Training Modules for Enhancing Biomedical Research Workforce Training Answers to Frequently Asked Questions

These Frequently Asked Questions have been formulated to assist potential applicants in understanding the intent and requirements of PAR-20-296. Additional FAQs may be added as staff receive and respond to additional questions.

The NIH R25 award is a mechanism to support education projects.

Within a 2-year timeframe, these R25 awards are expected to produce, pilot and disseminate one or more exportable training modules. It is expected that the proposed training modules will be made available to the scientific community at no cost and a link posted on the NIGMS Clearinghouse website.

Modules are relatively short units of sufficient depth and coverage to achieve the training objective.

Applicants may request up to $250,000 in direct costs to cover the entire period of the award. Award periods of up to three years may be requested.

The additional period of support allows for further evaluation, updates and maintenance for the training module.

These R25 educational resources are meant to be widely available to various audiences. Workshops would not meet the goals of the program, though they might be an element in developing a training module.

If the Webinars or series of Webinars were readily accessible, they would meet the technical requirement of the product. However, to be competitive they would need to be engaging and likely interactive.

Instructor-led training would be limited in audience reach and timeliness and thus do not meet the goals of this program. Instructor-led discussion may be used in the development of the modules or to augment the modules as part of a training program.

NIH is planning to host the modules when they are first ready to be utilized, including being 508 compliant. Grantees wishing to maintain, update and host their own modules are free to do so as long as they remain readily accessible to the research training community and NIH can link directly to them from its Web site. NIH will provide continued access to the modules when grantees do not wish to or are unable to host them beyond the period of support.

No, these awards are to support education/training, not research or tool development.

Workshops held as part of developing a module and with the purpose of defining standards or best practices in the area of the training module are allowable.

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