Funding is generally received by July 1 of the year the grant is approved for funding. The NLN does not require applicants to use a specific start date.  Most grants submitted start between July 1 and September 30 of the grant year.

Grant proposals can be written for one year or two year terms.  As with anything, research studies can face unanticipated issues and require an extension.  Upon submission of appropriate support  materials, requests for no-cost extensions are approved with a due date for the final report specified

The NLN has decided that equal emphasis will be placed on all three priorities located at http://www.nln.org/professional-development-programs/research/research-priorities-in-nursing-education. The final decision on how well a proposal reflects the priorities is made by the review panel after reading the total proposal.

The NLN Educational Research Grants are awarded annually. For each grant cycle, grant application instructions are posted on the NLN web site in early October. Grant proposals are due by mid/late February. Proposal reviews are completed by late April/early May.
Letters of notification are sent and funds distributed to schools/institutions by July 1. (Most awarded projects start by September of the same year). Recipients of the Nursing Education Research Grants are formally announced at the NLN Education Summit in late September/early October.  

Currently we do not have examples of funded grants on the website. We do not have permission from awardees to put this information on the website. However, our website provides a listing of all previously funded grants, as well as a free archived webinar on preparing a successful nursing education research proposal.

Yes, an NLN member organization may submit multiple applications for funding.  There is no current limit.  All proposals are submitted for blind review by carefully selected experts in nursing education research. Grant award recipients are selected through a peer review process using the NLN Proposal Review Rubric (DOCX)

Yes. All members of the NLN who do not have a conflict of interest are eligible to apply for a grant. You are not required to live or work in the United States to apply for a grant.

The PI must be a NLN member, but there is no requirement that other members of the research team be NLN members.

This research would be supported if the research question(s) focus on the students’ preparation for the role of graduate nurse. It would not be supported if the focus is on the development of new staff.

Yes, but you must have your proposal approved by your committee and Institutional Review Board before applying.

No, you would serve as the PI of your research.

All questions related to grants should be directed to research@nln.org. However, neither the NLN nor the NLN Research Review Panel provide technical assistance for PIs who are preparing grants.

If an electronic file is corrupted and has been submitted on or before the due date, the applicant will be notified and asked to resubmit the file.

If the NLN experiences a technical problem that prevented applicants from submitting applications by the announced due date or if there has been a documented natural disaster in a given region of the country an extension would be granted to all affected applicants.

No extensions will be granted for individual circumstances.

All grant applicants first receive independent reviews using a blind review process. In other words, these reviewers receive no identifying information. Each of the reviewers is qualified in terms of their area of expertise, their experience with nursing research and as a reviewer. A review form listing each criterion along with a Proposal Review Rubric is provided to these reviewers. 

The results of the blind review along with the full proposal with identifying information are then evaluated by the members of the NLN Reasearch Review Panel for final funding decisions. After reviewing all grant applications submitted that year this Committee will make the final funding recommendation.

If available, a copy of the instrument(s) should be included as an Appendix. Otherwise, a detailed description with sample questions may be included.

 

Applicants may send copies of documents on official letterhead with the name of the school visible.  Most signatures can also be visible to demonstrate that the proposal received appropriate approval.  However, any items that in any way link the proposal back to the applicant, including their own signature on the document, should be “blacked out”.  There should be no way to link the proposal back to the individual applicant.

Applicants should not include biosketches, IRB approval letters and letters of support in the Blind Review File.  An applicant may state in the appendix that support letters/IRB approval letters have been obtained, but the actual letters should not be included. These documents should only be included in the Comprehensive Review File. 

The stipend is not to be used as a replacement for any part of the PI’s salary at the institution. It can be processed in your financial system as salary but the researcher must receive the full stipend in addition to their full university salary. In addition, many university financial systems require that fringe benefits be paid on ALL compensation. If that is the case, the fringe benefits incurred as a result of the stipend must be paid from the stipend. On your budget submitted to the NLN, the $2500 should be listed as a stipend and the amount paid as fringe benefits should be noted and subtracted from the stipend.

No, the total stipend in the grant budget can be no more than $2500.

The NLN grant allows a PI to have the option of either requesting the $2500 stipend or requesting instructional release time up to a maximum of $5000 for one semester.  The intent of the instructional release monies is to acknowledge the time that is involved in conducting the research as well as some universities policies on stipends.

Yes, it is permissible.

Yes, a PDA falls under the definition of durable equipment.

While PDA software is not considered durable equipment, it may be included in the event that it is specific to your research and is not general office or research software.

QSR NVivo is software used to analyze qualitative research data and would be considered general research software.