Key Dates

Related Announcements

• April 4, 2024 - Overview of Grant Application and Review Changes for Due Dates on or after January 25, 2025.  See Notice NOT-OD-24-084.
• April 4, 2024 - New NIH "FORMS-I" Grant Application Forms and Instructions Coming for Due Dates on or after January 25, 2025. See Notice NOT-OD-24-086. 

Issued by

Office of The Director, National Institutes of Health (OD)

Purpose

This notice announces updates to the NIH Institutional Training Program applications and required training data tables. These changes take effect starting with submissions for due dates on or after January 25, 2025.  The overall goal of these changes is to:

• Reduce applicant and reviewer burden. 
• Further support the development of a biomedical research workforce that will benefit from the full range of perspectives, experiences and backgrounds needed to advance discovery.
• Align SF424 with updates with relevant NIH training grant NOFOs and requirements.

Background

Advances in biomedical research depend upon a workforce composed of individuals trained in multiple disciplines and from a range of backgrounds who can provide the breadth of creativity, and individual interests, perspectives and experiences needed to identify and address important and complex scientific problems, engage with increasingly diverse patient populations, and effectively serve as mentors to trainees from increasingly diverse backgrounds who are pursuing biomedical research careers.   Despite tremendous advancements in scientific research, information, educational and research opportunities are not equally available to all. These gaps limit the ability for NIH to effectively cultivate the diverse and highly trained workforce necessary to meet the needs of the Nation’s biomedical research agenda.

NIH has made significant investments to develop, implement, assess and disseminate innovative, effective approaches to  research training and mentoring and to prepare trainees for a variety of  career paths in the biomedical research workforce. Additionally, NIH established the UNITE initiative to identify structural barriers and promote equity in the NIH-supported biomedical research ecosystem. Through these initiatives, the research community has identified the need for:

• Broader outreach activities to foster awareness of research training opportunities for potential trainees from all backgrounds, including individuals from underrepresented groups.
• Targeted recruitment activities to diversify training program applicant pools, and
• Increased mentorship opportunities to facilitate trainee success (see  Re-envisioning NIH Supported Postdoctoral Training ;  UNITE Listening Sessions ).

Importantly, access to high-quality mentoring, and opportunities for skills development through structured training programs have been linked to enhanced trainee productivity, increased self-efficacy and strengthening an individual’s commitment to a research career ( The Science of Effective Mentoring in STEMM, 2019).  NIH will leverage the lessons of these initiatives to enhance institutional research training programs, including by enhancing opportunities to strengthen mentor training.

Implementation

These updates will be effective for due dates on or after January 25, 2025, for Institutional Training Grant applications, including international training and institutional career development, and will impact applications that use Research Training Data Tables.

The following activity codes are affected:

• Institutional Training – T series, e.g., T15, T32, T34, T35, T37, T90/R90, TL1, TL4.
• International Institutional Training – D43, D71, U2R.
• Institutional Career Development – K12, KL2.

Summary of Updates

• Key application changes:
  • PHS 398 Research Training Program Plan Form - Recruitment Plan to Enhance Diversity will be its own attachment.
  • Parent T32 NOFO – Define mentor training expectations.
  • Update NRSA Data Tables to reduce burden and promote consistent information collection across training programs. 
• Key changes to peer review:
  • Move "Training in the Responsible Conduct of Research" and "Recruitment Plan to Enhance Diversity" to Additional Review Criteria so they contribute to the overall impact score.

Detailed Explanation of Updates

Updates to PHS 398 Research Training Program Plan Form

NIH will update the instructions and collection fields within the “Training Program Section” of the PHS 398 Research Training Program Plan Form.  Currently, the “Training Program Section” has the following attachments:

• Program Plan (Attachment 2)
• Plan for Instruction in the Responsible Conduct of Research (Attachment 3)
• Plan for Instruction in Methods for Enhancing Reproducibility (Attachment 4)
• Multiple PD/PI Leadership Plan (if applicable) (Attachment 5)
• Progress Report (for Renewal applications) (Attachment 6)

The Program Plan attachment currently has three sections:

1. Background
2. Program Plan
3. Recruitment Plan to Enhance Diversity, which is required for all training grant activity codes except T34, T36, U2R, and all D-series activity codes.

Planned Updates: NIH will move the “Recruitment Plan to Enhance Diversity” from the Program Plan attachment and make it a separate attachment. The Recruitment Plan to Enhance Diversity Attachment will:

• Continue to be required for all training grant activity codes except U2R, and all D-series activity codes.
• Have a three-page limit, consistent with the page limits for “Plan for Instruction in the Responsible Conduct of Research” and “Plan for Instruction in Methods for Enhancing Reproducibility.”

The “Training Program Section” will now include the following attachments:

• Program Plan (Attachment 2)
• Recruitment Plan to Enhance Diversity (Attachment 3)
• Plan for Instruction in the Responsible Conduct of Research (Attachment 4)
• Plan for Instruction in Methods for Enhancing Reproducibility (Attachment 5)
• Multiple PD/PI Leadership Plan (if applicable) (Attachment 6)
• Progress Report (for Renewal applications) (Attachment 7)

Defining Mentor Training Expectations in Training Programs

Planned Updates: The Parent T32 NOFO will incorporate new language outlining expectations for mentor training and oversight into the program considerations, application instructions, and review criteria. IC specific training NOFOs may include similar language. 

Funded training programs will be expected to support effective mentorship by ensuring all program faculty complete formal mentor training and periodic refreshers. Applicant organizations should consider the following topics (as well as other evidence-informed curricula) as potential mentor training components, and are encouraged to adapt to program and trainee needs:

• Aligning expectations
• Maintaining effective communication
• Fostering independence
• Assessing scholars’ understanding of scientific research
• Enhancing professional development
• Addressing equity and inclusion
• Articulating your mentoring philosophy and plan

In the Parent T32 Program Plan (Program Faculty section) applicants will be expected to describe both (a) the faculty participants and (b) planned mentor training and oversight. This should include a description of:

• How the participating faculty are trained to ensure the use of evidence-informed mentoring practices that promote the development of trainees from all backgrounds (including trainees from groups underrepresented in the biomedical sciences).
• Mechanisms to monitor mentoring, including oversight of the effectiveness of the trainee/participating faculty match, and a plan for removing faculty who continue to display unacceptable mentorship qualities from the training program. 

NIH will incorporate additional questions into the review criteria to align with these changes.

Updates to Data Tables

Planned Updates

All table types (Predoctoral, Postdoctoral, Undergraduate, International)

• Update table instructions to:
  • Clarify terms and rationale, and
  • Use consistent lettering for training stage (A = predoctoral, B = postdoctoral, C = short-term, D = Undergraduate, I = International).
• Remove redundancies by not asking for structured data that is elsewhere available in the application.
• Tables 2 and 4 - Add an optional Part II for multi-organizational training programs to allow applicant organizations to more clearly delineate Participating Faculty Members and their Research Support at each organization.
• Table 5 – Publications of Those in Training.  Currently, applicants provide information based on the participating faculty member, instead of based on the trainee.  The following updates are planned:
  • The table will be reorganized so that the first column is the trainee (or “recent graduates” for New applications).  This will enhance the focus on the potential of the training program to foster trainees’ ability to conduct rigorous research that advanced scientific knowledge and technologies with increasing self-direction (i.e., publishable results).
  • Applicants will be allowed to include interim research products which the trainee contributed to (such as preprints) in Table 5.  Note: interim products should be excluded from the table if related work has been published or accepted for publication as a peer reviewed manuscript (in such cases, only the final, peer-reviewed publication would be included).

Additional Updates to Predoctoral and Postdoctoral Tables

Table 1 - Census of Participating Departments or Interdepartmental Programs

Currently, applicants are expected to complete Parts I (Predoctorates) and II (Postdoctorates), regardless of whether the proposed program is a predoctoral or postdoctoral training program.

Planned Updates: Applicants will be expected to provide data only for the training stage(s) reflected in the proposed program.

• Programs that are focused solely on predoctoral research training must complete Part I (Predoctorates), and will be instructed to omit Part II (Postdoctorates).
• Programs that are focused solely on postdoctoral research training must complete Part II (Post doctorates) and will be instructed to omit Part I (Predoctorates).
• Programs proposing training that includes both predoctoral and postdoctoral training must continue to complete Parts I and II.

Table 2 – Participating Faculty Members

Currently, applicants are expected to provide the record for mentoring predoctorates and postdoctorates who have been or are currently engaged research training in under the faculty member’s primary supervision, regardless of whether the proposed program is a predoctoral or postdoctoral training program.

Planned Updates: Applicants will be required to provide data that are relevant only to the training stage(s) in the proposed program:

• Programs that are focused only on predoctoral research training must complete items 7-9 and will be instructed to omit information on postdoctoral training outcomes.
• Programs that are focused only on postdoctoral research training must complete items 10-12 and will be instructed to omit information on predoctoral training outcomes.
• Programs proposing training that includes both predoctoral and postdoctoral training must complete items 7-12.   

Table 6 - Applicants, Entrants, and their Characteristics for the Past Five Years: Predoctoral and Postdoctoral

Currently, applicants are asked to provide detailed, structured information on individuals who applied to and entered the program for each of the last five academic years.

Planned Updates:

• Predoctoral: Remove the following characteristics: Mean Months of Prior, Full-Time Research Experience (range), Prior Institutions, and Mean GPA (range).
• Postdoctoral: Remove the following characteristics: Mean Number of Publications (range), Mean Number of First-Author Publications (range), Prior Institutions.

As applicable, applicants can include relevant information in the program plan.

Table 8 - Program Outcomes: Predoctoral and Postdoctoral

Currently, these tables include Part II “Those Clearly Associated with the Training Grant,” which is reported in the Research Performance Progress Report (RPPR) and competitive renewal applications.

Planned Updates:

• Remove Part II, “Those Clearly Associated with the Training Grant.”

As applicable, applicants can include relevant information about the broader impacts of the program in the RPPR narrative (non-competing) or Program Plan (competing).

Additional Updates to Undergraduate Tables

Currently, undergraduate training programs require Tables 2, 3, 4, 5, and 8.

Planned Updates: To align with data standards for other training grants, and better structure information already incorporated in the application, the following new Tables will be added.

• Table 1. Census of Participating Biomedical Departments and Interdepartmental Programs.
• Table 7. Appointments to the Training Grant for Each Year of the Current Project Period (Only for Renewals).

Table 5 – Publications of Those in Training

Currently, applicants provide information based on the participating faculty member, instead of based on the trainee.  Additionally, the table is limited to peer-reviewed publications.

Planned updates:  In addition to the updates described above (for example, reorganization so the trainee is the first column, and the inclusion of interim research products), applicants will be able to include published abstracts at external scientific meetings to which the undergraduate trainees contributed.

Table 8 – Program Outcomes

Currently, the table examples for “Initial Position and Current Position” that are broad and can impact the ability for program staff and peer reviewers to clearly assess subsequent trainee career progress.

Planned Updates:

• Applicants will be instructed to use specific language to describe subsequent degree programs.  For example, instead of “graduate student,” applicants will be instructed to describe the specific type of graduate program (such as Master’s, Ph.D., M.D./Ph.D., etc.).

Peer Review

Institutional training awards will retain the five scored review criteria.  For example, for Training Grants (T) reviewers will continue to score Training Program and Environment, Training Program Director(s)/Principal Investigator(s), Preceptors/Mentors, Trainees, and Training Record when determining the overall impact score.

Planned Updates: NIH will now also include “Training in the Responsible Conduct of Research” and “Recruitment Plan to Enhance Diversity” as items that contribute to the overall impact score. These items will move from “Additional Review Considerations” and will be included as “Additional Review Criteria.” As such  reviewers will evaluate the “Training in the Responsible Conduct of Research” and the “Recruitment Plan to Enhance Diversity” while determining scientific and technical merit, and in providing an overall impact score.

Resources

• Web page on Updates to NIH Institutional Training Grant Applications with related FAQs
• Register to attend a webinar on Updates to NIH Training Grant Applications from 1:00 PM to 2:00 PM EDT on June 5, 2024

Inquiries

Please direct all inquiries to:

T32updates@mail.nih.gov.