National Institute of
General Medical Sciences

April 8, August 8 and December 8, or the following workday if the receipt deadline is a Saturday, Sunday or Federal holiday. Applications must be submitted by these dates. (See the standard NIH due dates at http://grants.nih.gov/grants/funding/submissionschedule.htm.)

Applications submitted for the August 8 and December 8 deadlines are generally funded 6-7 months later. In contrast, applications submitted for the April 8 deadline cannot be funded until December at the earliest. Once a fellowship has been awarded, you have 6 months to activate (start) it.

The most recent forms and instructions for the F32 fellowship application can be accessed through the NIH Web site for unsolicited applications at http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/parent_announcements.htm. Check the F32 program announcement for the most recent details for submitting an application. (Current forms and instructions are at http://grants.nih.gov/grants/funding/424/index.htm#inst.)

Postdoctoral researchers are eligible to apply for F32 fellowships. Senior fellowships (F33) are for established, independent investigators who want to make major changes in their research career​.

No, but you have to be a permanent resident when the fellowship is awarded.

No, you will need to provide proof that you have fulfilled the requirements for the degree before you activate (start) your fellowship.

If you do decide to apply for a fellowship while you're still in graduate school, be sure that you and your graduate advisor agree on when you're likely to complete your Ph.D. requirements so that you can make a logical decision about when to submit your fellowship application. One should discuss this issue with both their graduate advisor and postdoctoral sponsor.

One can provide an explanation for the gaps in the candidate section or biosketch of the application.

In general, manuscripts in preparation are not as impressive as published papers or papers in press. If you are still in graduate school, you will probably not be penalized if you have relatively few papers and lots of manuscripts in preparation. However, if you earned your Ph.D. several months ago, reviewers expect to see published papers, not manuscripts. You should make every effort to publish your graduate work as quickly as possible. If, despite your best efforts, there are circumstances beyond your control that have delayed publication of some or all of your graduate work, you should explain the situation in your application and also ask your references to address the issue.

If a manuscript is accepted for publication after you submit your fellowship application, but before the application is reviewed, you should contact the SRO (scientific review officer) who runs the study section in which your application will be reviewed to discuss the possibility of submitting an updated publication list (see related FAQ). This is especially important if your publication record is modest or if your paper is likely to have a major impact on the field.

A. NRSA postdoctoral fellowships are for training, and training potential is one of the criteria that reviewers and program staff evaluate. However, if you are learning lots of new skills and techniques, becoming familiar with a new system, or studying a new aspect of the organism that you worked with in graduate school, it may make sense for you to apply for a fellowship. If your postdoctoral work is in the same general area as your graduate work, you should emphasize the opportunities for new training and explain how that new training relates to your long-term career goals.

NIGMS considers time spent in the sponsor's lab when making funding decisions. If you have been in your current sponsor's lab for more than 2 years at the time that you submit your application, it may not be considered for funding. Extenuating circumstances leading to interruptions in research training may be considered for competitive applications. Potential applicants should consult program staff to discuss their individual situation before submitting an application.

It is important to justify your choice of a lab in which to do a second postdoc in terms of how the research relates to what you did in your first postdoc and to your career goals.

Yes, if there is no laboratory doing comparable research in the United States or there are resources in the foreign laboratory that are not available in comparable laboratories in the United States. In your application, you must provide a rationale for doing postdoctoral research in a foreign country, which reviewers and program staff will evaluate. Be aware that if an award is made, the process will take extra time, since special arrangements must be made for paying the stipend and institutional allowance.

Yes. You are responsible for writing the application, but your sponsor should help you design your project, critique your drafts and provide advice on grantsmanship.

Your sponsor provides the section of the application titled "Sponsor Information" and other individuals submit letters of reference electronically on your behalf. Be sure everyone is aware of your deadline and that they have enough time to complete their task.

Reviewers expect to see letters from your graduate advisor and other people who know you well. Since what your reference letters say will be a major determinant of the reviewers' evaluation of the candidate (you), choose your references carefully. Good choices: members of your dissertation committee and former collaborators, if they are independent investigators. Bad choices: your postdoctoral sponsor, people with whom you are collaborating as a postdoc, graduate students, postdocs and people who do not know you well enough to evaluate your scientific skills.

If your graduate advisor is deceased, incapacitated or cannot be contacted because s/he is doing fieldwork in a remote location, simply explain the situation. If, on the other hand, you're reluctant to request a letter from your graduate advisor because the two of you don't get along, try to figure out whether the problem is likely to affect what your advisor will say in his/her letter. If you decide not to request a letter from your graduate advisor, be sure to explain the situation in your application, since reviewers will expect to see a letter from that person. You should also ask your references to address the situation.

Your sponsor should consider asking a more experienced faculty colleague to serve as a co-sponsor. S/he should provide a detailed, well-thought-out training plan, in which the roles of sponsor and co-sponsor are clearly delineated. In addition, a sponsor who has not previously trained postdocs should describe any other training experience that might be relevant, e.g., supervision of graduate students or mentoring of a collaborator's postdocs.

The training plan, which is written by your sponsor, should be specific for you. It should include a description of what you will be learning that is new for you; the lab meetings, journal clubs and conferences that you will attend; the collaborations that you will engage in; and plans for ensuring that you have access to equipment and core facilities that are essential for your research. Be sure to obtain letters from co-sponsors, collaborators and the directors of essential core facilities.

Yes. All fellowship applicants must include a plan to obtain instruction in the responsible conduct of research. This plan should document prior instruction in responsible conduct of research during the applicant'​s current career stage (including the dates of last occurrence) and propose a plan to receive instruction in responsible conduct of research. The plan must address the five instructional components, format, subject matter, faculty participation, duration of instruction, and frequency of instruction, as outlined and explained below. The plan may include career stage-appropriate, individualized instruction or independent scholarly activities that will enhance the applicant's understanding of ethical issues related to their specific research activities and the societal impact of that research. The role of the sponsor/mentor in responsible conduct of research instruction must be described. Applications lacking a plan for instruction in responsible conduct of research will be considered incomplete and may be delayed in the review process. Candidate should consult with their institution for sample language. Full details about this policy requirement can be found in the NIH Guide Notice NOT-OD-10-019.

If you can address most or all of the reviewers' concerns and you haven't exceeded the NIGMS limit for time already spent in the current sponsor's lab, you should talk to your sponsor about the possibility of submitting a revised application. Receipt deadlines for revised applications are April 8, August 8 and December 8. You should address the reviewers' comments and describe the progress that you've made since you submitted the original application. Your publication list and your sponsor's information should be updated, if necessary.

In general, the more time you spend in your sponsor's lab, the fewer opportunities you have for new training. Training potential is one of the major criteria that reviewers assess when they evaluate fellowship applications (see related FAQ). Accordingly, if you revise your application, consider requesting a shorter term (e.g., 2 years, if you requested 3 years in your original application), scaling down the scope of the proposed research and emphasizing the opportunities for new training. If you do decide to request a 3-year term, be aware that if your revised application is funded, you will almost certainly get less than 3 years of support, per NIGMS policy (see related FAQ).

Yes. Reviewers for the resubmission will not have access to the letters and appendix materials that accompanied the previous version.

When an application arrives at NIH, it is referred to a study section for review. It is also assigned to an NIH institute or center (IC) that will pay the grant if it receives a favorable review. The topic of your proposed research determines the study section to which your application is referred and the IC to which it is assigned. You can identify the IC to which your application has been assigned by looking at the application number. "GM" indicates that your application was assigned to the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS).

The interval between receipt of an application and funding is generally 6-8 months.

You should contact the SRO who is in charge of the study section in which your application will be reviewed. You'll find the SRO's name and contact information in your eRA Commons account, which will be available about a month after you submit your application. Feel free to contact the SRO if you have any questions or concerns prior to review or immediately afterward (see related FAQ). Submission of updated materials is now limited, so check with the SRO about current practices.

Most applications are reviewed in study sections that specialize in fellowships. Typically, three to four members of a study section are assigned to review each application. The reviewers receive the application approximately 5 weeks before the study section meets. Before the meeting, reviewers assigned to an application give a preliminary impact score. Reviewers also give separate scores and report individually for each of five core review criteria: (1) candidate, (2) sponsor and collaborators, (3) research training plan, (4) training potential and (5) training environment (see related FAQ). When the study section meets, each reviewer summarizes his/her evaluation of the application and then the reviewers and other study section members discuss the application. After the application is discussed, every eligible member of the study section gives a final priority score and the assigned reviewers submit their final written critiques to the SRO.

Prior to the meeting, the preliminary impact scores from the assigned reviewers are used to determine which applications will be discussed. Applications determined to be in the less competitive range (this may be up to 50 percent of the applications) are streamlined for review. This means that they are not discussed at the review meeting and receive a score of "ND" (not discussed). Each applicant still receives a summary statement with comments and individual scores for the five core review criteria. Should your application not be discussed, it does not prohibit you from submitting a revised application, but you should contact your program director to discuss the reviews.

Within a few days of the study section meeting, your application's priority score will be available through your eRA Commons account. Your priority score is determined by calculating the mean score from all the study section members impact scores (1-9) for your application and multiplying the average by 10. This gives a possible scoring range of 10 (best) to 90 (worst). Note that this overall score is not an average of the individual criterion scores. Contact your program director to find out whether your priority score is likely to be in the fundable range.

The reviewer comments or "summary statement" will be available in the NIH Commons about 1 month after the study section meets. The summary statement will include a paragraph summarizing the strengths and weaknesses of your application and at least two reviewers' written critiques. If the study section had concerns about your application that will have to be resolved prior to an award (e.g., concerns about animal use or human subjects), or the reviewers recommended a shorter fellowship term than what you requested, that information will also be in your summary statement. If your application was considered noncompetitive and was not discussed, this will also be indicated in your Commons account.

If you plan to apply for an NIH fellowship, ask your university administrator to set up an NIH Commons account for you (see https://commons.era.nih.gov/commons).

Your program director will phone you or, if necessary, send you an e-mail message. S/he will ask you questions, explain what's being offered (term, stipend level, institutional allowance, etc.), and answer any questions that you may have. You may be asked to provide additional information or documents (e.g., your home address, your e-mail address, proof of permanent residency, a revised plan for responsible conduct of research or copies of letters withdrawing other fellowship applications; see related FAQ). You'll then be asked whether you want to accept the fellowship. You do not have to make a decision immediately. If you want to discuss the offer with your sponsor before making a decision, simply tell your program director that.

If your program director can't offer you a fellowship, s/he won't call you to tell you that. However, don't assume that a fellowship won't be forthcoming if your program director hasn't called you. It's possible that s/he hasn't had a chance to call you yet, or s/he may be planning to offer you a fellowship if another applicant declines his/her offer. If you're tired of waiting for the phone to ring, or you have to make a decision about whether to accept another fellowship, contact your program director for an update on the status of your application.

Three factors determine the term of a fellowship. The first factor is the study section, which may recommend a term that is shorter than what you requested (see "Committee Budget Recommendations" at the end of your summary statement). The second factor is whether you have been on an NRSA postdoctoral training grant or have had an NRSA postdoctoral fellowship previously. If so, the term of your fellowship will be adjusted so that your total NRSA postdoctoral support does not exceed 3 years. The third factor is the time that you have already spent in your current sponsor's lab.

Stipend levels range from 0, for freshly minted Ph.Ds, to 7 (current fellowship stipends are available at http://grants.nih.gov/training/nrsa.htm). Your stipend level is determined by the amount of time that you've spent doing biomedical research-related activities (research, teaching or clinical) since you earned your Ph.D. or another terminal degree. The relevant experience can be in your current sponsor's lab, elsewhere, or both. If you earned two terminal degrees (e.g., an M.D. and a Ph.D.), we calculate your stipend based on when you earned the first degree.

Level 1. Your stipend level in year 1 will be the one for which you were eligible when you were offered the fellowship, regardless of when you activate (start) the fellowship.

Yes. Every year, your stipend will be one level higher than it was in the previous year. For example, if you are paid at level 2 in the first year of your fellowship, you'll be paid at level 3 in the second year and at level 4 in the third year. In your second year, your stipend will be what Congress authorizes that year for level 3. In your third year, your stipend will be what Congress authorizes that year for level 4.

Your institution or your sponsor may choose to supplement your fellowship stipend, which is legal if the supplemental funds come from a non-Federal source.

Yes. In most cases, your business office will issue the IRS Form 1099 that you'll need when you file your tax return.

Your institution determines what it can be used for. In general, it can be used to pay for health insurance premiums, travel to scientific meetings, computers and other costs that are directly related to your postdoctoral training.

If you have other applications pending, you will have to withdraw those applications before you can accept an NRSA fellowship. Your program director will ask for copies of the letters that you write to withdraw your other fellowship applications. If you are anticipating a decision from another funding source soon, you may want to wait until you hear from that funding source before you accept or reject the offer from NIH. Your program director will tell you how long s/he can wait for you to make a decision.

Ask your program director when decisions are likely to be made about NRSA fellowships and the probability that your application will be funded. If you are likely to be offered a fellowship, your program director can calculate what your term and stipend would be.

Send a letter, countersigned by an authorized representative from your institution's Office of Sponsored Research, requesting your application be withdrawn to your assigned NIGMS program director. The letter can be scanned, uploaded and sent as a PDF to the program director's e-mail address located in your eRA Commons account.

If s/he needs more details about the course that you're planning to take, simply e-mail a more complete course description to your program director. If, on the other hand, your RCR plan is unacceptable, you will have to identify a suitable course (see related FAQ) and get your sponsor's approval to take it before your fellowship can be awarded. You can e-mail the course description to your program director and ask your sponsor to send an e-mail message to your program director indicating his/her approval. Alternatively, you can print out a course description, sign it and ask your sponsor to sign it, and then fax the signed copy to your program director.

E-mail or fax a notarized statement certifying that you are in possession of a green card (I-551) to your grants management specialist. You need to do this before your fellowship can be awarded. If your green card is being approved for renewal, you can submit a notarized statement certifying that you are in possession of Form 1-90, which was provided to you when you filed for your new green card. Once you have received your new green card, you must send a notarized statement certifying that you have your green card to Grants and Council Operations, NIH/NIGMS, Room 2AN.44, 45 Center Drive, MSC 6200, Bethesda, MD 20892-6200.

No, but you have to submit proof that you completed the requirements for the Ph.D. or another terminal degree before you can activate (start) your fellowship. You can submit the Ph.D. certification form that was sent to you with your Notice of Research Fellowship Award (note that this form has to be signed by the dean or registrar of the institution from which you earned your degree); a copy of your diploma, if it specifies the degree that was awarded; or an official copy of your graduate transcript. The document should be sent to Grants and Council Operations, NIH/NIGMS, Room 2AS.55, 45 Center Drive, MSC 6200, Bethesda, MD 20892-6200.

Your grants management specialist will issue the award. It typically takes a few weeks--maybe up to a month--for that to happen, after you tell your program director that you would like to accept the fellowship. If you need to submit something before your award can be issued (e.g., proof of permanent residency, a revised RCR plan), do that right away. If you don't, your award will be delayed.

The Notice of Research Fellowship Award (NRFA) will be automatically e-mailed to your institution's Office of Sponsored Programs and available through their eRA Commons account. After receiving the Fellowship Award Notice, you may activate your fellowship by following the instructions for submitting the Activation Notice and Payback agreement, which are found in the Terms and Conditions section of the NRFA. These instructions include the links to the forms you'll need.

You can activate (start) your fellowship any time within 6 months of the date on which the Notice of Research Fellowship Award was issued, except between October 1 and November 15. Talk to your sponsor about the best time to activate your fellowship. Activating it quickly may be preferable if money is tight in the lab. Conversely, if you activate your fellowship late, you may be able to extend your time in your sponsor's lab. The term of your fellowship will be the same, regardless of when you activate it.

If you know when you're offered the fellowship that you want to activate it as soon as possible, tell your program director when you accept the offer, so that s/he can let your grants management specialist know. Depending on how busy your grants management specialist is, s/he may be able to expedite the award.

To activate your fellowship, you need to submit an activation notice and a payback agreement. These documents should be mailed to Grants and Council Operations, NIH/NIGMS, Room 2AS.55, 45 Center Drive, MSC 6200, Bethesda, MD 20892-6200.

If circumstances beyond your control prevent you from being able to activate your fellowship within 6 months, you can request an extension of the activation period. Your request should be in the form of a letter signed by you and countersigned by your sponsor and by the appropriate institutional official. In the letter, you should explain the circumstances justifying the request and specify the date to which you'd like the activation period to be extended. When choosing a date, keep in mind that you will not be able to activate your fellowship between October 1 and November 15. The letter should be faxed to your grants management specialist. If your request is approved, a revised Notice of Research Fellowship Award with a new "latest activation date" will be issued.

For every month of NRSA postdoctoral support, up to 12 months, you incur an obligation to pay back that support. You can fulfill that obligation by continuing the fellowship for 12 additional months or by doing biomedical research-related activities while you are not supported by the fellowship. One month of payback is required for every month in which you incur a payback application.

In accordance with ongoing efforts to support family-friendly work environments for the NIH-supported workforce, NRSA fellowship awardees are now eligible to request additional funds for costs for childcare provided by a licensed provider. Requests may be made at the time of the competing application, as a "just in time" submission prior to receiving the award notice, in the annual progress report, or mid-budget period as an administrative supplement (see NOT-OD-21-070 and the associated notices, including NOT-OD-21-075). Eligible fellows are encouraged to consult the FAQs and the Grants Management Specialist on the Notice of Award.

Contact the business official at your institution who handles postdoctoral fellowships. If s/he can't help you, get in touch with your grants management specialist or your program director at NIGMS. In general, address questions about policy or legal issues to your grants management specialist and questions about your research project to your program director. Since grants management and program staff work closely with each other, they will confer if necessary, to address your questions and resolve any problems that might arise.

Yes. At the end of every year of fellowship support except for the last one, you are required to submit a progress report. Your progress report is due 2 months before your next year of support is scheduled to begin. Your institution will submit the progress report, but it is your responsibility to write the narrative describing your progress. It is your sponsor's responsibility to provide a written evaluation of your accomplishments.

You must use the Research Performance Progress Report (RPPR).

Call your program director and explain the situation. If it is just a few days late, there is no harm done, as long as your program director and your grants management specialist know when it will arrive. However, if we do not have your progress report when your current year of fellowship funding expires, your next year of funding will be delayed.

No. There is no carryover from one budget period to the next. All funds must be spent in the year in which they were awarded.

In general, the PD/PI may make changes in the methodology, approach, or other aspects of the project objectives. However, the recipient must obtain prior approval from the NIH awarding IC for a change in scope. A change in scope is a change in the direction, aims, objectives, purposes, or type of research training, identified in the approved project. The recipient must make the initial determination of the significance of a change and should consult with the GMO as necessary. See GPS 8.1.2.5 for more details.

If you change projects, sponsors AND institutions, you cannot keep your fellowship. But if you change projects OR sponsors OR institutions, you can request permission from your program director to keep your fellowship. If you change two of the three parameters (e.g., project and sponsor), you will need approval to retain your fellowship from your program director and from the NIGMS TWD leadership. Your request will only be approved if the justification for the change(s) is very compelling.

A fellowship cannot be moved from one institution to another between October 1 and November 15.

Yes, but the process may take several weeks since your unexpended institutional allowance and stipend funds will have to be transferred from your old institution to your new institution.

Individuals requiring extended periods of time away from their research training experience, that is, more than 15 calendar days of sick leave or more than 60 calendar days of parental leave, must seek approval from the NIH awarding IC for an unpaid leave of absence. A request letter signed by the fellow and fellowship sponsor must be submitted by the AOR, and must advise the NIH awarding IC of the dates of the leave of absence. Upon approval of the request, the NIH awarding IC will issue a revised NoA extending the ending date of the current budget/project period by the appropriate number of days or months of unpaid leave time. Recipients are precluded from spending award funds during the leave of absence; although continued coverage of health insurance would be allowable if in accordance with policy of the sponsoring institution. See GPS 11.2.13.1. Note that your fellowship cannot be re-started between October 1 and November 15.

If you take a leave of absence, your award will be extended to compensate for the time that you are on leave. For example, if you are on an unpaid leave of absence for 3 months, your award will be extended for 3 months.

You need to submit a termination notice to NIH (PHS 416-7 via xTrain within 30 days of termination). The instructions for submission can be found here. Fellows with service payback requirements​ must notify NIH of any change in address and submit Annual Payback Activities Certification Forms (PHS 6031-1 [PDF]) until the payback service obligation is satisfied.

Congratulations! If you terminate your fellowship in the first 6 months of a fellowship year, your institutional allowance will be reduced by half. Otherwise, there is no penalty for early termination, assuming that you already fulfilled your payback obligation or will fulfill it by doing biomedical research-related activities in your new position. Please follow the instructions above (see related FAQ) to submit your termination notice to NIH via xTRAIN asap, but no later than 30 days of the termination.

We realize that most postdoctoral research projects take more than 3 years to complete. However, there is a Congressionally mandated 3-year limit on NRSA postdoctoral support. Generally, sponsors assume the responsibility of supporting postdocs after their fellowships expire. In most cases, requests for extensions of the fellowship will not be considered.

In unusual circumstances, however, a postdoc who has received less than 3 years of NRSA support will be considered for a 6-month extension of the fellowship if the postdoc has an unanticipated opportunity for substantial new training. You cannot request an extension to work on experiments that you proposed to do in your fellowship application and have not yet started, to finish ongoing projects, or to write manuscripts. If you think that you might qualify for an extension, contact your program director.

In very rare circumstances (e.g., an M.D. who needs more time to complete his/her Ph.D. research, a postdoc who has not been able to work efficiently for a prolonged period of time because of a sponsor's illness, or a major disaster in the laboratory), a request for a 12-month extension will be considered. Approval from the NIGMS TWD leadership and your Program Officer is required for a 12-month extension.