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Institutional training programs (often referred to as the "T" series because their activity codes begin with the letter T) provide domestic, nonprofit, and private or public graduate-level academic institutions with funds for research training opportunities, including international, for trainees at the undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral levels.
Purpose
NIH Institutional Training programs help prepare the next generation of biomedical, behavioral, clinical, and other health-related researchers. Through these programs, NIH provides funding to eligible institutions to develop high-quality research training experiences for students, postdoctoral researchers, and, in some programs, health professional trainees.
Institutional training awards are made to universities, medical schools, research organizations, and other eligible institutions. Faculty and research leaders at these institutions serve as the Project Directors/Principal Investigators (PDs/PIs) of the awards and develop and oversee the training programs. They select eligible individuals to participate in organized approaches to biomedical research training, mentoring and career development. Trainee-level investigators should contact their institution about training opportunities.
The Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) is NIH's primary statutory framework for supporting research training. The NRSA legislation requires some recipients of support (post-doctoral fellows and trainees) to pay back the Federal government by engaging in health-related research, health-related research training or health-related teaching (or any combination thereof).
What Institutional Training Programs Provide
NIH-supported institutional training programs combine mentored research with structured opportunities for scientific and professional development. Depending on the program and career stage, training may include:
- Hands-on research experience with experienced faculty mentors
- Coursework, seminars, workshops, and other educational activities
- Training in rigorous and reproducible research methods
- Opportunities to develop quantitative, analytical, communication, leadership, and other professional skills
- Interdisciplinary or translational research experiences
- Career development activities designed to prepare participants for a range of careers in the biomedical research workforce
Training grants offset the cost of stipends, tuition and fees, and training related expenses, including health insurance, for the appointed trainees in accordance with the approved NIH support levels.
Finding the Right NIH Institute or Center
NIH Institutes and Centers support research in different areas of science and health. An institutional training application should therefore be relevant to the mission and research interests of at least one participating Institute or Center (IC).
Not every NIH Institute or Center participates in every training program. Participating ICs have different scientific priorities and other program-specific considerations (see ICO Institutional Training Funding Considerations and Contacts). Understanding the funding practices of an institute or center of interest is especially important when submitting investigator-initiated applications to Parent or Other Broad Institutional Training Announcements. For example, some ICs accept application in each of our three funding cycles, but only make funding decisions once a year.
NIH Training Program Awards
Established investigators are typically designated as the Training PD/PI to oversee training programs for their institution.
These training awards provide individual research training opportunities (including international) to trainees at the undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral levels and can include trainees from multiple different labs.
Academic period during which a student at a college or university pursues a bachelor's or equivalent degree.
Period during which a student who has earned a bachelor's or equivalent degree is pursuing additional education and performing research to obtain a research doctorate. Clinical students acquire the knowledge to earn the clinical doctorate degree.
Postdoctoral refers to a temporary and defined period of mentored advanced training for those who have received a doctoral degree (or equivalent) to enhance the professional skills and research independence needed to pursue their chosen career path. Residency refers to a graduate medical education (GME) program that provides physicians with hands-on experience and training in a specific medical specialty after they graduate from medical school.
Also Consider...
Administrative Supplements
An administrative supplement is a non-competing award that provides additional funding to a currently funded grant. Administrative supplements may be used to support unanticipated circumstances, including full or part-time mentored research training experiences for individuals with high potential to reenter, reintegrate into, or retrain in an active research career.