Reminder of Updates to NIH Training Grant Application Data Tables for Application Due Dates on or After January 25, 2025
Notice Number:
NOT-OD-25-044

Key Dates

Release Date:

December 10, 2024

Related Announcements

  • November 21, 2024 – Reminder that Multiple Changes Affecting Extramural Applications and Review are Coming for Application Due Dates on or After January 25, 2025. See NOT-OD-25-035
  • November 18, 2024 – Reminder: FORMS-I Grant Application Forms and Instructions Must be Used for Due Dates on or After January 25, 2025. See NOT-OD-25-026
  • October 21, 2024 - Notice of Intent to Publish a Funding Opportunity Announcement for New Institutional Training Programs for Aging Research (T32, Clinical Trial Not Allowed). See Notice NOT-AG-24-068.
  • May 31, 2024 - Updates to NIH Institutional Training Grant Applications for Due Dates on or After January 25, 2025.  See Notice NOT-OD-24-129 
  • April 4, 2024 - Overview of Grant Application and Review Changes for Due Dates on or after January 25, 2025.  See NoticeNOT-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

Purpose

This notice serves as a reminder regarding updates to the NIH Institutional Training Program application required training data tables. These changes take effect starting with submissions for due dates on or after January 25, 2025.  The overall goals of these changes are to: (1) reduce applicant and reviewer burden and (2) p romote consistent information collection across training programs.

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.

Training data tables required as part of the Research Performance Progress Report (RPPR), must use the updated training data tables effective for submissions on or after January 26, 2025. 

Detailed Explanation of Updates

Reminder of Updates to Data Tables

Planned Updates

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

  • Updated 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).
  • Removed redundancies by not asking for structured data that is elsewhere available in the application.
  • Tables 2 and 4 - Added 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.  Previously, applicants provided information based on the participating faculty member, instead of based on the trainee.  The following updates are:
    • The table is 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 are 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

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

Updates: Applicants are 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) should omit Part II (Postdoctorates).
  • Programs that are focused solely on postdoctoral research training must complete Part II (Post doctorates) should 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

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

Updates: Applicants are 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 should omit information on postdoctoral training outcomes.
  • Programs that are focused only on postdoctoral research training must complete items 10-12 and should omit information on predoctoral training outcomes.
  • Programs proposing training that includes both predoctoral and postdoctoral training must complete items 7-12.   

Table 6 – Training Program Candidates, Entrants, and their Characteristics for the Past Five Years: Predoctoral and Postdoctoral (Previously: Applicants, Entrants and Characteristics for the Past Five Years)

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

Updates:

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

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

Update:

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

As applicable, applicants should 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

Previously, undergraduate training programs required Tables 2, 3, 4, 5, and 8.

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

Previously, applicants provided information based on the participating faculty member, instead of based on the trainee.  Additionally, the table was limited to peer-reviewed publications.

Update:  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 are able to include published abstracts at external scientific meetings to which the undergraduate trainees contributed.

Table 8 – Program Outcomes

Previously, the table examples for “Initial Position and Current Position” were broad, which could negatively impact the ability for program staff and peer reviewers to clearly assess subsequent trainee career progress.

Update:

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

Updates to xTRACT

Applicants for research training grant awards are urged to consult  Forms-I Application Guides  for detailed guidance. Research training grant applicants using the xTRACT system to prepare training data tables should note that data table modifications are expected to be incorporated into the xTRACT system no later than December 30, 2024. Guidance on preparing the required tables for Forms-I are available in the xTRACT User Guide upon deployment, and on the Data Tables website.

Resources

Inquiries

Please direct all inquiries to:

Please direct all scientific, grants management and review questions to relevant points of contacts listed in the Table of IC-Specific Information, Requirements and Staff Contacts.

For policy inquiries about NIH parent institutional training grants please contact:

Division of Biomedical Research Workforce
Office of Extramural Research
Website: https://researchtraining.nih.gov
Email: NIHTrain@mail.nih.gov