NIOSH Extramural Research and Training

Fiscal Year 2020 Annual Report

At a glance

NIOSH made 93.8 million in extramural awards in fiscal year (FY) 2020 for research, training, and surveillance. Investigator-initiated grants had an 4% success rate and advanced occupational safety and health in all 10 NORA industry sectors. NIOSH supported 562 graduates who will become the next generation of occupational safety and health professionals.

Icons representing research and occupations connected by lines.

NIOSH extramural grant distribution

The chart below shows NIOSH's extramural spending in FY 2020 across categories.

NIOSH Extramural Grant Distribution
The majority of funding in FY 2020 went to interdisciplinary centers.

Multidisciplinary centers received $62.1 million dollars (66%). This category includes:

Cooperative research agreements received $8.2 million dollars (9%). This category includes:

Research and career development received $15.2 million dollars (16%). This category is also sometimes called investigator-initiated research.

Small Business Innovation Research grants received $1.8 million dollars (2%). This is a special subset of grants for small businesses.

Specialty training programs received $6.5 million dollars (7%).

Overall success rates for research project grants

NIOSH tracks the success rates for investigator-initiated grant applications (R01, R03, R21). See success rates for data tables.

Overall Success Rates for Research Project Grants
The success rate was 4% in FY 2020.

Research funding by sector program

NIOSH uses the 10 sector programs from the National Occupational Research Agenda as an organizing structure. The chart below shows the sector categories for research grants funded in FY 2020.

Research Funding by Sector Program
The greatest amount of funding ($2.8 million) related to the Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishing sector.

  • AFF= Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishing ($2.8 million)
  • HSA= Healthcare and Social Assistance ($2.7 million)
  • MNF= Manufacturing ($2.7 million)
  • ALL= All Sectors ($2.4 million)
  • CON= Construction ($1.2 million)
  • TWU= Transportation, Warehousing and Utilities ($1.1 million)
  • PSS= Public Safety ($1.0 million)
  • MIN= Mining ($0.6 million)
  • SRV= Services ($0.4 million)
  • WRT= Wholesale and Retail Trade ($0.2 million)
  • OGE= Oil and Gas Extraction ($0.0 million)

Extramural program highlights

Learn more about the accomplishments of the multidisciplinary centers, investigator-initiated research, training, and surveillance in FY 2020.

NIOSH-supported occupational safety and health graduates

The table below lists the graduates from Education and Research Centers (ERCs) and Training Project Grants (TPGs).

2019-2020 ERC TPG Total
Occupational Safety  53 183 136
Industrial Hygiene 115 78 193
Occupational Medicine 34 22 56
Occupational Health Nursing 30 0 30
Allied OSH 71 76 147
Total 303 259 562

Summary of all awards by funding type

Summary of All Awards by Type of Funding in FY 2020
Award Category Award Mechanism Number of Awards Funding
Multidisciplinary Centers  36 $62,115,975
Education and Research Centers  Training Grant (T42) 18 $29,333,381
Centers for Agriculture Safety and Health Cooperative Research Agreement
(U54)
11 $19,028,001
National Center for Construction
Safety and Health Research and
Translation
Cooperative Research Agreement
(U60)
1 $5,750,000
Centers of Excellence for Total Worker Health® Cooperative Research Agreement
(U19)
6 $8,004,593
Investigator-initiated Research Grants 49 $15,174,357
Research Grants  Investigator-initiated
(R01, R03, R21, R13, U13)
34 $13,290,265
Career Developmental Research  Mentored Career Scientist (K01) 13 $1,384,166
National Robotics Initiative Interagency Research Grand Agreements 2 $499,926
Cooperative Research Agreements 30 $8,202,123
State Surveillance Program Cooperative Research Agreement
(U60)
26 $6,536,879
Occupational Safety & Health
Surveillance Collaboration,
Education & Translation
Cooperative Research Agreement
(U24)
1 $225,000
National Mesothelioma Virtual Bank Cooperative Research Agreement
(U24)
1 $1,068,089
Commercial Fishing Occupational
Safety Research
Cooperative Research Agreement
(U01)
2 $372,155
Specialty Training Programs 32 $6,465,790
Training Project Grants Training Grant (T03) 28 $5,076,944
Miner Safety and Health Training Program  Cooperative Research Agreement (U60) 2  $970,154
Commercial Fishing Occupational
Safety Training
Training Grant (T03) 2 $418,692
Small Business Innovation Research 6 $1,849,780
Small Business Innovation Research  Phase I (R43) & Phase II (R44) 6 $1,849,780
Total Extramural Funding 167 $93,808,025