NCCIH Research Blog

Do you direct a National Institutes of Health (NIH) Institutional Training Award or hope to do so in the future? If so, then this blog post is for you! 

On May 31, 2024, NIH announced upcoming changes to Institutional Training Award grant applications and aspects of the peer review process for applications due on or after January 25, 2025. Notably, these changes differ from the simplified peer review framework changes for most research project grant applications that will take effect in the same timeframe.

Institutional Training Awards are an important mechanism at NIH for supporting research training opportunities for trainees at the undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral levels, through awards made to support an institutional-run training program rather than individual-level training (e.g., through a fellowship or career development award). The upcoming changes to these awards are informed by experience, lessons learned about mentoring of research trainees, and the NIH UNITE initiative. They are expected to reduce applicant and reviewer burdens and advance the development of a biomedical research workforce that will benefit from the full range of perspectives, experiences, and backgrounds needed to spur discovery. 

Per NIH Notice Number NOT-OD-24-129, the changes will include: 

• Adding new language defining expectations for mentor training in the Parent T32 Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) 
• Making updates to the required NRSA Data Tables to promote consistency
• Updating the PHS 398 Research Training Program Plan Form to make the “Recruitment Plan to Enhance Diversity” its own attachment
• Moving the “Training in the Responsible Conduct of Research” and the “Recruitment Plan to Enhance Diversity” items from “Additional Review Considerations” to “Additional Review Criteria” 

The following grant mechanisms will be impacted:

• 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

To help our stakeholders prepare, NIH currently offers: 

• The NIH Grants webpage on these changes
• An archived webinar from June 2024, “Updates to NIH Training Grant Applications,” including the video, slides, and transcript—see the event page
• Other resources in “For More Information” below 

If you have further questions about the changes, we invite you to email T32updates@mail.nih.gov. 

For More Information

• NIH Funding Programs by Career Stage
• NIH Grants webpage: Updates to NIH Institutional Training Grant Applications 
• NIH Guide Notice: Updates to NIH Institutional Training Grant Applications for Due Dates on or After January 25, 2025 (NOT-OD-24-129)
• NIH webinar from June 5, 2024, “Updates to NIH Training Grant Applications”
• Announcing Updates to NIH Institutional Training Grant Applications and Required Data Tables, blog post by Michael Lauer, M.D., Erica Boone, Ph.D., and Kenneth Gibbs, Ph.D., NIH