Find Collaborators.

Team Science Fundamentals

NIH increasingly favors team science — collaborative grants that bring together complementary expertise. Key concepts:

• Multi-PI grants: R01s and other mechanisms now allow multiple PIs with shared leadership. Each PI must bring distinct expertise that justifies their role. • Co-Investigators vs. Consultants: Co-Is contribute sustained intellectual effort and are named on the application. Consultants provide specific, limited services. Reviewers scrutinize whether the team structure matches the science. • Institutional diversity: Multi-site collaborations can strengthen an application by demonstrating access to diverse patient populations, equipment, or model systems. • Track record matters: Reviewers look for evidence that the proposed team has actually worked together before — co-authored papers, prior collaborative grants, or shared training.

Multi-PI Grant Strategies

• Complementary, not overlapping: Each PI must bring a capability the others lack. Reviewers flag teams where PI expertise overlaps heavily. • Leadership plan is mandatory: Multi-PI R01s require a formal leadership plan describing decision-making, conflict resolution, and resource allocation. This is a scored element. • Budget justification per PI: Each PI’s effort and budget must be justified relative to their specific contribution. Under-budgeting a PI signals they’re a token addition. • Early-stage investigators: Including an ESI co-PI can be strategic — some study sections view mentoring the next generation favorably, and ESI status confers payline advantages on certain mechanisms. • Cross-institutional overhead: Multi-site grants require subaward budgets with separate F&A rates. Budget for administrative coordination time — reviewers know it’s needed.