FAQ Listing

NIJ doesn’t prohibit fellows from obtaining additional employment. Nevertheless, the intent of the program is that fellowship support should allow the student to devote primary effort to the dissertation research. Students should check whether their universities have policies limiting outside employment while receiving fellowship funds.

Yes, a student can receive other awards or stipends. However, any other funding or support must be disclosed (e.g., research or teaching assistantships, positions held under an advisor's grant, other private or government fellowships, grants, stipends). NIJ may seek to avoid duplicative funding, if appropriate.

No. Fellowship stipend funds may be used to support only the originally reviewed and awarded GRF fellow and are not transferable to any other student. 

However, limited compensation for a research assistant to support the proposed project may be allowable under the Research Expenses allowance.

Doctoral students who have already started their dissertation research are encouraged to apply. Any student enrolled full-time in a qualifying research doctorate program and proposing a dissertation topic with relevance to criminal or juvenile justice may apply at any stage in their graduate career. 

If a student’s dissertation committee has already accepted the dissertation topic proposed in the GRF application, the student would be eligible for release of fellowship funds as soon as all other administrative requirements are met. Commencing research before submitting an application or while the application is under review does not necessarily impact the likelihood of receiving an award.

Yes. In this case, a “resubmit response” statement should be included with the proposal narrative. This statement should include the title and submission date of the earlier application, and describe any changes made to the proposal in response to prior peer review comments.

NEPA requires that before funding, authorizing, or implementing an action, federal agencies must consider the effects the proposed action may have on the environment. Under this statute, all federal agencies are required to analyze the potential impacts of each proposed project, taking into account all consequences as well as the effect of cumulative impacts on the environment.

Special conditions are lifted once the appropriate NEPA analysis has been completed and approved by the NIJ NEPA Coordinator. Once the Grant Manager and NIJ NEPA Coordinator have verified that NEPA compliance is complete, NIJ will issue a notice to remove the NEPA condition.

NEPA is a federal law that applies to decisions NIJ makes about whether or not to fund a project. Therefore, the NIJ Director will make the final decision on the appropriate level of NEPA compliance, based upon a recommendation from the NIJ NEPA Coordinator, for your project.

The NIJ NEPA Coordinator, along with NIJ contractors providing NEPA technical assistance, will prepare all necessary NEPA documentation on behalf of the NIJ applicant. To assist with this process, the NEPA Coordinator or technical assistance providers may contact applicants to request information needed to complete the required documentation.

The official applicant is the sponsoring academic institution. Students must contact and seek the assistance of the university’s Office of Sponsored Programs, or equivalent office. Working with the student and their dissertation committee chair (or intended dissertation committee chair), a representative from the university OSP must complete and submit the full application package online at Grants.gov and JustGrants by the deadline date. Refer to the notice of funding opportunity for a full list of required documents.

Because coordination with their university OSP is necessary, students are encouraged to make contact EARLY to express their intent to submit an application.