NIGMS participates in an NIH-wide program that provides administrative supplements that may be used to support full or part-time mentored research training experiences for individuals with high potential to reenter, reintegrate to, or retrain in an active research career. The research and career development plan should address specific gaps in the candidate's expertise and the candidate's career goals and include milestones relevant to the research and career development activities. This will allow the candidate to stimulate or re-establish a productive career in the biomedical research workforce. Supplemental awards are expected to strengthen the existing research program and reflect the overall programmatic balance and priorities of the NIH funding program.

It is anticipated that at the completion of the supplement, the re-entering, re-integrating, or re-tooling scientist will be in a position to apply for a fellowship, career development, or research award. A parent grant typically supports only one individual on a re-entry/re-integrative/re-training supplement award. Candidates may receive support from only one NIH award at a time but may be supported by more than one supplement during the development of their research careers.

Principal investigators at domestic institutions who have an active NIGMS research grant, program project grant, center grant, or cooperative agreement research program with at least one year of research support remaining at the time of the supplemental award are eligible to submit a request to NIGMS for an administrative supplement to their grant for support of the re-entering/re-integrating/re-tooling scientist. NIGMS does not support these supplements on Support for Research Excellence (SuRE) grants or to Institutional Development Award (IDeA) (Centers of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) and IDeA Networks of Biomedical Research Excellence (INBRE) grants.

Eligible re-entry candidates who have been in a postdoctoral or faculty position at the time they left active research must have a doctoral degree, such as an M.D., D.D.S., Ph.D., O.D., D.V.M., or equivalent. Individuals at the predoctoral level who have been in a biomedical graduate program are also eligible re-entry candidates and include those previously enrolled in dual-degree programs (e.g., M.D.-Ph.D., D.D.S.-Ph.D., D.V.M.-Ph.D.). Generally, the candidate should be in a complete or partial hiatus from research activities at the time of application and should not be engaged in full-time paid research activities. The duration of the career interruption, in general, should not be less than 6 months. Examples of qualifying interruptions for re-entry supplements include, but are not limited to: a complete or partial hiatus from research activities for child-rearing; an incapacitating illness or injury of the candidate, spouse, partner, or a member of the immediate family; job offers rescinded as a result of natural disasters or public health emergencies, relocation to accommodate a spouse, partner, or another close family member; pursuit of non-research endeavors that would permit earlier repayment of debt incurred in obtaining a doctoral degree; and military service.

Postdoctoral and predoctoral candidates seeking to transition out of unsafe research environments are eligible to apply for a re-integration supplement, to allow them to transition to a new, safe, and supportive research environment to complete their training.

Candidates with a minimum of two years of postdoctoral experience are eligible to apply to the Re-training supplement, which allows candidates protected time for a mentored research experience, to obtain new skills that can allow the candidate to go to a new research direction while augmenting the parent grant. This would involve the candidate conducting research that while within the scope of the parent grant brings to the parent grant theoretical, technical, data analysis, or other methods to be provided through a trans-disciplinary or trans-sector collaboration. It is envisioned that the candidate will engage in research and career development activities at a laboratory, institution, or organization different from their current place of employment. The collaboration should enable the candidate to obtain competencies and establish network connections beyond the candidate's current/historical field of study. 

Supplemental awards may be made for up to 3 years but may not exceed the time remaining in the grant award period. For additional information or examples of qualifying interruptions, please visit Administrative Supplements | Grants & Funding or contact GMsupplements@nih.gov.  Administrative supplements are considered prior approval requests (as described in Section 8.1.2.11 of the NIH Grants Policy Statement) and will be routed directly to the Grants Management Officer of the current award. The proposed research experience for all three supplement programs must be within the scope of the parent award and integral to the research supported by the parent award.

The requested salary and fringe benefits for a re-entry/re-integration candidate must be in accordance with the salary structure of the grantee institution, consistent with the level of effort. An additional amount of $10,000 may be requested for supplies, domestic travel, and publication costs relevant to the proposed research. Equipment may not be purchased as part of this supplement without justification and specific prior approval by NIH. For re-training candidates, the budget is capped at $90,000/year in salary support and $50,000/year in program-related expenses, pro-rated for short-term appointments.

Application and Submission Procedures

Application and Supplementary Information

Please see the program announcement for specific application requirements. NIGMS strongly encourages electronic submission via the Commons of the completed request, including all appropriate signatures and supporting documents, to be submitted as a single PDF document.

Additional application requirements include:

• The Research Strategy section (limited by 6 pages) should be completed and must include a summary or abstract of the funded parent award or project. Other sections should also be included if they are being changed by the proposed supplement activities. Applications for supplements must include a description of how the candidate's proposed research activities relate to one or more aims of the parent project, and a plan to enhance the candidate's research skills and knowledge regarding the selected area of biomedical, behavioral, clinical, translational, or social sciences. The application must demonstrate that the PD(s)/PI(s) is willing to provide appropriate mentorship and has developed a mentoring plan to facilitate the re-entry, re-integration, or re-training of the candidate into a productive and independent research career.
• Senior/Key Personnel Profile (Expanded) form: List the PD/PI as the first person (regardless of their role in the supplement activities). List the candidate to be supported through this supplement as the second person.
• Candidates for supplement support must have an eRA Commons account and the candidate's Common Username must be entered in the Credential field. Candidates should designate their specific role in the context of the project. 
• Biographical Sketch: Include a biosketch for the candidate, any mentors, and any senior or key persons directly involved in activities related to the supplement. Biosketches of mentors and other senior and key persons should provide evidence of past mentoring experience.
• R&R Other Project Information form, in the "Other Attachments" field:
  • Attach a Personal Statement of the candidate, including short-term and long-term research objectives and career goals, a justification for the request for supplemental support, and a plan to return to full productivity at the end of the supplement period. 
  • Attach a Candidate Eligibility Statement: A signed statement from an institutional official establishing the eligibility of the candidate for support under this program.
  • Home Institution Approval: Under unusual circumstances where the applicant and mentor would be at a site other than the grantee institution, an appropriately signed letter from the institution where the research is to be conducted must also be submitted. The request must be signed by the PD/PI, the candidate, and the appropriate institutional business official.
  • Sub-recipient Approval: If any of the research is to be conducted at an organization other than the grantee institution, a signed statement from an institutional official from the institution where the research is to be conducted must be submitted.
  • Attach an Institutional letter of commitment that includes details of resources and mentoring to be made available to the candidate to ensure strong productivity on the parent grant. The letter should also detail the institutional commitment to the candidate's return to full productivity and research career trajectory at the end of the supplement period.

Submission and Review Process

Applications may be submitted at any time and are administratively reviewed within NIGMS on a rolling basis. Applicants should be aware that applications submitted after May 1 may not be awarded until the following November due to the change in fiscal year on October 1. We anticipate applicants will receive notification of a funding decision approximately 12 weeks after receipt of the application. This is a competitive program and funding is not guaranteed.