Fiscal Year 2024 NIJ Graduate Research 

Fellowship Program Webinar 

February 14, 2024 | 12:00 PM ET 

The webinar will begin shortly 

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Graduate Research Fellowship Program 

at the National Institute of Justice 

Today’s Presenters: 

Nancy La Vigne, Ph.D. NIJ Director 

Gregory Dutton, Ph.D. Program Manager 

Joseph Heaps Senior Physical Scientist 

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Webinar Topics 

1. Program Overview 

2. Terms of the Fellowship 

3. What’s New? 

4. How to Apply 

www.nij.gov/GRF 3 
 

 

 

National Institute of Justice (NIJ) 

Who we are: 

• NIJ is the research, development, and evaluation agency of the U.S. 

Department of Justice 

• A science funding agency within the Office of Justice Programs (OJP) 

Our mission: 

• Improving knowledge and understanding of crime and justice issues 

through science 

www.nij.gov 4 
 

 

 

 

NIJ’s Graduate Research Fellowship (GRF) 

Program Goal: 

• Support the development of new researchers addressing the 

challenges of crime and justice in the U.S. 

Objective: 

• Fund PhD students at their home institutions to the 

completion of their degrees. 

www.nij.gov/GRF 5 
Recent Program History 

Program Volume 

200 

150 

100 

50 

0 

Applicants 

Awards 

GRF Fellows 2012 - 2023 

Degree 

Program 

Field 

Physical Sciences 

Life Sciences 

Engineering 

Social Sciences 

204 fellows from 72 institutions 

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2023 GRF fellows' degree fields 

• Criminal Justice 

• Criminology 

• Anthropology 

• Chemistry 

• Computer Science 

• Electrical and Computer 

Engineering 

• Biomolecular Engineering and 

Bioinformatics 

• Economics 

• Epidemiology 

• Health Policy and Management 

• Human Development and Social 

Policy 

• Integrative Life Sciences 

• Psychological Science 

• Social and Behavioral Science 
GRF 

Program 

Page 

8 

www.nij.gov/GRF 
 

Funding 

Opportunity: 

GRF Solicitation 

About 

20 new fellows 

expected 

in 2024 

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Timeline 

GRF 2024 Solicitation 

open 

Jan. 18 

to 

April 17 

Review 

Awards 

announced 

Awarding 

Fellowships 

can start 

by Jan. 1 

grants.gov deadline: April 10 Sept. 30 

JustGrants deadline: April 17 

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Eligibility 

Student: 

• Enrolled full-time in a PhD program in the sciences or engineering 

• Dissertation topic is relevant to criminal or juvenile justice, or 

victimization and victim services in the U.S. 

University: 

• Accredited institution in the U.S. or its territories 

• The university applies on behalf of the student 

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Fellowship Terms 

Up to $60,000/year for up to three (3) years of support 

usable within a five-year period: 

• $41,000 annual student salary 

• $16,000 annual cost of education allowance 

• $3,000 annually for research expenses 

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Programmatic Budget Categories 

1. Salary and Fringe Benefits ($41,000/yr.) 

• Student salary 

• Fringe benefits 

• Health insurance 

NIJ recommends that the full $41,000 be requested 

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Programmatic Budget Categories 

2. Cost of Education Allowance (up to $16,000/yr.) 

• Tuition 

• Student fees 

• University administrative or indirect costs 

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Programmatic Budget Categories 

3. Research Expenses (up to $3,000/yr.) 

• Research supplies 

• Instrument time 

• Human subjects incentives 

• Undergraduate research assistants 

• Data collection site travel 

• Conference travel 

• Professional society membership fees 

• Other reasonable, allowable costs 

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Fellowship Terms 

These are one-time awards: 

• Total amount needed must be requested up front 

Annual requirements: 

• Progress report 

• Verification of enrollment; Chair statement of progress 

Final Deliverables: 

• Defended dissertation 

• List of scholarly products 

• Data archived 

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What’s New? 

Eligibility Clarified 

• Science and engineering fields 

• Victimization and victim services 

Budget Categories Increased 

• Salary and Fringe 

• Cost of Education Allowance 

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What’s New? 

Data Archiving Required 

• Data necessary for others to replicate results 

must be archived at the end of the fellowship. 

• Data Archiving Plan submitted with application. 

Proposal Formatting 

• Page limit reduced to 10 

• Other formatting details relaxed 

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How to Apply 

1. Review the solicitation for eligibility 

2. Contact your university grants office (e.g., Office of 

Sponsored Programs (OSP)) – NOW! 

3. Start assembling application materials 

a. Write the program narrative 

b. Ask for letter of support 

c. Obtain enrollment verification and transcripts 

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Application Submission 

1. The university submits on your behalf 

2. NIJ has a 2-step submission process 

1) Grants.gov deadline for submitting SF-424 

2) JustGrants deadline for submitting complete application package 

3. Your university OSP will have their own internal timeline 

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Application Elements 

Six Critical Elements: 

1. Proposal Narrative 

2. Budget webform 

3. Verification of Current Enrollment 

4. Undergraduate and Graduate Transcripts 

5. Statement of Support 

6. Biosketch, CV, or resume 

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Application Elements 

Other Elements 

• Personal Statement 

• Human Subjects Protection form 

• Privacy Certificate 

• Data Archiving Plan 

• Others, as applicable (see solicitation) 

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Application Elements 

• Dissertation topic approval is not required at time of application 

• IRB (Institutional Review Board) approval for human subjects 

research is not required at the time of application 

BUT– fellowship funds will become available only after these are 

completed and reviewed by NIJ 

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Additional Help 

General guidance for 

all NIJ applicants 

https://nij.ojp.gov/funding/ 

guidance-applicants-andawardees 

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Application Review – Initial Review 

Internal review 

for Eligibility 

Internal review for 

Critical Elements 

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Application Review – Merit Review 

External Review against the Merit Review Criteria! 

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What are the 

Merit Review 

Criteria? Statement of the 

Problem and its 

Significance 

Project Design and 

Implementation 

Capabilities and 

Competencies 

Budget 

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Priority Areas 

NIJ will give special consideration in award decisions to proposals from 

Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs): 

• Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) 

• Hispanic-serving Institutions (HSI) 

• Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCU) 

• Alaska Native-serving Institutions or Native Hawaiian-serving Institutions (ANNH) 

• Predominantly Black Institutions (PBI) 

• Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-serving Institutions (AANAPISI) 

• Native American-serving Non-Tribal Institutions (NASNTI) 

Note: this is one of many factors that NIJ considers in making funding decisions. 

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Award Decisions 

1. Merit review is the primary factor 

2. Award decisions are made by the NIJ Director, who may 

take into account merit review ratings as well as other 

factors 

3. Applicants are notified of outcomes in 

September/October 

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Helpful Tips 

1. Browse past fellows’ abstracts 

2. Be sure to articulate the relevance to criminal justice 

3. Include preliminary results, if available 

4. Ask others (peers and advisors) to read and comment: 

• Concept 

• Experimental design 

• Proofread for errors 

5. Visit the program FAQs 

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For More Information 

Program page & FAQs: www.nij.gov/GRF 

For questions while the solicitation is open, contact: 

OJP Response Center 

1-800-851-3420 (TTY: 301-240-6310 for hearing impaired only) 

Email: grants@ncjrs.gov 

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Questions? 

Please enter your questions into the Q&A box 

Send to All Panelists 

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