Grants 360°: Program Project Grants (PPG)

Below are take-home points from the Grants 360° PGPG session hosted by research@BSPH in January 2023.

Overview

PPG’s are long-standing grants that can be difficult to break into without having already obtained NIH funding.
There is not a lot of downside to not being successful in obtaining funding because you still have a grant ready to apply elsewhere.
It's critically essential to sustain innovation throughout the course of the PPG.
It’s important to instill a mission-driven theme.
Opportunities are often only once per year.
Recognizing the PPG mechanism is paramount.
PPG’s make sense for investigators who are in their senior career stage
Having experience in and understanding the value and culture of centers will better prepare you to lead your own PPG.

The proposal development typically takes a year with 4-6 months of intensive writing.
It's helpful to find a program officer who shows interest in your proposed research.
There are often new requirements in renewal requests so being anticipatory and adaptive will serve you well.
Hiring a grant writer can have substantial upside impact on your grant success.
You can increase your chances of success by inviting the program officer to campus to give them a preview of the research that you are preparing.

Make sure you have the budget to hire a quality program manager to establish good communication and cohesiveness between cores/projects.
It’s helpful to establish working groups with representation from each core/project to foster ongoing collaboration.
PIs should provide team-building opportunities to build connections and promote collegial interactions.

Having a PPG grant is viewed as a positively impactful quality that leads most to leadership positions or other desirable successes in their careers.
There is an opportunity for multigeneration mentoring.