October 24, 2013

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Eligibility
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Deadlines
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Application Package
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Internal Requirements
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Tips

Individual Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award
Fellowships (NRSA: F30/F31/F32/F33) http://grants.nih.gov/training/nrsa.htm
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These fellowships are awarded to qualified individuals at the predoctoral, postdoctoral, or senior investigator level to pursue full-time research training in designated biomedical or behavioral science areas.
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By the time of award, the individual must be a citizen or a non-citizen national of the United States or have been lawfully admitted for permanent residence (i.e., possess a currently valid Permanent Resident Card USCIS Form I-551, or other legal verification of such status).

Activity Codes
Program
Description
Application
Form
F Series
Fellowships new, renewal, resubmission
Individual
National
Research
Service Awards
(Standard)
(see NRSA
Training Page )
SF424
(R&R)
F31 Diversity
Fellowships new, renewal, resubmission
Individual
Predoctoral
Fellowships (F31) to Promote
Diversity in
Health-Related
Research (see
NRSA Training Page )
SF424
(R&R)
Cycle I
Due Date
April 8
Cycle II
Due Date
Cycle III
Due Date
August 8 December 8
April 13 August 13 December 13

Activity Code
F30
F31
F32
F33
Category
Fellowship
Programs
Fellowship
Programs
Fellowship
Programs
Fellowship
Programs
Title
Individual Predoctoral
NRSA for M.D./Ph.D.
Fellowships (ADAMHA)
Predoctoral Individual
National Research Service
Award
Postdoctoral Individual
National Research Service
Award
National Research Service
Awards for Senior Fellows
Description
Individual fellowships for predoctoral training which leads to the combined
M.D./Ph.D. degrees.
To provide predoctoral individuals with supervised research training in specified health and health-related areas leading toward the research degree (e.g., Ph.D.).
To provide postdoctoral research training to individuals to broaden their scientific background and extend their potential for research in specified health-related areas.
To provide opportunities for experienced scientists to make major changes in the direction of research careers, to broaden scientific background, to acquire new research capabilities, to enlarge command of an allied research field, or to take time from regular professional responsibilities for the purpose of increasing capabilities to engage in health-related research.
http://grants.nih.gov/training/F_files_nrsa.htm
Resources
More Information
More Information
More Information
More Information

http://grants.nih.gov/training/F_files_nrsa.htm
Download application package
Work with your college grants office on this task

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The Grant Application Package is one PDF file
 Forms have data fields and attachments
A few words about PDF…
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Attachments required to be PDF
 No spaces, characters, etc. in filename
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Less than 50 character filename
Use a “one word” format: e.g., SpecificAims.pdf,
JonesBiosketch.pdf, SmithResearchPlan.pdf
 For word separation use underscore (example:
“My_Attached_File.pdf ”) in naming the attachments.
Convert to PDF (do not scan)
Don’t add extra security to your PDF!
Always check the instructions!

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Font
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Arial, Helvetica, Palatino Linotype, or Georgia
11 pt font or larger
Margins (8.5 x 11 paper)
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½ inch margins all around
No Headers or Footers
Figures, Graphs, Charts, etc.
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Can be smaller font
Must be black font, clear and legible
No Jargon

Page Limits
(if different from FOA,
FOA supersedes)
1
Section of Application
Introduction to Resubmission or Revision
Application (when applicable)
Specific Aims
Research Strategy
Respective Contributions
Selection of Sponsor and Institution
Responsible Conduct of Research
Applications for Concurrent Support (when applicable)
Goals for Fellowship Training and Career
1
1
1
1
6
1
1
Activities Planned Under This Award
Doctoral Dissertation and Other Research
Experience
Sponsor(s) and Co-Sponsor(s)
Biographical Sketch
6
4
1
2

Career Level
Predoctoral
Postdoctoral
:
Years of
Experience
All
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7 or More
Stipend for FY
2012
$22,032
$39,264
$41,364
$44,340
$46,092
$47,820
$49,884
$51,582
$54,180

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Stipend Level for FY 2012: $22,032
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Tuition and Fees: An amount equal to 60% of the level requested by the applicant institution, up to $16,000 per year.
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Institutional Allowance for Individual Fellows (To help defray the cost of fellowship expenses such as health insurance, research supplies, equipment, books, and travel to scientific meetings)::
• Predoctoral - $4,200
• Postdoctoral -$7,850
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No F&A Costs to University.

• At least three references (and not more than five) are required
• Include this list in your cover letter names, degrees, and affiliations of the referees
• Select referees carefully
• Your Mentor CANNOT be a reference; their recommendation is included as part of the application (on the PHS
Fellowship Supplemental Form).
• Please note that the specified Fellowship
Reference Form must be used.
• Reference letters are submitted directly through the eRA Commons Referee Information link and not through Grants.gov.
Letters of reference are due by the application receipt deadline date – no grace period!

Then Click on “Submit Reference Letter

EXAMPLE
SMITH.JOHN
SMITH
PA-11-111
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Referee enters their information (they do not need a Commons username)
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Referee enters information about YOU – be sure they have this information

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NIH requires that all trainees, fellows, participants, and scholars receiving support through any NIH training, career development award (individual or institutional), research education grant, and dissertation research grant must receive instruction in responsible conduct of research.
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This Notice applies to the following programs: D43, D71, F05, F30, F31, F32,
F33, F34, F37, F38, K01, K02, K05, K07, K08, K12, K18, K22, K23, K24, K25,
K26, K30, K99/R00, KL1, KL2, R25, R36, T15, T32, T34, T35, T36, T37,
T90/R90, TL1, TU2, and U2R.
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This policy also applies to any other NIH-funded programs supporting research training, career development, or research education that require instruction in responsible conduct of research as stated in the relevant funding opportunity announcements.

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 conflict of interest – personal, professional, and financial policies regarding human subjects, live vertebrate animal subjects in research, and safe laboratory practices mentor/mentee responsibilities and relationships collaborative research including collaborations with industry peer review data acquisition and laboratory tools; management, sharing and ownership research misconduct and policies for handling misconduct responsible authorship and publication the scientist as a responsible member of society, contemporary ethical issues in biomedical research, and the environmental and societal impacts of scientific research

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Online instruction and “Substantial face-to-face discussions” (at least 8 hours)
Instruction must be undertaken at least once during each career stage, and at a frequency of no less than once every four years.
Individuals at the early career investigator level (including mentored K awardees and K12 scholars) must receive instruction in responsible conduct of research at least once during this career stage.
Senior fellows and career award recipients (including F33, K02, K05, and K24 awardees) may fulfill the requirement for instruction in responsible conduct of research by participating as lecturers and discussion
leaders.

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Template language for proposals
Teaching resources
Documentation form template www.clemson.edu/research/compliance/integrity/resources.html
Online modules and workshops www.clemson.edu/research/compliance/integrity/training.html

Tracy Arwood Tarwood@clemson.edu
Cathy Welton Jwelton@clemson.edu
Office of Research Compliance
223 Brackett
656-1525

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Visit your college grants office first
Clemson Sponsored Programs Certification http://www.clemson.edu/research/sponsored/picertification.html
 This must be completed prior to submission of the proposal
Obtain an eRA Commons user name http://www.clemson.edu/research/sponsored/proposal/index.html
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This must be completed prior to submission of the proposal
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PHS Conflict of Interest http://www.clemson.edu/research/conflict-of-interest/
 This must be completed prior to submission of the proposal
Proposal Processing Form (approval from you department and college) http://www.clemson.edu/research/sponsored/forms.html

Investigator OSP
• Downloads & completes application
• Completes PPF
• Routes to college Office of
Sponsored
Programs
• Reviews application
(may suggest some modifications)
• Submits application to
Grants.gov
Grants.gov
Sponsor (NIH)
• Performs cursory electronic review
• Sends 3 emails
1.
2.
3.
Received
Validated or
Rejected
Agency
Retrieval
• Upon validation, notifies Sponsor
• Retrieves application from
Grants.gov
• Sends email to
IR: Validations
Complete/Check assembled application (or
ACTION
REQUIRED).

Prep/General:
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Start early! Give yourself enough time to get feedback from others. It’s also nice to give yourself a few days break, then come back and reread your proposal before submission.
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Contact the PO at the institute you are applying through to see if they interested in funding your topic area. Topic areas of funding interest are usually listed on the institutes’ websites; however, it does not hurt you to directly contact your PO!
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Find out what your institution’s submission deadlines are (these are usually earlier than the NIH deadlines). Be nice to your grants officers and submit early!
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If you know grad students who have been funded, ask if they would let you have a copy of their proposal.

Prep/General:
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Discuss the training plan with your advisor, making it as comprehensive as possible. Don’t forget about opportunities to present your work (conferences, departmental seminars, etc.) in addition to scholarly activities like journal clubs and visiting seminars.
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Understand the review process and know what reviewers are looking for, and then give it to them in clear, plain language. You want to make it easy for a reviewer to like your proposal.
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Expect to write your own training plan and possibly your letters of support. This is common and will give you good practice!
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Few proposals are funded on the first round. If yours is not but still receives a good score, take the review seriously – your chances to be funded on a resubmission for F-awards are good!

Scientific Proposal:
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Start by developing a logically sound outline. It’s a waste of time to write pages of science that don’t make sense, only having to significantly revise or start over later.
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In reality, only your primary reviewer is going to read your entire proposal thoroughly.
Reviewers 2 and 3 will all likely read your specific aims, so make them immaculate!
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Reviewers enjoy reading shorter proposals. If you don’t need to fill the entire page limit to appropriately describe your science, don’t!

Review:
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Find other grad students willing to read and critique your work.
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Have another faculty member (outside your research area, if possible) read through for logic. If someone outside the field cannot grasp the general concept, revise so the overall importance of your research is obvious.
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Pay attention to the nitpicky formatting details. This seems like a small point, but nobody wants to read a messy proposal.