Purpose
Fellowships to provide predoctoral individuals with supervised research training in specified health and health-related areas leading toward the research doctoral degree (e.g., PhD) or MD/PhD students in MSTP programs.

Program Announcement
PA-20-246

Due Dates for New Applications
April 8,  August 8,  December 8

Eligibility
Applications are open to U.S. citizens or permanent residents in research doctoral programs at U.S. domestic institutions or foreign institutions.

NINDS will not support fellowship applications if the specific aims, questions being asked or approach to answering a specific question are fundamentally identical to those already proposed in the mentor’s grants.
Whereas it is expected that the applicant will work with the mentor to develop the application, the applicant should write an original research plan consistent with the mentor’s funded research. Applicants should not simply be working towards fulfillment of specific aims already devised by the mentor. Please see NINDS policy on project overlap and fellowship applications (pdf, 108kb) for more information.

Applicants are strongly advised not to write in the second person, or to refer to themselves in the third person. It is critical that NINDS and reviewers understand what the applicant is doing, what the applicant is proposing, what the applicant themself has written, and what has or will be done by others in the research environment.

Additional Information
NINDS provides National Research Service Award (NRSA) predoctoral training fellowships (F31) to promising applicants with the potential to become productive, independent investigators in the scientific mission areas of the Institute. NINDS uses this mechanism to support the career development of neuroscientists (some rare exceptions apply), so the applicant must propose dissertation research in an area within the scientific mission of the NINDS and a training program appropriate for a career in neuroscience research. The mentor should be committed to the successful transition of the applicant to a subsequent appropriate position, have a strong track record in training, and have an active, funded research program in the area of the applicant's proposed research. Potential applicants are strongly encouraged to contact the NINDS Training Office before preparation of an application to determine whether their proposed training and research falls within the NINDS mission.

NINDS will provide funding to applicants who are within 8 years of starting their entire MD/PhD and within 6 years of starting their research training towards the PhD degree - funded awards will not extend beyond these training periods. 100% of full time effort must be devoted to research training. However, approximately ½ day per week may be devoted to continued clinical education.

This program will provide predoctoral training support for doctoral candidates who are within their first 6 years of graduate school, have or will have successfully completed their comprehensive examinations or the equivalent by the time of award, and will be performing dissertation research and training. Support will be provided for a maximum of 3 years and a minimum of 12 months. The applicant should provide evidence of potential for a productive research career based upon the quality of previous research training and academic record. The research training program should be carried out in a research environment that includes appropriate human and technical resources and is demonstrably committed to the research training of the applicant in the program he/she proposes in the application.

Applicants are encouraged to contact Stephen Korn, Ph.D. before preparing an application, as NINDS will consider only those applications that are designed to support the training and development of scientists with interests relevant to the mission of NINDS.