On 2 September 2005, NOAA adopted a policy that requires all cooperative institutes to be awarded through an open competition. NOAA has adopted a plan for transitioning existing NOAA CIs under the new policy, and CIFAR is now operating under a two-year continuation amendment to the current cooperative agreement.

In late October 2007, NOAA released an Announcement of Opportunity for a new Alaska Region CI, with proposals due on 24 December 2007. We have submitted a proposal for the new CI that is currently being reviewed by NOAA.

Research projects are funded through CIFAR primarily in response to an announcement of opportunity, or as a result of NOAA's interest in funding an individual project.

The Arctic Research Initiative (ARI), Steller's Sea Lion (SSL) research, and the Russian-American Long-term Census of the Arctic (RUSALCA) are grant competitions in which CIFAR released an announcement of opportunity to the arctic science community and projects were selected through peer review by an external panel of experts.

Scientific activities funded through CIFAR fall under nine thematic areas:

1. Atmospheric and Climate Research, including Arctic Oscillation, arctic clouds and energy balance, and paleoclimates (AC)
2. Climate Modeling, including coupled models and model inter-comparisons (CM)
3. UV and Arctic Haze Studies, including ozone and UV radiation and Arctic Haze (UV)
4. Hydrographic and Sea Ice Studies, including sea ice research, tides and currents, and ocean fluxes and circulation (HS)
5. Marine Ecosystem Studies, including South Eastern Bering Sea Carrying Capacity (SEBSCC) studies, and Bering Sea productivity (ME)
6. Tsunami Research (TR)
7. Contaminant Effects, including arctic pollution and the effects of contaminants on indicator species (CE)
8. Fisheries Oceanography, including Global Ocean Ecosystem Dynamics Program (GLOBEC) work and fisheries studies (FO)
9. Data Archiving and Support (DA)