NRSA Individual Predoctoral Fellowships (F30 and F31 - Diversity)

For fellowship parent announcements, instructions, stipend levels and deadlines, visit the NIH F Kiosk.

NIGMS is a major supporter of predoctoral training through the Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) Institutional Predoctoral Training Grants. Graduate students appointed to NIGMS-funded training grants are typically supported for 1-2 years, during the first 3 years of their graduate research training. In addition, NIGMS provides predoctoral fellowships to eligible individuals who seek advanced predoctoral research training in basic biomedical sciences through the NRSA Individual Predoctoral Fellowships to Promote Diversity in Health-Related Research (F31) and the NRSA Individual Predoctoral MD/PhD or Other Dual-Doctoral Degree Fellowships for Students at Institutions Without NIH-Funded Institutional Predoctoral Dual-Degree Training Programs (F30). These fellowships, which generally provide up to 3 years of support, promote fundamental, interdisciplinary and innovative research training and career development leading to independent scientists who are well prepared to address the nation's biomedical research needs.

NIGMS gives priority to funding predoc fellowships in a wide variety of training settings and regions across the country. The Institute also takes into consideration the level of the sponsor’s extramural support in making its funding decisions in alignment with NIGMS Funding Policies. The sponsor’s extramural support need not be from NIGMS.

NIGMS provides support for the following types of individual NRSA predoctoral fellowships:

NIGMS does not support the Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) Individual Predoctoral Fellowship (Parent F31).

Note:

An applicant for an NIGMS predoctoral fellowship should:

  • Be an advanced Ph.D. or M.D.-Ph.D. student. Typically, at the time of application, students are expected to be in their third or fourth year of graduate training and to have progressed to Ph.D. candidacy by the time of award.
  • Demonstrate high academic performance in the biomedical sciences and research independence.
  • Have identified a research sponsor and a dissertation project that must be in basic biomedical sciences relevant to the NIGMS mission, and includes a novel approach to the problem and shows strong training potential.

Clearly describe how the proposed fellowship will make a significant impact on their research training and development as an independent biomedical scientist.

Review and Funding

Applications are evaluated for scientific and technical merit by scientific peer review at fellowship study sections organized by the NIH Center for Scientific Review. Applications for each fellowship program announcement are reviewed as groups, and percentiled within each group. Following review, applicants can retrieve the critique (summary statement) of their proposal and priority score from the NIH Commons.

The following factors are considered in making funding decisions:

  • Scientific and technical merit of the proposed project as determined by scientific peer review.
  • Relevance of the proposed project to NIGMS program priorities.
  • Availability of funds and alignment with NIGMS Funding Policies.

For answers to general questions about F30 and F31 awards, see Predoctoral Fellowships FAQs or contact the program officer(s) who manage F30, and F31 (diversity) fellowships.