NIH, are you my mother?

I have been asked several times what the term "Parent Announcement" means. The term is now used in place of the previous terms "Unsolicited Application" and "Investigator-Initiated Application". Essentially, the parent announcements are open PAs that include most institutes and centers and have standing deadlines. Typically these deadlines are in February, June, and October of each year for new applications. The parent announcement is useful because it allows you to select the appropriate grant mechanism for your project and apply when you are ready, rather than waiting for a targeted PAR to be released that is more specific to your research. When applying to parent announcements, don't forget to include the optional Cover Page attachment in the application package. This letter can be very useful if you want to make the case that your proposal should be assigned to a particular institute or center or even a particular study section.