NIH-NRSA Individual Fellowships
F30, F31, F32 and F33

Overview:  NRSA individual fellowships (Award Mechanisms: F30, F31, F32, and F33) are to support predoctoral and postdoctoral training of individuals to undertake biomedical, behavior, or clinical research at domestic and foreign, public and private institutions (profit and non-profit).  The fellowship must be used to support a program of research training grants, and cannot support studies leading to M.D., D.O., D.D.S., D.V.M., or other similar health professional degrees, or to support the clinical portion of residency training. Trainees are expected to devote full time to the proposed training; full time is normally defined as 40 hours per week. Research trainees in clinical areas are expected to confine clinical duties to those that are part of the research training. The trainee must be a citizen or non-citizen national of the U.S. or have been lawfully admitted for permanent residence at the time of award. 

Postdoctoral (F32):

• Must have a Ph.D., M.D., D.O., D.D.S., D.V.M., O.D., D.P.M., SC.D, ENG. D., DR.P.H., D.N.S., N.D., PHARM.D., D.S.W, PYS.D., or equivalent doctoral degree from an accredited domestic or foreign institution. 
• All NIH ICs except Fogarty International Center (FIC) and National Library of Medicine (NLM) award NRSA fellowships.  FIC and NLM have unique funding authorities for fellowships that are not under the NRSA authority.

Predoctoral (F30 and F31): 

• Must have a baccalaureate degree (as of activation date of their NRSA pre-doctoral fellowship award) and enrolled and training at the post-baccalaureate level in a program leading to a Doctor of Philosophy of Science (Ph.D. or SC.D.)  or a combined clinical degree and Ph.D. degree such as M.D./Ph.D.
• These are specialized “pre-doctoral” fellowships and fall under this authority.   Some NIH ICs have differing requirements and specific PAs and RFAs should be consulted for guidance.

Senior Fellows (F33): 

• Must have a Ph.D., M.D., D.O., D.D.S., D.V.M., O.D., D.P.M., SC.D, ENG.D., DR.P.H., D.N.S., N.D., PHARM.D., D.S.W, PYS.D., or equivalent doctoral degree from an accredited domestic or foreign, and must have 7 years of relevant research and professional experience.
• Senior fellowship is awarded to provide opportunities for experienced scientists to make major changes in the direction of their research or broaden their scientific backgrounds by acquiring new research capabilities.
• Senior fellowships are made for full time research training. Health professionals may use some of their time in clinical duties as part of their research training. 

Application: 

• Prior to submitting a fellowship application, the applicant must identify a sponsoring institute and an individual who will serve as a sponsor and will supervise the training and research experience. 

Period of Support: 

• An individual may not have two or more competing NRSA applications pending review concurrently.
• Support is limited to five years at the predoctoral level and three years at the postdoctoral level, including any combined support of NRSA individual fellowships and NRSA Institutional Training Grants. 
• The initial award is usually for 12 months with subsequent continuations in 12 month increments.
• Awards for less than 12 months will be prorated accordingly.

Initiation of Support: 

• The fellow must send sponsor an Activation Notice (Form PHS 416-5) and a Payback Notice (Form PHS 6031) (Payback Notice is only required for Post-doctoral fellows, not Pre-doctoral).
• The fellow must start the period of training under the award by the latest activation date as shown on the Notice of Award. 
• The activation date is usually six months from the award issue date. 
• For the initial year, an Activation Notice (Form PHS 416-5) and Payback Agreement (Form PHS 6031), which is only required for post-doctoral fellows, must be completed and submitted to the sponsor no more than 30 days prior to the fellowship start date.  A stipend may not be paid until this form is submitted and the fellow begins training. 
• Any change in the activation start date must be reported to the Grants Officer immediately.

Termination (Form PHS 416-7)  

• A Termination Notice (Form PHS 416-7) is sent to the fellow by NIH prior to the scheduled termination date.
• If the fellow decides not to activate the award or to terminate early, he or she must notify the Grants Officer and UK immediately, in writing.  For early termination, the form is issued upon receipt of notification from the fellow or institution. 
• If a fellow is not in training status for more than 6 months of the award year, only ½ of that year’s allowance may be charged to the grant; the balance is refunded to NIH.

Stipends: 

• A stipend is provided as a subsistence allowance for fellows to help defray living expenses during the research training experience.  It is not provided as a condition of employment with either the Fed government or the sponsoring institution; institutions may not charge costs associated with employee benefits (for example, FICA, workman’s compensation, and unemployment insurance).
• Stipends must be paid in accordance with stipend levels set by NIH (FY07):
• Pre-doc (F30 and F31): $20,772
• Post-doc (F32): $36,996 - $51,036
• Senior Fellow (F33): commensurate with the base salary or remuneration that the individual receiving the award would have been paid by the institution of affiliation; but does not provide fringe benefits.

Institutional Allowance: 

• The institutional allowance is intended to defray such expenses for the individual fellow as research supplies, equipment, travel to scientific meetings, health insurance, and to offset, insofar as possible, appropriate administrative costs of training.

• The institutional allowance is a fixed amount and expenditures are not subject to NIH prior approval requirements, but the following guidelines apply:

• Travel: Payment for Travel to scientific meeting is appropriate when it is necessary for the individual’s training and when the costs are incurred within the period of grant-supported training. Travel between the fellow’s place of residence and U-K is not allowable except in cases of extreme hardship.
• Health Insurance: A fellow’s health insurance is an allowable cost only if applies consistently to all people in a similar training status regardless of source of support.  Family health insurance is an allowable cost for fellows who have families and are eligible for family health coverage at the sponsoring institution.  Self-only health insurance is an allowable cost for fellows without families.  Health insurance can include coverage for costs such as vision and/or dental care if consistent with organizational policy. 

• Institutional allowance set by NIH (FY07):

• Pre-doc (F30 and F31): $4,200 (includes health insurance)
• Post-doc (F32): $7,850 (includes health insurance)
• Senior Fellows (F33): $7,850 (includes health insurance)

Tuition/Fees:

• Tuition and fees for postdoctoral fellows are limited to those for specific courses required by the training program and must receive prior approval from NIH.   
• For predoctoral fellows, reimbursement for tuition, fees and health insurance varies from agency to agency, so specific programmatic guidelines should be consulted.
• When tuition and fees are awarded as a separate budget item, NIH prior approval is required before rebudgeting.
• Tuition/Fees set by NIH (FY07):
• Pre-doc (F30 and F31): 60% up to $16,000, (or 60% up to $21,00 for dual degree)
• Post-doc (F32): 60% up to $4,500, (or 60% up to $16,000 for additional degree)
• Senior Fellows (F33): 60% up to $4,500, (or 60% up to $16,000 for additional degree)

F&A

• Not allowed per sponsor guidelines.

Reports: 

• Progress reports must be submitted with all applications for non-competing continuation support. 
• The final progress report will be submitted with the Termination Notice.
• Financial:  Internal Close Out.

Publications:
NIH award office support must be acknowledged by a footnote in language similar to the following: “This research was supported by the National Institutes of Health under Ruth L. Kirschstein National Service Award [Sponsor ID #] from the [name of NIH IC].”
Prior Approval: 

• A transfer of the award to another institution, absence of the institutional sponsor for more than three months, change in institutional sponsor, project or area of research training requires prior NIH approval.

This is a brief summary of the sponsor’s guidelines; for full NIH Grants Policy Statement regarding National Research Service awards, click: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/policy/nihgps_2003/NIHGPS_Part10.htm#_Toc54600191.  In addition, the award may include terms and conditions that will take precedence over the above guidelines.  If you have any questions, please call OSPA at 257-9420.

Revised 01/10/08