does not state eligibility, so confirm it in NSF 26-517 and the PAPPG.
Treating the DMSP as an uploaded document. It is a Research.gov form with up to four data types.
Pointing to a lab website as the archive. BIO’s guidance says self-publishing instead of using a public repository may be considered inadequate.
Leaving DMSP costs out of the budget. The guidance states these costs are allowable and should be justified in the budget narrative.
Changing the plan without telling anyone. BIO says changes from the original DMSP go in the “Changes/Problems” section of the report, after discussing them with the program director.
Forgetting prior-DMSP evidence. It is a stated requirement in “Results from Prior NSF Support.”

Related programs

The BIO landing page, as described on the official page on 2026-10-29, lists these opportunities alongside BIO Core. Each has its own official page and rules. For another NSF directorate-level program, see the CASRAI guide to NSF CMMI.

Program	What the sources say	Further reading
Core Research in Biological Sciences (BIO Core)	Foundational and interdisciplinary biology research; full proposals accepted anytime (NSF 26-517)	NSF program page
Postdoctoral Research Fellowships in Biology (PRFB)	Listed as a funding opportunity on the BIO page; check its own program page for rules and due dates	NSF postdoctoral fellowships by directorate
Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP)	Listed as a funding opportunity on the BIO page	NSF BIO page
CAREER (Faculty Early Career Development Program)	NSF-wide early-career award; a different mechanism from BIO Core	NSF CAREER award

FAQ

What does NSF BIO stand for?

BIO is NSF’s Directorate for Biological Sciences. It supports research and education on all forms of life and their components at all scales, according to its official page.

Is there a deadline for BIO Core?

The BIO Core program page, as described on the official page on 2026-10-29, lists full proposals as accepted anytime. Other BIO-listed opportunities may carry dated deadlines, so check each program page.

Who is eligible to apply?

The BIO landing and BIO Core pages do not state eligibility. It is defined in the solicitation (NSF 26-517) and the PAPPG.

Are the old BIO divisions still used?

The current BIO pages describe three thematic areas: Foundations of Life, Living Systems, and Bioinnovation and Infrastructure. They do not list the older division names.

Does BIO have its own data management guidance?

Yes. BIO publishes DMSP guidance covering repositories, persistent identifiers, FAIR alignment, allowable costs and reporting, and individual funding opportunities may add requirements.