NIDCD Fellowship Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
These Questions and Answers focus on NIDCD-specific policies and procedures for its Individual Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA fellowship) programs.
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Prior to Submission
Q: I have heard that the length of the Fellowship applications will be shortened. When will that occur?
A: All applications submitted after January 25, 2010 will have shorter page limits, restructured forms, and new instructions. Fellowship applications submitted for the December 2009 deadline will still have a 10-page Research Plan. Applications submitted for the April 2010 deadline and all subsequent deadlines will have a shorter, 6-page Research Strategy. See http://enhancing-peer-review.nih.gov/restructured_applications.html for the most up-to-date information regarding this change.
Q: I am submitting a revised fellowship application in April 2010. My original application had a 12-page Research Plan. Do I have to reduce the length of my application to comply with the new 6-page limit?
A: Yes. Any application submitted after January 25, 2010 must adhere to the new page limitations regardless of whether it is a new submission or a resubmission.
Q: When are the Individual NRSA fellowship applications moving to electronic submission?
A: All applications submitted for the August 2009 deadline and beyond must be submitted electronically. No paper copies of applications will be accepted.
Q: Where do I find the correct application form for a specific type of NRSA Individual Fellowship?
A: To obtain the most recent application form, click on the "Apply for Grant Electronically" link in the Program Announcement for the specific fellowship that interests you. Links for the Program Announcement for each type of individual NRSA Fellowship can be found at:
Q: How can I determine if the research focus of my application is within the scientific scope of the NIDCD?
A: NIDCD strongly encourages all prospective applicants for NIDCD Individual Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Awards (NRSA fellowships) to email the NIDCD Individual Fellowship Program Officer (see contact information at end of this page) a brief (2-3 paragraph) summary of the proposed research plan, including the overall goals, scientific motivation and specific research aims, several months in advance of submission. This enables the NIDCD to determine if the proposed project fits within the scientific mission of the Institute, or is more appropriately directed to another NIH Institute or another Federal granting agency.
Q: I am a student in an Au.D. training program seeking fellowship support. Am I eligible to apply for an NRSA predoctoral (F31) fellowship?
A: NIH predoctoral fellowship and traineeship support through the NRSA Program is reserved for students pursuing a research doctoral degree (e.g., Ph.D., D.Sc.) involving a full-scale doctoral dissertation, not a health professional doctorate, such as an M.D., Au.D., or Psy.D. degree. Should you desire to pursue a Ph.D. in tandem with or following your Au.D. training, or, following your training, you desire a postdoctoral research experience or research career development award, contact the NIDCD Individual Fellowship Program Officer for additional information.
Q: What may be included in the appendix of a fellowship application?
A: Information regarding what may or may not be included in the Appendix can be found at http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-07-018.html
Q: Can a fellowship application request funds to cover interpretive services for a deaf or hard-of-hearing applicant?
A: Interpretive services are commonly requested as reasonable accommodations for a disability, as defined by the Americans for Disabilities Act, by deaf and hard-of-hearing fellowship applicant when needed to facilitate the research training experience. Applicants who require these and other reasonable accommodations to their disabilities should include several paragraphs in the application establishing and documenting the disability as well as justifying a specific supplemental budgetary request for reasonable accommodations.
Q: I am a doctoral student in the communication disorders and seek a predoctoral fellowship (F31) award. Can an F31 be initiated before advancing to candidacy?
A: The NIDCD F31 award is a dissertation-stage award for doctoral students at or approaching candidacy, who have their dissertation research fully formulated and, thus, are at a point where they can craft a research plan. The award will not be activated until the student has advanced to candidacy, so we recommend that you do not submit your application until you are within a few months of advancing to candidacy. The NIH-wide Diversity F31 programs for minority students and for students with disabilities does, however, support students over the full range of doctoral training including work before candidacy.
Q: In these days of tightening budgets, will the inclusion of preliminary data in my fellowship application increase my chances of funding?
A: The inclusion of credible preliminary data relating to the specific research aims, while not required, nearly always works in favor of an application. Feasibility data, demonstrating that the experiments can be performed in the hands of the applicant, the sponsor, and/or the lab of the latter, should be included in the application. Inclusion of a published or in press scientific paper establishing that the methods proposed are readily in the hands of the applicant or sponsor(s) also demonstrates feasibility.
Q: Can my fellowship application include a specific aim from my sponsor's research grant?
A: A fellowship application should involve an original research plan, written by the applicant and guided by the sponsor(s). While it can be within the sponsor's research area, it cannot be a “cut-and-paste” from the sponsor's research grant.
Q: Does an investigator need to be NIH-funded to serve as a sponsor/mentor for a fellowship application?
A: Technically speaking, no. However, the sponsor needs to demonstrate the research resources, scientific and technical expertise, and mentorship experience to effectively mentor a predoctoral or postdoctoral fellow. In practice, we generally advise applicants to seek an NIH-funded and well-established sponsor. If the sponsor has the requisite scientific or technical expertise, but is somewhat junior, we generally advise recruiting a more seasoned co-sponsor to fill in any perceived void in mentorship.
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Submitting
Q: I am submitting a fellowship application addressing one of NIDCD's mission areas. I have heard that I need to submit a copy of my application to the NIDCD Scientific Review Branch. Is this true?
A: Now that NRSA fellowship applications are submitted electronically, do not submit a copy of your application to the NIDCD Scientific Review Branch.
Q: How are reference letters electronically submitted?
A: Each of your references must submit a letter on your behalf through eRA Commons, as outlined in the Program Announcement. Additional information can also be found at: http://era.nih.gov/ElectronicReceipt/faq_submission.htm#ref. Letters can be submitted in advance of the application deadline and must be received no later than 5 business days after the submission deadline.
Q: I am having problems with the electronic submission of my application. Whom can I contact?
A: Help with electronic submission can be found here: http://era.nih.gov/ElectronicReceipt/support.htm
Q: I want my application to be assigned to the NIDCD. How do I accomplish this?
A: Initially, you are strongly advised to consult with the NIDCD Fellowship Program Officer to ensure that your scientific focus is within the research mission of the NIDCD. If indeed it is, include a cover letter with your application (addressed to the CSR Referral Officer) indicating that your research plan has been discussed with the NIDCD Research Training Program Staff and that, on this basis, you request primary Institute assignment to the NIDCD. Applicants may also request secondary and tertiary Institute assignments. A cover letter is one of the options included within the electronic application package.
Q: Will the NIDCD accept supplemental information following the submission of my fellowship application?
A: The NIDCD Scientific Review Branch (SRB) does not accept supplemental materials following a fellowship submission. The only exception made is for notification that a submitted manuscript, cited in the application, has been accepted for publication. To do this, you should email the Scientific Review Officer indicated in your Commons account.
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Review
Q: I have checked the membership roster of the Communication Disorders Review Committee (CDRC) and do not see any reviewers with expertise in the research focus of my application. How will my application be knowledgeably reviewed?
A: Given the volume and scientific breadth (spanning the seven NIDCD scientific mission areas) of incoming fellowship applications it receives, the NIDCD Scientific Review Branch (SRB) cannot possibly represent all areas of science and research methodologies/levels of analysis on the CDRC, which consists of twenty-one regular members. When reviewer expertise is lacking on the CDRC membership to review specific applications, the SRB recruits appropriate ad hoc reviewers to the Committee. These ad hoc reviewers participate either in person or by telephone conference call.
Q: My fellowship application is scheduled for review next week. Can I contact the Scientific Review Officer (SRO) in the days following the meeting to ascertain my score?
A: Review panel scores are entered by the SRB into the NIH data system within three working days after a review. Once these scores are entered, they can be viewed by accessing your NIH Commons account. Do not contact the SRO, as s/he will not provide the score, but will refer you to the NIH Commons. If you do not know how to access the Commons, see the Q&A below.
Q: How do I access information on my submitted fellowship application, such as confirmation of its receipt, its assignment, my summary statement, etc.?
A: You need to open and regularly consult your own NIH Commons Account. If your university office of sponsored research or electronic research administration staff or consulting personnel cannot help you with Commons-related issues, contact the Commons Helpdesk at 1-866-504-9552 or by email, at commons@od.nih.gov. However, the NIDCD Fellowship Program Officer will inform you of the Institute's decision concerning funding. If your application will be funded, you will also be contacted by the NIDCD Grants Management Branch.
Q: My fellowship application was recently reviewed. My NIH Commons account notes its impact/priority score, but not a percentile score? Why not?
A: NIDCD does not percentile its fellowship application scores, as do a number of other NIH Institutes, but makes its funding decisions on the bases of the reviewer narrative critiques, as documented in the summary statement; the “raw,” unnormalized impact/priority score; and, of course, funds available. Percentiling is not necessary to correct for different scoring schemes of different review committees, since the large majority of NIDCD-assigned fellowship applications are reviewed within the one review committee, the Communication Disorders Review Committee (CDRC).
Q: My NIDCD-assigned fellowship was reviewed, but it did not receive an overall impact/priority score. What does this mean?
A: NIDCD utilizes a "not discussed/unscoring procedure" in the review of its fellowship applications, similar to that used in NIH RO1 research grant application reviews. If your application was in the lower half of fellowship applications reviewed, it would be marked "not discussed." The review committee does not discuss these applications, if all members of the review panel agree with that designation. Many "not discussed" applications do have significant strengths and may have readily addressable critiques, allowing the application to be resubmitted, often in time for the next scheduled submission date. As part of the expedited review process, the summary statement will normally be issued and accessible to the applicant through his/her NIH Commons account two to three weeks after the review meeting date.
Q: What are criteria scores and why does my "not discussed" application have them? I thought a "not discussed" application was also "unscored."
A: With the new NIH review procedures, all applications receive criteria scores from each of the assigned reviewers, in addition to written critiques. Criteria scores use the new 1-9 scoring scale. A description of this scoring system can be found at
http://nexus.od.nih.gov/nexus/nexus.aspx?ID=261&Month=06&Year=2009. Applications that fall roughly within the upper 50% are discussed in the review meeting and will also receive an overall impact/priority score that results from that discussion.
Q: How is my impact/priority score, as shown in my Commons account, calculated? What does it mean?
A: In early 2009, NIH moved to a new scoring system. A description of this scoring system can be found at
http://nexus.od.nih.gov/nexus/nexus.aspx?ID=261&Month=06&Year=2009. Your overall impact/priority score is the average of the overall impact/priority score from the reviewers on the review panel, multiplied by 10. Thus, if the average of your impact/priority scores was a 2.7, then your overall impact/priority score would be a 27.
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Resubmitting
Q: The reviewers were quite critical of my original fellowship application and clearly want me to drop one of my specific aims (SAs) and to revise my experimental design. How “different” does an application need to be in order to be considered “new” and not a "resubmission"?
A: A new experiment, even a new specific aim, would not render an application "new." The overall research plan, including specific aims and the overall or longer-term research goals, would have to be entirely different, constituting a new research direction, to meet this threshold. If you are recasting the research and/or training plan in direct response to reviewers' scientific, technical, or training-related critiques, you are generally submitting a resubmission rather than a new application.
Q: I am resubmitting a fellowship application. Do I need to request new reference letters, or can these letters be carried forward from my previous application?
A: In the NIH review system, a resubmitted/amended application fully supersedes the previous application. No application materials are carried forward to a subsequent submission. Hence, you need to provide new reference letters and all supporting materials with revised applications. (You are free to request these letters from the same individuals who provided reference letters for your previous submission.) The reviewers will, however, receive the summary statement from your prior review.
Q: My summary statement asks that I take a course in the responsible conduct of research, although I reported taking such a course four years ago as a beginning graduate student. Please explain.
A: Since the domain of bioethics and human subjects research is evolving and volatile, it is the policy of the NIDCD to require its NRSA-supported fellows and trainees to have taken training in the responsible conduct of research within the last three years. Hence, fellows and trainees who took such a course more than three years ago will need to take training again. (Hopefully, the course has been updated in recent years.) We consider it important to have a periodic "booster shot" in this area during the formative years when one forges a career and identity as a scientist. Furthermore, we strongly prefer that the training be in a face-to-face format, allowing for live discussion, rather than a Web-based format.
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Funding
Q: My university has offered me a teaching assistantship (TA) in tandem with my individual NRSA (fellowship) award. May I accept it?
A: The NRSA regulations require a full-time, 40-hour per week commitment and allow the awardee to work on a limited basis beyond that, such that these other activities do not encroach upon the NRSA research training commitment. With the concurrence of the fellow's sponsor and institutional official, the NIDCD allows its fellowship awardees to accept TAs involving up to 15-20 hours per week beyond the NRSA commitment.
Q: What is the NIDCD's automatic pay line for awarding fellowship applications?
A: NIDCD does not have an automatic fellowship pay line for its fellowship applications. Funding decisions are made each review round on the bases of a given application's reviewer critiques, the priority score, and, of course, funds available.
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Post Award
Q: I have received my Notice of Grant Award (NGA). What do I need to do to activate the award?
A: Read your NGA very carefully because it has important information regarding your award. It includes the information on how to activate your award. Awards must be activated within 6 months of the award date, but can not be activated from October 1 through November 30. To activate the award, you must complete the PHS 416-5 form and have your Institutional Business Office submit it on your behalf. If you have a postdoctoral F32 award, you also need to complete a Payback Agreement form. Predoctoral F31 awardees do not have a payback agreement. These forms can be found at http://grants.nih.gov/grants/forms.htm under the “Training Forms” heading.
Q: I know that I need to complete an annual progress report for my fellowship. What form do I use?
A: Annual progress reports use the PHS 416-9 form. This form can be found at http://grants.nih.gov/grants/forms.htm under the “Fellowship” heading.
Q: I need to terminate my fellowship. What form do I use?
A: To terminate your fellowship, you need to complete the Termination Notice form (PHS 416-7) that can be found at
http://grants.nih.gov/grants/forms.htm under the “Training Forms” heading. This form needs to be submitted by your Institutional Business Office to NIDCD Grants Management.
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Contact Information
Janet Cyr, Ph.D.—Program Officer for Individual Training Fellowships (F Series)
Tel: (301) 402-3458
Email: cyrj@nidcd.nih.gov
Daniel Sklare, Ph.D.—Research Training Officer
Tel: (301) 496-1804
Email: sklared@nidcd.nih.gov
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