NSF Resources
NSF Proposal & Award Policies and Procedures Guide 23-1
The National Science Foundation’s (NSF) 23-1 grant proposal guide. Effective for all proposals submitted on or after January 30, 2023. Changes from the previous PAPPG are summarized here.
Documents Required for Senior Personnel
NSF requires all senior personnel to provide up-to-date Biographical Sketch, Current and Pending (Other) Support, and Collaborators and Other Affiliations documents. See this page for details on how to produce compliant documents.
SciENcv (Science Experts Network Curriculum Vitae)
As of October 23, 2023, the NSF Biographical Sketch and Current and Pending (Other) Support documents must be prepared using the SciENcv web application. SciENcv also supports preparation of biographical sketches for National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Institute of Education Sciences (IES) grant applications. Users can link their SciENcv accounts to their ORCID (Open Researcher and Contributor ID), NSF, or NIH eRA Commons accounts to populate with information on affiliations, grants, and publications.
For further guidance and training on using SciENcv and ORCID, please see the following resources:
- Using SciENcv Frequently Asked Questions
- NSF Biographical Sketch Video Tutorial
- NSF Current & Pending (Other) Support Video Tutorial
- SciENcv Help Manual with NIH, NSF, and IES-specific sections (including screenshots and step- by-step instructions)
- NSF Biographical Sketch and Current and Pending (Other) Support: SciENcv and NSF Formats (January 2023 Webinar)
- NSF Systems Update and SciENcv Demonstration (June 2023 Webinar)
- SciENcv Tutorial
- Integrating with ORCiD
- ORCID for Researchers
NSF Video Tutorials and How-To Guides
Effective January 30, 2023, NSF has transitioned all preparation and submission functionality for new proposals from FastLane to Research.gov. The following Research.gov resources are available:
- How to Manage Personnel and Senior Personnel Documents (3:01 minutes)
- How to Work on a Proposal Budget (2:30 minutes)
- How to Upload a Collaborators and Other Affiliations Document (1:34 minutes)
- Research.gov Proposal Demo (16:58 minutes)
- Setting up a proposal
- Uploading a document and compliance messaging
- Preparing proposal file update (PFU)/budget revisions
- Research.gov Proposal Demo (22:49 minutes)
- Preparing a letter of intent
- Demonstration of selected features:
- Preliminary proposal and accomplishment-based renewal proposal submission types
- Conference, Grant Opportunities for Academic Liaison with Industry (GOALI), and Planning proposal types
- Initiating a New Proposal
- Adding or Removing a co-PI and Other Senior Personnel (coming soon)
- Adding or Removing an OAU
- Sharing Proposal and Proposal File Update/Budget Revision Access with SPO/AOR
- Overview of the Proposal Main Page (coming soon)
- Entering Proposal Budgets
- Adding or Removing Subaward Organizations
- Adding or Removing Collaborators and Other Affiliations
- Deleting an In Progress Letter of Intent, Proposal, or Proposal File Update/Budget Revision
- Submitting Letters of Intent and Proposals
- Preparing Proposal File Updates/Budget Revisions (coming soon)
- Submitting Proposal File Updates/Budget Revisions
- Grants.gov Proposal Processing in Research.gov
NSF’s Guide for Proposal Writers
Step two of this guide from NSF includes information on writing a proposal. The information is fairly general, but it could be of use to researchers new to sponsored funding.
NSF’s Merit Review Process [PDF]
A presentation from NSF providing an overview of their merit review process.